Engelberg Huller Company
Encyclopedia
The Engelberg Huller Company was established in 1888 in Syracuse, New York
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...

, by John R. Montague, to manufacture and distribute the Engelberg Huller machine which was invented by Brazilian
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, mechanical engineer and inventor, Evaristo Conrado Engelberg
Evaristo Conrado Engelberg
Evaristo Conrado Engelberg was a Brazilian mechanical engineer and inventor. He is the inventor of the Engelberg huller, a machine used to strip the husks from rice and coffee during the milling process...

, to remove the husks and shells from rice and coffee during the milling process.

History

While working in the C. E. Lipe Machine Shop
C. E. Lipe Machine Shop
The C. E. Lipe Machine Shop was established in Syracuse, New York in 1880 in the Lynch Building by Charles E. Lipe , a mechanical engineer. The building became an early industrial incubator and was commonly known as the Lipe Shop. While Lipe worked on his own ideas, he rented out facilities to others...

, located on Geddes Street and considered an early business incubator in Syracuse
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...

, Montague began producing a hulling machine invented by the Brazilian
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, mechanical engineer, Evaristo Conrado Engelberg
Evaristo Conrado Engelberg
Evaristo Conrado Engelberg was a Brazilian mechanical engineer and inventor. He is the inventor of the Engelberg huller, a machine used to strip the husks from rice and coffee during the milling process...

 in 1885. The machine could remove the husks and shells from rice and coffee beans.

From this venture, the Engelberg-Huller Company was formed and Montague manufactured the machines in the building from 1888 to 1897. By then, the company, whose trade largely consisted of exports, required larger quarters and moved to a new plant at West Fayette and Ontario streets.

Brazilian manufacturing background

During 1885, Engelberg
Evaristo Conrado Engelberg
Evaristo Conrado Engelberg was a Brazilian mechanical engineer and inventor. He is the inventor of the Engelberg huller, a machine used to strip the husks from rice and coffee during the milling process...

, of Piracicaba
Piracicaba
Piracicaba is a city located in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. The population in 2009 was 368,843 in an area of 1,369.511 km², at an elevation of 547 m above sea level.-Name:...

, São Paulo, Brazil, received a British patent for a rice-hulling machine.

After strong development of his business, in June 1885, Engelberg partnered with Earl Siciliano to found Engelberg & Siciliano which was headquartered in Piracicaba
Piracicaba
Piracicaba is a city located in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. The population in 2009 was 368,843 in an area of 1,369.511 km², at an elevation of 547 m above sea level.-Name:...

 and originally produced the machines for Brazilian farmers.

Patents for coffee huller

Three years later, on December 27, 1888, Engelberg, applied for a United States patent
United States Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,...

 for the rice and coffee-hulling machine. U.S. patent (number 424,602) for a rice-hulling machine, was granted on April 1, 1890. With this machine, hulling and polishing, which removes different layers below the husk, could be done in several stages "during the same passage," a process that automated a manual task.

By 1890, Engelberg patented several models of these machines in the United States and Europe. The device was highly successful because the "stripper" did not squeeze the coffee beans, and removed all the straw while maintaining the beans' integrity, producing a higher yield for coffee growers. The maintenance of the machines was also quite simple and inexpensive, which was advantageous, because the main method for cleaning coffee still depended on slave labor in mills.

Charles E. Lipe, mechanical engineer and Syracuse entrepreneur, was the patentee and Engelberg Huller Company was the assignee on two hulling machine patents granted in 1894. These were identified as "hulling and cleaning machine."

U.S. manufacturing

During 1888, as international demand for his machine increased, Engelberg partnered with José Tibiriçá to create a branch of his company in Syracuse, New York
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...

, known as the Engelberg Huller Company, which was organized for the purpose of manufacturing and selling the "Engelberg huller" in North America. The huller was quite successful, and additional patents were granted to the firm for various improvements over the years.

Production in Brazil was halted in 1890 and by 1922, the machines produced in Syracuse began to be shipped and sold in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, as well as other parts of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Central America.

