History and Development 19 



The claim, United : States Patent, August, 1856, is in the fol- 

 lowing words : . ' 



"Producing concentrated sweet milk by evaporation in vacuo, 

 substantially, as set forth, — ^the same having no sugar or other 

 foreign matter mixed with it." 



Since the introduction of the process of milk condensing, in- 

 vented and patented by Borden, numerous modifications of the 

 process, as well as entirely different processes, have been invented 

 in this country and abroad. The most characteristic among these 

 are: condensation by refrigeration, by centrifugal force, by boiling 

 under atmospheric pressure, by passing hot air through milk, etc. 

 Most of these new processes have not proved commercially satis- 

 factory, with the result that the principle of the process, originally 

 invented by Gail Borden, and which consists of condensing the milk 

 in vacuo to a semi-fluid liquid, is still made use of in the manufacture 

 of the great bulk of condensed milk produced, both in this country 

 and abroad. 



While the claim of the patent granted Gail Borden was that of 

 "producing concentrated sweet milk by evaporation in vacuo without 

 the admixture of sugar or other foreign matter," records show that 

 Gail Borden manufactured sweetened condensed milk, sold under 

 the famous Eagle Brand label as early as 1856. The first adver- 

 tisement by Borden of unsweetened condensed milk was recorded in 

 Leslie's Weekly, May 22, 1858. It reads as follows: 



"BbEDEN's Condensed Milk. Prepared in Litchfield County, 

 Conn., is the only milk ever concentrated without the admixture of 

 sugar or some other substance and remaining easily soluble in water. 

 It is simply Fresh Country Milk, from which the water is nearly 

 all evaporated, and nothing added. The Committee of the Academy 

 of Medicine recommend it as 'an article, that, for purity, durability 

 and economy, is hitherto unequalled in the annals of the milk trade.' 



"One quart, by the addition of water, makes two and a half 

 quarts, — equal of cream, five quarts rich milk and seven quarts 

 good milk. 



"For sale at 173 Canal Street, or delivered at dwellirigs in New 

 York or Brooklyn at 25 cents per quart." 



Development of Industry. — The beginning was small, the 

 process crude and the product imperfect. Not until the strenuous 

 years of the war of Secession did the value and usefulness of con- 



