saving old industrial canners

Maybe not the right place to post this but I’m trying to save 2 pressure canners!  Industrial type they are in a friends barn.  One is about 15ft tall and the other about 6ft high.  They are cast iron. The last time they saw use was over 50 years ago.  The guy that just bought the farm wants them out. The German who owned the farm 50+ years ago canned all his food on obviously a massive scale.  
I’ve been asking our whole alternative community (people like us) if anyone could use these giant tanks?  No replies in the affirmative.  Most people say if I bring home one more piece of junk my wife will leave me!

I was thinking of course of canning first but if anything is that old all the seals will need to be replaced etc. the people who own it the last 50 years were terrified of these canners. Thought of them of bombs so never went near them.

Thought of other uses like sand batteries for solar. Huge rocket stoves or furnaces. Outdoor heated bath. I can’t imagine moving them since they are cast iron. The 6ft tall one is sunk into the floor so actually might be taller. The bottom is hidden. There is a cement curb built around it.

It would be really interesting to see pictures of these.

Sounds like something a museum might be interested in.

It will have a pressure gauge.  Please take it off and have it tested to see if the gauge is correct.  Is there an emergency relief valve that can be safely opened if the pressure goes too high?
It is a bomb if you can't control the pressure inside.  

If it were functional, I would bring something like this home, much to my husband's horror to start a jam business.
Otherwise, if the pressure valve won't come off, or there is not a working emergency relief valve, I would walk away.

Twiddlebug Jan

Here you go. They will probably go to scrap this week. I find it very unfortunate.  My brother thought it was steam punk!  He said use it for art!  

The smaller one is about 3 ft in the ground.  Could be more because I can’t see the bottom of it.  

Tall one

There must be someone with ideas for these giant cast iron beasts?

Thank you for sharing a bit of history.

A family in the county I live in had a cannery back in the 1930s to can mutton (goat).

I bet their operation looked much like that.

I am sure they could have many uses. One that I have is that it could be used as a bell for a rocket mass heater. It would suck if they went to scrap. I am sure there are many more uses for the things. They are most likely heavy and require machinery to move them into place. So that would be challenging to get into anyone's house, not impossible just difficult.

I can't imagine scrap is going to bring them lots of money. I am seeing 0.17$ per pound online. good god! for every 100 pounds would bring 17 bucks...
It probably costs more to move them than it returns.
https://www.priceofscrapmetals.com/canada/ontario/

OK - let's get crazy ideas coming shall we?

We've heard of metal garbage cans sunk in the ground as small cold cellars - make some sort of a basket system to lower food into those babies. I guarantee no rat/mouse will get in!

Well casing for a short well? Lid to keep critters out of the top? Yes, you'd have to grind off the bottom.

Very small grain silo? Would need some adapting at the bottom.

Are there any food banks that do fresh food rescue that could use a beast like this? That would be assuming that a) you can get parts and b) that you can get it moved.

Did you test it with a magnet and are sure it's cast iron and not aluminum?

Mary-Ellen, what's the approximate diameter? Or just give me the circumference if that's easier and I'll do the math...

OH WOW. I wish I could come get them!! It would be a SHAME to scrap them!! I am SOOOO envious!!!

I agree with other posters, awesome food storage space, excellent piece of a Rocket Mass Heater....  

Is there something like Craigslist there ? Because YES, they ARE very steampunk and people who are into that will do a lot to get things they want. Perhaps instead of the alternative living folks, see if you can get in touch with the fantasy convention type people, bet they know how to find steampunk people.

I'll think more on them. THAT'S COOL STUFF!!  I wish I could have them. And someone like me would be overjoyed to get them. They are VERY usable, I wouldn't can in them without a LOT of testing, but other uses abound.

Pearl I’m like you I think there are tons of uses!  We’ll check it out again tomorrow. I’m 99.9% sure it’s cast iron,  the taller one is so beautiful on top it has a crown. Will take a picture of it tomorrow!  We’re trying to save the smaller one just because we can see it as being more maneuverable, but maybe not since it’s sunk into the floor. Jay, I will measure the circumference tomorrow too!  I hope they are still alive and well tomorrow. It’s the 25 year old son of my friend who grew up on this farm.  He gutted the house already!   Threw most everything on the burn pile. Including the piano!  Burnt it right away so we couldn’t save a thing.  Kids want everything modern!  

Jay Angler wrote:Mary-Ellen, what's the approximate diameter? Or just give me the circumference if that's easier and I'll do the math...

Hey there Jay,  the tanks are cast iron.  The inside from side to side is 32inches across.

Mary-Ellen Zands wrote:

Jay Angler wrote:Mary-Ellen, what's the approximate diameter?

Hey there Jay,   The inside from side to side is 32inches across.

OK, so that big one would be over 11 cubic feet in volume (depending on how you measured the height compared to the unique shape at the top).
That would be serious secure food storage if no better use could be found!

A worse use would be to chop off the top and bottom and you'd have a useful length of culvert if you needed one!

As I write John is coming up with a plan to build a tripod. Taking a 16ft beam cutting it in half (no) then making some sort of tripod and winch to lift the smaller one out of the hole in the ground. He thinks the smaller one will be much more manageable.  We still don’t know what to do with it but at least we’re trying to save one!  John thinks he’s Superman so hopefully he doesn’t try to lift it at all!  

It looks like an essential oil distiller -- did they used to grow peppermint?

No it isn’t or wasn’t used as a distiller to my knowledge.  What my girlfriend knows about them is that the owners 40 years ago grew a huge market garden. Loads of shredded cabbages went into the smaller pressure chamber in big wire baskets. To me it’s not clear if they were in the jar or just shredded loose in the wire basket. Another thing which would make sense if you’re cooking anything under pressure then why wouldn’t you immediately put it in the jars?  Then it’s done.
The larger one was definitely used to steam pressurize every can!  

