Amanda Jones (inventor)

Amanda Theodosia Jones (October 19, 1835 – March 31, 1914) was an American author and inventor, most noted for inventing a vacuum method of canning called the Jones Process. Developed in 1872 with Professor Leroy C. Cooley and covered by a series of patents the following year, her process used vacuum-sealed glass jars to preserve fruits and vegetables without cooking them, making home food preservation more practical than the soldered tin cans then in use. In 1890 she put the method to commercial use as founder of the Women's Canning and Preserving Company in Chicago, a business that employed only women and reflected her support for women's rights and suffrage.

Amanda Theodosia Jones
Jones at age 37-38 (1872)
Born	(1835-10-19)October 19, 1835 East Bloomfield, New York, US
Died	March 31, 1914(1914-03-31) (aged 78) Brooklyn, New York, US
Resting place	Riverside Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio, US
Occupations	Inventor Poet & author Spiritualist
Signature

"A Woman of the Century" (1893)

Jones was also a poet and writer. After her first poem appeared in 1854, she published several volumes of verse, including Ulah, and Other Poems (1861) and Poems (1867), and contributed frequently to the Ladies' Repository and other periodicals. A convert to spiritualism who considered herself a medium, she attributed many of her inventions and business decisions to spirit guidance, a belief she described in her 1910 memoir A Psychic Autobiography. She patented other devices as well, among them an oil burner, holding six patents in all, and in 1893 was named in A Woman of the Century among the most notable American women of the 19th century.

Early life and education

Jones was born in East Bloomfield, New York, on October 19, 1835, the fourth child of Henry and Mary Alma (Mott) Jones. Jones was descended from Puritan, Huguenot, Quaker and Methodist ancestors. Her forefathers were among the patriots of the American Revolution. Her family came from modest means, but considered the purchase of books to be as important to them as religion.

She attended district schools in East Bloomfield and Black Rock; she completed normal school training at the East Aurora Academy in New York and began teaching at the age of fifteen in 1859. In the same year, Jones contracted tuberculosis and spent over a year and a half recovering from the illness; Jones was described as an invalid over her life due to the illness. Although she overcame the primary phase of the illness, Jones never fully recovered and would undergo spa treatments and alternative medicine practices to deal with the long term difficulties. As a youth, Jones taught summers at Buffalo High School, as well as a country day school; the time spent on this had negative impacts on her weakened health.

Poetry, illness, and spiritualism

Jones quit teaching in 1854 after her first poem was published by the Ladies' Repository of Cincinnati. Jones was raised in a book-centered Protestant household and later was influenced by the writings of Thomas Dick and the spiritualism movement. Jones became a religious convert to spiritualism in 1854 and believed herself to be a medium.

In 1861, she published Ulah, and Other Poems; a second book of verse, Poems, was published in 1867. Jones' health had been fragile since contracting tuberculosis in 1859; after the publication of Poems, she spent a year recuperating at the home of her widowed mother in Wisconsin. She wrote a number of war poems during the Civil War. These were published, with others, in book form. Some of her poems appeared in Scribner's Magazine while others were published in the Century, Our Continent, and other journals.

Ill health for a number of years made it impossible for her to keep up her literary work.

Chicago and vacuum canning

In 1869, believing that spirits wanted her there, Jones moved to Chicago, where she wrote for a number of periodicals, including Western Rural, Universe, Interior, and Bright Sides. She made her home in Chicago, Illinois. While working as an editor in Chicago, Jones allegedly befriended a doctor by the name of Johnathon Andrews. He often was known as an advocate and practitioner of unorthodox healing methods on the basis that “love transcended death”. Jones, with her interest and background in spirituality, was enthusiastic about Andrews' views on medicine and enlisted his help in battling her ailments following her bout with tuberculosis. For five years, Andrews allegedly treated Jones using air baths, a treatment where the patient would spend a period of time in a tank full of compressed air.

