Research at the California Academy of Sciences

A Short Biography of Carl Austin Rietz

Collector of the Rietz Collection of Food Technology

Innovations


In 1931, Rietz designed the first Rietz Disintegrator, a result of his training in engineering, medicine and draftsmanship. The device pulverized and retained desirable parts of raw foods while ejecting inedible parts such as bone, seeds and stems.

His "vertical" machine was easy to sterilize and such an improvement over existing disintegrators that it became the standard for the food, chemical and paper processing industries. His innovations, though considered radical in the 1930s and 1940s, would soon lay the foundation for modern, industrial processing in the United States and world-wide.
Rietz disintegrator


Shortly after World War II, Rietz was called by the United States Economic Cooperation Administration to survey the need for food processing machinery in post-war Europe. Rietz's survey was to play a fundamental role in the integration of industrial mechanization into European agricultural processing. Around this time he also worked with the Ralph M. Parsons Group as a consultant, establishing the modern fishing industries in the Red Sea area of the Middle East. International interest in the Rietz Disintegrator continued to grow after World War II, prompting Rietz to travel extensively throughout the world.



Click on the Rietz logo to advance to the next page.
Introduction
Education
Innovations
Collecting
Antiquities
Foundations
Publication
fin
Travel Dates
Manufacturing Dates
The Rietz Collection
Anthropology Home
CAS Home
Online Exhibits Home