The man who invented the glass jar and forgot about it
On February 26, 1902, John Landis Mason died in New York City. He could have been one of the richest men in the town; instead, he lived in a council house with his wife, six daughters and didn’t have a penny in his pocket. And it wasn’t because he had squandered his fortune or embarked on some misguided investment. Like many inventors, Mason had been a tad absent-minded.
Before industrial refrigeration, food preservation already had a history as long as human beings. Salting, smoking and brining allowed meat and vegetables to be consumed long after they had been slaughtered or harvested, but they changed the natural flavour of the products. Instead, other practices, such as the use of ice houses, did not allow the food to be preserved for too long. If they were misused, they could favour the development of bacteria and toxins, making food potentially lethal.
A leap forward was made at the end of the 18th century, when French confectioner Nicholas Appert found a way to preserve practically anything. He put food in glass jars topped with a cork and secured with sealing wax. The bottle was then wrapped in a cloth and boiled. Appert had no idea why it worked (that heat killed bacteria would only be discovered years later by Louis Pasteur); however, it worked.
The process became known as appertization and allowed the world to enjoy delicious treats even off-season. With the 12,000-franc reward he received from the French government, pleased to be able to provide his army with non-perishable supplies, the confectioner opened the Maison Appert, the world’s first preserved food industry, canning tomatoes, legumes, milk, fruit, eggs and other products.
However, appertization had a significant problem. If the wax seal was not applied properly or damaged in transit, a small crack was enough to degrade the product or make it potentially lethal.
John Landis Mason, a tinsmith with a passion for inventions, came up with the solution. In 1858 he patented an idea as simple as it was ingenious: a glass container with a thread on the outside of the mouth that could receive a specially shaped metal band. In a few words, he had invented the screw cap jars, the ones in which today we keep milk, jams and many other foods.
For the stored food industry, it was a revolution. Compared to Appert’s system, Mason’s was safe and easier to use. Every year, in the United States, thousands of glass jars were produced. Everyone called them Mason Jars, a name they are still known for. The only one who didn’t get rich was Mason himself. The earnings from the jar manufacturer with whom he had entered into a partnership were not enough because the competition was too fierce. In 1869, when he finally realized that others were doing business by exploiting his invention, Mason filed a lawsuit for patent infringement. What patent? That’s right, in 1858, Mason had filed an idea for a jar with a screw cap. Then he realized that this was not enough to make the closure airtight, and he had inserted a thin rubber disc at the base of the lid. This was the real innovation! Mason knew this, yet he had never updated the initial patent in ten years, even though he was aware that everyone was copying him. The court held that the inventor had thus demonstrated that he was not interested in his invention and was therefore not entitled to any financial compensation.
Today, the earliest Mason Jars are collector’s items and can be worth up to thousands of dollars. Glass jars are among the most common objects in our homes and millions of them are produced every year. The only one who never made any money out of it was its inventor, John Landis Mason. He could have been one of the richest men in New York City, if he hadn’t been a tad absent-minded.
For more details:
- Alvin Goodley. «10 Rarest Mason Jars Ever Made».
- Emily Matchar. «A Brief History of the Mason Jar». Smithsonian Magazine.
- John Stuart Gordon. American Glass. Yale University Press, 2018, p. 87.
- Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Second Circuit. Derby and Miller, 1875, p. 149.
