Amanda Jones (1835-1914)

Amanda Jones (1835 – 1914) was an American woman scientist most noted for inventing a vacuum method of canning called the Jones Process.

Amanda Jones was born in East Bloomfield, New York, on October 19, 1835. Her family was not wealthy but valued education. They were very avid readers.

When Jones was eight years old, she believed that spirits helped her find a key she had lost, and thereafter she had an interest in Spiritualism. She had a dream three years later where her brother told her “When the time comes, I must go.” The family moved to Buffalo. During school, her brother died from a heart defect.

She contacted her brother and, from that point forward, believed spirit guides to be helping her make decisions. At age 15, she was a teacher and a high school student.

In the 1860s, Amanda Jones continued to publish poems. She then began working as an editor, and continued to consider herself in contact with spirits, who helped her make job decisions.

In 1872, she received a message from the spirits that told her to write to Cooley to find her destiny. She knew Cooley, but had no idea why she needed to write to him. Then the spirits suggested that canning could be done by removing the air and then replacing it with jelly or juice. She thought the idea sounded reasonable, but had never canned food in her life and had no knowledge of inventing. She contacted Cooley and they worked together to create the “Jones” process. They created the first model in 1873.

Amanda discovered that this method of canning added more flavor to the food, doesn’t remove any nutritional value, and it kills the bacteria by lack of oxygen instead of heat. Amanda Jones was asked to create a safe way to burn oil. Oil was becoming a valuable resource but it was very dangerous. If you burned oil to cook, you could get too little oil or too much. So, in 1880, she created the first automatic safety burner. She started the Women’s Canning and Preserving Company ten years later. The company allowed only women to join.

Three years later, they hired a group of men. The men took over the company and women were removed from the company. She died in 1914.