Gimlet (tool)
A gimlet is a hand tool for drilling small holes in wood, without splitting. It was defined in Joseph Gwilt's Architecture as "a piece of steel of a semi-cylindrical form, hollow on one side, having a cross handle at one end and a worm or screw at the other". A gimlet is always a small tool. A similar tool of larger size is called an auger; the cutting action of the gimlet is different from an auger, however, as the end of the screw, so the initial hole it makes, is smaller. This pulls the gimlet farther into the hole as it is turned; the name "gimlet" comes from the Old French guinbelet, guimbelet guibelet a diminutive of the Anglo-French "wimble", a variation of "guimble", from the Middle Low German wiemel, cf. the Scandinavian wammie, to bore or twist. Modern French uses the term vrille the French for a tendril; the term is used figuratively to describe something as sharp or piercing, to describe the twisting, boring motion of using a gimlet. The term gimlet-eyed can mean squint-eyed. Adamson, John, "Gimlets galore!", Furniture & Cabinetmaking, no.
265, Winter 2017, pp. 50–3 Hawley, Ken, & Watts, Gimlet Patterns and Manufacture Sheffield: The Hawley Collection Trust Ltd in association with the Tools and Trades History Society ISBN 9780947673253 OCLC 985584991
Gulf Oil
Gulf Oil was a major global oil company from 1901 until March 15, 1985. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies. Prior to its merger with Standard Oil of California, Gulf was one of the chief instruments of the Mellon family fortune. Gulf's former headquarters referred to as "the Gulf Building", is an Art Deco skyscraper; the tallest building in Pittsburgh until 1970, when it was eclipsed by the U. S. Steel Tower, it is capped by a step pyramid structure several stories high; until the late 1970s, the entire top was illuminated, changing color with changes in barometric pressure to provide a weather indicator that could be seen for many miles. Gulf Oil Corporation ceased to exist as an independent company in 1985, when it merged with Standard Oil of California, with both re-branding as Chevron in the United States. Gulf Canada, Gulf's main Canadian subsidiary, was sold the same year with retail outlets to Ultramar and Petro-Canada and what became Gulf Canada Resources to Olympia & York.
However, the Gulf brand name and a number of the constituent business divisions of GOC survived. Gulf has experienced a significant revival since 1990, emerging as a flexible network of allied business interests based on partnerships and agencies. Gulf, in its present incarnation, is a "new economy" business, it employs few people directly and its assets are in the form of intellectual property: brands, product specifications and scientific expertise. The rights to the brand in the United States are owned by Gulf Oil Limited Partnership, which operates over 2,100 service stations and several petroleum terminals; the corporate vehicle at the center of the Gulf network outside the United States and Portugal is Gulf Oil International, a company owned by the Hinduja Group. The company's focus is in the provision of downstream products and services to a mass market through joint ventures, strategic alliances, licensing agreements, distribution arrangement. In Spain and Portugal, the Gulf brand is now owned by Total S.
A.. The business that became Gulf Oil started in 1901 with the discovery of oil at Spindletop near Beaumont, Texas. A group of investors came together to promote the development of a modern refinery at nearby Port Arthur to process the oil; the largest investor was William Larimer Mellon of the Pittsburgh Mellon banking family. Other investors included many of Mellon's Pennsylvania clients as well as some Texas wildcatters. Mellon Bank and Gulf Oil remained associated thereafter; the Gulf Oil Corporation itself was formed in 1907 through the amalgamation of a number of oil businesses, principally the J. M. Guffey Petroleum and Gulf Refining companies of Texas; the name of the company refers to the Gulf of Mexico. Output from Spindletop peaked at around 100,000 barrels per day just after it was discovered and started to decline. Discoveries made 1927 the peak year of Spindletop production, but Spindletop's early decline forced Gulf to seek alternative sources of supply to sustain its substantial investment in refining capacity.
This was achieved by constructing the 400-mile Glenn Pool pipeline connecting oilfields in Oklahoma with Gulf's refinery at Port Arthur. The pipeline opened in September 1907. Gulf built a network of pipelines and refineries in the eastern and southern United States, requiring heavy capital investment. Thus, Gulf Oil provided Mellon Bank with a secure vehicle for investing in the oil sector. Gulf promoted the concept of branded product sales by selling gasoline in containers and from pumps marked with a distinctive orange disc logo. A customer buying Gulf-branded gasoline could be assured of its quality and consistent standard.. Gulf Oil grew in the inter-war years, with its activities confined to the United States; the company was characterized by its vertically integrated business activities, was active across the whole spectrum of the oil industry: exploration, transport and marketing. It involved itself in associated industries such as petrochemicals and automobile component manufacturing.
