Show patent for canning foods was delayed ten years by the U S patent office in 1815 thomas kensett evolved a method for the preservation of food in hermetically sealed cans or canisters as they were then called writes gilbert C klingel in the baltimore sun satisfied that his method was satisfactory kensett then applied to the patent office in washington tor for a patent for preserving animal vegetable and other perishable foods the patent office considered the matter as something of a joke and was so skeptical that it was not until 1825 that the patent was issued however the final papers carried the signatures of james monroe president of the united states of john quincy adams then secretary of state and william wirt attorney general apparently patently ly the presidency were riot not over overburdened burdened with inventions in 1832 kensett started at the foot of federal hill in baltimore the first cannery in maryland interestingly enough the first food to be canned was oysters but it was not long before he branched out and began canning numerous vegetables including spinach the ca canning of those days as such would hardly be recognizable to the modern canner but little by little the methods were improved until they reached their present high efficiency today the successors of kensett pack more spinach than any other firm on the atlantic seaboard which is to say they pack each year a considerable sid erable mountain of spinach if one may judge from the huge piles on the cannery floors during I 1 the course of a single days pac packing kina |