William Painter (inventor)
William Painter | |
---|---|
Born | Triadelphia, Montgomery County, Maryland, United States[1] | November 20, 1838
Died | July 15, 1906 Baltimore, Maryland, United States | (aged 67)
Burial place | Druid Ridge Cemetery, Pikesville, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Inventor, Engineer |
Spouse(s) | Harriet Deacon Painter (m. 1861) |
Parent(s) | Dr. Edward Painter Louisa Gilpin Painter |
William Painter (November 20, 1838 – July 15, 1906) was an American mechanical engineer, inventor and the founder of Crown Holdings, Inc., a Fortune 500 company. He most notably invented the crown cork bottle cap and bottle opener.
Early life and career[]
Painter was born in 1838 in Triadelphia, then a mill town in Montgomery County, Maryland to Dr. Edward Painter and Louisa Gilpin Painter.[2] He moved to Baltimore, Maryland in 1865 to begin a career as a foreman at the Murrill & Keizer's machine shop. He worked with manufacturers to develop a universal neck for all glass bottles and started the Crown Cork & Seal Company of Baltimore in 1892 to manufacture caps that could be used to seal the universal necks.[3]
Patents[]
Painter patented 85 inventions, including the common bottle cap, the bottle opener, a machine for crowning bottles, a paper-folding machine, a safety ejection seat for passenger trains, and also a machine for detecting counterfeit currency.
He was inducted to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006.[4]
References[]
- ^ "MoCo's Lost City: Triadelphia". The MoCo Show. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
- ^ Painter, Orrin Chalfant (1914). William Painter and his father, Dr. Edward Painter: sketches and reminiscences. Baltimore: Arundel Press. p. 41. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
- ^ "History and Timeline". Crown Holdings, Inc. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
- ^ "Inductees: William Painter". National Inventors Hall of Fame. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
External links[]
- 19th-century American inventors
- People from Baltimore
- 1838 births
- 1906 deaths
- Burials at Druid Ridge Cemetery