It introduced significant commercial and technical innovations, including the first drive-in service station, complimentary road maps, drilling over water at Ferry Lake, the catalytic cracking refining process. Gulf established the model for the integrated, international "oil major", which refers to one of a group of large companies that assumed influential and sensitive positions in the countries in which they operated. In 1924 had acquired the Venezuelan-American Creole Syndicate's leases in the strip of shallow water 1.5 kilometres wide along the Lake Maracaibo east shore. In Colombia, Gulf purchased the Barco oil concession in 1926; the government of Colombia revoked the concession the same year, but after much negotiation Gulf won it back in 1931. However, during a period of over-capacity, Gulf was more interested in holding the reserve than developing it. In 1936 Gulf sold Barco to the Texas Corporation, now Texaco. Gulf had extensive exploration and production operations in the Gulf of Mexico and Kuwait.
The company played a major role in the early development of oil production in Kuwait, through the 1950s and'60s enjoyed a "special relationsh
Lamb and mutton
Lamb and mutton are the meat of domestic sheep at different ages. In general a sheep in its first year is called a lamb, its meat is called lamb; the meat of a juvenile sheep older than one year is hogget. The meat of an adult sheep is a term only used for the meat, not the living animals. In the Indian subcontinent the term mutton is used to refer to goat meat. Lamb is the most expensive of the three types, in recent decades sheep meat is only retailed as "lamb", sometimes stretching the accepted distinctions given above; the stronger-tasting mutton is now hard to find in many areas, despite the efforts of the Mutton Renaissance Campaign in the UK. In Australia, the term prime lamb is used to refer to lambs raised for meat. Other languages, for example French, Spanish and Arabic, make similar, or more detailed, distinctions among sheep meats by age and sometimes by sex and diet, though these languages do not always use different words to refer to the animal and its meat — for example, lechazo in Spanish refers to meat from milk-fed lambs.
The definitions for lamb and mutton vary between countries. Younger lambs are more tender. Mutton is meat from a sheep over two years old, has less tender flesh. In general, the darker the colour, the older the animal. Baby lamb meat will be pale pink. Lamb — a young sheep under 12 months of age which does not have any permanent incisor teeth in wear. Hogget — A term for a sheep of either sex having no more than two permanent incisors in wear, or its meat. Still common in farming usage, it is now rare as a retail term for the meat. Much of the "lamb" sold in the UK is "hogget" to an Antipodean farmer. Mutton — the meat of a female or castrated male sheep having more than two permanent incisors in wear; the terms "mutton" and "hogget" are uncommon in the United States. Federal statutes and regulations dealing with food labeling in the United States permit all sheep products to be marketed as "lamb." Sheep products less than 12-14 months old can be labeled "prime lamb" or "choice lamb" and all other sheep meat can be labeled as "lamb."
The term "mutton" is applied to goat meat in most of these countries, the goat population has been rising. For example, mutton-curry is always made from goat meat, it is estimated that over one-third of the goat population is slaughtered every year and sold as mutton. The husbanded sheep population in India and the Indian subcontinent has been in decline for over 40 years and has survived at marginal levels in mountainous regions, based on wild-sheep breeds, for wool production. Milk-fed lamb — meat from an unweaned lamb 4–6 weeks old and weighing 5.5–8 kg. The flavour and texture of milk-fed lamb when grilled or roasted is thought to be finer than that of older lamb, fetches higher prices; the areas in northern Spain where this can be found include Asturias, Castile and León, La Rioja. Milk-fed lambs are prized for Easter in Greece, when they are roasted on a spit. Young lamb — a milk-fed lamb between six and eight weeks old Spring lamb — a milk-fed lamb three to five months old, born in late winter or early spring and sold before 1 July.
Sucker lambs — a term used in Australia — includes young milk-fed lambs, as well as older lambs up to about seven months of age which are still dependent on their mothers for milk. Carcases from these lambs weigh between 14 and 30 kg. Older weaned lambs which have not yet matured to become mutton are known as old-season lambs. Yearling lamb — a young sheep between 12 and 24 months old, so another term for a hogget. Saltbush mutton – a term used in Australia for the meat of mature Merinos which have been allowed to graze on atriplex plants Salt marsh lamb is the meat of sheep which graze on salt marsh in coastal estuaries that are washed by the tides and support a range of salt-tolerant grasses and herbs, such as samphire, sparta grass and sea lavender. Depending on where the salt marsh is located, the nature of the plants may be subtly different. Salt marsh lamb has long been appreciated in France and is growing in popularity in the United Kingdom. Places, where salt marsh lamb are reared in the UK, include Harlech and the Gower Peninsula in Wales, the Somerset Levels, Morecambe Bay and the Solway Firth.
