Fannie S. Spitz

Fannie Schutz Spitz (February 14, 1873 — October 17, 1943) was an American inventor. She patented the first machine to shell pine nuts for commercial use.

Fannie S. Spitz, from a 1922 publication.

Early life

Fannie Schutz was from El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Samuel Schutz and Friederike Siebenborn Schutz. Both of her parents were born in Germany. Her father was a merchant.[1] Her cousin Solomon C. Schutz was elected El Paso's third mayor in 1880.[2]

Career
Berthold Spitz House

Spitz invented the first practical machine for shelling pine nuts in bulk.[3] She traveled to study nut processing methods, and spent months as an apprentice in a machine shop,[4] before she built a prototype of her original design in her basement workshop. She was granted a patent for the "Method and Apparatus for Shelling Nuts"[5] in 1918.[6] She also sold pine nuts from her Albuquerque farm, and promoted their nutritional value and culinary possibilities.[7] She also exhibited the machine at a national convention of confectioners in 1922, in Chicago.[8] She also experimented with using the machine for processing coffee beans.[9] The Albuquerque Journal declared her "the greatest known authority on the pinon nut and its possibilities".[10] In October 1923, she announced that she was retiring and seeking buyers to take over her business.[11]

Personal life and legacy

Fannie D. Schutz married Berthold V. Spitz, a Jewish immigrant from Bohemia, in 1893.[12] The couple were among the founders of Congregation Albert, a synagogue still active in Albuquerque.[13] She was widowed when Berthold died in 1933.[14] She died in Pasadena, California in 1943, aged 70 years, from a heart attack.[15]

The Berthold Spitz House in Albuquerque was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.[1][16]

References
  1. Berthold Spitz House, Nomination Form, National Register of Historic Places.
  2. Arthur H. Leibson, "Solomon C. Schutz" Handbook of Texas Online (Texas State Historical Association).
  3. Charles Abbott Goddard, "Interesting Westerners: A Woman Who Found a Fortune in a Nutshell" Sunset Magazine (January 1921): 42.
  4. "Making More Money" Los Angeles Times (October 8, 1920): II2.
  5. "Mrs. Fannie S. Spitz" American Nut Journal (February 1923): cover.
  6. Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office (August 6, 1918): 131.
  7. "To Supply the Sweet Tooth of a Nut-Eating Nation" American Nut Journal (April 1922): 44-45.
  8. "Highly Valuable Invention" American Nut Journal (December 1922): 86.
  9. "Nut Sheller Handles Coffee Beans" American Nut Journal (July 1923): 8.
  10. "Mrs. Spitz has Great invention in Pinon Sheller" The Albuquerque Journal (November 21, 1921): 7. via Newspapers.com
  11. "I Am Retiring from Business!" advertisement, American Nut Journal (October 1923): 77.
  12. Untitled social item, Southwest Sentinel (June 13, 1893): 3. via Newspapers.com
  13. "Congregation Albert: The Oldest Continuing Jewish Organization in Albuquerque, New Mexico" Jewish Museum of the American West.
  14. "Berthold Spitz, Postmaster, Old Resident, Dies" Albuquerque Journal (September 5, 1933): 1, 3. via Newspapers.com
  15. "Mrs. Fannie Spitz Dies in Pasadena" Albuquerque Journal (October 18, 1943): 8. via Newspapers.com
  16. Regina N. Emmer, " The Berthold Spitz House" in Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, eds., SAH Archipedia (University of Virginia Press, online).
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