Pressure Vessels (Pressure Canners)

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  • JeepHammer

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    While I see everyone loading up on guns & ammo for a SHTF situation, I see a LOT of overlooked details that make a huge difference when you live what you talk about.

    Some options on this link: All American Pressure Canners | All American Canner

    All-American-921-21-Quart-Pressure-Canner.jpg

    One of these is a pressure canner, low acidic foods, meat, etc all have to be pressure canned (cooked in the jars).

    What most people wouldn't know is, it also works as an autoclave to sterilize surgical equipment.
    We used these for years on the farm sterilizing vet equipment, and purpose built models are still used to this day for sterilizing surgical equipment.
    (Find actual purpose built autoclaves on the link above)

    These make fine distilling units.
    This is anything from SHTF intravenous water (sugar or salt added), to distilling alcohol for antiseptic.
    Keep in mind that IV fluids were stored in glass bottles before the plastic bags came along, and this thing will sterilize the bottles AND distill the water necessary to make a field IV.

    A few concrete blocks or bricks to make a rocket stove for heat, this pressure vessel, and you can do any of the above.

    I recommend a good industral grade thermometer, preferably with a thread that matches the threaded bosses in the lid, sometimes it's about temprature and not about pressure in the vessel... Distilling alcohol for instance...
    And I recommend some food grade stainless steel tubing for a condenser coil when distilling.

    Also keep in mind this particular unit doesn't use a soft gasket for sealing, not a lot of extra parts that decomposed over time.
    It's the most expensive, but I've had mine (new & used) for over 25 years, and with a little cleaning they still look/function like new.
    I have one that was built around 1930s and it still functions, although it's just too small to do much with anymore.

    DISCLAIMERS:
    A distiller (Still) is ILLEGAL to own/operate without government approval.
    Making anything 'Medical Grade' is a gray area, and sometimes outright illegal.
    Practicing medicine without a licence is illegal.
    This won't matter much if there is an all out SHTF situation.
    Keep in mind that many diseases kill by dehydration, many trauma victims die of blood loss/shock, and being able to produce IV fluids will save lives...
     
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    bwframe

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    :yesway:

    20150202-211317.jpg
     

    JeepHammer

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    I have Presto, it doesn't hold a candle to All American... (Presto being a lot more dangerous and needs parts regularly)

    When the garden comes full in, I have all the Canners going, every burner on the summer kitchen stove (wood burning).
    I started with a brick rocket stove before the house was even built, cold storage & gardens being first while I was saving for the house...

    Distilling essential oils is a money maker for us, and these things work well for that without being an obvious 'Still'.
    What women in cities pay for weeds & weed oil is ridiculous!
    A couple hands full of weeds, some fine wire & a ribbon routinely sells for up to $350, while the oils sell for more than pot did when I was a kid!
    My wife does 'Crafts' in the winter, and it makes cash money, sometimes more than I bring home after expenses & taxes... :(

    My grandpa did his own 'Vetting', clamps, needles, knives, etc all got sterilized in the All American.
    The All American autoclave still shows up in dentist offices & tattoo parlors...
    (Probably doctors offices too, but I just don't get to see them)

    I was working a job site a couple years back, and a guy digging post holes hit an old All American canner.
    There hadn't been a home on the site since the 1950s, and the stupid thing needed a pressure valve & gauge, but still worked!
    I helped the home owner clean it up and get parts, and I tried to trade/buy it, but he wasn't having any of it!
    50+ years underground, and the jar lids inside would have probably still worked... A little expensive for storage these days, but if a guy wanted to make darn sure his stuff was secure, a couple lid plugs would be the only modification necessary...

    Here is an old National, same foundry that makes All American, for cheap and I wouldn't hesitate a second using it!
    A REALLY good deal is why I'm posting it, if you wanted to update it, the parts are still available.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Na...Sw1qhcIDOX&LH_ItemCondition=4&redirect=mobile
     
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    spencer rifle

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    We got a used one off eBay - turned out to be a sterilizer, with a pressure gauge instead of the rocker valve. It seems that over time the manufacturers moved away from the gauge (which needs to be periodically calibrated) to the less "dangerous" rocker valve - I'm sure lawyers were involved somewhere. It still has a pressure relief valve in addition. We have used it without incident for several years, and just watch it close when in use.
     

