The History of the Home Canning Jar

[Guest Guest]

Up until about 1858, the canning jars that were used were glass jars, with a tin flat lid and sealing wax, which was not reusable and was very messy.

 

In 1858, an inventor and tin smith from New York City, John L. Mason, invented the Mason jar. He invented a machine that could cut threads into lids, which made it practical to manufacture a jar with a reusable, screw-on lid. This was the difference between his design and his predecessors, the sealing mechanism...a glass container with a thread molded into its top and a zinc lid with a rubber ring. The rubber created the seal, and the threaded lid held the seal on. The jar included his patent: "Mason’s Patent Nov. 30th. 1858."

 

The ease of use and affordability of Mason jars helped home canning spread across the nation, not only among farmers, homesteaders and settlers, but also urban families, who began family traditions of canning sauces, pickles, relishes, fruits and tomatoes.

 

In 1882, Henry William Putnam of Bennington, Vermont, invented a fruit jar that used a glass lid and a metal clamp to hold the lid in place. These "Lightning jars" became popular because no metal (which could rust, breaking the seal or contaminating the food) contacted the food and the metal clamps made the lids themselves easier to seal and remove (hence the "Lightning" name) . There were many similar glass lid and wire-clamp jars produced for home canning all the way into the 1960s. Many can still be seen in garage sales, flea markets and on specialty food jars today.

 

The Atlas E-Z Seal was a type the Lightning jar. The difference is a raised lip to help keep the jar from cracking. This was called the "Strong Shoulder" and was similar to the Mason jar. Cracking was a common problem with shoulder seal jars. Hazel-Atlas Glass Company was in business from the late 1800s until 1964.

 

In Buffalo, NY, William Charles Ball and his brothers (Lucius, Lorenzo, Frank C., Edmund Burke, and George Alexander) were in the business of manufacturing wood-jacketed tin cans for the storage of oil, lard and paints. In 1883, the Ball brothers changed from tin to glass containers and in 1886, they changed to glass fruit jars. They moved their operations to Muncie, Indiana after a fire broke out at their Buffalo factory. Muncie (where a supply of natural gas had been discovered) was chosen because the city was offering free gas and land to rebuild the factory.

 

The Balls began acquiring smaller companies, mass producing and distributing jars across the country. They quickly became the leaders in the industry.

 

Alexander H. Kerr founded the Hermetic Fruit Jar Company in 1903 and among the first commercial products were the Economy and Self Sealing jars. The Economy jars were among the first wide-mouth jars and thus, were easy to fill. They also incorporated aspects from two 1903 patents held by another inventor, Julius Landsberger...a metal lid with a permanently attached gasket. This made the lids easy to use and inexpensive.

 

Mr. Kerr later invented in 1915 a smaller, flat metal disk with the same permanent composition gasket. The lid sealed on the top of a mason jar and a threaded metal ring held the lid down during the hot water or pressure canning process. This allowed re-use of old canning jars together with inexpensive and easy to use disposable lids.

 

The Ball Corporation owned and operated many other plants located in other cities including El Monte, California, Mundelein, Illinois and Asheville, North Carolina. Ball Corporation no longer sells home canning products. Ball spun off that part of their business in 1993 as Alltrista Corporation (which is now Jarden Corp.). Since 1993. the Alltrista Corporation has been manufacturing the Ball glass canning jars. They also make Kerr, Bernardin and Golden Harvest canning jars. Alltrista's home canning product along with more information on Ball jars, can be found on their website at www.homecanning.com.

 

 

[Nettie]

Interesting. I have some of those old clamp type jars that were my grandma's.

 

Regarding jars, how many times can a jar be reused? I know you should use new lids and rings each time, but was wondering if the jars would eventually break after being pressured so many times.

[Guest Guest]

Sorry, I missed this post...

 

The jars can be used over and over again, as long as there are no chips or cracks in the jars.

[brightblessings5]

Rings can be used over and over, too. As long as they're not rusty or bent. Lids should only be used once.