In 1872, Jones developed a vacuum canning process for preserving food, with the help of Professor Leroy C. Cooley of Albany, who was the brother-in-law of her sister Emily. At the time, food safety and preservation was only beginning to be understood. While canning food had been relatively popular for European militaries, the system had its problems. The popular system of canning at that time, invented in 1810 by Nicolas Francois Appert, required food to be sealed inside bottles or jars and then boiled for several hours. In Britain, Peter Durand adapted the process in 1810 by patenting tin-plated iron containers, and by 1813 canned meat was being supplied to the Royal Navy. Early cans also remained difficult to open, since Durand's tin-lined wrought-iron cans predated practical can openers by decades and were opened with a chisel and hammer. Canning reached the United States by 1819, but it did not become popular there until the Civil War pushed canned food into mass production.

The Jones Method involved steaming sealed jars filled with fruits and vegetables in a light syrup, fruit juice, or water, to an internal temperature of 120०F, forcing the air out of the jar and thus creating an airtight seal which would protect the food from oxygen that fuels the growth of bacteria. Jones’ invention would allow for food to be preserved uncooked, allowing fresh fruits and vegetables to be enjoyed later in the season. Her invention allowed for easier opening, using a glass jar and vacuum sealed lid instead of a seam sealed tin can, and made the act of food preservation more attainable to people at home.

On June 3, 1873, Cooley obtained a patent on an apparatus for preserving fruit which he assigned to Jones. On the same day, a second patent was issued to both Cooley and Jones for their process, and two more patents were issued solely to Jones for her improved jar. Later, on June 24 of the same year, Cooley obtained a patent for the device that removes air from jars, making the patent the fifth and final to constitute the Jones Preserving Process.

Oil burner and return to writing

Following the advice of the spirits she communicated with, she developed another invention, an oil burner, which she patented in 1880. However, her attempts to establish businesses based on her inventions were unsuccessful, and she returned to writing, publishing A Prairie Idyll in 1882. She published a volume of verse entitled A Prairie Idyl and Other Poems.

There is one reference (Stanley, Autumn – See Bibliography) that maintains she has a patent for a Ready-Opener Tin Can, but that is the only, unsupported, reference to this patent.

Women's Canning and Preserving Company

A strong supporter of women's rights and suffrage, she founded the Women's Canning and Preserving Company in Chicago in 1890, which employed only women. In an address to her employees, Jones said that,

This is a woman's industry. No man will vote our stock, transact our business, keep our books, pronounce on women's wages, supervise our factories. Give men whatever work is suitable, but keep the governing power. This is a business training school for working women – you with all the rest. Here is a mission; let it be fulfilled."

The business saw considerable profits in the first year, attracting investors that expected to see greater profits. A group of investors bought the canning business, with dispute over whether Jones willingly sold the company or if she was pushed out. When this venture failed in 1893, she left Chicago for Junction City, Kansas, where two of her sisters lived. The 1893 volume A Woman of the Century by Charles Wells Moulton, Frances Willard, and Mary Livermore listed Jones as among the most important women of the 19th century.

Later patents and engineering articles

Following the invention of the Jones Preserving Process and the sale of the Women’s Canning and Preserving Company, Jones continues inventing, staking claim to the oil burner, several types of valves, and a form of the tin can opener, giving her six patents in total. Jones continued obtaining patents on the canning process in 1903, 1905, and 1906, and additional patents relating to the oil burner in 1904, 1912, and 1914. She continued to publish occasional literary works, including the Rubaiyat of Solomon and Other Poems in 1905.

Following the Spanish–American War the U.S. Navy began investigating the transition from coal fired ships to oil. In 1904 they released a 489-page report which detailed extensively a comparison between coal and oil. Jones was asked to write a technical review of the report for The Engineer. According to her obituary she was paid liberally for her contribution of four articles in 1904 and 1905. She was listed in Who's Who in America for 1912–13 and in Woman's Who's Who in America for 1914–15.

A Psychic Autobiography

William James encouraged Jones to write her autobiography, and she dedicated the work to him. Jones noted that she "would not have presumed" to write the book had she not been encouraged. In 1910, she published her autobiography, A Psychic Autobiography, which focused on her interest in spiritualism. Jones later described herself in A Psychic Autobiography as a "writing medium", and wrote that she believed her actions were governed by a spiritual guardian.

