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Food Machinery Corporation Sales Records and Photographs
1980-120
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Title: Food Machinery Corporation Sales Records and Photographs
Dates: 1919-1985
Collection Number: 1980-120
Creator/Collector:
Food Machinery Corporation
Extent: 79 linear feet
Repository:
History San Jose Research Library
San Jose, California 95110
Abstract: Over the course of the 20th. century, Food Machinery Corporation (FMC) grew from a local company producing pump sprayers,
into an international manufacturer producing insecticide, war ordinance, and canning machinery. This collection includes catalogs,
sales records and photographs of canning machinery, including glass negatives, and completed invoice records. The photographs
are housed in their original linen cover albums, and still shelved in the original steel shelving.
Language of Material: English
The collection is open to the public by appointment
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions
of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a
photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used
for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy
or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution
reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation
of copyright law.
Food Machinery Corporation Sales Records and Photographs. History San Jose Research Library
Donated to the History Museums of San Jose in 1980.
Biography/Administrative History
In 1883 John Bean invented a continuous spray pump to battle the fruit tree disease known locally as "San Jose Scale." This
tree disease threatened the thousands of acres of orchards in the Santa Clara Valley. This was at the time a threat to the
romantic reputation surrounding spring-time in the Valley, a Valley that was affectionately named "Valley of Hearts Delight."
Seeing the success as Bean sprayed his prune trees, his continuous sprayer gained local support with other growers. Founded
in 1883 John Bean built his company into the John Bean Manufacturing Company.
Over the next four decades, and with the canning industry booming, John Bean expanded the company to include canning machinery.
In 1928 John Bean Manufacturing Company merged with its primary competitor, Anderson-Barngrover (A-B) Canning Machinery. That
same year the company acquired controlling stock in Sprague-Sells (S-S) Manufacturing. The resulting merger produced a new
corporate name, Food Machinery Corporation (FMC). During World War Two, FMC produced weapons ordinance. After World War Two,
and by acquiring several more companies, FMC expanded to include a chemical division. The corporate name changed again to
Food Machinery and Chemical Corporation (FMC Corporation). FMC left San Jose in the 1980s.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection includes several sales brochures, a centennial history, and a sales price book from F. J. Fay that includes
several inter-office correspondence documents. Included in the price book is a letter that connects the price book to past
patent litigation. Additionally, the collection includes machinery catalogs from FMC, as well as catalogs from both Anderson-Barngrover
and Sprague-Sells produced before the 1928 merger.
The collection also includes 20 linear feet of photographs in their original linen albums, parts description sheets dated
from 1947-1978, a project photograph file, and finished sales orders, all in their original folders. This collection also
includes 46 linear feet of glass and acetate negatives.
Canned foods industry
San Jose (Calif.)
photographic prints
sales catalogs
black-and-white negatives