    JeepHammer

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    This is one of those 'Hillbilly' things,
    I put small jar lids in a wide mouth jar, seal them up and they stay good for a LONG time.
    I don't use a lot of small mouth jars much anymore, so the lids I bought in bulk about 15 years ago are still working fine.
    (Small mouth jars often have better sealing rates than wide mouth jars, so in a SHTF situation you might want to go with small mouth for less sealing failure)
    I NEVER turn down a free canning jars, small mouth or not, they all have a use and will be worth gold in a SHTF situation...

    I got a deal (free) on about 120 pounds of large rifle primers (de-milled military surplus) and didn't want to use them at the time, so I put them in jars and run them up about 100*F. for an hour or so, and sealed the jars (gritting my teeth the whole time!)...
    Partly to dry primers that had been left loose/bulk in cardboard boxes for who knows how long, and to get the lids warm enough to seal...
    About 12 or 13 years later, the ammo shortage happened and I broke some of them out, virtually none failed.
    These have been stored in a damp shed (out of sunlight) and they still worked!

    Most of the All American have two threaded bosses on top, when I'm distilling it's a temp gauge & condensation coil instead of pressure release & pressure valve.
    Temp is important since different things boil off at different tempratures.

    The pressure valves and pressure releases or 'Jiggler' weights are still available for All American.
    Keep in mind the county extension agent will test your pop off valve & gauge, a lot of places it's free of charge.
    You can also get a TON of government printed material on canning food safety, even some recipes. They are older, so a lot of salt, which you don't have to add if you don't want to...
    Some of the older stuff is pretty good, and that's where I found a recipe for canned 'Cookies' (more like a brownie) but it's good.

    I don't throw out old lids.
    Lids *CAN* be used more than once, although it's most certainly NOT optimal.
    Low temp canning lids can be reused for high temp (pressure) canning, and a lid that's too far gone for long term storage gets some wax or paraffin was for dried beans, rice, seeds for next year, ect.

    Used lids that get bent, or rust, or whatever, I use as lids on jars with screws, nails, or whatever.
    Same for chipped mouths on jars, they store screws, etc.
    Some of us are old enough to remember when every garage had the bottom of a shelf with jars hanging off the bottom for small parts, fasteners or whatever, you can see what's in the jar, and UNDER a shelf it's often wasted space anyway...
    Baby food jars were good for really small parts, the sealer in baby food jars was about indestructible! ;)

    There are silicone seals that are reusable, I've not used them, but I do have a few glass & porcelain jar lids that use paraffin as seals, you simply replace paraffin.
    Again, I have them, but I don't use them even though I know how they work, I'm no expert.
     

    spencer rifle

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    We have used some "Tattler" reusable lids. They have a slightly higher failure rate than metal lids, but we get more uses out of them. We also reuse metal lids (some with 2 or 3 old label markings on them), also with a slightly higher failure rate.
     
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    I have several All American canners and have given several as gifts to like minded folks. I find them at flea markets and junk stores. New gauge and weight are a must but only about $40 and they are as good as new. Don't be afraid to buy a used All American and restore it. And the old National ones take the same vent, gauge, and weight.
     

    JeepHammer

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    I have several All American canners and have given several as gifts to like minded folks. I find them at flea markets and junk stores. New gauge and weight are a must but only about $40 and they are as good as new. Don't be afraid to buy a used All American and restore it. And the old National ones take the same vent, gauge, and weight.

    That's a BIG TRUTH!
    From the time of Bakelite wing nuts on the parts are still available, and they aren't expensive (eBay is full of pieces & parts, while entire canner are a bit high $$).

    The REAL old ones were sold under a bunch of different names, some had three ports in the lid instead of two, but they were all made by the same foundry company and amazingly enough, I've not seen many that were beyond use.
    I found one in a junk store that had some corrosive that really badly pitted the aluminum inside, so I didn't build pressure in it, I used it for a distiller for years. It FINALLY bought the farm when one of the pits ate all the way through so now it holds big spoon and other kitchen utensils in the kitchen.

    I have one with metal wing nuts, but I perfer the newer Bakelite wing nut style since everything is still available for them.

    --------

    Spencer Rifle,
    How many is 'Slightly' with tattler lids?
    I've seen them, but there is no local distributor for them, so I haven't tried them yet.
    Is the success rate about the same with widemouth Ball lids, widemouth being slightly less reliable than small mouth?

