One hundred and twenty-one years ago, noted American Tinsmith John Landis Mason, inventor, and patentee of the metal screw-on lid for glass storage jars died at 70 in 1902 in poverty from unspecified natural causes in New York.
The fruit jars that used the screw-on lids bears his name, Mason jars. Many jars were known as Mason jars and some jars are embossed with “Mason’s Patent Nov. 30th, 1858," reflect ing his U.S. Patent for an improvement in screw-neck bottles.
After the patent expired, several competitors manufactured Mason jars without owing any royalties. Mason never benefited from the financial gains from his
invention.