Saltgrass lamb – a term used to describe a type of lamb exclusive to Flinders Island. The pastures on the island have a high salt content, leading to a flavor and texture similar to saltmarsh lamb; the meat of a lamb is taken from the animal between one month and one year old, with a carcase weight of between 5.5 and 30 kg. This meat is more tender than that from older sheep and appears more on tables in some Western countries. Hogget and mutton have a stronger flavour than lamb because they contain a higher concentration of species-characteristic fatty acids and are preferred by some. Mutton and hogget tend to be tougher than lamb and are therefore better suited to casserole-style cooking, as in Lancashire hotpot, for example. Lamb is sorted into three kinds of m
Gimli (Middle-earth)
Gimli is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, featured in The Lord of the Rings. A dwarf warrior, he is the son of Glóin. Gimli is chosen to represent the race of Dwarves in the Fellowship of the Ring; as such, he is one of the primary characters of the novel. In the course of the adventure, Gimli aids the Ring-bearer Frodo Baggins, participates in the War of the Ring, becomes close friends with Legolas, overcoming an ancient enmity of Dwarves and Elves. Gimli was a member of Durin's Folk who volunteered to accompany Frodo Baggins as a member of the Fellowship of the Ring on the quest to destroy the One Ring, he was an honourable and stalwart warrior. Gimli became enamoured upon meeting the elf-lady Galadriel, he forged a friendship with the elf Legolas despite his original hostility; these relationships helped rehabilitate the long-troubled relationship between Elves and Dwarves of Middle-earth. Gimli was born in the Ered Luin in the year 2879 of the Third Age.
His father was one of the former companions of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. Gimli had wanted to accompany his father and the others in the company of Thorin Oakenshield on their quest to reclaim Erebor in the year 2941, but at age 62 he was deemed too young, he was a remote descendant of Durin the Deathless, chief of the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves and ancestor to the Dwarven people to which Gimli belonged, the Longbeards. Gimli was of the royal line, but not close to the succession. Gimli was introduced in the first volume of The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, at the Council of Elrond Half-elven. Gimli and his father were attending the Council to bring news of their home, to warn that the Dark Lord Sauron was searching for Bilbo. There they learned that Bilbo's kinsman Frodo now owned the Ring, a Ring of Power forged and lost by the Dark Lord Sauron; the Council decided to have it destroyed by casting it into the volcanic Mount Doom in Sauron's domain of Mordor. Frodo volunteered for the task, Elrond chose eight people of varying races to aid him in his task—including Gimli.
Thus, the Fellowship of the Ring was formed. Within the Fellowship there was friction between Gimli and the elf Legolas, for various reasons: their races bore an old grudge against each other over the ancient matter of the Necklace of the Dwarves and the destruction of Doriath, more Thranduil, Legolas' father, once imprisoned Gimli's father Glóin; when the company was forced to enter an ancient underground Dwarf-realm, the Mines of Moria, Gimli was at first enthusiastic and hoped to find a established colony of his people there, led by Balin. However, Moria was still inhabited by a huge number of Orcs and several Cave Trolls, as well as a Balrog, Balin and his folk were all dead; the Fellowship found his tomb in the Chamber of Records, together with a chronicle of events, but Orcs had discovered their presence and they had to fight their way out. After their leader Gandalf the Wizard fell into a chasm during a heated battle with the Balrog, the Fellowship escaped the Mines. Aragorn, a Ranger led them to the forest of Lothlórien, populated by Elves who were not friendly to Dwarves.
Gimli was told he had to be blindfolded if he was to enter the forest, his refusal nearly led to a violent situation, defused only when Aragorn proposed that the entire Fellowship be blindfolded, done. Gimli's opinion of Elves drastically changed when he met Galadriel, co-ruler of Lothlórien: her beauty and understanding impressed Gimli so much that, when given the opportunity to ask for whatever he wished, he responded that being able to see her and hear her gentle words was a gift enough; when pressed further, he admitted that he desired a single strand of her golden hair, so that he might treasure it and preserve it as an heirloom of his house, but that he could not ask for such a gift. Galadriel was so moved by his bold yet courteous request that she gave him not one, but three of her hairs, she subsequently gave Gimli the name "Lockbearer" as a result. By the end of the sojourn in Lothlórien, Gimli had formed his unlikely friendship with Legolas. At Amon Hen, the company was sundered, for Boromir, son of the Steward of Gondor, tried to take the Ring from Frodo and use it for Gondor and his own gain in their ongoing war against Sauron.