Annual meetings

The ninth annual meeting was held at the principal office of the company at 208 South Geddes Street on May 25, 1897. Company treasurer was A. A. Schenck.

The fourteenth annual meeting of the company was held on February 3, 1902 at the principal office of the company at 831 West Fayette Street at 2:00 pm. A. A. Schenck was secretary.

Grinding mills

During March 1904, the firm had ventured into grinding mills and the Halstead Attrition Mill was advertised as the "most perfect and efficient for grinding all kinds of cereals." The mill was especially adapted for grinding corn on the cob or shelled, corn and wheat mixed and rye.

By May 1904, A. A. Schenck had just completed arrangements for the extension of the plant at 831 West Fayette Street, at the corner of Seneca Street. The company owned the property at the rear of their building extending along Seneca Street through to Marcellus Street. The new building was 16 feet (4.9 m) wide by 103 feet (31.4 m) long and extended to Marcellus Street and was constructed of brick and iron and two-stories tall. The establishment used it as a storehouse. That same year, John R. Montague was president of the company.

Global business

The firm was exporting machinery to Central America, South America, India, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, China, Japan, Russia and Africa by May 1910. There had been an increase in orders for machines from India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

.

Leo Griffith Meldram, son of Attorney and Mrs. Charles J. Meldram, started on June 16, 1912, on a trip around the world for the Engelberg Huller Company. He had been employed for the establishment a little more than a year. Meldram was one of the youngest men who ever started out from Syracuse on a similar trip. He was only 24 years old and intended on being gone three years, possibly five.

Meldram sailed from New York City on the steamship Campania for Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, England and from there to Bombay, India by way of Gilbraltar, the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...

 and the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

 and Arabian Sea
Arabian Sea
The Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui in northeastern Somalia and Kanyakumari in India...

. Later, he traveled to Burma, China, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, Japan and returned by way of San Francisco.

President of the company, John R. Montague, said that this was the first time in several years that the company had sent a representative around the world.

Chittenango plant

In July 1948, the Engelberg Huller company, whose main office and plant were in Syracuse, acquired the "modern" one-story factory building formerly occupied by Churchill Corporation in Chittenango, New York
Chittenango, New York
Chittenango is a village located in Madison County, New York, in the United States. The village is in the south part of the Town of Sullivan. The population was 5,081 at the 2010 census.- History :...

. The plant was "thoroughly retrofitted" with a wide range of modern machine tools and an active machine jobbing business was established. The principal activity was the manufacuture of precision machined air craft parts, an activity which the main plant in Syracuse conducted almost exclusively during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

The firm was also engaged in the production of parts for several other large manufacturing concerns in the area and employed a number of Chittenango's machinists and other skilled workers. The main activity in the Syracuse factory was still the production of rice and coffee processing machinery. Since it was founded in 1889, the company was considered the leader in this type of equipment in the world and the bulk of its output was exported to "far away places where coffee and rice are grown."

Metalworking and woodworking tools

During the twentieth century, the Engelberg Huller Company began to make grinders plus belt and disk sanders, all intended primarily for metalworking and woodworking. On March 23, 1953, Leo Schaller, patentee, and Engelberg Huller Co., Inc. as assignee, applied for U.S. Patent 2,791,070 which was granted on May 7, 1957 for an Abrading machine (woodworking or sanding machine).

By August 1953, John T. Schenck was president of Engelberg Huller Co., Inc. Between 1957 and 1971, the company name was shortened to Engelberg, Inc. and by 1971 the name had changed again, to Sundstrand-Engelberg, Inc. of Liverpool, New York
Liverpool, New York
Liverpool is a village located in Onondaga County, New York, United States. The population was 2,505 at the 2000 census. The name was adopted from the city of Liverpool in the United Kingdom...

. During 1974, the name changed to Sundstrand Syracuse, Inc. of Syracuse, New York, and Sundstrand Corp. of Rockford, Illinois.

Huller still in use today

By 1990, Engelberg hullers were still widely used in small mills for milling rice for local markets. The hullers are still in use in many parts of the world. As of 2011, the Syracuse-based branch of what was the Engelberg Huller Company continues to produce hullers and associated parts.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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