T h e Earning Power of Research' As Exemplified in the Baking Industry By I. K. Russell A r ~ a i c r rIN~TITCTTO0- B . ~ i i n Cfiifrlio, ~, 1z.c.
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N AN INLAND CITY two years ago, two bakers divided the bread trade bctween them on about equal terms. One w-as a college man, trained in chemistry and physics, who had gained a n interest in a bakery through an unexpected inheritance. The other was a nde-of-thumb baker. who delighted in fallowing the customs and instincts that had grown up slowly since the days of Noah and the ancient fathers of our race. To-day one of there bakers operates a plant that is a splendid exemplification ofthework of the research chemist in the baking industry, while the other is blue and disconsolate. The bread in the plant of the man who believed in the chemist rolls through automatic machines, nearly all of which were invented in response to needs discovered by chemical research. No band touches it from mixer t o wrapping machine. It passes through a "foolproof" oven, in which a loaf simply cannot gct out until it is property baked, and the ingredients are subjected daily to chemical tests undcr a trained supcrvisor. It is the belief of the olrner of this bakery that within ten years every baking superintendent will be a eollegc man, with a technical training in the chemistry of~fermentation. In his om-n plant the heart of the bakery is thc chrmist's laboratory, ahere ingredients are tested, weighed, and introduced into the bread mix with an cxactitude of measurement never before thought t o be necessary. To the chemist oi this plant the housewife's "pinch of salt" and the mile-of-thumb baker's "small handful" become an abomination. Careiul research, verified by the baking of thousands of loaves of bread in an erperimciital bakery, has shown that just a pinch too much of salt or just a pinch too little will have a very marked effect in pulling domi the quality of the baked loaf. In this bakery, too, B time clack has been installetl. I t is nata time clock for the purpose made famous by efficiencyengineers in factorics. It is a time clock in the dough room. It forces ihe baker to record the exact minute and second a t which he took batches of dough from the mixers and thc enact minute and sccond a t which he "punched" thc doughs after the first fermrntalion in the troughs. This most recent work of the research chemists in stating the need for one ncw automatic machine after another to replace guess work aiid variable humau Judgment, oddly enough, is only a following along of the "Open Scsame" to the secrets of fermentation discovered by Louis Pasteur. In this bakery where the research and the service chemist have assumed full control, iheir service has worked out in industrial results of rnarked satisfaction to the bakery owner. Ilc no longer divides the cream of the tradc on an even basis with his chid competitor. Instead, he sells five loaves of bread to every single loaf his chief competitor sclis. On a recent visit to that city the writer found practically all bakers askiirg a single qucstimand they did it in a mccting mherc no representative 01 their most si~cesdulrival was preseiit. The question was this: "How can we equal our competitor's quality?" One guessed that the secret lay hidden in certain new machincs, and had placed an order for thcm; another guessed that the secret was in the shortening used, and had changed from vegetable sliortening to the best of leaf lard. A third thought that the type of oven was the secret, and had beeii t o sec his bankers about making a change. None of them guessed, for not one was 1
R e c e i ~ c dApril 4 , 1023.
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a technically trained baker, that the chemist sitting back in th: heart of the bakery, doing cvcrything by the rules of an e x a c ~ science, was the real sotme of this bakery's industrial success. At the same time that the owner of this bakery began building up a "quality loaf" by calling t o his aid all that science and new invention could d e r , a young research chemist was receiving his diploma of "A.B." which, a t the School of Baking of the American Institute of Baking, means "A Baker." This man applied for work t o a. bakery whose owner scorned the name "bakery" for the industrial plant he was then planning in which to turn out thc moderti chemist-backed loaf in a modern way. He preferred the name "bread factory," inxccognition of the industrial status to which he helievcd the modern baking plant had risen This baker had sewed oversea^ in the baking division of the Army and he was now bringing modern methods into action in Ilc took the chemist from a technical school and baking. placed him on thc loaf-rounding bench in front of one of thc big 0VY"S.
The yoii~igman came forward with suggestions-he could make bctter loaf if the air that entered it was filtered; the formrlla should be corrected after an analysis o f the city's water supply; the temperature o f the fermentation room should l r kept a t ail emc1 lerel-the l e d a t which yeast w o d d grow and work with the most energy. B
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T ~ i s ~ a i o s r aPOR r s PBRMEXTAIIUN Cu~iroi
This meant a purchase of anlomatic control devices. The proprietor himself was an acute'student of the reports of modern research chemists. Sixteen years before he hegan to build his modem
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plant he had participated in a conference a t which it was proposed to two ditlerent universities that bread-baking was worthy of the serious thought of research chemists and engineers. A t that time be had been scoffedat, and one of his supporters had bcen jokingly dubhtd “Professor of Pumpernickle” and “Doctor of Doughnuts” by newspapers catering to university-trained readers.
