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The Democratization of Food: Tin Cans and the Growth of the American Food Processing Industry, 1810-1940 by Gregg Steven Pearson A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate and Research Committee of Lehigh University in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Lehigh University January, 2016 © 2016 Copyright Gregg Steven Pearson ii Approved and recommended for acceptance as a dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Gregg Steven Pearson The Democratization of Food: Tin Cans and the Growth of the American Food Processing Industry, 1810-1940 Defense Date Dr. John K. Smith Dissertation Director Approved Date Committee Members: Dr. Stephen H. Cutcliffe Dr. Roger D. Simon Dr. Maria McGrath iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Without the love, support, and encouragement of my dear wife Kathy, this project would never have come to fruition. I owe her an unimaginable debt of gratitude for allowing me to pursue a dream. Our children, Sara and Phil, were somewhat puzzled and amused by dad's new career as a student, and I thank them for providing an occasional break from my studies. My dissertation committee spent many hours reading drafts and provided crucial insight which was incorporated into the final product. I thank them for their time and patience. The staff at the Hagley Museum and Library in Greenville, Delaware guided me to several significant and important sources, while the research librarians at the Carl A. Kroch Library of Cornell University were helpful, friendly and patient during my numerous visits. There were many individuals who assisted with my research at other libraries. I specifically thank Mr. Victor Dixon, the reference librarian at the Maywood Public Library in Maywood, Illinois for uncovering documents on the Norton Brothers Can Works. Victor managed to provide me time and work space at a severely underfunded public library, all with a smile. Mr. Luther Hanson, director of the U. S. Army Quartermaster Museum and Library in Fort Lee, Virginia, possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of Army supply operations, and enthusiastically unearthed Civil War era documents on canned food use by the military. Finally, I acknowledge two individuals who placed me on the road to this project twenty-five years ago. The late Mr. Bill Smith, Sr. was the CEO of the United States Can Company and offered me a position, in an industry I knew nothing about, in 1992. Mr. Joe Nicoletto was my mentor in the basics of can manufacturing. Joe was, and still is, a can-maker extraordinaire. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures vii List of Tables and Charts viii Abstract 1 Chapter 1 - Introduction 3 Chapter 2 - The United States Military and the Tin Can 26 - History of Early Can-Making 27 - The United States Military and the Tin Can 48 Chapter 3 - Technology and the Tin Can 87 - Phase 1 - Craft or Hand-made Manufacture 90 - Nineteenth-Century Types of Tin Cans 96 - The Operation of a Canning Line 104 - The Process of Innovation in Can-Manufacturing 111 - Phase 2 - Proto-Mechanization 116 - Phase 3 - Semi-Automatic Manufacture 122 - Domestic Tin Plate Production 135 - Adoption of Technology by Can-Makers 137 - Labor Relations Issues 140 - Phase 4 - Integration and Emergence of a New Industry 149 - Phase 5 - Product Design 166 - Conclusion 184 Chapter 4 - Case Studies in Can Manufacturing 194 - Landscape of the Industry 198 - Wayne County Preserving Company 202 - The H. S. Mill Canning Company 224 - The Cobb Preserving Company 247 - Norton Brothers Can Works 261 - Large Food Marketers 274 - Conclusion 287 Chapter 5 - Consolidation of Can-Making 291 - The American Can Company 296 - The Continental Can Company 315 - Basis of Competition 320 - Middle Tier Can Manufacturers 326 - Effects of Consolidation 329 - Consolidation and Alfred Chandler 332 - Conclusion 339 v Chapter 6 - Managing Demand and Customer Expectations 344 - Canned Food Consumption 346 - Urbanization 361 - The Application of Science to Canning 370 - The Pure Food Movement 380 - Trade Associations 386 - Advertising 393 - Conclusion 406 Chapter 7 - Conclusion 409 - Epilogue 417 Bibliography 422 Vita 436 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 - Diagram of Ezra Warner's Can Opener 48 Figure 2.2 - Civil War Era "Essence of Coffee" Tin Can, front view 66 Figure 2.3 - Civil War Era "Essence of Coffee" Tin Can, reverse view 67 Figure 2.4 - 1930s Era C-Ration 84 Figure 3.1 - Drawing of Hole-in-Cap Can 98 Figure 3.2 - Wilson's Tapered Can 101 Figure 3.3 - Andrew Shriver's Kettle 109 Figure 3.4 - Various End Floaters - Merriam's and Triumph 129 Figure 3.5 - Norton's Automatic Can Line - End Attachment 154 Figure 3.6 - Norton's Automatic Can Line - View of