Drink Biscuits (1 results)

Ten silver gelatin photographs, sized 8 x 10 in., inserted through corner slots on Bainbridge Board, sized 10.5 x 12 in., mimeograph typescript labels neatly mounted at lower fore-edge of all images, some creasing to corners from having been inserted into slots, many w/ pencil annotations, nearly all w/ photographer's imprints on versos (minor scuffing & wear to boards, some edgewear, wear to corners), still VG set. A scarce group of original sales photographs for Greer biscuit, cracker, & cookie making machinery which allowed automated production and packaging. The first image depicts the "Cutting Machine" which rolled the dough into sheets, and cut out the individual crackers, placing them onto conveyors to the ovens. The immense gas burning oven, with valves and temperature mixers mounted alongside, includes photos of both the discharge from the cutting machine onto the oven conveyor, and the discharge onto the cooling conveyors. The final five photos focus on the filling and weighing machinery which would ensure the correct amounts per package, and then pack them in rolls, insert into cartons, and tightly seal each carton. Greer (1876-1950) was a machinist and inventor, who began producing some of the world's first automated bakery and confectionery equipment before World War I, founded J.W. Greer Co. in 1919, and would eventually grow to a company of over 650 employees. The company continued to expand through World War II, and later became the Wire Belt Co., still operating today in Londonderry, NH. Since half of these photographs were shot by a Lowell, MA photographer, these could possibly have been automated machines installed for use by the Lowell Cracker Co. (beloved for their soda oyster crackers), or the Johnson Educator Food Company (best known for Crax crackers sprayed with butter oil).