If you are selling to boarding houses and hotels you also will want half-gallon and gallon cans. If you use these larger-size cans and want the sealer you can get it for these sizes, but you must tell exactly what you want when ordering.
The prices which I give are 1919 prices and are of course not stationary. A sealer that will seal the Number 2 sanitary tin cans costs $14. A sealer for Number 3 cans will cost the same amount. But the ideal arrangement is the combination machine which can be used for both the pints, Number 2, and the quarts, Number 3. This type of sealer costs $16.50. A special machine is used for sealing the Number 10 or gallon cans, and its price is $35.
The price of the "winter can opener" is $17.00 for smaller size and $19.50 for the larger one.
Several standard sizes of tin cans are in common use for canning purposes, as follows:
| NUMBER | SIZE INCHES | DIAMETER OF OPENING INCHES |
| 1 | 2⅝ by 4 | 2-1/16 |
| 2 | 3-5/16 by 4-9/16 | 2-1/16 or 2-7/16 |
| 3 | 4⅛ by 4⅞ | 2-1/16 or 2-7/16 |
| 10 | 6-3/16 by 6⅞ | 2-1/16 or 2-7/16 |
The cans are put up in crates holding 100 or 500 cans. If you are canning for the ordinary market use Number 2 cans for berries, corn, peas and cherries; Number 3 cans for tomatoes, peaches, apples, pears and sweet potatoes.
In buying cans it is always necessary to state whether you desire plain tin or lacquered—enameled—cans. In buying caps always ask for the solder-hemmed caps and give the diameter of the can opening. For whole fruits and vegetables, cans with two-and-seven-sixteenth-inch or even larger openings are preferable. Since the size of the can opening varies and it ordinarily will not be advisable to have more than one capping iron, it is recommended that the larger size—two-and-seven-sixteenth-inch—capping iron be purchased.
The tin cans come in lots of 100 or 500 cans. It is possible to buy as few as two dozen cans, but that never pays. It is cheaper to buy a larger quantity. Number 2 plain sanitary cans in 500 lots cost $3.45 a hundred; in 100 lots, $3.65 a hundred. Number 2 sanitary cans—enameled—in 500 lots cost $3.80 a hundred; in 100 lots, $3.95 a hundred. Number 3, plain, in 500 lots are $4.50 a hundred; Number 3, plain, in 100 lots are $4.70 a hundred. Number 3, enameled cans, in 500 lots, are $4.95 a hundred; Number 3, enameled cans, in 100 lots, are $5.10 a hundred.
The gallons come twelve cans to a case. They are $1.40 a dozen if 100 cases are bought. If less than 100 cases are ordered they are $1.50 a dozen.
The cans that you have to solder yourself run just about the same price, Number 2 being $3.60 in 500 lots and $3.80 in 100 lots. Number 3 are $4.70 in 500 lots and $4.90 in 100 lots. The buyer must pay express or freight charges on both sealers and tin cans.