biography
| name: |
Swift, Gustavus Franklin
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1839–1903)
|
| biography:
| Meat packer, born near Sandwich, Massachusetts, USA. He worked in the butcher trade from age 14 in his brother's shop. By 1859 he was purchasing, slaughtering, dressing, and peddling his own steer to Cape Cod residents. His reputation as a shrewd judge of beef grew, and he became partners with a renowned Boston meat dealer (1872). As a buyer, he followed the cattle market, moving steadily W until he reached Chicago (1875), and he revolutionized the meatpacking industry by shipping eastwards dressed beef instead of live steer (1877). After his partnership dissolved, he independently hired an engineer to invent a refrigerator car for summer shipments. In 1885 he incorporated as Swift & Co, and pioneered the use of waste products to make glue, oleomargarine, soap, and fertilizer. The company expanded internationally, and by 1903 was worth more than $25 million. |
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