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Home & Lifestyle
OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2020 • IDAHO SENIOR INDEPENDENT PAGE 7
On the Ball? Do You Kerr?
NO MATTER WHEN IT COMES TO HOME CANNING
IT’S ALL STRAIGHT FROM THE JARDEN
process called for tightening the lid to the The other leading maker of canning
BY SuZANNE WARING jar after it had been processed. The rubber supplies, Alexander H. Kerr, created the
ring made it easier to seal the jar, so these Hermetic Fruit Jar Company in 1903, to
Do you remember the shelves of canning jars were called “Lightning” jars. make Economy and Self-Sealing glass jars.
jars at your grandparents’ house? Or maybe The Hazel-Atlas Company produced They were first made in Altoona, Kan., and
you also keep canning jars to process and glass jars for home canning from the late Sand Springs, Okla., where natural gas was
preserve food. plentiful.
Most jars have had Kerr jars first had a
“Mason” inscribed in the metal lid with a perma-
glass, and likely they also nently attached gasket. In
have been inscribed with 1915 Mr. Kerr invented a
“Ball” or “Kerr.” smaller, flat metal disk
So what’s this about with an attached gasket
Jarden? that became the lid. A
Preservation is essential threaded metal ring held
for feeding a population, the lid down. With this
especially in areas with type of lid, the jars could be
seasons when food is not reused, and the inexpen-
harvested. Napoleon is often sive lids were disposable.
credited with promoting the This is the type of lid most
need for preserved food for commonly used today.
his soldiers. Ball saw the advantages
The French government and began duplicating it.
in 1795 offered a reward Kerr made the first wide-
to anyone who invented mouth jars, which Ball also
an effective method for soon copied. Kerr made
preserving large amounts jars until 1957 and made
of food. In 1809 Nicholas replacement lids until 1961.
Appert determined that food In 1992 Kerr sold its
cooked inside a jar did not commercial glass container
spoil unless the seal leaked. Top row, left to right: An old Kerr jar with wavy glass, Presto jar, and Ball jar with deco- manufacturing business to
ration on the back. Bottom row, left to right: Bicentennial 1976 jar and Atlas jar. Photo
This is the basis for home by Suzanne Waring. Ball Corporation.
canning today, but the jars In 1993 Ball spun off
and seals have improved over the years. 1800’s until 1964 and usually had the name its home-canning business to Alltrista
In 1858 a New Yorker by the name of Atlas inscribed on the jar. They had a raised Corporation, which is now Jarden
John Mason built a machine that could cut lip, to help prevent cracking. Corporation, and then Newell bought out
threads onto zinc lids. The threaded lid with The Ball brothers, who had been making Jarden but kept the name—check out the
rubber ring and a glass jar with molded wood-jacketed tin cans for storage of oil, name on your box of lids.
threads on its neck provided for a sealing lard, and paint, soon took over the home Newell makes canning products under the
mechanism. canning industry. In 1883 they moved from names of Ball, Kerr, Golden, and Bernardin,
This meant that the jar could be used Buffalo, N.Y., to Muncie, Ind., and switched which is the Canadian canning jar company.
repeatedly with a screw-on lid. Because of to glass products. Muncie gave away free Products with the Ball name are sold mostly
technicalities in patenting, Mason failed to natural gas to companies that would build in the eastern part of the United States, while
profit from his invention. there, and the Ball brothers took advantage Kerr is found in the West.
As a result, other companies made jars of this offer, because they needed a lot of No longer can we say that we have a
with threads in the glass. (Today the Mason natural gas to fire the furnaces to make the preference to either Ball or Kerr, because
name identifies a jar that has a wide sealing glass. For years they made and sold jars they are now made by the same company.
surface on the lip of the jar and is tempered, and canning supplies, including the Ball Today, the name on the jar may be
so it can withstand high heat.) Blue Book. Ball or Kerr. The name in small print will
About this time, glass jars with glass lids The Ball Blue Book, with home can- be Jarden, but behind the names, it’s the
held down by a wire mechanism were the ning instructions and recipes, is still Newell Corporation. ISI
norm. A rubber ring placed between the lip published today.
of the jar and the glass lid created a seal. The
&
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