Multnomah-Linn County OR Archives Biographies.....Bruckman, F. A. 1873 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com February 14, 2011, 4:50 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 950 - 953 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company F. A. BRUCKMAN. In the field of invention the name of F. A. Bruckman is well known inasmuch as he was the inventor of the first automatic machine for the successful manufacture of ice cream cones. The story of his life is one of notable achievement in which determined purpose overcame difficulties and obstacles and desired results were at length obtained. Mr. Bruckman comes to the northwest from Illinois, his birth having occurred in Hancock county, that state, in 1873. He is a son of Frederick and Eve (Kropp) Bruckman, both now deceased. The father, who was born in Germany, came to the United States at nineteen years of age in order to avoid compulsory military service in his native land. He had learned the cabinetmaker's trade in Germany but after taking up his abode in Illinois followed the occupation of farming. In his later years he removed to Albany, Oregon, where he owned farm property but rented it. In his youthful clays F. A. Bruckman attended school in Illinois and later became a student in Albany, Oregon, where after leaving the public schools he spent two years in Albany College. When his textbooks were put aside he turned his attention to the creamery business in Albany and learned the butter-making trade in its entirety. He afterward operated several creameries and in 1900, associated with his father, established a creamery at Brownsville, Oregon, where they conducted business for six years. F. A. Bruckman then purchased his father's interest and carried on alone until 1906, when he came to Portland and was here associated with the Weatherly Ice Cream Company until 1908. In that year he organized the Pacific Coast Cone Company, with Mr. Weatherly as silent partner. In 1920 he sold his interest in the business, which at that time was manufacturing forty-five million cones annually. The same name is retained in the management of the undertaking, but the business is now being carried on by consolidation of manufacturers operating under Mr. Bruckman's patent. Mr. Bruckman built the present plant, having previously occupied an upstairs room in the building of the Crystal Ice Company. In the meantime he developed a plant for the manufacture of the ice cream cone. He realized how great an expenditure of time and labor was required for the manufacture of the cone by hand or by the crude machinery then in use. For years he studied the problem. He watched his wife in the efficiency of household management and he looked at his children, who were his incentive for success. He felt that he must make a cone that would be a healthful one, that it would not only have an excellent taste but have real food value, and that he must make it so that it would be within reach of the child who had only an occasional nickel to spend for sweets. The trouble with the hand operated machines was that the cone could not be loosened from the mold without a vast lot of breakage. This was one of the things that made the cone then on the market impracticable and without a great commercial value. He studied the problem night and day. There were certain little seemingly minor elements that entered into his success. He watched his wife making little timbale cases and he compared her process with his. Moreover, on one occasion he stood near two engineers in charge of the building of a big bridge and heard them say something about the big steel cross bars adding strength to the complete structure. This gave him another idea, resulting in his changing the raised markings of mold, but even yet the cone did not come cleanly out of the mold; and eventually there developed in his mind the idea that if he could not take the cone from the mold, he might take the mold from the cone, and with this came the fulfillment of the dream that he had long entertained. Not only, too, was his cone to be mechanically perfect but it must taste good and have real food value, and this problem was solved in the manufacture of Bruckman's Real Cake Cones. The result was a perfected machine turning out hundreds of cones, and later he met infringement suits which he successfully prosecuted. The development of the business is shown in the fact that in 1915 thirty-five million cones were made and sold from the Portland plant, fifty million by its machine in Dayton, Ohio, and ten million each by its machines in Fort Worth, Texas, and Toronto, Canada. All mixing and other methods of manufacturing the cones was by machine until they were ready to be packed. In Albany, Oregon, Mr. Bruckman was married to Miss Hettie May Drais, who was born in Kansas, a daughter of T. Z. Drais. Mrs. Bruckman was only an infant when taken to California and when about fifteen years of age came to Oregon. By her marriage she has become the mother of one son, Merle D., who was born in Plainview, Oregon, in 1898. When a boy in high school he showed a leaning toward mechanics and he was graduated from the Benson Polytechnic School as a mechanical draftsman. He then became associated with his father in the manufacture of cones and when but twenty years of age took charge of the manufacturing end of his father's plant with thirty-five or forty people working under him. He married Miss Helen Long, a native of Portland and a daughter of John Long, and they now have one child, Elizabeth Anne, commonly known as Betty. With his retirement from the manufacture of ice cream cones Mr. Bruckman concentrated his efforts in other directions and is now interested in the development of the Breitenbush Mineral Springs, located twelve miles from Detroit on the North Santiam river and about fifteen miles due west of Mount Jefferson. This is being transformed into a health resort and the water of the springs, judged by the medicinal qualities, ranks with the best in the country. His son Merle is also associated with him in this enterprise, taking active part in the development of the project. Fraternally Mr. Bruckman is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and Multnomah Camp No. 77 of the Woodmen of the World. He also belongs to the Portland Golf Club, which indicates something of the nature of his interests and activities outside of business. His has been a very active life and one of great usefulness in contributing to the happiness and pleasure particularly of the young through his inventive genius. Success is now his — the success which persistent and indefatigable labor merits. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/photos/bios/bruckman1508gbs.jpg Photo Size: 137 Kb File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/bruckman1508gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 7.3 Kb