In the book, she revealed that her two primary advisors, one of whom was Andrews, had been dead at the time they allegedly advised her. Lowry writes that Jones's autobiography describes spirit controls as advising her on her canning method and occasionally on business matters. Jones was a spiritualist medium and believed her actions were governed by a spiritual guardian. Modern scholarship has treated Jones's mediumship as central to her self-understanding rather than as an incidental belief; Lowry argues that A Psychic Autobiography presents Jones's religious beliefs as the framework through which she understood her poetry, invention, and business activity. Jones wrote of her inspirations for inventions in spiritual and religious terms, describing some as a "gold blossom dropped beside me" to be picked up.

Death and burial

Late in her life, she moved to Brooklyn, New York, to pursue business interests, where she died of influenza and pneumonia in 1914, aged 79, with her sister at her side. She is buried in Riverside Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio in her brother William's plot.

Works

Books

• Jones, Amanda T. (1861). Ulah, and Other Poems. Buffalo: H. H. Otis.
• Jones, Amanda T. (1867). Poems. New York: Hurd and Houghton.
• Jones, Amanda T. (1882). A Prairie Idyl, and Other Poems. Chicago: Jansen, McClurg & Company.
• Jones, Amanda T. (1905). Rubáiyát of Solomon, and Other Poems. New York: Alden Brothers.
• Jones, Amanda T. (1906). Poems, 1854–1906. New York: Alden Brothers.
• Jones, Amanda T. (1910). A Psychic Autobiography. Introduction by James H. Hyslop. New York: Greaves Publishing Company.

Engineering articles

• Jones, Amanda T. (1904). "The Liquid Fuel Problem. Part I". The Engineer. Vol. 41. pp. 821–822.
• Jones, Amanda T. (1904). "The Liquid Fuel Problem. Part II". The Engineer. Vol. 41. pp. 855–856.
• Jones, Amanda T. (1905). "The Liquid Fuel Problem. Part III". The Engineer. Vol. 42. pp. 90–91.
• Jones, Amanda T. (1905). "The Liquid Fuel Problem. Part IV". The Engineer. Vol. 42. pp. 108–109.

Poetry

A Heroine of '54, by Jones, wrote of Abigail Becker and her rescues of sailors on Long Point, Ontario; the poem was taught for decades in Canadian schools. Jones's periodical poems identified in the University of Michigan's Making of America Journals database are listed below in chronological order.

