CLAN BOYD INTERNATIONAL
BOYD
CANNING JAR LIDS and ENCLOSURES
LOUIS R. BOYD
The name of Louis (or Lewis) R. Boyd is almost as commonly associated
with
fruit jars as is Mason's, for his name is generic with the "Boyds Porcelain
Lined Caps" that closed fruit jars for many years. Yet very little
is known of
the man personally. According to the 1870 U.S. Census Schedule for
Brooklyn,
New York, he was born in 1832 in Connecticut, and was married to Connecticut-
born Ellen, who bore him two sons, Ralph B. and James H. Boyd.
His name appears on the fruit jar scene in New York City in 1862,
when he and
two other men gained control of the patent rights for screw caps and
jars
originally owned by John L. Mason. Boyd was listed in the 1863/1864
New York
City Directory as a "manufacturer" at 139 Elm Street, and as "treasurer"
at
214 Pearl Street, address of the Sheet Metal Screw Company who sold
Mason's
Patent jars and screw caps for the next eight years. On January 21,
1868, Boyd
was issued a patent for an Improved Locking-Ring for fruit jars, thatcontain-
ed as one of its features an iron stud soldered vertically onto the
side. This
vertical wrench lug was to be used on most of the caps and bands made
by the
Sheet Metal Screw Company and the Consolidated Fruit Jar Company for
two decades.
Boyd's most famous patent was granted on March 30, 1869, for an Improved
Mode of Preventing Corrosion in Metallic Caps. The patent text
called for a glass
lining-plate to be inserted in the "well-known cap used with the so
called
"Mason Jar," for the purpose of preventing the disagreeable flavor
imparted to
the jar contents if the food came into contact with the zinc cap. The
earliest
known application of the is patent was a zinc cap lettered on top TRADE
MARK
COMMON SENSE PATD JUNE 2 57 OCT 27 57 JUNE 9 63 MAR 30 69.
These caps had a 1/16" thick clear glass liner, rather than the
later milk glass liners.
The first three patent dates on the cap were those of John L. Mason
and John K.
Chase respectively, while the last date was for Boyd's liner patent.
Another of Boyd's patents, issued on May 11, 1869, called for a zinc
screw
nozzle (or band) with a permanently-attached glass plate spun into
an aperture
on top of the band, in order to form a screw cap. This
cap, with patent date
embossed on the glass, is known to exist, but is quite rare. Boyd was
assigned
the July 18, 1871 patent of Taylor & Hodgetts that called for a
glass or
porcelain lined cap.
On December 12, 1871, Boyd's Sheet Metal Screw Co. was merged with several
others to form the Consolidated Fruit Jar Company whose early offices
were
located at the same address as Boyd's old company, 66 Warren Street,
New York
City. In 1872 city directories, Boyd was listed as the president
of the new
company, and he also served as a trustee during its early days. By
1873,
Boyd's name was no longer listed in directories as an officer of the
company,
and it would seem that his association with Consolidated Fruit Jar
Co. was as
short-lived as John L. Mason's.
Boyd's porcelain lining patent of Mar 30, 1869, was reissued on Oct
25 1881 to
the Consolidated Fruit Jar Company, assignee of the late Lewis R. Boyd,
de-
ceased. From this, we assume that Boyd died prior to 1881, but
the exact date
is not yet known. [He died at age 42 in 1874-- RG Boyd]
Louis was born in Connecticut in 1832 [1870 US Census] and he married
Ellen
A., maiden name unknown, in 1865. Their son, Ralph B. Boyd was born
in New
York in 1866 and son James H. Boyd was born in Jan, 1870. On the 1870
U.S.
census Louis was listed as age 38, his wife Ellen age 29, his son Ralph
age 4,
and James at 5 months.
Louis Boyd was issued a number of patents not at all related to the
fruit jar
business. He was issued patent #134,842 for an Oil Can Stopper, and
#135,072
for an Oil Dripping Can. Boyd never produced any jars, but, rather
his name
was so synonymous with the fruit jar industry that after his patents
ran out,
other jar makers put his name on their jars just because they knew
they would
sell very well.
[Standard Fruit Jar Reference, Dick Roller, 607 Driskell St., Paris,
IL 61944]
Dick would appreciate any data on Louis R. Boyd.
Photo of Boyd Jar above courtesy Elizabeth Doolittle, Roanoke, VA.
Boyd Mason Canning Jars.
As we can see from the above article Louis Boyd never produced any canning
jars.
His name was so well known in the canning jar industry that some companies
just
plagiarized his name.
Three different companies have produced the Boyd/Boyds canning jars.
1. Illinois-Pacific Glass Company, San Francisco, CA 1900-1930.
2. Illinois Glass Company at Acton, Illinois 1873-1929.
3. Greenfield Fruit Jar and Bottle Company, Greenfield, Indiana, 1890-1909.
Sold
to Ball in 1909 and resold in 1917.
Dates given are the dates the companies were in operation and not necessarily
when the
jars were made. Both “Boyd Perfect Mason” and “Boyds (written
in cursive) Perfect
Mason” were made. Most Boyd/Boyds jars were made between 1900
and 1909 at
Greenfield, Indiana.
Most jars are green as shown above. They are a different green than
Ball or other jars.
I can tell a Boyd jar at a distance just by the unique green color.
The jars produced in
California are clear. A friend in California has a clear jar.
I had never seen a clear Boyd
jar and tried to swap for a green one but she wouldn’t have any part
of it.
Most Boyd canning jars, or fruit jars as they are commonly called, are
relatively
inexpensive as collector items. My wife Jerri Lynn and I have about
2 dozen of these jars.
She found one at a yard sale just down the street from our home for
.25 cents. I have
purchased others from $5.00 to as much as $22.00. Jerri Lynn
uses the half gallon
size as cannisters for coffee, sugar, etc., etc.
We once drove down to Indiana on a quest to find Boyd jars. We went
to garage sales,
flea markets, antique shops but didn’t find a single jar. Back
home a day or so later we
found two Boyd jars just a few miles from our home at a flea market
in Chesaning, Michigan..
Douglas M. Leyburne’s book “The Collector’s Guide to Old Fruit Jars,
Red Book #7”
lists a number of Boyd/Boyds jars. In fact 17 different types are listed
in the book and
prices range from $2.00 to as much as $50.00. The book can be
ordered from the author:
D.M. Leyburne, P.O. Box 5417, N. Muskegon, MI 49445. Price was $22.00
several years
ago.
