On bottle re-use/recycling, there is a curious article in a recent Florida
Anthropologist (sorry, I don't have the cite) on a Florida "bottle well": a
well lined with horizontally-laid bottles.
 
On industrial re-use, a couple of items from the 19th century leather
industry.
 
The Dauphin Tannery (1821 to ca. 1890) was built by Pennsylvania tanner
Joseph M. Eldridge. In 1826, it received a substantial influx of tanning
tools and machinery as partial repayment of a debt from Alexander Cardon,
proprietor of the Hagley, Delaware tannery.  In addition to the tools and
tanning vats transferred by Cardon, Cardon became the tannery's manager.
Details of the transfer of materials and Cardon’s subsequent relocation to
Dauphin as manager of the Dauphin Tannery were recounted by historian Peter
Welsh (1963, 1964) and the Dauphin Tannery was tested in by CHRS, Inc. for a
Pennsylvania DOT project (Basalik et. al. 1992).
 
The sale and reuse of tanning vats (generally in the 19th-20th centuries,
rectangular wooden vats sunk into excavated pits [although there are some
notable urban exceptions to this]) was common among heavy leather tanners.
Trade journals from ca. 1870+ carry ads for vats, etc. for sale by tanners
leaving the trade or by the heirs to tanneries left by deceased tanners.
Once the craft industrialized (among sole leather tanners, this occurred in
1893 with the formation of the US Leather Company), strict title transfers
were executed between US Leather's subsidiaries and the buyers of closed
tanneries.  Many deeds executed by US Leather after 1896 contain clauses
prohibiting the use of the tannery sites for any leather industry activity.
According to the 1935 deed transferring the title of the former Tunkhannock
Tannery (1866-1930) in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania from the US Leather
Company to Elmer Dietrich, "This deed is made, executed, delivered and
accepted upon the express understanding and condition that no part of the
property hereby conveyed shall be used for purpose of tanning leather or for
any purpose pertaining to the tanning business . . . and the said grantor
hereby reserves the right to enter upon the premises and remove and destroy
any and all tanning vats found thereon at any time within twenty years from
the date of this deed, without liability for damages, provided said property
has been or is being used for the purpose of tanning leather."
 
Prior to selling the land to Dietrich with the above conditions stipulated,
the company sold the tannery's entire wooden superstructure to several
individuals.  Part of the tannery's buildings were sold to a local farmer
who used the wood to construct a new barn and other parts were sold to
Scranton, Pa. salvors.
 
References
 
Basalik, Kenneth J., Ronald Berge, Amy B. Keller, Judson Kratzer, Thomas
Lewis, David S. Rotenstein, and Alan D. Tabachnick
1992    Phase I/II Archaeological Survey River Route S.R. 22/322, Dauphin
County, Pennsylvania. North Wales, Pa.: CHRS, Inc.
 
Welsh, Peter
1963    A Craft that Resisted Change: American Tanning Practices to 1850.
Technology and Culture 4(3, Summer):298-317.
 
1964    Tanning in the United States to 1850: A Brief History. Washington,
D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
 
_______________________________________________
 
David S. Rotenstein, Ph.D., RPA
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
WWW: http://www.city-net.com/~davidsr/crm.htm
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
_______________________________________________