Topic: round-bottomed, flat-sided, wide-mouth jar

[Helen W.]

Given their shape, these jars must have been held in a clamp, or stacked side-by-side in some sort of rack. They don't look quite the right shape for distillation, but if the design is intended to make more efficient use of space in an industrial chemical works, then perhaps this could have been their purpose?

[Ekimp]

Could they be sweet jars? They could go on a rack so that they rotate. There are examples on the internet of various ages with a similar shape.

http://www.elliottsofoxford.co.uk/products.php?range=Boiled_Sweets&sub_subrange=Sweet_Dispensers&subrange=Sweet_Accessories

[Helen W.]

Ekimp, thinking back to my misspent childhood, a sweet jar might be a good candidate. They came in different shapes, but were usually flattened to save space in the rack or on the shelf. On the other hand, they usually had a wider mouth.

[Helen W.]

Actually, I take back my remark about the mouth. It does look wide enough to dispense sweets.

[Anne]

Sweet jars normally have a flat part to sit on though, these look like the either slot into a holding collar or screw onto something fixed, e.g. a pipe or something... 

[kerstinfroberg]

at one time, Pukeberg (Sweden) made lamp glasses for petrol pumps. Some were patterned (logo), but others were "generic". All (or most) were painted before use.
This https://www.poeter.se/Se+Bild?gallery_picture_id=69161&writer_id=41098&gallery_id=8538  is the only picture I could find which can give you an idea about the sizes.

[Ekimp]

There are Hoosier seller jars to keep/dispense flour or herbs etc...maybe sweets, that look similar. A Hoosier is like an American Welsh dresser for the kitchen, apparently popular in the first few decades of the 1900s. Some jars appear to be round without flats and mounted on wire racks so that they rotate. So it seems that forms similar to this jar were used at the time for storaging/dispensing food stuff so I would think it’s a possibility for these jars.