CANNING AND PRESERVING IN DUSTRY. The hermetical sealing of food, generally termed has long since passed the experimental stage and is now one of the leading industries of the country. The inventive genius of man has from the earliest times turned toward some method of prevent ing articles of food from deteriorating, and toward some way of preserving food so that it will be palatable at some future time. tion" or drying was probably the first method used, but the food thus preserved lost its natural flavor and became tough in texture. Prior to 1750 this method of drying, and that of using salt and sugar, were the only methods in use for preserving food. From 1809-10 a French man, Nicholas Appert (b. 1750; d. 1841), evolved a plan for hermetically sealing foods for use at sea, and his process was purchased by the French government, which gave it to manufacturing firms in France and England for use in producing canned goods. Appert described his invention as an inexpensive and simple method of preserving various sorts of animal and vegetable food in perfect condition for an indefinite period. He gave the world one of the principles involved in the art of canning, and since his time there have been several new principles discovered equally as important as his sterilizing process, which did not take in the prevention of souring prior to sterilization. There have also been other im provements in machinery especially adapted to the principles involved, whereby cost has been enormously reduced, so that food preserved in tins is within reach of all classes of consumers. He was later awarded a prize of 12,000 francs by Napoleon, but spent most of this money for further experiment and died when over 90 years of age, after having seen his process thoroughly tested and put into operation.
In 1810 the English government granted a patent to Peter Durand for the preservation of fruits, vegetables and fish in hermetically sealed cans, made of tin, glass or other fit material. He made no claims to the discovery of the process, and it was stated at the time that he received his information in regard to it from a °foreigner residing abroad.° The methods, despite the secrecy in their use, gradually be came known, and in the course of time came to America. It is believed that a man by the name
of Ezra Daggett was the first to put the prac tice of canning goods into actual use in this country, in the years from 1815 to 1818. He with his son-in-law, Thomas Kensett, began to manufacture hermetically sealed goods, on a large scale in the year 1819, and the principal foods thus packed were salmon, lobsters and oysters. A patent was granted them in 1825 on the use of the tin can, or °case* as it was then called, and they immediately started the use of this process in their factory. Glass jars were then very little in use, because of their costli ness, bulk and inability to withstand the ex tremes of temperature.
In 1820 William Underwood and Charles Mitchel combined, in Boston, for the purpose of manufacturing foods in hermetically sealed cans. The principal business engaged in during the early days of the combination was the prep eration of pickles, jams, jellies, sauces and mus tard; but they, also put up quinces, cranberries, currants, etc. About the same time, Allen Tay lor and M. Fallagher, who had learned their trade in Ireland, came to this country and were for some time employed in New York. They with Kensett did much to put the industry on a permanent basis. In 1839 William Under wood began to substitute tin for glass, though it was a number of years before the jar and bottle gave way entirely to the °tin can.° The methods of can-making were for many years very slow and primitive. A tinker who could turn out 60 cans a day was a master workman, for every can was made by hand. The body for each had to be measured, marked and cut out from the plate by hand shears, and, to make the seam or lap secure and air-tight, it was thought necessary to pile on the solder until a ridge an eighth of an inch thick was built up from end to end. It was also a slow and difficult operation to make the covers and bottoms. Each one had first to be drawn on the tin with compasses and then cut out with the shears, and finally, with a mallet, the edges struck up or bent, over an upright piece of iron called °a heading stake.° The tops and bot toms, like the seams, were soldered on with a heavy beading of metal, and enough solder was used on one can to make a dozen of to-day's manufacture.