MODERN LIVING: Cans v. Pop Bottles

In a big, brand-new soft-drink plant at Compton, Calif., a stocky, 68-year-old engineer slopped around in spilled root-beer syrup, adjusting, testing and breaking in $450,000 worth of canning machinery. Allan Baldwin Rogers was at his favorite job: getting a new Can-a-Pop plant into production.

As he watched, a Rogers-designed dispenser measured a shot of syrup into a 12-02. can, a carbonator fizzed it full of sparkling water, a sealer crimped on a flat top, and the first can of root beer rolled off the line of Can-a-Pop's third and largest plant (one of...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!