It eventually became the world's largest manufacturer of recyclable aluminum packaging for a variety of beverage, home and personal care applications.
Ball no longer produces glass mason jars and left the home canning business altogether in 1996 by spinning off a former subsidiary (Alltrista) into a free-standing company, which renamed itself Jarden Corporation.
)[5] The Ball brothers' company made tin cans encased in wooden jackets to hold kerosene, paints, or varnishes.
[3] Because the acid used to refine kerosene caused corrosion in tin, the brothers decided to use glass for the inserts of the wood-jacketed cans.
[6] Around 1885 a group of Belgian glassblowers who were passing through Buffalo encouraged the Ball brothers to build their own factory.
To keep the new factory's furnace operating at full capacity, the company introduced new products and made improvements to its glass and metal manufacturing processes.
[12] About the same time the factory in Buffalo was destroyed by fire in 1886, the brothers began to consider moving their business closer to natural gas supplies.
The two brothers decided to make a more extensive trip to investigate the possibility of establishing a glass factory closer to an abundant supply of natural gas.
They briefly had doubts about extending beyond Buffalo, but decided to explore the use of natural gas as a means of expanding their glass-making business.
"[16] Frank agreed to a proposal that offered the Ball brothers 7 acres (2.8 hectares) of land for a factory site, a gas well, and $5,000 in cash to encourage the move to Muncie.
By September 1887 construction had begun on the Muncie factory and the Ball brothers began plans to move their glass manufacturing operations from New York.
Their brothers, William and George, remained in Buffalo to operate the stamping works and a factory in Bath, New York.
The company's F. C. Ball machine, patented in 1898, introduced mass production into its glass-blowing process and gave it a competitive market advantage.
By 1905 the company was producing 60 million canning jars per year and had acquired other glass manufacturers, expanding its operations to include seven factories in addition to its main facilities at Muncie.
A settlement was quickly reached on March 29, but company management reneged on the agreement and threatened to declare a lockout.
Renamed the Ball Brothers Company in 1922, it remained well-known for manufacturing fruit jars, lids, and related products for home canning.
The final decision, which was handed down in 1947, restricted Ball's ability to acquire other glass manufacturers and other businesses producing glass-making machinery without prior court approval.
[27][29] The company continued to expand into other areas including avionics, aerospace systems, and metal beverage and food containers.
First, on March 6, 2009, the Ball Aerospace-built Kepler space telescope carrying the largest camera ever sent by NASA beyond Earth’s orbit, was successfully launched aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
In 2016, Ball acquired British firm Rexam plc to become the world’s largest producer of aluminum beverage cans.
The cup was recognized in Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas Awards with an honorable mention in the consumer products category.
The naming rights were sold to Ball as a part of a global multi-year agreement with Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE).
The move was strategic in allowing Ball to increase its focus on “low-carbon, best-value aluminum packaging initiatives”, said CEO Dan Fisher at the time.