TODAY we celebrate a versatile jar that is popular for everyday use, the Mason Jar.
This day is created by Misty Campbell, who is the founder of “Unboxing the Bizarre”. She celebrates Mason jars which are used for canning and other countless purposes. The anniversary takes place on the day John Landis Mason patented the jar in 1858.
This jar is different from the other regular jars because of the opening on the lid. It is a molded glass jar with a mouth screw thread on the outer edge of the jar and when you press the top, a separate stamped tin-plated steel disc-shaped will separate from the lid.
In the United States, standard-size Mason jars are made of soda-lime glass and come in two sizes: regular mouth opening, 2-3/8 inch inner and 2-3/4 inch outer diameter, and the wide mouth, which 3 inches inner and 3-3/8 outer diameter. They also produce a variety of volumes which include cups, pints, quarts, and half-gallons.
Mason jars are also called “Ball” jars, in reference to the Ball Corporation, a manufacturer of glass canning jars, wherein the name is embossed on the jar itself. One of the more popular styles of closures for the Mason jar was the wire ball which has a closure of a metal wire arrangement with a lever that applies leverage to a glass lid when pivoted downward against the side of the jar, clamping it down over a separate rubber O ring.
A new type of Mason jar known as a “bead” jar was introduced from 1910 to 1915. It has a continuous screw-thread jar which is designed with a bead between the screw threads and the shoulder as a sealing surface. During the 20th century, bead jars were sealed with two-piece metal lids.
So, today, celebrate this day by using a Mason jar when you canning and preserving food, or just use them for your premade breakfast cereal with a variety of fruits and flavors. Share on social media how you use Mason jars using #NationalMasonJar.
History Throwback!
1963 LBJ formed a commission to investigate Kennedy’s assassination
On November 29, 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed a special commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which had occurred a week earlier, on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas.
According to his memoirs and biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin, Johnson knew he had to provide strong leadership in the wake of the shocking murder of President Kennedy. One of his first official acts was to initiate an investigation into the assassination. Johnson later wrote that in the weeks after the assassination, the American public, and the government that he now headed were in a state of confusion and disorientation “like a bunch of cattle caught in a swamp.” He felt the weight of his new responsibility keenly “in a world that is never more than minutes away from catastrophe” and knew that “the whole world would be anxiously following every move I made.”
On November 29, Johnson issued Executive Order No. 11130, appointing the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy–commonly referred to as the Warren Commission, after its leader, Chief Justice Earl Warren. Since the president’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby almost immediately after Oswald killed Kennedy, details of Oswald’s motive for the assassination remained murky.
(excerpted from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lbj-forms-commission-to-investigate-kennedy-assassination)
