Hello, when cleaning out the home of a relative who passed, we found this Ball Eclipse Pressure Cooker. I’ve never done any pressure cooking, but my wife has been interested in learning about canning (I know they are a bit different). Would this still be usable? The patent was filed in May 1935 and approved in March 1936, so best I can figure it’s from around then. I know I’d need a new pressure gauge. (Sprite for scale) Thanks!
by JellyBeanFingernails
2 Comments
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Wow! This is so cool! I love a good piece of canning history.
That said, if your wife wants to learn to pressure can I would suggest getting a modern pressure canner. You’d probably have a hard time finding parts for this one, it’s not one of the common brands and as far as I know, ball doesn’t make them anymore. Modern pressure canners also have a lot more safety features and are generally more user friendly a lot of the time.
I’d suggest getting a basic stovetop presto canner (I have the 23qt) and learning with that rather than trying to fix up this one. The presto stovetop canners were only around $130 last time I checked so not too horribly expensive. I suspect that the correct parts for this one would be in the same ballpark given that we don’t usually see this canner and I don’t think ball even makes a modern version.