Reedited and updated for this edition by Frank E. Pringle.
Frank E. Pringle, Edward J. Monahan, and Elwood F. Caldwell
Breakfast Cereals and How They are Made, Second Edition
Pages 343-373
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/1891127152.009
ISBN: 1-891127-15-2
Abstract
Packaged ready-to-eat cereals were first sold in retail stores around 1910. The original packages, described as “large size” (6–9 oz, 170–255 g), were prefabricated waxed glassine bags. The bags were filled by hand, closed with a double fold and a wax heat seal, and inserted into printed paperboard cartons by hand. Moisture protection was adequate for the anticipated life of the packaged product. The 1-oz (28- or 30-g) single serving, or restaurant style, followed later. At first the package was a printed, solid, bleached sulfate carton without a liner. The cartons were filled, sealed with cold glue, and then dipped into molten paraffin wax. Again, moisture protection was adequate, but the operational rate was less than 20 cartons per minute. The number of people needed to operate either kind of packaging line was very high because the owners typically did not want to invest in packaging machinery.
In the 1930s, a machinery manufacturer first developed and offered equipment that mechanically formed liners from a roll of waxed glassine and plunged them into a carton (with the bottom and side seam glued) at the rate of 30 cartons per minute. The lower package material costs more than compensated for the initial expense of purchasing the equipment. Breakfast cereal companies were the first to install these machines. Modules of machinery soon followed that folded and tucked the liner into the top-opened carton and weighed, filled, and sealed the carton. With experience, operators of these package lines became increasingly efficient.
