Happy National Inventor’s Day!
![Company Founder, William Painter Company Founder, William Painter](/sites/default/files/fields/images/article/William_Painter.jpg)
In honor of Thomas Edison’s birthday, February 11 is designated as National Inventor’s Day. To commemorate this day, and in recognition of our 125th anniversary, which is being celebrated in 2017, Crown is honoring National Inventors Hall of Fame inductee and company founder, William Painter.
Painter was a mechanical engineer whose vision transformed the bottling industry with the invention of the bottle cap (also known as the crown cork). His ingenuity, and the leadership of those who came after him, helped shape Crown into the successful global company that it is today.
In addition to the bottle cap, Painter patented 84 other inventions, including the bottle opener, a machine for crowning bottles, a paper-folding machine, a safety ejection seat for passenger trains and a machine for detecting counterfeit currency. He was inducted to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006.
Visit the History and Timeline section of this site to learn about some of the revolutionary technologies that Crown has introduced to the market in its 125-year history.