The Thomas Edison of meat has passed away. From the WSJ:
Ray Townsend invented the Frank-a-Matic, the machine that revolutionized the hot dog industry.
Mr. Townsend, who died April 2 at age 97, was an inventor who made several important contributions to the meatpacking industry, including the first practical mechanical hog-skinner and a 178-needle saline injector that helped make barrel-brining of bacon a thing of the past.
A man of restless imagination, Mr. Townsend patented such inventions as a ladder-like stirrup that would enable a short person to mount a tall horse and a device that used the heat from a boat’s engine to neutralize waste from the latrine.
But it was his contributions to the meat industry that touched the most lives.
Mr. Townsend’s frankfurter machinery reduced labor requirements and vastly increased production, spinning out as many as 30,000 links per hour. The Frank-a-Matic integrated the main steps of creating skinless hot dogs, including stuffing, cooking and removing them from their temporary casings.
Within a few years of being introduced in 1962, the machine became the industry standard, used by upward of 90% of domestic manufacturers.
“If we went back to the pre-Frank-a-Matic days that hot dog in your bun would probably cost you twice as much as it does today,” said Bob Rust, an emeritus professor of meat science at Iowa State University.
Likewise, Mr. Townsend’s hog-skinning machinery mechanized a process that formerly had been done by hand, by a worker with a drawknife skinning a ham held in a kind of vice. Mr. Townsend’s machine was faster and safer, although, Mr. Rust said, “it could still bite you.”