Coffee Grinder Jar

Q: I have a tapered jar with printing on the bottom that has to be read from the inside out. It says “No. 72, Pat. in U.S., Dec. 22, 1903, July 17, 1906, M 29.” It’s 4 inches high, 2 1/2 inches wide at the top and 2 inches wide at the bottom. The top is grooved, as though it was meant to screw into something.

A: Your jar was part of an old Arcade wall-mounted coffee grinder. There were three parts to the grinder. A different glass jar at the top held the coffee beans and the middle part ground them. The ground coffee emptied into your jar, which screwed into the bottom of the grinder. We found the answer by checking the patent numbers.