Talk:Kilner jar

Mason Jars
Aren't jars with hinged lids called mason jars? No, the most common jar referred to as a "mason jar" has a metal lid, with a rubber seal permanently bonded to it and a separate threaded ring. It was invented as a low-cost alternative to the Kilner jar. Wcoole (talk) 22:34, 21 March 2013 (UTC)


 * If that's correct (and it seems likely, given that the idea is very similar and the Kilner jar predates the Mason patent by some 15 years) then shouldn't this article be merged with the Mason Jar article (probably renamed Kilner with Mason noted as a local variant) ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.102.205.7 (talk) 11:26, 12 May 2018 (UTC)

Kilner Jar
Just found a jar lid that says "John Kilner & Sons" while digging in my yard in New York. I am seeing a lot of info on the Kilner jar and Kilner & Co. and have learned that the company name was changed to Kilner Bros. in 1857...how old could this jar lid be? Anyone out there a glass collector? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.86.168.131 (talk) 22:51, 27 May 2007 (UTC)


 * If it has "John Kilner & Sons" then it would have been made in Castleford, Yorkshire between 1842 and 1844. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.179.117.176 (talk) 01:32, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Inventor (?)
This book: The healing energies of light - Roger Coghill - Tuttle Publishing, 2000 - mentions that
 * *"In 1911 Dr Walter Kilner (who invented the famous Kilner jar for preserving fruit), risked his position as director of the X-ray department of St Thomas's Hospital in London, by publishing an heretical book called The Human Atmosphere or the Aura made Visible" . This doesn't seem a reliable source and the book seems funny but...."

We have page on Walter John Kilner. (Msrasnw (talk) 16:26, 23 May 2011 (UTC))

Invented when?
When were they invented (article currently only says where and by whom)? RJFJR (talk) 16:08, 21 September 2012 (UTC)


 * "The jars were made from ca. 1910 to the present (2016). The beginning date may have been chosen as the approximate time that the factories had wide-mouth machines; however, as noted above,the firm had adopted American Blue machines in 1900 – probably a better beginning date."


 * See The Kilner Glass Companies - Society for Historical Archaeology https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/KilnerGlass.pdf Enix150 (talk) 22:08, 31 October 2019 (UTC)

Clarification of history needed?
"taken to court in 1871", "struggled along for a few years", and finally "In 1937 there was a bankruptcy sale" - it reads as if the company struggled along for 66 years after converting to gas... 08:48, 01 May 2015 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.48.71.84 (talk)

See The Kilner Glass Companies - Society for Historical Archaeology https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/KilnerGlass.pdf — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.102.205.7 (talk) 12:01, 12 May 2018 (UTC)

Reliable source needed for highly dubious statement
"In 2003, The Rayware Group purchased the design, patent and trademark of the original Kilner jar..." Since patents last 20 years (at most), and design rights are likewise limited in time, this dubious assertion should be deleted unless a more reliable source can be provided than a gushing homemakers' magazine. They may have bought the trade mark but this needs to be sourced. Ttocserp (talk) 19:23, 29 April 2018 (UTC)


 * The footnotes indicate that the purchase of the rights was documented by the previous owners, Ravenhead, on their corporate history page (note 5). The gushing homemakers' magazine is the source only of the note that they're now manufactured in China (note 6).


 * IMHO, this is less dubious and the speculative criticism should be removed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.102.205.7 (talk) 11:50, 12 May 2018 (UTC)


 * Please use colons to distinguish your comments from other's. I've now added them to your comment above.


 * What Ravenhead asserted in their corporate history (if anything) can't alter the law of patents and designs. It's the law that patents last for a short time only – 20 years in the UK and most other countries.  Likewise registered designs can't last for more than 25 years, see eg .  It's therefore impossible for the design or patent "for the original Kilner jar", if invented in the 19th century as the article suggests, to have still existed in 2003 for Rayware to purchase.


 * Maybe Rayware purchased some patents for recent improvements, but the citation doesn't say so and that would not be the "original" Kilner jar. Or maybe the original Kilner jar was only invented in 1983, which would make the statement logically possibe, if highly improbable.  So, unless proper citations can be produced, the statement must be heavily qualified.


 * Once the patent and design rights expire, anyone can make jars according to the original Kilner design. Maybe they won't be allowed to sell them under the name "Kilner jar", if the trade mark rights subsist; but that's a completely different matter. Ttocserp (talk) 12:30, 20 September 2018 (UTC)

Thread size and lid size compared to regular mason jars?
The lid sizes are posted in the mason jar wikipedia page. It would be useful to add these to the this article. 2600:1000:BF02:10C0:87E:45B:6CDA:BD76 (talk) 15:53, 13 November 2021 (UTC)