Kilner jar The company was forced to close down to convert to gas furnaces and struggled along for a 66 years despite 3,000 people losing their jobs. In 1937, there was a bankruptcy sale, in which the patent rights to the "Kilner Jar" were sold to the United Glass Bottle company along with the rights to the very similar "Mason" jar that had also been made by Kilner. In 2003, The Rayware Group purchased the design, patent and trademark of the original Kilner jar and continues to produce them today in China. A more detailed history of the companies by the Society
Ballard Designs a dolphin-based table. A year later, Ballard quit her job, sold her home and started Ballard Designs. The first catalog was a two-page black-and-white brochure featuring a replica of the dolphin-based table from her home. It became Ballard Designs' first big seller. In 1996 Ballard Designs merged with Cornerstone Brands, publisher of several home and apparel catalogs, including Frontgate, Garnet Hill and Smith+Noble. Cornerstone Brands was acquired by IAC/InterActive Corp in 2005 and later became a subsidiary of HSN, Inc. In 2007, Ballard Designs opened its first retail store in Tampa and expanded less than a year later to Jacksonville.