"Melba's Jammin'" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote:
>
> > I wonder if this is all a plot at Jarden to get us to move to those
> > super expensive "Ball Collection Elite Platinum" lids that are just
> > plain steel with a poly coat, no color anodization. It's the old story
> > of introduce a cheaper replacement product, label it with a more
> > expensive-sounding name, then make the existing product cruddier
> > and cruddier over the following years so that it becomes unusable and
> > you have to go to the more expensive product that gives you less.
> >
> > Ted
>
> My Fair intake ladies politely asked me to please not use those jars
> (they refer to them as flat jars) because they take up too much room in
> the display case and they like to display as many of the entries as they
> are able to. I can think of one woman there who would be apoplectic
> over it if it came to eliminating the taller jars. I have some old Ball
> and Kerr jars that are squareround and round -- wide mouth openings.
>

Just a bit of jar history,

The original Mason jars all were round - these were all blown by
hand, and a round jar is easier to make. These can be identified by
sprue breakoffs at the bottom. Most of these were wire-and-bale.

Later on, they were made by machine but they kept the traditional
round shape. Anything with lettering/numbering in the base was
machine-made.

Then in WWII, one of the war boards in it's quest for material savings
decreed that canning jars must be manufactured square. They felt that
the square jars would use less cardboard packaging for the same
amount of food. The official line was that square
jars saved a small amount of glass during the manufacture, but I believe
this is mathmatically false.

The square jars were unpopular with consumers, so after the war the
jar manufacturers went to the rounded/squarish shape, as a compromise
to the consumer, yet still retaining some of the cardboard packaging
savings.

Of course, today we don't even get much cardboard at all anymore
in the packaging. Also gone are the days when canning jars were
more interesting - does anyone remember the Bicentennial Mason
jars from 30 years ago?

Ted