Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Food Machinery Corporation John Bean FMC Food Machinery Corporation
- Abstract:
- Extent:
- 79 linear feet
- Language:
- Preferred citation:
-
Food Machinery Corporation Sales Records and Photographs. History San Jose Research Library
Background
- Scope and content:
-
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.
- Biographical / historical:
-
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.
- Acquisition information:
- Donated to the History Museums of San Jose in 1980.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The collection is open to the public by appointment
- Terms of access:
-
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.
- Preferred citation:
-
Food Machinery Corporation Sales Records and Photographs. History San Jose Research Library
- Location of this collection:
-
1661 Senter RoadSan Jose, CA 95112, US
- Contact:
- (408) 287-2290