Hi Meg,

What a great price! Maybe wait until it gets there before worrying
about parts as it might not need any. Looking at the picture of the
lid, what you have there is a gauge, rubber safety plug, and
National's pressure regulator device. I borrowed a national canner
once that had one of these. It has a little lever on top that you flip
up for open and down for closed. It does the exact same job as the
familiar rocker setup except it uses an internal spring instead of a
weight and is a lot harder to misplace on canning day. Do a thorough
inspect parts that hold the lid on. As xcvbob says, don't put oil on
the gasket, to which I would add, don't remove the gasket for
inspection or you will likely have to replace it. If you decide to
test it by putting an inch of water in the bottom and bringing it up
to pressure, let it vent for 10 minutes before you flip the lever
down, just as you would during a normal canning run. With the little
lever down it should start venting when it reaches 15 lbs pressure.
Best Regards,
James



Meg > wrote in message >. ..
> Greetings,
>
> I just purchased a Health Pressure Cooker model #22 & made in Peoria,
> IL by the National Aluminum Manufacturing Company. From the limited
> info I found on Google, it was probably made in the late 40's or early
> 50's..
>
> If you go to http://ebay.com & type in 2380856056 in the search you
> will see the canner I bought & this might help you recgonize it.
>
> There's no instructions to go with it and I'm not sure exactly how to
> work this specific one. All the pressure cookers/canners I've seen
> have the rocking top to maintain a desired pressure. This one has a
> pressure gage and pressure relief valve located on the lid but nothing
> else I can see on the photo and the seller knows nothing about how to
> calibrate it or use it.
>
> Any information on this one anyone?
>
> Thank you!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Meg