Akro Stats, Cork Counts

[Steph]

I'm trying to update my lists of interesting threads. One broken link once went to a thread called "Odd Akro". I had made a note beside the link saying it was about the direction of spin of a corkscrew but I don't remember what direction the Akro in question spun, so I don't know what was odd!

I figure if it was an interesting question then, it might be interesting now, so IS one direction of spin more common than another for corks?

If so, which one? And how much more common is it? What do your own samplings tell you?

60% of the small sample in my house spiral in what I think of as a clockwise fashion.

With a sample size as small as mine, 60% is pretty much the same as 50%, statistically speaking, so I can't draw a conclusion from my bunch.

[MrsMopar]

I have two (laffing at m'self) and both go in the same clockwise direction. That doesn't help the odds/stats huh? :-)

I like that cork/spiral pic too...helps me to understand what I'm s'posed to be looking for.

Thanks Steph,

Felicia

[zaboo]

we have had a running article on corks in the IAMC newsletter this past year. guess what? it came out 50-50. one of our members 'onebloomranch' ebay user name, did an in depth study enlisting the help of other members. while it was interesting which type of corks twisted one way more often, the final count evened out the same. so your estimate is correct steph!

[MrsMopar]

Oh, does that one that is blue and yellow (the one I said looked like that popeye picture) count as a corkscrew?

[Steph]

Thanks Dani.

Felicia, my cautious answer is "probably". We have to tread very gently with picture-less identifications! lol! But a popeye is a corkscrew, so if it looks enough like a popeye, it probably is a cork. (Plus, I remember seeing that one in the printed photos you snail mailed me, and I thought it might be a cork before you even mentioned it.)

Btw, yours would have to have noticeable amounts of clear and wispy white glass in addition to the white base and blue and yellow ribbons before it was a "Popeye". But since it has three colors (white, blue and yellow), it at least qualifies to be what is known as a "Special". (imho)

There are corkscrews with many colors in the same marble. One recent thread here had a theoretical discussion about how many colors a cork could have. The discussion went into the physical properties of the machinery used to create cork ribbons. I'll try to find a link to that.

[Steph]

Felicia, here's the thread I was thinking of where they were talking about how many colors a corkscrew could possibly have, 6 Plus Color Popeye?

A lot of the talk is about whether one particular popeye auctioned at eBay was authentic ... and later about whether the bidders on the auction were "authentic" because the price went so high. But part was specifically about how Akro used nozzles to get different colors into one marble, and how many total nozzles they might have used.

Also there was some talk about the mechanics of the spinner cup, and whether it could stop or slow down or otherwise produce an anomaly. (The spinner cup is what made the ribbon colors twist around the marble.)

Well, now that I've pointed you at the thread, I'm going to go back and try to understand it. I'm not very mechanically inclined but I sure find it fascinating.

[Alan]

Keep in mind that the number of colors in a specific marble does not have to be limited by the number of nozzles. When they changed colors they did not stop the machine and certainly didn't change the color tanks. I have several Akro machine parts and I can tell you that it is obvious that a lot of different runs were made one right after the other. Funnels etc looked like the 7 cities of Troy - with colors runs layered one on top of the other. If a piece was produced as one run was ending and another was starting - all kinds of wierd colors are possible.

This is also obvious to those who have frequented the Akro plant digs. A LOT of marbles that were not the exact color that they wanted, blends and start/end of runs were discarded by the bucket.

I believe that many of these pieces with more colors than usual just missed the trash bucket. Not saying they aren't attractive - its just not what the factory intended to produce.

[MrsMopar]

Thank you Steph...I have to say, that's a lot of information. And, I do admit that at the first page, my mind went 'HUH?"

[MrsMopar]

OMG! They threw out pretty and different marbles? Dangggggg...

Thank you Alan for that information, very kewl you have some of that equipment and have gone to these plant digs. That must be quite an awesome experience.

[Alan]

OMG! They threw out pretty and different marbles? Dangggggg...

Thank you Alan for that information, very kewl you have some of that equipment and have gone to these plant digs. That must be quite an awesome experience.

Sharing some of that experience.... here are a few photos of the Akro Agate site several years ago:

For a little orientation - the concrete slab was the factory floor. It was roughly 1+ acres in size and had a rail line at one end. The small building was the administrative office. The tower held silica and if you look at it closely - you'll see the original (tin) roofline diagonal line. The poor condition of the slab is from diggers smashing their way through looking for discarded marbles - which were found in some quantity in a drain system. Cullet, discarded marbles and broken glassware was discarded in enormous quantity on adjacent property. The entire site has been heavily dug, sifted and combed-through for quite a number of years.

[zaboo]

just a little ps to that... it's my understanding that the entire ite is now fenced with razor wire and diggers caught.. 1000.00 fine and jail time.

[Alan]

just a little ps to that... it's my understanding that the entire ite is now fenced with razor wire and diggers caught.. 1000.00 fine and jail time.

