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National Canner Retort Pressure Canner Gaskets and Parts

National Canner Retort Pressure Canner Gaskets and Parts

If you have a National Canner Retort Pressure Canner, and are looking for replacement gaskets, gauges, weights (jiggler), etc, here's good news; Reviewers on Amazon say that these gaskets and gauges fit the National Canner Retort: pressure canner - pressure cooker.

National / Presto made many version of this model in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. A few of them are shown here. A common model was the National 21 Retort Pressure Canner.

If you are looking for parts for the Presto National Retort pressure cooker canner, see this page. Or see below (we're looking for specific parts to add here!)

Notes about Old National Pressure Cooker/Canners and Presto

National Presto Industries, Inc. was founded in 1905 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin under the name "Northwestern Steel and Iron Works", making pressure canners (called "canner retorts" back then) for commercial canneries. These were 50-gallon and later 30-gallon pressure canners. The company installed an aluminum foundry in 1915 for the specific purpose of manufacturing large-size (1900 gallon) pressure canners for home use.

They produced the No. 7 cooker/canner starting in 1917. In 1925 the company name changed to National Pressure Cooker Company. And then the company changed names again and became Presto in 1939. The "Presto" Pressure Cooker was introduced at the 1939 New York World's Fair. I

So if the canner says "Old National" on it, you know it is older than 1940.

The good news is, they were very well built and you may just need to replace the

• gasket, and
• over-pressure safety valve

Of course, you may need need to replace handles and other parts too. And have the pressure gauge tested or simply replace it.

If you have more questions, you can contact the Presto company here .

See our page about pressure canner annual maintenance tips and a pressure canner buyers guide.

Presto

Presto® pressure cookers and canners were redesigned and re-engineered in 1978. They added new features including an interlock system that prevented the cover from being opened while there was pressure in the unit.

Timeline summary of names on the canners

1917 - 1939 - National and Old National

1939 - 1978 - Presto

1978 - Presto, with redesigned models - See this page for a master list of Presto model numbers, sizes and replacement part numbers.
And click here for free downloads of Presto and other pressure canner's instruction manuals!

Notes from visitors

Lids: The national no 7 lids are interchangeable with the presto 21B lid.

Identifying the serial number: Look on the sides of the canner; The number on the bottom of the canner is NOT typically the serial number.

And the manual, free:

Click here to download the Old National Pressure Canner Manual

Feel free to download the manual for personal use, and to link to this page, but do not copy the manual and post it on other websites.

We have all the recipes updated here. The USDA has a lab that tests recipes for home canning and these were substantially revised in the 1970's decades after the Old National recipes were produced. Pre-1974 recipes are usually risky. A lot of food science has improved since 1910. Don't use the recipes in the old manual!