~ Canning Jar Trivia ~

Good morning, everyone!

Ever wonder where those beautiful aqua canning jars that you adore sitting on your shelf really came from

or how old they just might be?

Well, I did a little legwork for you.

So, grab your cappuccino, put your feet up and let me tell you the story...

Once upon a time 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 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 maintained it.  The jar included his patent: "Mason’s Patent November 30th. 1858."

Ball Glass Manufacturing Company began in 1880 when Frank and Edmund Ball of Buffalo, New York, purchased the Wooden Jacket Can Company. Originally the brothers manufactured metal cans wrapped in wood, but when John L. Mason's patent for his fruit canning jar expired, the brothers prepared to move into glass. By 1884 the first Ball jars as we treasure today were produced, and in 1888 furnaces were fired at a new plant in Muncie, Indiana.

Interesting, huh?

In recent years Ball jars have gained popularity, due in large part to the lack of intact jars. Some collectors try to accumulate as many jars as they can, from pints to quarts to half-gallons, in colors that range from standard clear, aquamarine, and green to less-common amber.

Me?  I adore the aqua colored ones.

Others try to acquire jars with various types of logos on their fronts. For example, when the first machine-made Ball jars were produced in 1896, the distinctive script on the front boasted "Ball IMPROVED MASON," with an extra loop after the last "l" in Ball that almost looks like a fifth letter. From 1900 to 1914, the script was shortened to "Ball MASON," while from 1910 to 1914, some Ball jars bore the words "BALL PERFECT MASON" in big, block letters.

 

I'll bet that you just ran into your kitchen to check your jars, didn't you?

I know I did!

Now, you're probably wondering about those glass topped beauties?

Well, 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. 

 

So, there it is in a nutshell.

Ummm....in a canning jar, that is!

 

And the next time you want to impress your company with some canning jar facts, you know the rest of the story!  :)

{ Hugs }

~ laurie

(I'm linking with Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday!)