Document zd4yaEV2BM9X0nrn1VJy7BRQ7

and immediately afterwards he started to build a manufacturing> plant in Houston, Texas. Ten months later, October, 1942, the first shipment of Converted Rice was loaded. It was thus that Converted Rice, Inc. of Houston, Texas, in the best tradition of American business, started a new enterprise in the interest of.marked improvements in one of the world's basic foods. The new rice is translucent in color, impervious to weevils, of optimum vitamin content, and no longer has a tendency to become sticky in cooking. The new process soon came to the attention of the Army Quartermaster Corps. As untold millions of dollars' worth of rice have been lost annually to weevil attack, especially during warm months, the Quartermaster Corps was principally interested in the keeping qualities of the new rice. This one important characteristic, together with the other advantages, resulted in the total output of the plant going to the Armed Forces during the war years. A large percentage still goes to them, but packages are finding their way to grocers' shelves in increasing quantities. The Houston firm's process consists of several steps. From an overhead hopper, rice is charged into the steeping tank. Then a vacuum of 13 to 17 in. Hg, referred to a 30 in. barometer, is established by means of two Elliott single-stage ejectors. Hot water is then injected into the steeping tank until the water is above the rice. Air pressure is then applied in the vapor space above the hot water level to force water into each rice kernel. The water