The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-06-10
BY V. E. BUNDY.

oil industry. before the tin Elizabeth
and the ''brothel OF. wheels" became
in number as the sonds of the sea
| before the invention of the internal
combustion engine-was source OF
I considerable. trouble to the oil refiners
1t was of no value to them, and they
were at some pains and expense TO
! dispose of it. The cake-eate IN pop s
/ car had not then been invented Now
4 the devil among the ladies and the
old mans boat" have solved all the
refiners' troubles and soothed their
worries on the score of disposing or
gasoline.
Some of the daintiest delicacies
/ which come from the huge packing
plants gave the packers trouble in de-
! stroying them so that they Wouldn
stack up and poison the air-until
the packers found use for them,
dolled them up. advertised them and
| became malefactors of great wealth
! on the proceeds.
! Sir Isaac Newton probably regarded
the apple which fell from the tree and
impinged upon his proboscis, as moth
! ing short of a particularly-qualff
nuisance as the tears started from his
eyes and the profanity rose to his lips
But he turned the nuisance to &C
| count, and the apple he cursed and
then studied. made him famous as the
discoverer of the law of gravity.
One of Company's Assets.
! So. when health authorities were
continually ION the necks' of the Leo
| GreenWald Vinegar company because
the pomace-cruShed pulp of apples
! from which the juice had been ex-
: tracted-Was a nuisance, that pomace
became one of the biggest assets or
| the company.
The pomace supplied the raison d.
etre of one of Topeka's least known,
but highly important factories; 1t Is
responsible for the shipping out OF
( Topeka last month of a carload OIL
/ goods worth S64000-the most val
! liable shipment of merchandise ever
/ sent out of Topeka or received IN 10
peka in one car; 1t is the source OF
! five tank cars of vinegar per week
which are being shipped from To-
Fpeka. and which will total more than
| 100000 gallons of vinegar which
will go out of the Topeka factory OF
the country this season.
| The bothersome pomace is the rea-
son for the existence of the only fac
tory in the world which manufac-
lures pectin-pectin is the essenual
principle in fruit which makes jelly
/ on a commercial scale, under pat
/ ented process. And the pectin which
/ is being manufa ctured in Topeka at
the Leo-Greenwald factory in North
Topeka goes over the entire United
Factories in Nine Cities.
The Leo-Greenwald company has
factories in st. Joseph, Springfield
and Forest City, Mo-, in Denver, Colo,
| in Falls City, Neb:' and IN Topeka,
/ state. In these factories there is
produced cider vinegar. The govern
/ ment requires that vinegar which Is
sold as pure cider vinegar must be
/ made from the expressed juice of
! apples.
When the apples are ground and
! pressed under hydraulic pressure of
| 100000 pounds, the pulp remaining
| is still moist and the sugar which
/ &c still TiSSnlWPd in
/ that moisture. But no amount of
pressure will render it completely dry,
| or get the remainder of the sugar out.
So the pomace used to be thrown
away wherever it could be thrown
/ most conveniently. The company
| threw away millions of dollars worth
| of it And then the local, county ana
state health authorities got after
them. Ten hours after it was exposed
to the air, the pomace would ferment:
1t would become an evil smelling and
disea breeding mess.
The disposition of the pomace be
came a more and more aggravated
problem. as the factories increased in
Starts in on Big Problem.
Herbert Leo had grown up in the
business of manufacturing cider vim
gar he went to the University of
illinois to study the chemistry of food
products. He graduated from the uni
versity in 1912 and attacked the prob
lem of disposing of the pomace.
He was more interested in the ster-
ilization and preservation of fruit
juices with the ultra violet ray, than
in the disposition of pomace. But the
scheme for sterilizing the fruit juices
with the rays didn't pan out. OF
which more later.
Leo came back and started expert
menting with the pomace and the
pectin which he knew was in it.
Pectin had been identified as an
active element and named by
Frenchman, more than a century ago.
But until last October it had never
been manufactured other than in
laboratory
Leo's experiments led him to be-
Heve that the pectin could be manu-
featured on a commercial scale, and
he designed the plant at Topeka,
which has capacity, when crowded,
of 500 pounds per day. The greatest
amount of pectin which Leo had pre-
viously produced in the laboratory at
one time was a single pound.
Much Water Is Used.
Il decided on Topeka because of
the water supply here" Leo says We
have drilled our own wells, and get
pure. clear, water at so degrees tenn
perature. We use a million gallons a
day. If we had to use river water.
which gets warmer in summer. We
have to use three million gallons a
day. We owned this property any
water, which is essential for the
manufacture of pectin, Topeka is the
proper location
So from each of the eight other fac
tories the pomace which used to be a
nuisance. is now shipped to Topeka
It is dried as it is taken from the
presses at the other factories-dried
within ten hours to prevent fermenta-
ton. sacked, and shipped to Topeka in
carload lots.
It has graduated from the nuisance
class, and become by-product when
it leaves the other factories When
it arrives al the Topeka factory it has
been promoted another notch, and has
become raw material.