RichardB Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 We had one in the house in the 60's/70's, big thing, maybe 14" long, 1.5" thick, metal screw-on stopper, "water bottle shaped" (not round or oval for example). It was very conductive, dull grey metal, maybe aluminium, I remember it being marked and scarred, like it wasn't the most scratch-resistent of metals. Used to wrap a towel around it for use. Any thoughts please ? No idea of the date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunsbyowl1867 Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 We had one in the house in the 60's/70's, big thing, maybe 14" long, 1.5" thick, metal screw-on stopper, "water bottle shaped" (not round or oval for example). It was very conductive, dull grey metal, maybe aluminium, I remember it being marked and scarred, like it wasn't the most scratch-resistent of metals. Used to wrap a towel around it for use. Any thoughts please ? No idea of the date. You were obviously posh - we had a brick wrapped in newspaper in our shoebox! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveHB Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 I remember my Aunty Edna having an aluminium hot water bottle, very similar to this one. image courtesy of: www.open.jorum.ac.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 Interesting, Thank you. Ours was more of a classic hot-water bottle design, rectangular, high shoulders, slight curve at each corner, but really very large as a bottle. Big screw-top on it, no Collar like on modern bottles. I remember my Aunty Edna having an aluminium hot water bottle, very similar to this one. image courtesy of: www.open.jorum.ac.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveH Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Interesting, Thank you. Ours was more of a classic hot-water bottle design, rectangular, high shoulders, slight curve at each corner, but really very large as a bottle. Big screw-top on it, no Collar like on modern bottles. How big is "very big"? A hot water bottle is usually intended to be filled from a kettle as this would be the most convenient source of hot water, so to make a bottle with a capacity bigger than that of a kettle would make it difficult to fill as you would have to boil the kettle twice. Most modern, rubber, hot water bottles therefore hold about a kettle full of water, if that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveHB Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Interesting, Thank you. Ours was more of a classic hot-water bottle design, rectangular, high shoulders, slight curve at each corner, but really very large as a bottle. Big screw-top on it, no Collar like on modern bottles. Like this one then .. bed warmer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 Comparing my memoryto a standard modern bottle, I'd say 14" long, 8" wide, 1.5" deep. Recall boiling water in a pan and filling it with a funnel. Wasn't often used ! How big is "very big"? A hot water bottle is usually intended to be filled from a kettle as this would be the most convenient source of hot water, so to make a bottle with a capacity bigger than that of a kettle would make it difficult to fill as you would have to boil the kettle twice. Most modern, rubber, hot water bottles therefore hold about a kettle full of water, if that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 Less ornate, no handle, straight sides, much more rectangular and simple. Like this one then .. bed warmer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveH Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Comparing my memoryto a standard modern bottle, I'd say 14" long, 8" wide, 1.5" deep. Recall boiling water in a pan and filling it with a funnel. Wasn't often used ! Those dimensions would give it a capacity of 2.625 litres, which is about 4 and a half pints. That sounds about right and in keeping with a traditional hot water bottle. As metals are good thermal conductors and rubber is more of an insulator I suspect that a metal bottle would feel very hot compared to a rubber one, but would cool down a lot quicker and become cold within an hour or so. So what are the relative advantages and disadvantages of metal v rubber hot water bottles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveHB Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 So what are the relative advantages and disadvantages of metal v rubber hot water bottles? You didn't have to cut your toenails if you used a metal hot water bottle lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveH Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 You didn't have to cut your toenails if you used a metal hot water bottle But catching your foot on a newly filled metal one would be like walking on hot coals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 Hence the towel mentioned earlier. But catching your foot on a newly filled metal one would be like walking on hot coals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveH Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Hence the towel mentioned earlier. So that's what it was for ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unitedite Returns Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 You were obviously posh - we had a brick wrapped in newspaper in our shoebox! My God! - we used to dream about living in a shoebox! [sorry, could not resist, having been brought up on Monty Python] Back to the topic though, I recall that my Grandparents had a metal hotwater bottle which they used well into the 1960's, possibly 1970's. However, it was not the tall, bottled shaped, cylinder type described above, but was much flatter and shallower, almost like a WWII landmine. It had a central threaded filling nozzle and a screw cap and it must have been about 10" in diameter + about 2" deep. It could have been made out of aluminium, or possibly even pewter, because it did from memory, seem to have that kind of sheen about it. As to what became of it, I do not know. Probably got chucked out with the advent of electric blankets + such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveH Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 My God! - we used to dream about living in a shoebox! [sorry, could not resist, having been brought up on Monty Python] Back to the topic though, I recall that my Grandparents had a metal hotwater bottle which they used well into the 1960's, possibly 1970's. However, it was not the tall, bottled shaped, cylinder type described above, but was much flatter and shallower, almost like a WWII landmine. It had a central threaded filling nozzle and a screw cap and it must have been about 10" in diameter + about 2" deep. It could have been made out of aluminium, or possibly even pewter, because it did from memory, seem to have that kind of sheen about it. As to what became of it, I do not know. Probably got chucked out with the advent of electric blankets + such. Before electric blankets there were electric bedwarmers. These were metal containers inside which there was an electric light bulb (the proper old fashioned sort with a fillament that gets hot) with a flex to the outside and long enough to reach to a suitable plugging in point (often the light fitting on the seiling or one of those light fittings on the wall just above the bed headboard) the case itself was shaped like a very large convex lens, round, about15" in diameter, fat in the middle (wide enough to take the bulb) and thin at the edges, although some of them were made to look like a conventional hot water bottle with a mains lead coming out of the filler cap. Can anyone remember them? There is a picture of one here Link provided to site as the image is copyright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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