Pumps' Perplexities

Once upon a time milk only came in bottles...Recently some
supermarket chains are selling "real homemade cow's milk"
once again in bottles...Nostalgia marketing?...

However one thing is missing from the bottle's packaging...
The piece of wire which went around the cap...

Prior to World War II, the milk bottle had a small cardboard
disk, with a thumb nail tab, at its top...Covering that was
a disc of thick "waxed" coated paper which was crimped
around the bottle's neck...To hold this outer covering a piece
of thin galvanized wire was used...It circled the bottle and was
twisted, forming a tight seal...

No one threw these pieces of wire away unless they had a good
supply in their household...The wire was about six
inches in length and repaired almost anything...If thick carpet
thread did not work, use the milk bottle wire...

During the early days of WWII, the wire was discontinued and
the bottle's outer cover was "heat sealed"...The wire became
part of the military industrial complex...

So if today you find a small coil of thin galvanized wire in the
back of grandpa's junk draw, you will know why it is there...
Pumps