James F. Boyce (November 15, 1868 – June 2, 1935) was an American

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

who worked for the N.K. Fairbank Company of Chicago, a manufacturer of

lard Lard is a semi-solid white fat product obtained by rendering the fatty tissue of a pig.Lard
entry in the o ...

, cooking oils, soaps, and detergents. He helped create new washing products such as Gold Dust washing powder. Boyce pioneered techniques that are now used in the isolation and removal of consumable

hydrogenated vegetable oils Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is commonly employed to reduce or saturate organic c ...

from plants (especially

cottonseed Cottonseed is the seed of the cotton plant. Composition The mature seeds are brown ovoids weighing about a tenth of a gram. By weight, they are 60% cotyledon, 32% coat and 8% embryonic root and shoot. These are 20% protein, 20% oil and 3.5% sta ...

). Later in life, he ran the Chicago Glass Novelty Company.

Family

Boyce was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Scot The Scots ( sco, Scots Fowk; gd, Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded t ...

immigrant, Joseph, a Presbyterian railroad engineer, and Irish immigrant, Mary (née Barry) Boyce,The

Holland Evening Sentinel ''The Holland Sentinel'' is a newspaper published seven days a week in Holland, Michigan, United States, founded in 1896. It is published by Gannett. The newspaper covers most of Ottawa County, Michigan, Ottawa County, including Holland, Beechwo ...

; Holland, Michigan; 4 June 1935 (obituary); retrieved June 2010. who met and married in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

before moving to Chicago. Boyce's successful work as a commercial chemist allowed him to move to Hyde Park Township—at the time an exclusive suburb of Chicago. He married Mable Hannah Thompson (whose parents owned a summer estate, 'Kemah', located in

Saugatuck, Michigan Saugatuck is a city in Allegan County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 865 at the 2020 census. The city is within Saugatuck Township, but is administratively autonomous. Originally a lumber town and port, Saugatuck, along w ...

), on June 22, 1899. They had nine children. Early in the twentieth century the family relocated to a working fruit farm near Saugatuck.''The Boyces of Saugatuck''
Saugatuck–Douglas Historical Society online archives; retrieved October 2010. Gold Dust Washing Soap box

Early life and career

About 1888 Boyce began working as a chemist for the industrialist, Nathaniel Kellogg Fairbank, whose company manufactured animal and plant fat-based products such as an eponymous brand of lard, Fairy Soap, and Sunny Monday Washday Soap, to name just a few. He quickly rose to the rank of foreman at the N.K. Fairbank Company of Chicago.''This Little Piggie Went to Market''
; Chicago History Journal; accessed October 2010.

Gold Dust

Boyce had his first career success as the supervising chemist in the formulation of Gold Dust Washing Powder, an all purpose

cleaning agent Cleaning agents or hard-surface cleaners are substances (usually liquids, powders, sprays, or granules) used to remove dirt, including dust, stains, bad smells, and clutter on surfaces. Purposes of cleaning agents include health, beauty, removin ...

first introduced in 1889. Initially a regional success, the brand quickly rose to national prominence. The product's mascots, the iconic

Gold Dust Twins The Gold Dust Twins, the trademark for Fairbank's Gold Dust washing powder products, appeared in printed media as early as 1892. "Goldie" and "Dusty", the original Gold Dust Twins, were often shown doing household chores together. In general us ...

,''The Gold Dust Twins''
The Olden Times; website; retrieved October 2010. were featured in print, written, and (eventually) radio ads. The twins, "Goldie" and "Dustie," made an easily recognizable

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

found in most U.S. homes during the first half of the twentieth century, even spawning a

radio program A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...

, the ''Gold Dust Twins Radio Show'', in 1929. From 1896, Gold Dust was distributed nationally in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

by the Lever Brothers Company.

Cottolene

Boyce made his most notable discovery while working with cottonseed waste products. In an attempt to extract usable oils for the food industry in the 1890s, he focused on

cottonseed oil Cottonseed oil is cooking oil from the seeds of cotton plants of various species, mainly ''Gossypium hirsutum'' and ''Gossypium herbaceum'', that are grown for cotton fiber, animal feed, and oil. Cotton seed has a similar structure to other oi ...

, which was then of no practical use as a food supplement or

additive Additive may refer to: Mathematics * Additive function, a function in number theory * Additive map, a function that preserves the addition operation * Additive set-functionn see Sigma additivity * Additive category, a preadditive category with f ...

for human consumption. Although never patented by his employer, Fairbank, he developed a novel industrial

hydrogenation Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a Catalysis, catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is commonly employed to redox, reduce or S ...

process (using nickel as a

catalyst Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...

) that proved successful for use in food products and was considered a scientific breakthrough. Incorporating these advances into the limited cooking oils market at the time resulted in the Fairbank Company's creation of Cottolene, a product containing 90% vegetable fat and 10% beef

suet Suet is the raw, hard fat of beef, lamb or mutton found around the loins and kidneys. Suet has a melting point of between 45 °C and 50 °C (113 °F and 122 °F) and congelation between 37 °C and 40 °C (98.6&nbs ...

. This quickly became a popular culinary replacement for lard, a substance that had been used in kitchens for centuries, but was known to be unhealthy. Cottolene dominated the vegetable cooking oil market until competitor

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...

unveiled

Crisco Crisco is an American brand of shortening that is produced by B%26G Foods. Introduced in June 1911 by Procter & Gamble, it was the first shortening to be made entirely of vegetable oil, originally cottonseed oil. Additional products marketed un ...

in the early-20th-century. Packaged similarly—and also promoted with accompanying cookbooks just as the marketing for Cottolene had done—Crisco was composed entirely of vegetable oils, and became the preferred brand found in many kitchens of the day.

Later life and legacy

Boyce's nickle-catalyst hydrogenation procedure allowed its application (by the likes of French chemist and

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...

Paul Sabatier Paul Sabatier may refer to: *Paul Sabatier (chemist) (1854–1941), French chemist and Nobel Prize winner *Paul Sabatier (theologian) (1858–1928), French clergyman and historian See also *Paul Sabatier University Paul Sabatier University (''U ...

, and the manufacturing giant

) in the commercial exploitation of vegetable oils and fats. This led to the creation of such products as today's "

oleomargarine Margarine (, also , ) is a spread used for flavoring, baking, and cooking. It is most often used as a substitute for butter. Although originally made from animal fats, most margarine consumed today is made from vegetable oil. The spread was orig ...

" and

vegetable shortening Shortening is any fat that is a solid at room temperature and used to make crumbly pastry and other food products. Although butter is solid at room temperature and is frequently used in making pastry, the term ''shortening'' seldom refers to b ...

. Boyce retired from the N. K. Fairbank labs and took up growing fruit at Kemah, with hired hands doing most of the physical labor in the orchards. Around 1915 he assumed the position of president of the Chicago Glass Novelty Company, headquartered in

Marion, Indiana Marion is a city in Grant County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,948 as of the 2010 United States Census. The city is the county seat of Grant County. It is named for Francis Marion, a brigadier general from South Carolina in the ...

. He held this post until his death.

Death

Boyce died on June 2, 1935. He is buried in the Gibson Cemetery, in Laketown Township,

Allegan County Allegan County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 120,502. The county seat is Allegan. The name was coined by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft to sound like a Native American word. Alle ...

, outside Holland, Michigan.

References

External links

''James Boyce''
at Findagrave.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Boyce, James F., Sr. 1868 births 1935 deaths Scientists from Chicago Presbyterians from Illinois American businesspeople American food chemists People from Holland, Michigan People from Saugatuck, Michigan