I haven't been out there in a few years and yes, the Clarksburg Police have it on their patrol route (city owned property now). IMO there isn't any reason to go poking around - the entire area has been picked over so much. It is said that there is an offsite location that Akro dumped a large amount of material - but for reasons I won't go into it is not physically accessible.

One of my favorite Akros was found across the street under the big ball field bleachers. Who knows - the ball field may be a dump site? Ditto for a small business just down the street.

The back hill probably has some small finds left - but the police presence and stealth makes it not worth the trouble.

A LOT of material was taken out of the site over the years and represents an interesting cross-section of production pieces, a few TRUE experimentals, lots of end/beginning-of-run discards, cullet and other misc items.

[MrsMopar]

Awesome Pics and Information Alan! It's like archeological findings.

That thousand dollar fine would definitely keep me out, even if just for curiousity...Thanks for that information zaboo.

Verrrrry interesting stuff!

Felicia :-)

[Steph]

Here's the spinner cup Brian Graham shared awhile back. (The thread was lost in the reorganization of the board. He gave me the okay to repost it.)

I have wanted one for a few years - it will look good in the museum.

Imagine all of the 'corks' that this artifact turned out - probably some in your collection.....

Thanks Brian. :-)

[Alan]

To orient everyone - the star-shaped cuts in the graphite cup were made to "catch" the streams of glass and help it to start spinng in the same direction as the cup. Otherwise the "cork" pattern would not exist. IIRC - my cups have deeper ridges. These were hand carved by the factory workers.

[zaboo]

here's a picture of a funnel, 2 plungers, one unused and a spinner cup. (from our collection) the spinner cup is one of the ones pictured in Hardy's book.

the spinner cups were made at the national carbon works in clarksburg,WV.

[delkins]

Fantastic thread!

Just as an FYI, I was in Clarksburg a few weeks ago and stopped by the Hardy's shop. Roger said that a "local businessman" purchased what is essentially the soil and rights to dig it from a local landowner. I don't know the details, who's or where's, but he said this guy was going to get a backhoe, dig up this guys ground, haul it away to be picked through, and then refill the hole with new fill. I think he said it was going down this month. I guess the guy isn't a collector but wants to sell the finds. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, comes out of it.

-Dave

[Steph]

Dave, that sure will be interesting. It's sort of final-sounding too.

Dani, which one is the unused plunger? And what's the size on these pieces? How did Brian's cup get/stay so clean? Did the hot glass slip right over the graphite without sticking? (Was that the point of using graphite?)

I started wondering about the size yesterday. These other questions just spilled out today when I saw your pieces. lol

Yesterday I was wondering how big of a hole that would be at the bottom of Brian's spinner. The width of a marble? If so did they use different spinner cups to make different sizes? Or was marble size determined elsewhere in the process?

[Alan]

Fantastic thread!

Just as an FYI, I was in Clarksburg a few weeks ago and stopped by the Hardy's shop. Roger said that a "local businessman" purchased what is essentially the soil and rights to dig it from a local landowner. I don't know the details, who's or where's, but he said this guy was going to get a backhoe, dig up this guys ground, haul it away to be picked through, and then refill the hole with new fill. I think he said it was going down this month. I guess the guy isn't a collector but wants to sell the finds. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, comes out of it.

-Dave

That would be interesting if it proves to be accurate. As far as I know - the site was declared a hazardous waste site about 10 years ago due to the toxic material residues found there. The city had tried to sell the site previously but the sale was contingent upon acceptance of the cost for the HAZMAT clean-up - which at the time was estimated to be in excess of $1,000,000.

[delkins]

I believe this is may be farmland, Alan. Like an off-site dump area. I think they had several locations where they'd dump. I think Roger said the name of the guy who owned the land but I didn't pay attention to these details. I'll ask Roger again next time I'm down there.

-Dave

[zaboo]

for sizes, the plungers varied, but for size indications, the spinner cup is 2" wide and 2 1/4" tall, the funnel is 6". i think it would be safe to say that since the plungers came in different sizes that the funnels may have too.

[Steph]

So the hole at the bottom of the spinner cup was really small?

Apparently I'm still not correctly picturing how it was used. That's okay though. I'm really slow with these things. I'm ONLY asking now in order to confirm the sizes involved. I have to psych myself up before I really try to get the picture of how a machine works! LOL

[Alan]

I believe this is may be farmland, Alan. Like an off-site dump area. I think they had several locations where they'd dump. I think Roger said the name of the guy who owned the land but I didn't pay attention to these details. I'll ask Roger again next time I'm down there.

-Dave

That would be MOST interesting.

[zaboo]

very small hole in spinner cup..

[delkins]

Check this S#$% out:

Alright, I can't get the link to work. Hold on. Try this, go to "Major Dig..."

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZkolieclify

-Dave

That works. its the auction with the pic of the white spiral. Craziness, but corroborates the Hardy story.