Nope, you aren't missing anything. They were spouting nonsense. A 6 quart pressure cooker isn't nearly big enough for canning and having to lay the jar on its side is an indication of that. I'd even go so far to say they were being extremely irresponsible by saying it can be used to can food.

And it's definitely not in compliance with the USDA recommendations.

http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/using_press_canners.html

"The USDA recommends that a canner be large enough to hold at least 4 quart jars to be considered a pressure canner for the USDA published processes."

Rodney

And, to add to the above, that's 4 quart jars upright on a rack with the canner lid securely in place, not jars laying on their sides ;) What some will do to 'make a buck'....

Given the siphoning problems even when the jars are uptight, can you imagine what they would be like with the jar laying on its side? Not to mention why would anyone want to can 1 qt jar at a time?

Dave