T. C. Wheaton Glass Company

1876 Map of Millville, N.J.

1888 Photo of the original Wheaton factory in Millville, NJ

1899 Advertisement

Dr. Theodore Corson Wheaton founded the T. C. Wheaton Company in 1888 at 917 No. Second Street, Millville, New Jersey.  This company was well-known for producing drug and screw-cap tablet vials as Theodore Wheaton was particularly interested in pharmaceutical glassware.

1893 T. C. Wheaton & Co. flint and green glass prescription bottles advertisement.

The T. C. Wheaton Co. was also known for their ground glass stoppers, nursing bottles, and breast pump glasses.  Later on, they became rather significant in the perfume and cosmetic glass container market.

1896 Wheaton glass factory, Millville, NJ.

 

1890 T. C. Wheaton Glass Company factory workers photograph.

- Company History - 

1888 - Theodore Wheaton invests in the Shull-Goodwin Glass Company of Millville, New Jersey and becomes part-owner.  The trademark T. C. W. & Co. begins to be embossed on bottles manufactured this year.

1899 Advertisements

1890 - Wheaton becomes the sole owner of Shull-Goodwin Glass Co. and changes the name to T. C. Wheaton Glass Co.

Figure 1: 1900 Advertisement

Figure 2: 1897 Advertisement

1893 - T. C. Wheaton Co. begins manufacturing their Red Star homeopathic vial (Figure 1).  Theodore Wheaton receives a design patent on 18 April 1893 for a flat, oblong prescription bottle with grooved sides and a bead around the bases (aka a "footed base"); it was marked T. C. W. & Co. / Pat. Apr. 18 / 93 (Figure 2).

Figure 3: 1897 Advertisement

1895 - Introduced the Red Star toothwash bottle (Figure 3).



















1901 - The trademark is changed to T. C. W. Co.  However, bottles may also be marked with the trademarks TCW (Figure 4) or TCWCo (Figure 5).

Figure 6.  1903 Advertisement for the new King Oval bottle.

1903 - The King Oval prescription bottle design is patented on 4 August 1903 (Figure 6); the base is marked Pat. Aug. 4, 03 / T. C. W. Co.  The T. C. Wheaton Co. claimed that "you get the best of your uneducated competitor when you use Wheaton's bottles, in the style of container, accuracy of measurement, and in the price you pay," in reference to their new King Oval bottle.

1910 - The Wheaton factory begins making prescription bottles in flint, amber, light green, and emerald green glass.  The Queen Oval and the Yankee Oval prescription bottles can be found in their catalogs during this time.

1920 - Trademark is changed to WHEATON (Figure 7).

1926 - Millville Bottle Works Co. is acquired.

1928 - Purchased the Fay & Schueler Label Company in order to provide pharmacists with both prescription bottles and labels.

1930 - T. C. Wheaton Co. begins producing perfume and cosmetic glass containers.

1938 - Installed their first automatic bottle-making machine.  Their products were typically quite specialized and less adapted to automatic operation; T. C. Wheaton Co. was still hand-pressing much of their glassware into the late 1960s.

1946 - The company name was changed to Wheaton Glass Company, and the trademark was changed to a 'W' in a circle (Figure 8).

1971 - Incorporated as Wheaton Industries.

Trademark Identification: 

•  Prescription bottles found with T. C. W. & Co. / Pat. Apr. 18 / 93 embossed was made at the Millville, New Jersey glass house starting from 1893.
• Bottles made between 1888 and 1900 were marked T. C. W. & Co. or T. C. W. on the base.
• Bottles made after 1900 were marked T. C. W. Co. on the base.[2]

Figure 4. Used from 1888-1901.

Figure 5.  Used from 1900-1960.

Figure 8.  Circa 1946.

Figure 7.  In use since 1920.

26 March 1937: Inside the T.C.W. Co. green glass monkey shop

Sources:

[1]Toulouse, Julian Harrison. Bottle Makers and Their Marks.  New York: Thomas Nelson Inc., October 1972.

[2]Griffenhagen, George B.  History of Drug Containers and Their Labels.  

[3]Lockhart, Bill, et al.  "T".  Manufacturer's Marks and Other Logos on Glass Containers.  The Bottle Research Group.  <http://www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/TLogoTable.pdf>.

"Glass - Wheaton Glassworks, Millville".  Art & Architecture of New Jersey.  The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.  29 December 2012. <http://www.ettc.net/njarts/details.cfm?ID=881>

Griffenhagen, George B. and Mary Bogard. History of Drug Containers and Their Labels.  American Institute of the History of Pharmacy, 1999.