The original reusable camping, hiking, and backpacking water bottle turns 70 this year and Nalgene is celebrating by offering a limited-edition water bottle. The bottles feature the company’s first logo, a mountain lion and the company is also giving away limited-edition 70th-anniversary decals with any purchase on the Nalgene.com website.
Nalgene was first introduced in 1949 when chemist Emanuel Goldberg developed the first plastic pipette jars and went on to found the Nalge Company. The word Nalge came from the initials of Goldberg’s wife Natalie Levy Goldberg.
Nalgene’s introduction into the outdoor lifestyle came in the 1960s when the company’s labware scientists, who were into hiking, took the bottles on backpacking trips because they were lightweight and leakproof.
By the 1970s conservationists began discouraging campers from burning cans and glass containers so Nalgene bottles became more popular. The company president decided to market the bottles as a camping essential. Nalgene bottles have become a part of the outdoor culture used by everyone including the Boy Scouts and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team.