• Jones, Amanda T. (May 1854). "The Transplanted Flower". The Ladies' Repository. 14 (5): 209.
• Jones, Amanda T. (April 1855). "There Is a God". The Ladies' Repository. 15 (4): 242.
• Jones, Amanda T. (October 1855). "Visions". The Ladies' Repository. 15 (10): 616.
• Jones, Amanda T. (November 1855). "The Music of the Soul". The Ladies' Repository. 15 (11): 678.
• Jones, Amanda T. (December 1855). "The Death of the Old Year". The Ladies' Repository. 15 (12): 736.
• Jones, Amanda T. (March 1856). "The Child – The Maiden – The Mother". The Ladies' Repository. 16 (3): 155.
• Jones, Amanda T. (April 1856). "The King of the North". The Ladies' Repository. 16 (4): 217.
• Jones, Amanda T. (July 1856). "Glen Elgin". The Ladies' Repository. 16 (7): 424.
• Jones, Amanda T. (August 1856). "Dream-Land". The Ladies' Repository. 16 (8): 458.
• Jones, Amanda T. (September 1856). "My Spirit Lute". The Ladies' Repository. 16 (9): 544.
• Jones, Amanda T. (January 1857). "Life's Warfare". The Ladies' Repository. 17 (1): 3.
• Jones, Amanda T. (February 1857). "Prayer and Praise". The Ladies' Repository. 17 (2): 71.
• Jones, Amanda T. (April 1857). "Who Knoweth the Heart". The Ladies' Repository. 17 (4): 199.
• Jones, Amanda T. (June 1857). "Trial and Delivery – The Messenger". The Ladies' Repository. 17 (6): 340.
• Jones, Amanda T. (August 1857). "Our Playmates Grave". The Ladies' Repository. 17 (8): 453.
• Jones, Amanda T. (November 1857). "The Silver Chalice". The Ladies' Repository. 17 (11): 684.
• Jones, Amanda T. (January 1858). "Locust Leaves". The Ladies' Repository. 18 (1): 32.
• Jones, Amanda T. (April 1858). "Spring Winds". The Ladies' Repository. 18 (4): 208.
• Jones, Amanda T. (May 1858). "Peace". The Ladies' Repository. 18 (5): 260.
• Jones, Amanda T. (July 1858). "The Flower-Language of the Heart". The Ladies' Repository. 18 (7): 410.
• Jones, Amanda T. (August 1858). "The Price of Blood". The Ladies' Repository. 18 (8): 476.
• Jones, Amanda T. (November 1858). "Hide and Seek". The Ladies' Repository. 18 (11): 652.
• Jones, Amanda T. (November 1858). "The World". The Ladies' Repository. 18 (11): 663.
• Jones, Amanda T. (February 1859). "Heaven". The Ladies' Repository. 19 (2): 96.
• Jones, Amanda T. (March 1859). "Happy Days". The Ladies' Repository. 19 (3): 133.
• Jones, Amanda T. (May 1859). "The Reign of Truth". The Ladies' Repository. 19 (5): 262.
• Jones, Amanda T. (June 1859). "The Tide of Life". The Ladies' Repository. 19 (6): 352.
• Jones, Amanda T. (November 1859). "The Willow-Tree". The Ladies' Repository. 19 (11): 667.
• Jones, Amanda T. (January 1862). "Charity". The Ladies' Repository. 22 (1): 34.
• Jones, Amanda T. (August 1862). "Day and Night". The Ladies' Repository. 22 (8): 498.
• Jones, Amanda T. (October 1862). "The South Wind". The Ladies' Repository. 22 (10): 628.
• Jones, Amanda T. (December 1862). "Les Souvenirs". The Ladies' Repository. 22 (12): 739.
• Jones, Amanda T. (January 1863). "The Harp of Columbia". The Ladies' Repository. 23 (1): 36.
• Jones, Amanda T. (February 1863). "The Ministry of Life". The Ladies' Repository. 23 (2): 96.
• Jones, Amanda T. (March 1863). "Morta, A Vision of the Fates". The Ladies' Repository. 23 (3): 180.
• Jones, Amanda T. (August 1863). "Thou Finder of Flaws". The Ladies' Repository. 23 (8): 490.
• Jones, Amanda T. (September 1864). "My Glade". The Ladies' Repository. 24 (9): 533.
• Jones, Amanda T. (July 1894). "Hawaii". Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine. 24 (139): 44.

Further reading

• Cefrey, Holly. 2003. The Inventions of Amanda Jones: The Vacuum Method of Canning and Food Preservation. New York: PowerKids Press. (Juvenile book)
• Macdonald, Anne L. 1992. Feminine Ingenuity: Women and Invention in America. New York: Ballantine Books.
• McHenry, Robert. 1983. Famous American Women: A Biographical Dictionary from Colonial Times to the Present. New York: Dover. (page 214)
• Junod, Suzanne White. "Jones, Amanda Theodosia". American National Biography Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 20 Mar 2017.
• Stanley, Autumn. 1993. Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History of Technology. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. (Page 64) (Only reference to the Ready-Opener Tin Can patent) Online

External links

• The American Experience
• Making of America – 37 poems published by Amanda T. Jones between 1855 and 1894
• Geary County (Kansas) Blog on Amanda Jones (Accessed 25 Nov 2015)
• Femilogue (10 Oct 2012) (Accessed 25 Nov 2015)
• Kelly, Kate. America Comes Alive (Accessed 25 Nov 2015)