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# We spent all August canning and half of it spoiled by Christmas
- URL: https://www.thefrictionlog.com/03250/
- Published: 2026-10-01T22:09:11.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-12T15:12:53.000Z
- Description: Filed: 1810 · Solved: November 30, 1858 in New York City · the Mason jar · by John Mason, tinsmith
- Author: The Clerk
- Tags: Solved, #solved 1858

*Something in the cellar is fizzing. I hear it from the stairs.* — Farm wife, 1855

Before 1858, home cooks stoppered their jars with corks, sealed them with wax, boiled them, and hoped. A 26-year-old tinsmith in New York named John Mason patented a glass jar with threads molded into the neck, so a lid could screw down tight, with a rubber ring to seal it. He sold his rights the next year for notes that turned out to be worth next to nothing, and he died a charity patient in 1902\. We still call the jar by his name. That's about all he got.

**Noted**: the jar and the screw band can go for years. Use a new flat lid every time; it only seals once.

**Relates to** [No. 03200](https://www.thefrictionlog.com/03200/).