West Point – Center of G.S.C.’s Innovations

Photograph of the West Point Bottling Company in 1910. Item is on loan from Lillian Cobb Cauble.

Always an innovator, George S. Cobb Sr. held many “firsts” as a Coca-Cola bottler. An auto buff from the beginning, Mr. Cobb was the first Coca-Cola bottler to use trucks instead of mules and wagons to make Coca-Cola deliveries. Bad weather and poor roads proved to be early obstacles and through 1912 he was still occasionally forced to rely on mules and wagons. By 1915, however, he was investing more in automobiles, and better roads soon followed.

 

West Point Coca-Cola Bottling Company employees making deliveries around town in 1909. Wade Guinn is the driver and Mike McAfee is beside him (the third man is not identified). Photograph is on loan from Lillian Cobb Cauble. 

In addition to his fascination with automobiles, he was also interested in film and acutely aware of the need to promote the still relatively new Coca-Cola. He was the first bottler to create advertising slides shown at local movie theaters beginning in 1912. He noticed that newspaper advertisements were not increasing sales. When he asked his friends whether they had seen the extra advertisements, they confessed they had not read them. To reach a broader audience and grab their attention, Mr. Cobb personally made the slides to be shown at local movie theaters. At the Coca-Cola Bottlers Convention in 1913, his idea to advertise Coca-Cola at the movies received second prize.

Mr. Cobb also realized the potential benefits of offering rewards for customers who returned crowns – also called premiums. As early as 1910, he was boosting sales with premiums such as playing cards, pocket knives, desk clocks, matches, purses, umbrellas and the like.

Advertisement published in the LaGrange Reporter on January 19, 1912 showing the various prizes and how many crowns each one cost.

In 1911,  Mr. Cobb and L.J. Barrow, fellow auto enthusiast whose car garage was adjacent to the Coca-Cola plant, were granted a patent for the Vend-All Slot Machine for dispensing Coca-Cola. The selling price for the machine was $15. It was 17 inches wide by 12 inches high. It is credited as being the first coin-operated vending machine designed for Coca-Cola. The Vend-All had a holding capacity of 12 bottles, but was perhaps too ahead of its time. It wasn’t until 1939 that the bottling industry finally accepted vending machines.

Pages from the patent secured by George S. Cobb and Lewis J. Barrow for Vend-All in 1911. 

Mr. Cobb quickly recognized that “a hot Coca-Cola had few friends.” He was the first to request that the Coca-Cola parent company print signs reading “Ice Cold Coca-Cola Sold Here.”

That sign became a ubiquitous advertisement that lured thirsty consumers through the doors of establishments ranging from modest country stores to city retailers and restaurants.

 

Coca-Cola concessions stand at the LaGrange fairgrounds, ca. 1916. Notice the “Ice Cold Coca-Cola sold here sign” at the top right corner of the stand. Photograph on loan from Lillian Cobb Cauble. 

Next page: The Daily Life of a Bottler