Vintage Pepsi, 7-UP, Sign Advertising Dispenser Cool (02/02/2011)...

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Vintage Pepsi, 7-UP, Sign Advertising Dispenser Cooler

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Vintage Pepsi, 7-UP, Sign Advertising Dispenser Cooler

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Sold Date: 02/02/2011
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Advertising

Here is a Rare Carbonated Beverage Dispenser/Cooler known as “The Red Barrel Dispenser”

Made of Oak -- Approxiamately 26" high, 18" diameter --- 6 stainless steel bands wraped around it --- stainless steel interior --- 2 faucets or spigots: manufactured by Multiplex Faucet Co. in Excellent Condition! - Including both Spouts/Tips --- 3 Claw Feet

The metal lid has some corrosion/wear on the outside, and a small dent in one place; inside is fairly clean - all stainless steal (the photos will give you a good idea of overall condition).

It is uncommon to even find one of these {Original Red Barrel Dispensers}, and Particularly in this Condition! The faucets are both completely intact - including the plastic nozzles or spouts which are typically missing; this barrel also has three claw feet, and the drip tray.

A little History on carbonated Beverages and their dispensers:

The first attempts at making a carbonated drink date back as far as the early 1770’s, when it was believed that natural mineral waters had curative powers. People flocked to spas where mineral water bubbled naturally out of the earth. Early scientists tried to replicate these bubbly drinks with health benefits for everyone to enjoy. In the early 1770’s a Swedish chemist and an English scientist invented equipment that combined water and carbon dioxide. This bubbly water was called soda water. In 1806 a Yale chemistry professor, Benjamin Silliman, purchased an apparatus and began selling mineral water (unflavored then) in New Haven, Connecticut. Sometimes Dr. Silliman added wine and sugar to his bottled mineral water, but it was Eugene Roussel of Philadelphia that is credited with making flavored soda water popular. In the late 1830’s he added a “soda counter” to his perfume shop where he offered soda water flavored with orange, cherry, lemon, teaberry, ginger, peach or root beer syrup. His success can be measured by the fact that he had nearly 50 competitors in his city within a very short time.

By the end of the Civil War, soda fountains were a common sight, and flavored soft drinks were commonly dispensed in drugstores at the soda fountain counter. These locations became even more important when the US government passed Temperance Laws forbidding the consumption of alcohol. Soda fountains allowed people to continue to gather and socialize, but without the presence of alcohol. The problem was that the drinks could vary greatly from one to the next, as there was not really a standard method of concocting them. After a pump or two of the syrup, the pharmacist would fill the glass up to the fill-line with ice-chilled carbonated water. This was then stirred and served to the customer.

In 1888 Jacob Baur started the Liquid Carbonic Co. that manufactured carbon dioxide in tanks. This led to the manufacture and sale of Liquid Carbonic soda fountains in the early 1900’s. This made it possible for pharmacists to make their own carbonated water, rather than having to buy it from a supplier. This arrangement still required mixing syrup and water by the pharmacist and therefore, room for variation.

The first automatic soda fountain dispenser that mixed the syrup and the carbonated water together was made in 1933 by Dole and was introduced at the Chicago World’s Fair. This model was the Dole Master Dispenser. Simply by pulling the handle, the syrup and carbonated water were mixed together. In order to cool the drink, ice could be packed into the dispenser.
Dole then released the Dole Junior in 1936. This was a much smaller, 1-gallon capacity dispenser. It could duplicate the same flavor in each ice-cold drink, much faster than was previously possible. The next major development in dispensers came in 1949 in the shape of the “Outboard Motor” design dispensers, like the Selmix Fountain Dispenser. Designed by the famous industrial designer Raymond Loewy, this dispenser was capable of dispensing a continuous flow of mixed carbonated water and syrup with only one pull of the handle. They were the...