Jay Angler wrote:

Mary-Ellen Zands wrote:

Jay Angler wrote:Mary-Ellen, what's the approximate diameter?

Hey there Jay,   The inside from side to side is 32inches across.

OK, so that big one would be over 11 cubic feet in volume (depending on how you measured the height compared to the unique shape at the top).
That would be serious secure food storage if no better use could be found!

A worse use would be to chop off the top and bottom and you'd have a useful length of culvert if you needed one!

Yes that is a great idea too, the food storage part.  We did buy some shipping containers about 8 years ago when my parents sold their farm, To store various equipment.  Also to store grain and hay. The rats and mice have managed to chew their way through the rubber and some metal to get in!  Super duper bionic hungry vermin here! So now I no longer have a secure place to store grain. Other than my car, but how long till they figure that out?  So yes I was vaguely thinking of food storage too.  

Your profile says Ontario, Canada so I search google for info on the canning industry.

In Prince Edward County there is a Museum dedicated to canning:

The Wellington Museum is home to an extensive exhibit on the canning industry of Prince Edward County.

In the late 1870s, a nursery salesman from Prince Edward County, Ontario attended a food exhibition in Philadelphia. George Dunning brought the idea back home and teamed up with a wealthy and influential entrepreneur, Wellington Boulter. Together, they build a small experimental factory on Boulter’s farm. The experiment worked and in 1882, they built the first successful fruit and vegetable-canning factory in Canada on the corner of West Mary and Spring Streets in Picton, the area’s major centre. Dunning faded from view in the new industry, but Boulter went on to be a canning pioneer still remembered today as the father of the canning industry in Canada.

https://historyliveshere.ca/the-canning-industry/

If you are anywhere close to this place it might be worthwhile to contact this museum to see if they would be interested in the canners.

The tall one is likely a steam boiler, and the shorter the canning vessel. The tall one has what looks like a chimney on the top. The short one, is a pressure vessel (looks just like a paint pressure pot we have here at my workplace, just bigger) and the lid is removable to insert/remove the jars, held in place by those giant wing-nuts! There appears to be a trolley on the ceiling to lift from and roll the stuff aside for loading/unloading. It is made of steel, mostly, with a few cast iron components.
The canning vessel should be anyone's first attempt at saving anything. It could more easily be moved, fixed up, or repurposed. It is just a tank with a lid.
The boiler is likely only good as a boiler/heating type of thing, or art materials... It has all sorts of tubes inside, so not as easy to reuse, and heavier to move.

Wow See I knew that someone in our permies community would know something about these tanks!  Thank you Kenneth!  You are the best!  We have so much wealth in our community!!  

Anne Miller wrote:Your profile says Ontario, Canada so I search google for info on the canning industry.

In Prince Edward County there is a Museum dedicated to canning:

The Wellington Museum is home to an extensive exhibit on the canning industry of Prince Edward County.

In the late 1870s, a nursery salesman from Prince Edward County, Ontario attended a food exhibition in Philadelphia. George Dunning brought the idea back home and teamed up with a wealthy and influential entrepreneur, Wellington Boulter. Together, they build a small experimental factory on Boulter’s farm. The experiment worked and in 1882, they built the first successful fruit and vegetable-canning factory in Canada on the corner of West Mary and Spring Streets in Picton, the area’s major centre. Dunning faded from view in the new industry, but Boulter went on to be a canning pioneer still remembered today as the father of the canning industry in Canada.

https://historyliveshere.ca/the-canning-industry/

If you are anywhere close to this place it might be worthwhile to contact this museum to see if they would be interested in the canners.

Thank you Anne great job finding out about the museum. I will contact them tomorrow to see if there would be any interest in it. Wellington museum I think is about a 4-5 hour drive from where I live. I’ll let you know.

There might be an entrepreneurial mushroom farmer interested in revitalizing these to pasteurize substrate for growing mushrooms?

So if I'm reading right,
the tall one is heated and produces steam,
that is piped into the shorter pot with the lid.

Or is the steam piped around the shorter one?

Update, the museum is a 5 hour drive. They appreciate donations. Will not spend a penny on transport. So this is out of my jurisdiction!  The new owner wants the price of scrap metal. I really have nothing to do with this other than trying to save them from going to scrap.
I have listed them on kijiji have a few people just asking me questions but no real interest.  

We have already invested money in building a tripod of steel with welding costs involved and have hoisted the smaller one which is not so small after all. About 6ft in height out of the ground.
Now again to a welder to build a platform with industrial wheels to roll it out of the barn then need a backhoe to remove it a little further to get it to a trailer. This is much more work then we bargained for!

craig howard wrote: So if I'm reading right,
the tall one is heated and produces steam,
that is piped into the shorter pot with the lid.

Or is the steam piped around the shorter one?

Yes Craig that seems about right. As we’re disconnecting it all that what it seems to do. Are you interested?  

Not so much interested in acquiring it.
But I am curious how it works.
So the steam from the tall boiler goes through the smaller canner and exits somewhere?
Or it goes around the outside of it, to heat it up?

Wondering how it could get enough steam to pass through the canner and out through somewhere, to heat it up,
without losing pressure.

Hi Craig,

John has managed to drag the ‘small’ tank home.  He says that the larger tank had a pipe to the smaller tank that came into the top with the steam. There was an elbow on the bottom that broke when he moved it. It was all rusted out.  John believes that there is a valve on the bottom to release the water. It’s home now. Just don’t know yet what we’re going to use it for.