What Is a Boston Round Bottle?

Even if you don't recognize the name, you no doubt recognize the shape of the bottle. In fact, you probably have a few of them in your bathroom medicine cabinet.

The Boston round bottle (or Winchester bottle) is a strong, heavy bottle that's commonly used in the pharmaceutical industry. It's cylindrical with a short, curved shoulder and a narrow neck, which is threaded for a screw cap. Boston round bottles came into vogue in the 19th century with the advent of automated glass blowing technology. Used primarily by pharmacists, they were made of thick, brown-colored glass to protect the light-sensitive contents within.

What Are Boston Round Bottles Used For?

Over the years, the Boston round bottle has come to be used by a bunch of different industries for a wide variety of purposes. The rounded shoulders make them ideal for storing solids and creams as angled shoulders can cause contents to become stuck. Boston round bottles are also ideal for liquids as the narrow necks help prevent evaporation and make pouring easier. And the round shape of the bottle makes it exceptionally strong and more comfortable to handle.

While they're still available in glass, more and more manufacturers have made the shift to plastic (which offers comparable strength at a fraction of the weight). Boston round bottles can still be colored to protect contents from the sun or crystal clear to allow for maximum visibility of the contents.

Where Did the Name "Boston Round" Come From?

When these bottles first came into widespread use, they were called Winchester bottles. An article in an 1860 edition of the Pharmaceutical Journal refers to "a Winchester bottle, which every druggist has in his store-room..."

It was named--not for the English city of Winchester--but for a unit of measure known as the Winchester quart. Oddly enough, the Winchester quart was equal to two imperial quarts. It all gets a tad confusing, but suffice to say the Winchester quart was a standard unit of measure in the United Kingdom. So these containers were called Winchester quart bottles but this was eventually shortened to Winchester bottles as they were available in a variety of sizes.

As for the "Boston round" sobriquet? That one's a matter of conjecture. The most popular theory is that the name was an attempt to "Americanize" the container. Boston was a major producer of glass products at the time, so odds are that "Boston Round" was simply a brand name that became a generic trademark (like "Xerox" or "Kleenex") as the product grew in