The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1941-07-31
Church's to be
Tops in Efficiency

"Our new building is between 70
and 80 percent completed" was the
combined opinion of Francis Lud-
low, business manager, and Larry
Newsome, plant manager of the
Church Grape Juice Company. 1--WE
will have it completed and the new
machinery installed ready for oper-
alton for the 1941 grape pressing sea-
son.
With the rapidly expanding mar
kets of this company, and the adj
ditional vineyards coming into bear
ing, the facilities for pressing and
storage of their nationally famous
product, Church's Grape Juice, will
be absolutely necessary for proper
ly handling this seasons output.
The new addition to their large
plant consists of a basement, es-
pecially built for storage that is 127x
160, with one-story building over
this basement, containing two huge
rooms each 40x127 in size.
The basement is especially design
ed to take the glass storage demi-
lost space for the supporting pillars
In fact, the pillars are spaced to per-
NIT a definite number of the glass
bottles to be placed between each
pair of them. The basement floor
is concrete, and the ceiling and sup
porting pillars are of heavily steeled
reinforced concrete. The building
above ground level is of red tile to
correspond with their present stor-
age building. The basement stor-
age alone will hold approximately
one-half million gallons of grape
juice, besides their facilities already
in use.
The west room of the two new
ones on the main floor will house the
ibottling equipment, most of it be-
ing new machinery. The new pas
teurizer arrived before the walls of
the building were started, as it was
too large to put through any con-
templated doorway. The big ma
chine, weighing $4,000 pounds, is
wholly automatic, receiving the bot
ties at one end, and discharging at
the other end the pasteurized grape
juice, with the bottles cooled to the
temperature of tap water. The bot
thing machine is one of the latest
produced, and the labelling machine
is on the floor, but not removed from
it Grating. When all of the bottling
machinery is i'm place and connect
ed for operation it will be one of
the most modern and efficient in
the nation.
The location of the bottling room
was selected with the thought. in
mind of cutting down the number
of operations necessary to get the
juice from storage into it's retail
containers, and much of the con-
gestion suffered in the old bottling
room is entirely eliminated.
, The pressing room will be in its
location as before, but with most OF
the other machinery moved to diff
ferent locations. This big room will
house the two present presses, and
will be supplemented by a new one
of like capacity that was unloaded
from a ship in Seattle Wednesday of
this week. The so percent increase in
pressing capacity will be appreciat-
ed by the operating staff, according
to Mr.. Newsome, as they were crowd
ed for capacity to handle last years
output.
Automatic Temperatures
One important feature o. the new
plant pointed out by Mr.. Newsome
was that all temperatures of the
grape juice at it's various stages of
production will be automatically
controlled, leaving nothing to the
machine operator. Since the flavor
and quality of the product are high
ly dependent upon the correct ap-
plication of these temperatures, it
will be another step toward main
tanning the uniformity Of flavor and
quality for which this juice is noted.
In the pressing room will be another
new machine, the pre-heater, which
will replace some Of the familiar
kettles.
In keeping with the progress Of
the manufacturing plant, the sales
department of the company has been
enlarged to almost national proper
lions. Mr.. Taylor, sales manager,
has just returned from the south
eastern corner of the United States,
where he has been successful in in
PRODUCING Church's Grape Juice into
the markets of North and South
Carolinas, Georgia, Albania, Miss
issippi and Louisiana. The market
of the company heretofore has COW
cred the states west of the Miss
issippi river, but had not extended
beyond. This is Mr. Seeley's first
trip back to Kennewick since last
fall, except for two days at Christ
mas time. He reports the southern
markets as very encouraging in the
reception of their product, and be
cause of it's warm climate, will I'M
doubtedly develop into an excellent
territory.
Golfers Hold Stag