You can usually take them to a local county extension office and they can pressure test it for you. I have one I found at a thrift store. Around 1947 as best I can tell. 😁

 

How did you go about dating yours?

 

Depends on the condition it in, look at the locking and sealing surfaces closely. Does it have a fuse (safety disk) How much does it hold?

 

In general looks to be in pretty good condition. The locking and sealing surfaces look good but don't know that I would know what "bad" looks like unless it was overtly corroded. As far as I can tell its a 16 qt model. I clearly need to do more research as the pictures I have seen on line look similar but the lid I have appears to have three protrusions; the pressure dial gauge, petcock screw (minus the weight/jiggler) and what I assume is the vent pipe (just behind the petcock), while most of the pictures have only the gauge and petcock.

 

My Sweetie is a well experienced master level preserver and pressure canner...
Second hand info I have gained from her... If just starting to pressure can, or low level of experience at canning, have these things on hand..
A good quality canner ready to use, with instructions..
Jars, lids the appropriate size for the things you plan to preserve.. Example.. Pint and half pint jars for jelly and jam.. Pint jars for vegetables for family meals..
The small tools to fill, handle jars you process.. Canning funnel, jar lifter, magnetic lid handler.. Cooling rack... Many kitchen towels and dish rags..
A recent copy of the Complete Ball Blue Book of canning..

The best thing to have is an experienced, patient mentor to help teach and raise you skill and confidence level with many small successes.. Sweetie has mentored a number of people in our bush community to good success...

With skill and confidence... Then is the time to branch out to refurbish and use an older canner to help with larger batches of product or to use a family heirloom..

We have bought several All American brand pressure canners at garage sales and such that with a little TLC and some new parts have worked well for us..

Good luck
My 5 cents of experience...

 

National number 7 is a good canner, I have several of them. If it doesn't have any defects, I'd replace the gasket and the pressure plug. The petcocks usually don't give any trouble, but they can be updated to the "jiggler" style if they are missing. It should have one or the other, not both. The gauge might be fine, your local extension office should be able to check it for you.

 

My all American canner has both. I trust the jiggler over the gauge.

 

Oh by the way thanks for the link in the OP. Now I know where to get parts for our #5 when we need them.

 

I literally just posted the same question about an old Sears pressure cooker last week. Do a quick search. I ordered all the seals, jiggler weight with new vent tube for $35. from Presto Pressure Cooker Parts - Cooking and Canning Co. based on info from a member on here. 9/14/2022 I think is the date of my post.

 

Pressure canner weight

I have an abundance of packaged little carrots I got from the food bank. More than I can use, so I thought i'd try canning them. (I've always water bath canned, never pressure canned anything so this is a first) a number of years ago, I bought an old used Sears Pressure canner that's been...

www.survivalistboards.com

pic of mine, looks very similar. dated 1969 in the manual. the weight typically comes with a new vent pipe because (as i've researched) they are matched in taper so they jiggle properly. I sprayed it down with Awesome degreaser from Dollar tree and hosed it off. It was a black and greasy mess before I took this pic.

 

Pressure canner weight

I have an abundance of packaged little carrots I got from the food bank. More than I can use, so I thought i'd try canning them. (I've always water bath canned, never pressure canned anything so this is a first) a number of years ago, I bought an old used Sears Pressure canner that's been...

www.survivalistboards.com

pic of mine, looks very similar. dated 1969 in the manual. the weight typically comes with a new vent pipe because (as i've researched) they are matched in taper so they jiggle properly. I sprayed it down with Awesome degreaser from Dollar tree and hosed it off. It was a black and greasy mess before I took this pic.






View attachment 468301

Does that have a weight that the gauge is blocking the view of?