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The devices shown above give the tempexstwe for each twenty-foot section of n traveling oven, and, in addition, they give at B glance the temperature of the Bues in each of the 6re boxes. the temperature underneath the baking hearth, and the t ~ m p r ~ ~ t uofr ethe heat escaping through the smoke sLack.
But he had goiie on, taking careful notes of the possibilities of research work and service work. In his new plant he built a research and service laboratory. Into this laboratory he called the first of the technically trained men. After a year of service without great authority, the chemist’s work brought such ereat results in a better loaf, that he was made general manager, a t a salary of over $10,000 per year. Thus, .the technically traiiied man has invaded the industry, made his place, and is setting the modern pace lor the winning exemplars of bread manufacture. The research chemist found that dough sours and bread does not sour because oven heat kills the bread’s yeast. He found that some quem loaves occurred because oven heat killcd the yeast in the bottom of the loaf, while a lack of “top heat” allowed-theupper portion to go on fermenting. The result was a call for automatic regulating devices for both top and bottom heat in ovens. These devices have been invented, and the very latest invention, based upon the possibilities created by them, is an oven which bakes 6000 loaves of bread per hour. The owner had done well as a baker in the old days and had sent his son away to a technical school. The son returned and in a few months was making better bread than his father ever had bcen able to make. It led t o B close study of the new work of research laboratorics. This new automatically controlled oven, with thc leirgth of 120 feet and its cooling rack running underneath for economy of space, attracted thousands to watch i t in operation for the first four months after it was installed. It \vas doing hcfore their eyes the work 18,000 women formerly had to do in their own homes. Through this oven 3.5tons of dough roll each hour, and its m i trol devices are so accurate and complete that no loaf can emerge from the oven until i t is fully baked. The old-time. “dough center,” common both t o mother’s bread and to O Y C ~ Swherc the baker’s judgment marks the end of the baking period, has bren completely eliminated by the work of the chemists behind this new “revolntianary oven.”
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Research espcrimcnts found that the friction of mirinr dough produced heat in too grcat a quantity. To correct this evil refrigerated air was iiitrodoced in the form of a blast into the modern high-speed mixer. It was found that air, even when brought from the purest sources, was contaminated with smoke and dust. To purify it from all matters held in suspension the air was passed through a nater bath on its way to the refrigerating chambers, and thus bathed air became a regtilar bakers’ ingredient. When forced a t a temperature of 22” F. into a mixer revolving a t 65 revolutions per minute, it was found to be capable of kceping thc temperature of 1000 pounds of dough down to 78” F. Experimcnts demonstrated that there was an exact number of revolutions which a miner’s arms should make before the dough was to he considered as properly mixed. Thisnumber was found and then an automatic shut-off was designed, which would stap the mixer a t exactly the right point. Iland labor was done away with again, as was personal watchfulness when an electric button was installed, capable of controlling the dumping operations for the mixers. Thermostatic mixing valves also havc bcen introduced to see that weter goes into the dough mix a t exactly thc right temperature. They release hot and cold water, and deliver it a t exactly the desired temperature into a tank afiixed to an automatic weighing machine. On the bottom of this tank are distance nitrogen thermometers, reading on a dial. Ingredients are weighed into the miner; dough is wcighed out of the mixer. Thus, a close automatic check is kept on all operations. In this process fermentation and evaporation loss is accurately controlled. I t is often reduced t o 0.5 of 1 per cent, whereas without automatic control the loss formerly was mort than 3 per cent. The air conditioner used in purifying air for bakcry use is electrically controlled and opcrated. It sends a whirling spray of water through air that is being conditioned for the bakery. Each week a bucket of mud, washed out of the air, is taken from the atomizer. The conditionrr contains coils through whicli steam is passed in wintrr and the brim from an ice machine in siimmei, thus kceping the air a t a tmqxrature of 78’ C. IIumidiity is controlled hy B heat rcgitlator--a recent research product. As the modern scientist, liackcd by modern invention, pushed the handcraft baker back out of the industrial fooniground, he wen took charge of the problrm of transicrring the baked product from one machine to anotlicr. Practically all haking processes
TILEN ~ W BPSoTn o? ~ Pnoor‘ Box Where temperature and humidity control r r c perfectly mrinfrincd hy rutomaiic devices shown in tlie rear of the proof box. Extensive research in the habits of yeast growth led to Llii erlablishmeot of thin control io suhiantee the tiny yeast plant o ~ t i r n u mconditions for growth.
