Earl Rollo Dean
Dean (March 19, 1890 – January 8, 1972) designed the famous contour Coca-Cola bottle. In 1914, Harold Hirsch, a lawyer for the Coca-Cola Company, came up with a plan to launch a national competition in which bottle manufactures across the country would be asked to design a distinctive bottle – a bottle which a person could recognize even if they felt it in the dark, and so shaped that, even if broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was. The bottle manufacturer that won this competition was the Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana.
Also recorded as Earl R. Dean
Earl Rollo Dean
Anonymous Unknown author · Public domain
- Name
- Earl R.
- Born
- March 19, 1890
- Birthplace
- Terre Haute, IN
- Died
- January 8, 1972
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- designer
- Known for
- Coca Cola contour bottle
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wikidata · Q5326050 · wikipedia · Earl R. Dean
In this article
Biography
Biography
Inspired by a picture of a cocoa pod which was found in an encyclopedia at the Emeline Fairbanks Memorial Library, Earl R. Dean made a pencil sketch of the pod. From this sketch, Dean designed the contour bottle prototype. The prototype never made it to production since its middle diameter was larger than its base. According to Dean, this would make it unstable on the conveyor belts. Dean then equalized the middle and bottom diameters and the Contour Coca-Cola bottle was created.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Earl R. Dean • Born — March 19, 1890 • Birthplace — Terre Haute, IN • Died — January 8, 1972 • Illustration — The 1915 contour bottle prototype designed by Earl R. Dean • Illustration — US Design Patent for a Bottle or Similar Article USD48160 (Coca-Cola bottle)
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Harrison Township.
Birth place
Hinsdale Hospital.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Earl R. Dean”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q5326050: Earl Rollo Dean
General reference · Wikidata
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Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Earl R. Dean, revision 1372186585 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Vigo County Public Library. Inventory: Earl R. Dean Collection.
- 2.The Coca-Cola Company . ANNIVERSARY OF AN ICON.
- 3.Pendergrast, Mark. For God, Country and Coca-Cola. Basic Books. 103. 2000. 0-465-05468-4.
- 4.Lindstrom, Milton. BRAND SENSE: Build Powerful Brands Through Touch, Taste, Smell and Sound. Simon and Schuster. 39–40. 2005. 0-7432-6784-2.
- 5.Vigo County Public Library. Biography. Vigo County Public Library website.
- 6.Vigo County Historical Society. Coca-Cola Contour Bottle. Vigo County Historical Society On-Line History.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 1
- Dean, Norman L. The Man Behind the Bottle: The Origin and History of the Classic Contour Coca-Cola Bottle as Told by the Son of Its Creator. Xlibris Corporation. 2010. 978-1-4500-5404-1.
References
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reference work
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General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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