Capstan Glass Fruit Jar Claim
In a previous article, Fruit
Jar Controversy in the 1930’s, a letter written by F. C. Ball in
1936 to Hartford-Empire inquiring about the licenses held by other companies to
manufacture fruit jars using Hartford-Empire feeder equipment was
reproduced. Several years later, the
controversy still raged. An officer of
the glass machine company sent Ball Brothers a Statement of Facts in 1939 to
try to clarify the situation. Portions
of this document, copies of which are in the Minnetrista files, are presented
as it contains some interesting facts.
As often is the case, the intertwining of companies,
subsidiaries and affiliates makes understanding the precise relationships
difficult. I don’t know if this will
help to any extent, but if you can dig your way through this and understand it,
more power to you.
CLAIM OF ANCHOR HOCKING GLASS CORP. OF PENNSYLVANIA THAT
IT HAS THE RIGHT TO MANUFACTURE DOMESTIC FRUIT JARS UNDER ITS GLASS FEEDER
LICENSES FROM HARTFORD-EMPIRE
STATEMENT OF FACTS
Anchor Hocking Glass Corp. of Pennsylvania is the
successor, by change of name in March, 1938 as we understand, of Capstan Glass
Company of Connelsville, Pennsylvania.
It is owned by Anchor Hocking Glass Corp., which was organized in 1937
to take over the businesses of Anchor Cap & Closure Co., Hocking Glass Co.,
General Glass Corp., Salem Glass Works, Lancaster Glass Co. and Capstan Glass
Co. It is understood that Anchor Hocking
of Pa. is still maintained as a separate corporation.
Capstan Glass Company was organized about 1917 by Mr.
Isaac R. Stewart, President of the Anchor Cap & Closure Company of Long
Island City, New York, and was closely affiliated with Anchor Cap &
Closure. The business of the Capstan
Company was the manufacture of glass tumblers, bottles and jars, mainly for
packer’s use. It made no fruit jars for
domestic (household) use, although at various times it claimed to have the
right under its glass feeder licenses to make domestic fruit jars.
After the Capstan Glass Co. was acquired by the Anchor
Hocking group, the plant was shut down.
In the spring of 1939, the Anchor group applied to the Hartford-Empire Company
for permission to sub-lease to Anchor Hocking of Pa. (formerly Capstan) some of
the Hartford equipment held under license at Lancaster, Ohio by the Hocking
division of Anchor Hocking. It was
stated that this request was made in order to save taxes, by giving Anchor
Hocking of Pa. some manufacturing profits against which it could charge its
losses resulting from shutting down of the old Capstan plant at Connelsville.
This arrangement was agreed to May 1, 1939.
Later, Anchor Hocking of Pa. reported to
Hartford-Empire the manufacture, during July, 1939, of 3222 gross* of domestic
fruit jars for which it computed the royalty due Hartford at the rate of 12¢
per gross. Hartford-Empire declined to
receive payment of such royalties and notified Anchor Hocking of Pa. that the
manufacture of domestic fruit jars was outside of its Hartford license.
Representatives of the Anchor Hocking group have
stated that the fruit jars in question were made deliberately for the purpose
of raising the issue as to whether Anchor Hocking of Pennsylvania, as successor
of Capstan Glass Company, has the right to make domestic fruit jars. If so, it is desired to manufacture such jars
extensively for the canning season of 1940.
*For August 1939, 1586 gross were reported, making a total
of 4808 gross.
R. D. Brown
Vice President
Hartford-Empire Company
The asterisked portion was added to the document
later.
Whether you can figure out how the companies are
related or not, there still is some nice information available about the workings
of the fruit jar industry in the years just before World War II. I have not been able to determine the exact
resolution of the matter, but I suspect that the onset of the war made it a
moot point.
Written by Richard H. Cole,
Jr.
© 2003 Minnetrista
First Published in September
2003 Glass Chatter