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are now synchronized. The mixers deliver dough to the dividers in exactly the amounts necessary t o keep divider, rounder, proofer, and molder automatically operating a t uniform production. For a long time molds confused the baker. He thought moldy bread meant spoiled, moldy flour. The research chemist convinced him t h a t the baking temperatures killed all mold spores and he must look t o post-baking infection. T h a t meant sanitation of bakeries, and the newest plants are models in this particular. The stale loaf is no longer introduced as a source of infection. A research chemist turned from the production of his thesis on “diastatic enzymes of wheat flour,” which won him a Ph.D. degree, t o a study of toast. H e wanted t o find out what made the delicious flavor of good toast, t h a t is different from the flavor of bread. H e found t h a t a “fast toaster” carbonized the sugars of the bread, and gave a bad toast, while a slower heat caramelized the sugars and parched the proteins of the fresh crust. Thus, good toast became similar t o the old-fashioned “parched corn” of the days of open-hearth farmhouse fires. The results of this research, when turned over t o electrical engineers, resulted in the remodeling of almost all types of electric toasters of the market There is now an “American Institute of Baking Standard,” fixed by the researches of this chemist, and available to all manufacturers.
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The fermentation room in any modern bakery tells its own story of the rise of the chemist t o a place of power. When he declared t h a t three or four degrees off the optimum for yeast growth during the period of fermentation would make a difference in loaf quality, the question arose of how t o maintain a reliably steady temperature in dough rooms. Insulating material was installed. All walls were built double, with double windows and cork-insulated floors and ceilings. Fermentation troubles due t o overheating or underheating are now confined to smaller plants and older-fashioned baking groups. One chemist in charge of a series of plants not only got rid of all bakers who guessed a t temperatures in dough batches, but he also notified each plant manager t h a t thermometers were too unreliable t o be trusted, if bought in the open market. H e provided t h a t they must come from his central laboratory alone, and in this laboratory he found it necessary t o test them, not only for the boiling and freezing points, but for all intermzdiate degrees, as he often found thermometers off several points a t 80’ F. while reading accurately a t the boiling and freezing points. Thus, the progress of the post-war years records itself on the industry. The research and service chemists are as yet only in the infancy of their days of bakery control. Their promise of development of the loaf through added nutritional qualities based on feeding experiments is unlimited and is already “into production” with definite results on the health of our people.
S. C. Lind Becomes Chief Chemist, Bureau of Mines Announcement is made of the appointmeasurements and of recovery, and finally ment of Dr. the building of a plant, which was operated C. Lind, for several years superintendent of the Rare and Precious for three or four years and produced about Metals Experiment Station, Bureau of 8.5 g. of radium. Mines, a t Reno, Nev., as chief chemist of The Bureau of Mines Station was moved the Bureau of Mines, Department of the from Denver to Golden, Colo., in 1916. On Interior, appointment t o be effective July the appointment of Dr. Moore a s chief first. Dr. Lind succeeds Dr. Moore, who chemist of the Bureau of Mines in 1919, Dr. has gone with The Dorr Company, Engineers, Lind was made superintendent of the Sta247 Park Ave., New York City. tion, although previous to this time, during the absence of Dr. Moore in Texas on the Samuel Colville Lind was born at McMinnville, Tenn., June 15, 1879. helium work, he had been acting superintendHe ent. I n December, 1920, the Rare Metals received degrees of A.B. from Washington and Lee in 1899, B.S. from Massachusetts Station was moved from Golden, Colo., to Institute of Technology in 1902, and Ph.D. Reno, Nev., and became the Rare and Prefrom Leipzig in 1905. cious Metals Station. At Leipzig he studied in Ostwald’s laboDr. Lind’s chief work has been on radioactivity, radium extraction and measureratory, working under the immediate direction of Dr. Bodenstein. I n the fall of 1910 ments, influence of radiation on chemical Harrzs & Ewing he went t o Paris and studied under M q e . action, kinetics of chemical reactions, and S . C . LIND Curie in the Sorbonne, where he remained relation of gaseous ionization to chemical until the spring of 1911, when he went t o the newly organ- action. He is inventor of the interchangeable electroscope, ized Institute for Radium Research a t Vienna for three known by his name, which has come into wide use both in months. this country and abroad. He is the author of numerous Dr. 1,ind was assistant in chemistry a t Massachusetts Institute articles appearing in English, French, and German technical of Technology for the year 1902-03, instructor in general and publications dealing with radioactivity and chemical kine tics. physical chemistry at the University of Michigan, 1905- 12, H e is also the author of American Chemical Society Monoassistant professor, 1912-15. I n the summer of 1913, Dr. Lind zraph No. 2, entitled “Chemical Effects of Alpha Particles and took leave of absence from the University of Michigan and Electrons.” went t o the Denver Field Station of the Bureau of Mines, which Dr. Lind has been associated with the rare and precious metals had been established in the previous year under the supervision work of the bureau almost from its inception by C. I,. Parsons of R . H. Moore. For several years the principal work of this and R. E. Moore in 1912. Through this contact with the rarestation was the development of a process for the extraction metal producers in the West, Dr. Lind is widely known. While of radium, vanadium, and uranium from carnotite ore, which trained along theoretical lines, he has had experience in pure work was in cooperation with the National Radium Institute science and in industry, having made contributions in both of New York. This resulted in tke perfection of methods of fields.
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