Answer to “Who Was It?”

The man who wrote the letter in 1919 to Ball Bros. about making his jar was from East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. He was living there back in 1881 when he got a patent for the jar, but companies bearing his name were located in Boston and Philadelphia. He never owned a glass factory, just companies that sold his jar. His crooked partner was named Blake.

So, who was the writer? - Warren R. van Vliet, patentee of the famous The Van Vliet Jar of 1881, was the man trying to revive his fruit jar career. And no, Ball Brothers never made a jar with a wire that went all the way around the base.

Written by Richard H. Cole, Jr.

© 2002 Minnetrista Cultural Center

This article first appeared in the October 2002 issue of the Glass Chatter.