HISTORY AND 



23 



investigations by scientists, and while simultaneously with the 

 commencement of operations of this company, several other com- 

 panies experimented on this form of condensed milk, the Helvetia 

 Milk Condensing Company was the first organization that suc^ 

 ceeded in producing a marketable unsweetened condensed milk 

 that was sterile and would keep indefinitely. 



The rudiments of the 

 process of evaporated, steril- 

 ized milk were introduced by 

 Mr. John B. Meyenberg, a 

 native of Switzerland, who 

 formerly was operator in the 

 mother plant of the Anglo- 

 Swiss Condensed Milk Co. at 

 Cham, Switzerland. Mr. Mey- 

 enberg, being a man with an 

 inventive turn of mind, ex- 

 perimented on the evapora- 

 tion and sterilization of milk, 

 during the years 1880 to 1883. 

 As the result of these experi- 

 ments he decided that it was 

 possible to preserve milk, 

 without the aid of sugar. 

 Migrating to this country, he 

 applied for, and was granted 

 a patent on his idea of pre- 

 serving milk by sterilization, 

 by the United States Govern- 

 ment in 1884 (Patent No. 

 308,422), and again in 1887 

 (Patent No. 358,213). Mr. 



Meyenberg was also granted patent rights (Patent No. 308,421) 

 on apparatus for preserving milk. 



Attracted to Highland, Illinois, by reason of its large Swiss 

 population, on the representations of Mr. A. J. Pagan, a leading 

 Highland citizen, who brought Mr. Meyenberg to Highland and 

 introduced him to the community, Mr. Meyenberg associated 

 himself with Mr. John Wildi, then a merchant of Highland, who 



Figf. 6. John B. Meyenberg 



