US Patent: 22,186
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| Improvement in screw-neck bottles
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Patentee:
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| John Landis Mason (exact or similar names) - New York, NY |
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Patent Dates:
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| Granted: |
Nov. 30, 1858 |
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Jeff Joslin
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Description: |
| This is the genesis of the ubiquitous Mason jar as invented by tinshmith J. L. Mason. This patent covers a glass jar with screw threads molded into the neck, with some subtle design features to ensure air-tightness and to ensure that grinding the top of the jar will not leave a sharp edge on the first part of the thread.Mason worked with glass-maker Clayton Parker in a shop in Crowleytown, NJ, to bring his jars to market. Boyd jar's are not labeled with a maker's name, saying only "Mason's Patent Nov. 30th 1858". In 1858, less than a year after the patent was issued, Mason licensed the patent to the Sheet Metal Screw Co., owned by Lewis R. Boyd. Boyd had already patented a refinement of using a milk-glass insert in the lid to avoid contact between the jar contents and the metal lid. In December 1871 Parker, Boyd, Mason and others established the Consolidated Fruit Jar Co. to make Mason jars.On 1870-05-10 Mason patented (102,913) further improvements to his jar. That patent would be found invalid in a New York court because he had started using his improvements as early as 1858 but waited a decade before applying for the patent; the normal grace period allowed is about a year. Furthermore, during that interval Mason had failed to protect his patent against numerous infringements during that decade, and the court ruled that he had abandoned his 1858 patent and it was forfeited. Afterward the Ball Corp. became the largest single manufacturer of Mason jars. They are not listed here as a manufacturer because they never licensed the patent. |
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