ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER

Abelman, Frayne, &Schwab

On August 18, 1869, the Canadian Patent No. 1 was issued to William Hamilton of Toronto entitled, "A Machine for Measuring Liquids."

Although on its face it might appear that Canada was about 80 years behind the United States in starting a Patent Office (the U.S. Office was opened in 1790), that representation is not accurate as the patent number was actually a new numbering system implemented by the Canadian Patent Office formed following Confederation in 1867. The Canadian Patent Act of 1869 standardized the patent process for the provinces of the new Dominion of Canada which included Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Prior to that time, patenting had already been common practice in various regions in Canada. According to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, the real first Canadian patent, issued before the present number series, "was granted in 1791 by the Governor General in Council to Angus MacDonnel, a Scottish soldier garrisoned at Quebec City, and to Samuel Hopkins, a Vermonter, for processes to make potash and soap from wood ash."

It just so happens that Hopkins also was granted the first U.S. patent by George Washington, on July 31, 1790 for an "Improvement in the making Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process."

Also, on August 16, 1888, John Styth Pemberton died. Who was John Styth Pemberton, you ask? Well, Pemberton was a Confederate veteran and an American druggist. However, his claim to fame was that he also happened to be the individual who created a product in 1885 that has come to be one of the most widely recognized trademarks of all times - Coca-Cola.

John S. Pemberton
(1831 - 1888)

In April 1865, during the Civil War, Pemberton was wounded in the Battle of Columbus, Georgia, and like many wounded veterans he became addicted to morphine. After the war Pemberton knew he had a problem so he became a pharmacist at the Eagle Drug & Chemical Company in Columbus. Searching for a cure for this addiction, he began experimenting with coca and coca wines, eventually creating his own version of Vin Mariani, containing kola nut and damiana, which he called Pemberton's French Wine Coca.

With public concern about drug addiction, depression and alcoholism among veterans, and 'neurasthenia' (a condition defined as a psychological disorder characterized by chronic fatigue and weakness, loss of memory, and generalized aches and pains, formerly thought to result from exhaustion of the nervous system) among 'highly-strung' Southern women, his medicinal concoction was advertised as being particularly beneficial for "ladies, and all those whose sedentary employment causes nervous prostration, irregularities of the stomach, bowels and kidneys, who require a nerve tonic and a pure, delightful diffusable stimulant."

In 1885, when Atlanta and Fulton County enacted temperance legislation, Pemberton modified the formula by omitting alcohol and added other vegetable essences. The new syrup was meant to be a nonalcoholic alternative to his French Wine Coca and a sure cure for headaches. On May 29, 1886 Coca-Cola was advertised for the first time in the Atlanta Daily.

Frank Mason Robinson (an early marketer of the product) came up with the name "Coca-Cola", which was popular among other wine medicines of the time. Although the name quite clearly refers to the two main ingredients, the controversy over cocaine content would later prompt The Coca-Cola Company to state that it is "meaningless but fanciful". Robinson also hand wrote the Spencerian script on the bottles and ads. Pemberton also made many health claims for his product and marketed it as 'delicious, refreshing, exhilarating, invigorating' and touted it as a 'valuable brain tonic' that would cure headaches, relieve exhaustion and calm nerves.

The original formula allegedly called for 8.46 mg of cocaine, while an average dose of the street drug is between 15 and 35 mg. However, the effects of the coca leaf are greatly compounded by the presence of caffeine from the kola nut. Coca-Cola was originally advertised as a cure for morphine and opium addictions among a multitude of other health benefits.

Asa G. Candler bought the business in 1888 for the whopping sum of $1,200. In 1894, Coke was sold in bottles for the first time. During World War II, bottling plants were set up in Europe, Africa, and the Pacific islands.