Childhood Memories of Biscoe
One of my fondest childhood memories of the late '60's and early 70's is of visiting the "Coke Plant" which was only about two blocks from my parent's home. My buddies, usually Edwin Manuele or Benjy Dunn, and I would stand in the doorway of the bottling room and watch the old post-mix machinery churn out the six and ten-ounce bottles of Coca-Cola.
Empties were taken from their crates by hand and placed onto a conveyer that moved them into the washer. The bottles were washed and sterilized. The bottles would then come out of the washer and drop down onto a moving track where they would pass by an inspector who would look for chipped or dirty bottles through a lighted background. The inspector back then was J.C., who would always have a smile and a wave for us neighborhood kids. (After my marriage and the birth of our first son, we lived next door to hom until J.C. passed away in June 2001 after an extended illness. We miss him, especially Carson, who paid him regular visits.)
The bottles would then go into a circular machine that would pick them up one at a time and squirt a measured amount of syrup into the bottle. This machine would release them and they would enter another circular machine that would pick them up and fill the bottle with carbonated water.
Next the bottles would enter the capper, which would put crowns onto the drink. At this point, the soda just looked like muddy water.
Then came my favorite step in the assembly line. The sodas would go into the mixer. This machine would actually grab the bottles, turn them over and around until the syrup was mixed with the carbonated water.
The finished Coca-Colas would travel down a long chainline, through a counter, staying in a row that reminded me of marching soldiers. These would go through the final step, which was packing.
The packer would arrange the bottles into four rows of six drinks each. It would lift a wooden crate up to the point where the 24 bottles would fall right into place in the case. Some went into six-pack carriers while others fell into individual wooden slots within the crate. The finished crates would roll down to a man who would pack them on a pallet to be loaded onto trucks and carried out to the stores.
We had fun watching this go on, and if the guys in the plant were in a good mood, they would give us an ice-cold Coke right off the line. Nothing ever tasted better!
Another fun thing we would do is gather around the Coke machine at the plant, where we could buy a drink from the machine for a dime (they were a quarter everywhere else). On the wall beside the machine was a map of the United States. The call of "Let's travel!" would go out, and anyone that wanted to risk a quarter would ante up and put their dime into the machine. The returnable bottles in those days bore the name of a town somewhere in the US on the bottom. These were the towns that had a Coca-Cola bottling plant. Whoever got the bottle from the farthest distance away would take all the quarters.
But there were two exceptions. If you got a bottle with no name on the bottom, this was considered wild and won the game. Another sure winner was to get the BISCOE NC bottle. This beat everything, including the wild bottle.
The Coke Plant would buy back bottles for reuse. The kids in town would scour the sideditches looking for discarded bottles. When we had enough to fill a case of 24, we would take them to the dock to get the two cent per bottle refund. The Food Store would only pay a penny. That's where we had to take all the Pepsi bottles. We earned a pretty good "living" and stayed out of a lot of trouble with this routine.
When I was 16, Manager Bob Gaddy figured if I was going to hang around, then they might as well put me to work. I spent the summers of 1977 and 1978 as a "helper" on the sales routes. I would go with the driver and help him stock shelves, build displays and sort empties to be picked up and returned to the plant.
After college, I had the opportunity to take over a route of my own, and did so for three years. The "New Coke" fiasco ended my career. I couldn't believe that they would tamper with something as sacred as "the formula". I had to leave.
If I had known that it would only last a few months, I would have stayed, but I had already started a new business of my own, and I decided to give it my best shot instead.
It's been over fifteen years since I worked for them, but Coca-Cola will always be number one with me. It's only been a recent choice for me to be able to drink another soft drink.
I am not affiliated with The Coca-Cola Company, and have not been since February 1986. Coca-Cola, Coke, the Dynamic Ribbon Device, ETC., are all Registered Trademarks of the Coca-Cola Co.
I started this page December 31, 1998