Marvelous Mibs Marbles Collectors Zone

Doogle · Joined: 25 Aug 2009 Posts: 200 Location: Bishop, California

Hello Lizzy!

I took some up close and personals of that large cork that you were interested in. The size is a hair under 1", actually 15/16". The base glass does light up with a black light. As you can see, I think my father really used this marble a lot. It is in poor condition, but still a great marble to me.

Was Akro the only one with the spinning cup on their marble machine?

PS.....doesn't anyone out there have any marbles to post? I would love to see some collections. How about another example of my Akro oxblood patch I posted awhile ago? Are there other same type marbles out there that I could see a few pictures of?

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Don't Tread On Me

Kingfisher · Joined: 10 Sep 2009 Posts: 41 Location: Northern Illinois

Here ya go, some of my Akro Popeye's...

And here are some more Akro's. The one in the middle is an experimental, the others are corkscrews and/or Claudia's...

The experimental again...

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...."Gene"....

Doogle · Joined: 25 Aug 2009 Posts: 200 Location: Bishop, California

Great! Your photos are really helping me understand "popeyes". Claudias I have never heard of before now. The experimental, was it dug? I am going to think that it must have been, or did they test market them with a small run?

I'm looking for popeyes as we speak. I posted one recently, the red and blue one, and with your pictures, like I said, I am zeroing in on a better understanding of the clear base with wispy translucent swirls and the color swirls. I read that these are actually mis-made corkscrews. How can that be? They look intentionally made to me....it is a great pattern.
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Don't Tread On Me

Alan · Joined: 27 Dec 2007 Posts: 114 Location: Maryland

All of the "experimentals" (the patches and the corks) in orange and blue that I am aware of are larger than 1" diameter.

There are Akro orange and blue corks and patches that are 1 inch dia. and less, but they are standard production types.

The use of the term "Claudia" is of fairly recent invention. I'm not sure who created it and why (given the experimental types were dug over 12+ years ago). In my opinion it creates confusion in identifying these types.

IMHO.

lstmmrbls · Site Admin Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 696

All popeyes were made to be Corkscrews. They are never swirls. Akro is the only company that made intentional corkscrews. many companies have unintentional corkscrew like swirls on occasion but they rarely make a continuous cork or have a top and bottom end. On occasion the glob slipped on the peg and a so called Lazy Cork is the result. I personally believe it was usually a case of the glob slipping because everything would have been slowed to a stop if the cup had stopped turning. There are also a group of dug marbles called Popeye patches that were made as patches but with colors similar to the corkscrews. You can see the peg in the patent pic directly above the cup. It also created a ghost cork in the middle of many transparent corkscrews. Peace,Galen

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Peace,Galen

Doogle · Joined: 25 Aug 2009 Posts: 200 Location: Bishop, California

Man, those shears look nasty. Gives me the shivers looking at them! To be clear, Popeyes actually made it into the marketplace? I guess it was laber intensive to cull them out? Or maybe they were thought to be good enough. I thought I had heard that some unique popeyes were excavated at the Akro site plants, plus large numbers of the same kind of Popeyes, like an entire batch was tossed. That spinning cup must have been turning at a very slow speed. I wonder if it was controllable, with the different amount of turns found on some marbles?

I took some better photos of what I think is a Popeye. It has the clear base glass infused with the translucent wispy glass, and two transparent colors. Let me know if it is NOT a popeye. Thanks!

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Don't Tread On Me

David Chamberlain · Joined: 18 May 2009 Posts: 214

This last pic is definitely not a Popeye. And Doogie or Doogle; I cannot remember your name no matter how many times I see it(senility setting in), Popeyes are the most recognizable marble alive and Akro made Popeye boxes especially for them. You really need to get a basic book so as to get these simple facts down pat. Get AMERICAN MACHINE MADE MARBLES by Johnson, etc, etc and possible Bob Blocks MARBLES, IDENTIFICATION AND PRICE GUIDE. That ought to give you a running start. There's even a pic of Popeye on the box saying, "I am what I am(or Yam) a Marble Collector." Or something to that effect. Like I said I'm losing it! David

marblemover · Joined: 14 Aug 2007 Posts: 114 Location: Vancouver USA

the image Galen posted is convoluted from the original drawing in the patent (i'm not saying Galen changed the drawing, just that he posted it). what looks like a peg in the cup is described in the patent on page 3 as: "The cup 24 may have grooves 25 provided in its inner surface in order to assure a positive gripping or adhesive engagement of the cup with the glass received therein."

see http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=pPBDAAAAEBAJ&dq=1828216 for a complete description.

after reading through the entire patent, it appears to me that the cup was employed to cause the final product to appear more like natural marble, agate, onyx, or stone.

it is also apparent that the cup (which was designed to automatically rotate at varying speeds) could have been lowered and therefore not used to twist the charge before it was severed.

i think it's important that we read the description of the patents as well as view the pictures. it can shed a whole different light on what the inventor intended.
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aventurine happens,
paula

lstmmrbls · Site Admin Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 696

The peg was actually a very integral part of making the corkscrews work. It is what helps creates the ghost cores that can be seen inside some transparent corks. It was above the cup and caused friction on the glass allowing it to cork. The hinge area to the right is the pivot point where the cup tilted to drop the glob to the rounding rollers. To make more twists for the same size marble the stream would actually have to be smaller. S, was the machine w running at the same speed if a finer hotter stream was flowing faster. It probably couls be sped up or slowed down but numbers were probably much more important than more twists IMO.
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Peace,Galen

1DanS · Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 89

sum oxbloods.

thanks.