The Tingle Factor Box

But You Just Buy It Prepacked! Milk required Indicator

Imagine you are living in the mid 1900s. You grew up on a farm and always had plenty of milk available, but when you married, you moved with your husband to the city. You still have plenty of milk, but now you have to rely on the milkman to bring it to you in bottles he leaves on the doorstep. The little ‘milk required’ indicator is a wonderful thing though because it lets you tell him just how much milk you need, instead of having milk which goes sour in the heat.

When I showed the children this ‘milk required’ indicator, they were very confused by it. The children today are used to buying milk at the supermarket, already packaged and ready to go, in very definite amounts. They are used to buying milk in 600 millilitre, one or two litre containers and had no idea what a pint was. The fact that the amount in a pint various slightly between countries confused them even more. They declared that ‘buying milk today is much easier’

Although people have probably been drinking milk since shortly after they realised that cows and other animals produced it, the milkman is actually a more modern fixture of history. Up until the time when railways began to be built it was simply too difficult for large quantities of milk to be transported into towns and cities so milk was scarce. People who wanted milk generally kept their own cow, or bartered with neighbours who had one. Then, as the railways extended, transporting large quantities of cheap milk into cities and towns became easier.

Milkmen started to appear in the 1860s, pulling churns full of milk with the help of a young boy (or man). They carried the milk on what was known as a milk pram, a three wheeled cart, and milk was measured out directly into people’s jugs. There was no refrigeration, so the milk might not last until the next morning and people just purchased what they would use. In the 1900s milkmen began to carry more milk, using first horse and cart and then motorized vehicles to transport it, though horse-drawn carts remained common right up to the 1950s! Jugs and churns were also replaced by glass bottles and in the 1920s cardboard lids were put on them. These lids were popular with children who invented bottletop games to play with them. Many houses still did without electric refrigerators though, and so just purchased the amount of milk they would be requiring for the daily use. A ‘milk required indicator’, like the one I showed the children, allowed the household to let the milkman know just how much milk they needed without having to physically see him. People simply put the indicator over the top of the old bottles which were put outside to be collected when the fresh milk was delivered.

It Looks Like A Wooden Wheel - Codd Bottle Opener

Imagine, you are a family, out on a picnic in the late 1800s. It is a beautiful day and the children are enjoying playing in the sun. They are sure to get thirsty soon though. You have plenty of drink for them, and as a special treat there is even soda in Codd Bottles! Of course, the children aren't exactly clean anymore either, so you are glad you bought along a bottle opener. You don't think their fingers are clean enough to be opening the bottles with!

That's Just Plain Wrong - White Pine And Tar Cough Medicine

Imagine, you are a mother living in the 1930s. Your son is sick and you are so worried about him. He has been coughing for days and it is leaving him so weak. The local chemist suggested you try his new cough remedy, White Pine And Tar. He swears that it is a wonderful remedy, sure to make your son feel better. You are a little concerned when you open the bottle and smell the mix, but since the Chemist promises it is a good remedy, your willing to give it a try.

It's All Wonky - Old Bottle

Imagine, you are a glass maker, working on making bottles to use for salad oil. You have already blown the glass into the moulds, and they have come out beautifully. Now, you just need to assemble the pieces of the bottles so that they can be sold. It is nearing the end of the day and you have been working on putting the bottles together for some time, heating the glass and pressing the pieces together, over and over again. Then, as you put the last bottle together, you slip and the neck goes on crooked.

Thats Sweet - Bird Feeder

Imagine, you are living Britain in the 1890s. It is winter and very cold. There is a thick layer of snow on the ground and the trees are all bare. Worst of all, it seems that every day you see another bird which has succumbed to the cold and the lack of food. Well, at least you can do a little for the birds, putting out these dishes of food and several little dove cotes for them to rest inside. You just hope that it is enough!

So They Are Poisonous? Cough Medicines

Imagine, you are a child living in the early 1900s and you are sick. You have a terrible cough and a sore throat which feels like it's on fire. Mum has tried various things, like lemon juice on a sugar cube, but today she bought some lozengers for you to suck which promise to make your sore throat go away quickly. You aren't sure what some of the ingredients in them are (and think perhaps you don't want to know) but if they work, you will be happy!

