The story of bottle openers is intertwined with the history of beverage consumption and the ingenuity of inventors who sought to make life easier. Among these inventors, Richard Bowie Spikes stands out as an African-American innovator who made significant contributions to various fields, including improvements to the beer tap.
Richard Bowie Spikes (October 2, 1878 - January 22, 1963) was an African-American inventor who held several United States patents.
He is credited with developing and improving inventions such as a beer tap, a modification of an automatic gear shift mechanism for motor vehicles, and a safety braking system for trucks and buses.
Notably, his beer tap patent was purchased by the Milwaukee Brewing Company, and variations of his design are still in use today.
Although a capable musician-piano and violin-Richard Spikes learned to cut hair in his father's barber shop, and then became a public school teacher in Beaumont, Texas.
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Soon after his marriage, the elder Spikes moved west to Albuquerque, New Mexico and later Bisbee, Arizona where he operated a barber shop and later a saloon.
He became dissatisfied with how draft beer was dispensed from a keg; and developed variations on the pressure-dispense beer tap.
Moving to San Francisco, California, Richard Spikes eventually received a patent pertaining to automobile directional signals, which he installed on a Pierce-Arrow car in 1913.
His beer tap patent was purchased by the Milwaukee Brewing Company, and variations of his design are still in use today.
The Simplicity of a Bottle Opener
Various types of bottle openers.
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Pabst Blue Ribbon Bottle Opener
An interesting artifact is a Pabst Blue Ribbon bottle opener with can piercer (A2015.273.1.1.30a) and protective cover (A2015.273.1.1.30b) from the travel wardrobe trunk used by Cab Calloway.
The silver tone tool features a bottle opener on one side and can piercer on the other.
Stamped text on the top of the handle reads [Pabst Blue Ribbon].
PAT. 1,996,550 / Pabst Blue Ribbon].
The tool has a keyring hole at the bottle opener end.
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Cataloging is an ongoing process and we may update this record as we conduct additional research and review.
Dimensions:
- H x W x D (A2015.273.1.1.30a): 4 3/4 × 7/8 × 13/16 in.
- H x W x D (A2015.273.1.1.30b): 1 × 7/8 × 3/16 in.
Vintage Pabst Blue Ribbon bottle opener.
