c. 1860's or 1870's intact privy-dug two section hinged mold blue aqua glass blob top soda bottle manufactured for otto zwietusch in milwaukee, wi. the applied blob top has some scratches and whittling around the upper neck. the "pony style" body has "o. zwie tusch" and "milwaukee" embossed in bold block lettering with slight wear at the center where letters 'e' and 't' sit. the bottle has a flat base with a somewhat asymmetrical seam. crudities typical of age and date of manufacture, with surface scratches and bubbles or seeds evident. otto zweitusch came to milwaukee from germany in spring of 1856, at the age of 24, and worked in a machine shop for two years. in 1858 he started a brewery with christian forester, who had been a partner of brewer george wehr since 1853. zwietusch & wehr were together until 1862. after that, otto continued the business at the same location, but it is not known what became of mr. forster, and no bottles are known to exist from the partnership. in the early 1860's city directories list otto zwietusch as a brewer. however, by 1864 zwietusch stopped advertising beer, and instead advertised in the "mineral water manufacturer" and the "soda water manufacturer" sections of the milwaukee city directories. it was reported that in 1866 a fire damaged part of his building. at the end of 1872 zwietusch started a $40,000 addition to his manufacturing and bottling plant. besides adding capacity, new equipment was installed to enable him to bottle champagne and wine. otto designed and built the bottling equipment used at his plant. the addition was completed in summer1873. He invited a number of guests for a grand opening to see the new facility and introduce them to domestic champagne - a product formerly available only from foreign sources. 1872 also marked the first of over 50 patents eventually granted to him. this first patent was for equipment used to purify carbonic acid gas (carbon dioxide). many of his later patents dealt with gas as well. it was said that he had a "decided genius for invention" and was a regular customer of the u.s. patent office until about 1900. designing, building and selling of bottlers' equipment was an important part of zwietusch's business. by 1890, zwietusch had stopped bottling soda, ending a thirty year era of soda bottling in milwaukee. instead, he focused on making and selling brewing and bottling supplies and equipment. he continued to develop and patent processes and equipment for brewing until his death about 1904. his business was continued by his sons for a few years after his death.