Old capper PIX - need info

[JonCat]

Ok, I found this while scraping metals at grandmas. Her old house burned down in the early 1970s, and I found this near the site. I am a wine person myself, but I do plan on brewing a batch of ale when blackberry season is over here.

This is a capper correct? It appears to work fine, even the spring still has its "spring" to it. I can tell from the bottom, that it used to be fire engine red. I would like to know if anyone has information on it. I would love to know the manufacturer and year/model.

 

[thegreathoe]

a few months ago i got that exact same capper at an auction for 1 buck with a bunch of other old junk... still havnt figured out how to use it.

ill take a look at mine this evening to see if i can find any info on it but it looks like the same model

 

[OMJ]

I have that same capper some where and I think I used it once years ago. I will look for it when I get home later and see if I can give you any info

 

[JonCat]

What color are your's? or is the color gone. From the bottom I can clearly see it was fire engine red, and I plan are restoring it. The cushing/ring inside the bell is old/hard, I am not sure how soft it should be or if I need to replace it. Any advise on that?

 

[carnevoodoo]

I'd browse ebay. I typed in "vintage capper" and there are quite a few on there. Maybe see if one matches yours. Most don't have labels, though.

 

[rico567]

As far as I can tell from your pix, the capper you found is identical to the capper I use for every batch of beer. It's my Grandpa's old Prohibition-era capper, which my uncle gave me many years ago. Despite that it's likely 80+ years old, it just continues to cap away...

 

[JonCat]

rico567,

How hard/soft is the ring inside the bell? I believe i need to replace the ring on this one. Its hard and looks like it could crack under any stress.

Jon

 

[thegreathoe]

ok i checked and mine is different... the spring is in a different spot and it has a few extra rivets.... sry i couldnt help

 

[Want2Brew]

Nice find, I use one similar to that. I replaced the cushion ring with 2 garden hose washers (stacked) rubber cemented in place. Seems to work well so far.

 

[HSM]

I picked up 2 vintage cappers, one much like this, fire engine red. There is no ring inside the bell in mine which may explain why bottles/caps get stuck in the bell. Will go with the garden hose washers if I ever use this one.

 

[DansBrew]

I got one of those too, same style of stamped ish looking steel. Mine has plenty of spring, but for some reason I can't get it to completely crimp the cap down. i would love to get it working though. I'm told its way older than 1920...

 

[JonCat]

I will be removing the rust and replacing the cushion in the bell. I did try it out, seems to work but the cap didn't crimp on tight. I figured it was due to the cushion.