Entire Line 154 Figure 3.7 - Sanitary Can 174 Figure 3.8 - Max Ams No. 498 Double Seamer 176 Figure 3.9 - Cover of Max Ams "Panama Exposition" Catalogue 178 Figure 4.1 - H. S. Mill Canning Company - Former Site 228 Figure 4.2 - H. S. Mill Canning Company - Original Corn Crib 229 Figure 4.3 - Postcard of Cobb Preserving Company, Circa 1900 249 Figure 4.4 - Sketch of Norton Brothers Can Works, 1894 265 Figure 4.5 - American Can Company Plant - Maywood, Illinois, 1911 269 Figure 4.6 - Modern Photo - Former Norton Brothers Can Works Site 270 vii LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table 3.1 - Common Can Sizes and Case Packs 104 Table 3.2 - American Tin Plate Consumption 137 Chart 3.1 - Technology Effect Over Time 181 Chart 3.2 - Technology Effect by Key Operation 185 Chart 3.3 - Technology Effect by Phase of Technological Development 189 Table 4.1 - Top Fruit and Vegetable Canning States 200 Table 5.1 - Consolidation of Can Manufacturing 331 Table 6.1 - Market Size - Canned Fruits and Vegetables - Early Twentieth Century 348 Chart 6.1 - Annual Consumption of Canned Fruits and Vegetables 349 viii ABSTRACT This project draws from the history of technology and business history to determine how the transformation of the can manufacturing industry was coupled with changes in the food processing industry. Ultimately, American social and cultural change occurring in the late nineteenth century through the early twentieth century reshaped the contours of both food processing and can manufacturing. The tin can was the force that democratized food processing. The development of tin can manufacturing from a craft-based to a mass production industry between the years 1810 and 1930 occurred because of several important factors. The military use of tin cans during the American Civil War introduced and popularized the new food processing technology, but the price of canned food was beyond the reach of most Americans. It was a food source for the wealthy. The rapid development of can manufacturing technologies beginning in the 1870s through 1910s reduced the price of tin cans and made them affordable for most Americans. The deployment of technology, however, was non-uniform and canners and can manufacturers only adopted new machinery if it supported their overall business strategy. The consolidation of can-making began in the first few years of the twentieth century and by the 1920s resembled a duopoly. While consolidation and reorganization of the industry initially increased prices for canned food, competition and litigation by the federal government ensured price reductions and stability. In the early twentieth century canned food was becoming an increasingly large component of the American diet, and urbanization of American society generated 1 additional demand. However, there was an undercurrent of suspicion associated with canned food among some consumers. The application of science, formation of a national trade association, and advertising all reassured American consumers about the safety of canned food and grew the market for these products. By the end of the 1920s, canned food was now a food processing technology demanded by Americans in ever increasing quantities and no longer the exclusive preserve of the wealthy. The ignoble and ubiquitous tin can was the technology which facilitated the growth of the food processing industry in nineteenth-century America. The development of the tin can as a container for food was regarded as nothing short of a revolutionary innovation in industrial America. 2 Chapter 1 – Introduction When tomorrow's historians study the ways of the twentieth century, they will find the imprint of five industrial corporations that, more than any others, shaped the daily life of man in the U.S. Four of them are Ford Motor, General Electric, American Tel. & Tel., and R.C.A. The fifth is American Can Co. The absence of any of the five, or of the industry it symbolizes, would change the pattern of life in the U.S. past recognition. Fortune Magazine, 19411 Few contemporary historians of technology or business would place the tin can alongside such significant technologies as the automobile, electricity, telephone, or radio, as noteworthy inventions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, American historians and business writers of the early twentieth century saw it as a life-changing innovation. The specific technological challenge was mass producing an item with manufacturing tolerances measured in thousandths of an inch. In the nineteenth century, the mass production of canned food required inexpensive and reliable tin cans and this process took decades of technological development. The result, by the early twentieth century, was a safe and inexpensive container, which became a staple item in most American kitchens.