Looking for Old National No. 7 Pressure Canner Gaskets and Parts in 2024?  Scroll down this page and  follow the links. And if you bring home some fruit or vegetables and want to can, freeze, make jam, salsa or pickles, see this page for simple, reliable, illustrated canning, freezing or preserving directions. There are plenty of other related resources, click on the resources dropdown above.  If you are having a hard time finding canning lids, I've used these, and they're a great price & ship in 2 days.

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Old National No. 7 Pressure Canner Gaskets and Parts

Presto National No. 5 Pressure Canner Gaskets and Parts

If you have a Presto National No. 5 Pressure Canner, and are looking for replacement gaskets, gauges, weights (jiggler), etc, here's  news;

Presto says the Model '5' is considered an obsolete canner and should not be pressurized because Presto cannot provide parts to keep this canner up and running safely.

Of course, they do want you to buy a new canner, so it well may be possible to find a gasket that fits elsewhere! Scroll down this page for links to parts that we are told fit the Preston Old National No 5 pressure canner. If you know of any other sources, please email me via the feedback form (see top of the page).

Contact Presto Customer Service Department M-F 8-4:15 CT by phone (1-800-877-0441) or e-mail (contact1@gopresto.com ).

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!