Drey pat'd 1920 Improved Ever Seal pint

[poorjodie]

I know the Drey jars aren't high dollar jars and not all that collectable but I have an odd one. It is an unlisted RB 834 pint with 1/2 bosses and no neck bead. To top it off it is an unlisted color, light green with amber swirls. I think the neck configuration is the same as RB 300 variation number 1, Ball Sanitary Sure Seal. The neck configuration is not the one Schram patented 21 Sept 1920 and is perhaps an experimental style. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[poorjodie]

And from the side without lid or wires.

 

[bobclay]

Hi Larry, COOL jar and for 2 reasons. I luv the amber swirling and if I'm not mistaken, most of these have a bead joining the glass bosses. This is definitely a Schram patent...Ball never used solid glass bosses like these. All of the experimental dimple styles Ball used on their Ideals, Sure Seal and Sanitary Sure Seal jars were along the 1908 Anthony McDonnell patent where the wire bail fit INTO the dimples as opposed to OVER them like this jar. There is an IDEAL with bosses like these, but it was made from these old moulds after Ball acquired them in 1925. Ball had settled on their half round or hemispherical type dimples by about 1916 or 1917.

Neat jar and nice pics!

Bob

 

[bobclay]

Hi Larry,

This is a Schram patent, #57,772 issued in May of 1921. The original 1920 patent may have infringed on some earlier Ball patent or design so they obviously scrapped their initial idea and went with this new design where the bail wire fit over the glass bosses.

Bob

 

[poorjodie]

I wonder why Schram used the incorrect patent date on the jar? The 1920 patent is the the same as one of the 1910 Ball experimental dimples. It would be interesting to know the communication between Ball and Schram over the 1920 patent and the use of "Perfect Mason" on the Drey jars.

 

[bobclay]

Hi Larry,

I couldn't tell you why they didn't use the original 1920 patent or why they didn't change the date to 1921. I would have to guess that the original 1920 patent would have infringed on Ball's rights to the McDonnell patent as the designs were so similar in nature to what Ball had used several years prior to that. Poor business decision? Poor research prior to the first patent? No real way of knowing. And what more is interesting about your jar, is that it doesn't 'exactly' coincide with the 1921 patent either because of the lack of the bead that is normally found around the neck.

You bring up another good point on the Drey use of the Perfect Mason wording. From what I can find, Drey made shoulder seal jars way later than most companies and went to the bead seal design around 1917 I think. Ball would have been producing their Perfect Mason jars for only 4 or 5 years before Drey decided to make their Perfect Mason jars. It does seem odd to me that Ball didn't patent or try to patent the term Perfect Mason. I'm not sure you could patent words or phrases back then, but even the designs were so similar, surely Ball would have raised all billy you know what. Perhaps, they paid some royalty to Ball to use that name and jar shape and design. If so, I've never found anything to support that.

But because of the color, the MINT condition, the lack of a bead and the controversy over the patent date, this jar is a keeper for sure. []

Bob

 

[bottlenutboy]

my dad has quart one like it with a peened out patent date is it a common one as far as drey jars go i know they are all common but it has peened out letters where the date was

 

[baseballed]

Hi Larry, COOL jar and for 2 reasons. I luv the amber swirling and if I'm not mistaken, most of these have a bead joining the glass bosses. This is definitely a Schram patent...Ball never used solid glass bosses like these. All of the experimental dimple styles Ball used on their Ideals, Sure Seal and Sanitary Sure Seal jars were along the 1908 Anthony McDonnell patent where the wire bail fit INTO the dimples as opposed to OVER them like this jar. There is an IDEAL with bosses like these, but it was made from these old moulds after Ball acquired them in 1925. Ball had settled on their half round or hemispherical type dimples by about 1916 or 1917.

Neat jar and nice pics!

Bob

I'm at a loss for the term "bosses". The dimples I figure are the areas where the bail fits into the jar? Thank you.

 

[baseballed]

I'm at a loss for the term "bosses". The dimples I figure are the areas where the bail fits into the jar? Thank you.

 

[jarsnstuff]

Glass bosses are knobs of glass that stick out on the sides of the jar and the wire wraps around them. See attached photo

I've got to say, seeing this old post with Bob Clay responding ... sure brings back a lot of fond memories. Bob worked at Ball for a long time and was the primary expert for all things Ball. He passed away probably just a couple years after this thread was posted.