    I've tried the silicone gaskets with glass & porcelain, and they work better with porcelain.
    Seems porcelain is flatter than the older glass lids...

    I keep the paraffin off the preserves & other stuff, melt, strain and block mold when I have enough.
    I've probably got 50 pounds of paraffin laying around, but since it never goes bad and is handy, why not?
     

    spencer rifle

    Grandmaster
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    Apr 15, 2011
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    Spencer Rifle,
    How many is 'Slightly' with tattler lids?
    I've seen them, but there is no local distributor for them, so I haven't tried them yet.
    Is the success rate about the same with widemouth Ball lids, widemouth being slightly less reliable than small mouth?

    I've tried the silicone gaskets with glass & porcelain, and they work better with porcelain.
    Seems porcelain is flatter than the older glass lids...

    I keep the paraffin off the preserves & other stuff, melt, strain and block mold when I have enough.
    I've probably got 50 pounds of paraffin laying around, but since it never goes bad and is handy, why not?
    We will probably have 2 Tattler failures per year compared to 1 metal lid failure. Both are pretty rare. We may get 2 or 3 uses out of metal, more than that with Tattler.
     
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    JeepHammer

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    The oddest, and potentially the most dangerous use of this type of pressure vessel was something I saw in a machine shop many years ago.
    The little vessel had a pressure gauge on one side of the lid, a hose on the right side of the lid, and a water dripper screwed into the middle.
    It had a pottery cup (like a flower pot with no drain hole) I side, and I had to ask what it was for...

    Turns out you put calcium carbide in the pottery cup inside, then drip water on it, it produces acetylene gas, and the hose was for a torch head.
    This was for a time before electrical welding, everything was either soldered, brazed or riveted together, and acetylene gas produced on demand would produce flame hot enough to braze & solder.

    Calcium carbide (most common for 'Miners Lamps') is still available today.

    Reference, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_carbide

    Calcium Carbide on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Calcium-Carb...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=XVP7GENH9KBHEKYA4T0A

    Miners lamp,
    minerslamp.jpg
     

    bobjones223

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    Mar 3, 2011
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    The oddest, and potentially the most dangerous use of this type of pressure vessel was something I saw in a machine shop many years ago.
    The little vessel had a pressure gauge on one side of the lid, a hose on the right side of the lid, and a water dripper screwed into the middle.
    It had a pottery cup (like a flower pot with no drain hole) I side, and I had to ask what it was for...

    Turns out you put calcium carbide in the pottery cup inside, then drip water on it, it produces acetylene gas, and the hose was for a torch head.
    This was for a time before electrical welding, everything was either soldered, brazed or riveted together, and acetylene gas produced on demand would produce flame hot enough to braze & solder.

    Calcium carbide (most common for 'Miners Lamps') is still available today.

    Reference, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_carbide

    Calcium Carbide on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Calcium-Carb...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=XVP7GENH9KBHEKYA4T0A

    Miners lamp,
    View attachment 73617

    Calcium Carbide is one of those things that is fun to play with if you run out of things too do....LOL

    Had a Carbide cannon for a long time and would break it out on Halloween to rock the neighborhood and watch the soccer moms jump out of their skins!

    Build it right and you can deliver Snicker bars to the house across the street...:laugh::ingo:
     

    JeepHammer

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    Sterilize, distill, preserve, even acetylene torch if you are brave, but you can't convince people a good pressure vessel is important.
    There is very little you can't preserve in a canning jars.
    Oven heat for dry storage, boiling, or pressure canning for anything g wet.

    Bandages & surgical equipment in particular is a HUGE deal, an autoclave is infinitely re-useable while you will run out of chemicals or prepackaged bandages/equipment eventually.

    By distilling you can even produce alcohol for cleaning, partial sterilization (alcohol doesn't kill every bug), even consumption for pain control.
    By distilling water, you can produce sterilized water for IVs, and IVs are life savers! A little salt, some sugar and you have some serious life saving.
    Keep in mind that long before plastic IV bags glass bottles were used, and they still work fine while still being re-useable.

    One tidbit, the FBI, BATFE or any of those other alphabet groups never haul you off for pressure canners.
    Canners & canning jars quietly sit in the corner (with a couple books on home canning) and never draw the least bit of attention.
     
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