That's Just Stupid - Smelling Salts

Imagine, you are a woman living in the 1800s. You have to wear a corset and sometimes it feels so tight that it seems like you can't breathe. These are the terrible times, times when the world becomes blurry and you feel like you are falling. Sometimes, if you are lucky, you can feel that an attack is coming on and quietly take a sniff from your bottle of salts, but occasionally, it is too late and someone else needs to administer them. How embarassing!

That's Just Gross - Potted Meat

Imagine, you are a housewife living in the late 1800s. Life can be difficult what with cooking, cleaning, mending and caring for your husband and children. You have so little time to yourself. Anything which can save a little time is welcome, and although your children were a little unsure about the premade potted meat you use for their lunches at first, they have grown to love it. Now that you no longer have to make it yourself it saves so much time!

How Cool! Stoneware Gingerbeer Bottle

Imagine, it is the late 1800s. It is a hot, Summer day in Australia. The temperature is over 35 degrees celcius and has been for days. Everyone is sweltering in the heat. Yet, today is a special day, Australia Day, and you are going on a picnic. Sometimes you wonder if Mum has lost it. A picnic, in this heat! One thing worth looking forward to is the gingerbeer Mum allowed your Dad to buy. It should be wonderful in this heat!

When I took this stoneware gingerbeer bottle to show the children, they were surprised by it. They had never seen a bottle which was not glass or plastic, and stoneware was both completely new and fascinating. They wondered about whether it made a difference to the flavour, kept the contents particularly cold, was more expensive to make and a multitude of other things. The thing which really interested them though was the idea of gingerbeer itself. Although gingerbeer is still readily available, many of the children had not tried it. It seems to have fallen from favour as a children's drink, along with rootbeer, sasparilla and portello. They were intrigued at the idea that it had been around for so long, and several decided that next time they bought a bottle of softdrink, they would be interested to try out this 'old fashioned tipple'.

Despite its name, gingerbeer as most of us know it today is not alcoholic. It is a tasty soft drink, often touted for its ability to settle upset stomachs. Yet this was not always the case, and indeed, if you set up a gingerbeer plant at home (Roy is hoping to have a go at this in the future, if he can persuade Grandma) the product you make will be slightly alcoholic. Gingerbeer was, exactly as its name implies, a type of beer, brewed similarly to traditional beer, but using very different ingredients. It began to appear in Britain in the mid 1700s and soon soldiers stationed overseas began to take this popular beverage, and the recipe, with them. In fact, by 1790 Gingerbeer was a popular beverage in America and Canada!

It seems likely that gingerbeer came to Australia not long after White Settlers arrived. In fact it seems that Australia was producing its own gingerbeer less than 50 years after European Settlement. Stoneware bottles were certainly being produced in Australia to hold gingerbeer by the 1820s. In fact, some of the earliest pieces of Australian pottery to still survive are gingerbeer bottles! Such gingerbeer bottles continued to be produced throughout the 1800s and into the 1900s, when the popularity of gingerbeer around the world was at its peak. In fact, the bottle I took to show the children was produced by Carter's, a company operating in the early 1900s who would perhaps not live up to todays health standards. To find out why, click here. Although Australia did produce its own gingerbeer, much gingerbeer continued to be imported from England. The reason why it could be exported was because of the bottles it was put in. If properly made, the stoneware bottles, which were corked and then wired to keep the cork in place, could maintain the quality of the drink even on a long sea journey. If you would like to learn more about the history of gingerbeer, click here.

That's Disgusting! School Milk Bottle

Imagine, it is the late 1950's and you are a school aged child. It is mid morning and you are just about to break for little lunch. You await the bell with dread - it will then be school milk time. It isn't that you don't like milk, you do, but it has to be kept cold. You can almost taste the stomach turning warm milk, slightly sour, lumpy and curdled at the top from being left out in the sun.You just hope that today you don't get one the maggies got to first!