Hmmm... could be a good way to take the cheap road on buying the beer.

"Aww, gee whiz guys... you drank that whole pitcher already?? I guess it's somebody else's turn to buy the next one."

This isn't a perfect fix but... after actually using duct tape to fix on a tour I was doing,(couldn't find clear tape to stick to the plastic and they couldn't see the duct tape anyway.) I just used the bottom of a 2 liter soda bottle. It fits inside ok but need to find one that does not have the "feet" of the bottle molded into bottom. I've seen bottles that have a plastic cap that is glued onto the bottom of the round bottom bottle.

This one works ok for stage but closer they might notice a depth difference. I get around it by not "pouring" out so much milk. this covers the inside milk.

Anyway, hope that helps.

Kent

We used to use that type of bottle and made our own pitchers at a magic shop in Birmingham, AL. We used the classic flute-sided plastic beer pitchers common at restaurant supply houses.

http://www.pubsupply.com/Pitchers/60-oun......8014.htm

A dab of aquarium silicone kept the insert in place, so it wouldn't float. I haven't seen those bottles for years though. I can only find the ones with the molded "feet". Bummer...

Not sure anyone mentioned, but there is one on Ebay for sale currently for $20.00. Had one of these when I was younger - loved the classic design of it. Also in "Great Tricks of the Master Magicians" by George Gilbert and Wendy Rydell c1977 on page 66 he describes how to make the gimmick for a Milk Pitcher. However I am not sure his design was ever tested (as looking at the illustrations, the gimmick would float out).

Hope that helps.

Stuart

I would try starting with a plastic water bottle (disposable) and with a decent screw-on lid, then fit the lid with a schrader valve. Find a flexible, but firm (not easily compressed) material like poly foam sheeting that you can cut and glue-seam together into a "liner" for the glass pitcher.

Now put the poly liner in the pitcher, heat the water bottle in boiling water (or an oven) until very soft, then insert inside the liner & pitcher. Screw the lid onto the bottle and then use a bicycle pump to inflate the water bottle, forcing it to conform to the shape of the pitcher. The poly foam liner creates a space for the liquid load and should be flexible enough to pull out (maybe in pieces) after the plastic bottle cools. Trimming off the top of the bottle using x-acto knives and/or dremel tool is where your skill as a builder might be tested the most.

I'm trying to make the feke for a pitcher , using this cone pattern generator to cut it out from a sheet of acetate:

https://www.blocklayer.com/cone-patterns.aspx

The pitcher I'll use is slightly tapered , so it is wider at the top than at the bottom , which means I entered the inside diameter of the narrow end of the pitcher and the inside diameter of the wider end of the pitcher , and entered the height of the pitcher . I adjusted the dimensions a bit to allow a little extra room for the feke to fit into the pitcher , so it doesn't fit too tight. Ideally about 3/16" amount of space. The height of the feke will not be exactly as high as the top edge of the pitcher , but will be a bit below the top edge of the pitcher. (this will vary depending on the size and shape of the pitcher used.) Entering those numbers into the cone pattern generator will get a printable pattern to use as a guide to cut out the feke from a sheet of acetate at the correct size. Then I'll use a water-proof clear-drying glue to attach a bottom disc to the lower (narrow) end of the feke, so one end of the feke is closed and the other end is open. Then I'll insert it into the pitcher , but first glue a thin rare-earth magnet to the center interior of the feke and glue another thin rare-earth magnet on the center of the bottom of the pitcher so the feke will be held securely in place by the magnets ,but it could be removed if necessary for cleaning. I'll also use a hole punch to punch out three holes near the upper front edge of the feke to allow liquid to flow through.

See an example here . If you do this, your dimensions may vary , depending on size/shape of pitcher used. NOTE: for the squarish shaped pitcher (like this one) you would need to spend more time shaping the feke to conform to the squarish inside shape of the pitcher. From what I understand this was done by using a wood block or hard-baked clay form that has the interior dimensions of the pitcher , then using a slightly heated sheet of acetate which is molded around the wood or clay form to get the squarish shaped feke ... as has been discussed earlier in this topic, using a vacuum-forming process might be a better solution.)

Vacuum forming was mentioned several times in this discussion thread. I have inquired with 7 different companies that do vacuum forming , but their minimum order is 2000 pieces. I can't find anyone who will do small runs of vacuum formed items.


Interestingly I found an advertisement in the Aug 1970 Linking Ring that shows this was a thing at one time . In 1970 you could buy vacuum formed replacement inserts for your milk pitcher. In 2020 , you can't.

The pitcher in the picture is an Enardoe Milk Pitcher, 100% positive, unless the exact same pitcher was used by different manufacturers. I just dug around the storage closet and pulled the exact pitcher out of the original labelled box with original instructions. I guesstimate mine to be from 1973-1974.

Unfortunately I can't help you with your insert issue as it will not come out. It does appear to be a single sheet of plastic/acrylic material cut flat, folded up on four sides somehow, then sealed at the back. Still works great.

Like many other manufacturing processes, vacuum forming capabilities are becoming available to small shops and even home users. Here are a couple of things to look at:

https://www.mayku.me/
https://www.vaquform.com/collections/vaquform/products/dt2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ynFpxokWlM

There's plenty of other material available online to learn more about how to do it.