Crown Liners and Discs
Shaved/Solid Cork
Solid cork, also known as shaved cork or natural cork, was a inexpensive product that was first used as a liner for crown caps in the late 1890s. This cork made a fairly good seal, but there were an occasional leaks due to the holes present. When composition cork was introduced in 1915, it proved to be more secure and soon became the dominant liner, but solid cork continued to be used in the United States for both soda and beer well into the 1930s. In Europe, it lasted much longer than that, with some Italian mineral waters continuing to use solid cork into the 1970s.
Composition Cork
Composition cork, developed by the New Process Cork Company, was introduced in 1915 and gradually supplanted use of solid cork in crowns, with most bottlers having switched to the new liner by 1925. With the advent of plastic liners phase out of cork began in 1962. Some American breweries used cork until about 1970, and smaller soda bottlers until about 1976. Composition cork continued to be seen on some non-American beer crowns into the 1980s.
Spot Crowns
are regular crown corks to which a "spot" or disc of liner material is attached to the cork liner. This was added to prohibit the beverage from making contact with the cork liner. Dozens of various materials were used for spots, such as paper, aluminum, tin, foil, rubber and vinylite depending on the type of beverage that came into contact with the spot. Aluminum spots were generally used for beer and the others for soda, ginger ale or sparkling water. During World War II, American, Canadian, and Mexican beer crowns used vinyl or paper spots instead of foil due to metal shortages.
Plastic/Vinyl
Plastic crown liners were first developed by Continental Can Company in 1955, with Crown, Cork & Seal debuting their own version a year later, and other manufacturers following suit. Plastic was first used on the short-lived "flip caps" in 1956, but did not come into use in regular crowns until 1962 due to their higher cost. Breweries were first to switch to the new liner because of higher volume, with the larger soda bottlers following behind. After 1976 all American crowns were plastic lined. Grey was the most popular color at first, but clear liners also existed from the beginning as well as removable liners on which a logo or message could be printed. Today, white (use of which began outside the United States) and even green liners are also used. The three examples seen here illustrate the differences in liner appearance between different crown manufacturers, which is not as evident today.
Corrugations
are the points formed around the skirt of the crown. Different numbers of corrugations were used by various companies, but were later standardized at 21..

The corrugation dates are as follows:

24 points: 1892-1903

22 points: 1903-1911

21 points: 1911 to date

27 points: 1997 to date

Cases & Cartons
used for shipping of crowns came in various sizes.

50 Gross Wooden Cases......19" x 12" x 11" deep

100 Gross Wooden Cases....25" x 16" x 13" deep

200 Gross Wooden Cases....25" x 20 1/2" x 20 1/2" deep

50 Gross Cartons...................16 1/8" x 11 1/2" x 9 1/2" deep

100 Gross Leverpak Drum

200 Gross Leverpak Drum

Today's standard case size is 70 Gross...21" x 12" x 12" deep

A gross = quantity of 144