Frodo fled at this and went ahead, accompanied only by his gardener Samwise Gamgee. In the second volume, The Two Towers, the other members of the Fellowship were scattered while looking for Frodo, by ill-chance the two other hobbits of the party, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, were captured by Orcs. Boromir was mortally wounded defending them, it fell to Gimli and Legolas to set him on a funeral boat, they decided to go after Pippin, for Frodo's mission was out of their hands. After running a great distance in a few days and thus entering the land of Rohan, they met Éomer, Third Marshal of the Riddermark and nephew of Théoden, King of Rohan, his Rohirrim riders, who had slain the Orc-band the Three Hunters were pursuing, leaving not a single one alive; when Éomer spoke ill of the name Galadriel, having been told false rumours about her, Gimli responded with overtly harsh words, leading to a hostile situation that again h
Gasoline
Gasoline, gas or petrol is a colorless petroleum-derived flammable liquid, used as a fuel in spark-ignited internal combustion engines. It consists of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. On average, a 42-U. S.-gallon barrel of crude oil yields about 19 U. S. gallons of gasoline after processing in an oil refinery, though this varies based on the crude oil assay. The characteristic of a particular gasoline blend to resist igniting too early is measured by its octane rating. Gasoline is produced in several grades of octane rating. Tetraethyl lead and other lead compounds are no longer used in most areas to increase octane rating. Other chemicals are added to gasoline to improve chemical stability and performance characteristics, control corrosiveness and provide fuel system cleaning. Gasoline may contain oxygen-containing chemicals such as ethanol, MTBE or ETBE to improve combustion. Gasoline used in internal combustion engines can have significant effects on the local environment, is a contributor to global human carbon dioxide emissions.
Gasoline can enter the environment uncombusted, both as liquid and as vapor, from leakage and handling during production and delivery. As an example of efforts to control such leakage, many underground storage tanks are required to have extensive measures in place to detect and prevent such leaks. Gasoline contains other known carcinogens. "Gasoline" is a North American word. The Oxford English Dictionary dates its first recorded use to 1863 when it was spelled "gasolene"; the term "gasoline" was first used in North America in 1864. The word is a derivation from the word "gas" and the chemical suffixes "-ol" and "-ine" or "-ene". However, the term may have been influenced by the trademark "Cazeline" or "Gazeline". On 27 November 1862, the British publisher, coffee merchant and social campaigner John Cassell placed an advertisement in The Times of London: The Patent Cazeline Oil, safe and brilliant … possesses all the requisites which have so long been desired as a means of powerful artificial light.
This is the earliest occurrence of the word to have been found. Cassell discovered that a shopkeeper in Dublin named Samuel Boyd was selling counterfeit cazeline and wrote to him to ask him to stop. Boyd did not reply and changed every ‘C’ into a ‘G’, thus coining the word "gazeline"; the name "petrol" is used in place of "gasoline" in most Commonwealth countries. "Petrol" was first used as the name of a refined petroleum product around 1870 by British wholesaler Carless, Capel & Leonard, who marketed it as a solvent. When the product found a new use as a motor fuel, Frederick Simms, an associate of Gottlieb Daimler, suggested to Carless that they register the trademark "petrol", but by this time the word was in general use inspired by the French pétrole, the registration was not allowed. Carless registered a number of alternative names for the product, but "petrol" nonetheless became the common term for the fuel in the British Commonwealth. British refiners used "motor spirit" as a generic name for the automotive fuel and "aviation spirit" for aviation gasoline.
When Carless was denied a trademark on "petrol" in the 1930s, its competitors switched to the more popular name "petrol". However, "motor spirit" had made its way into laws and regulations, so the term remains in use as a formal name for petrol; the term is used most in Nigeria, where the largest petroleum companies call their product "premium motor spirit". Although "petrol" has made inroads into Nigerian English, "premium motor spirit" remains the formal name, used in scientific publications, government reports, newspapers; the use of the word gasoline instead of petrol outside North America can be confusing. Shortening gasoline to gas, which happens causes confusion with various forms of gaseous products used as automotive fuel like compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas ). In many languages, the name is derived from benzene, such as Benzin in benzina in Italian. Argentina and Paraguay use the colloquial name nafta derived from that of the chemical naphtha.
The first internal combustion engines suitable for use in transportation applications, so-called Otto engines, were developed in Germany during the last quarter of the 19th century. The fuel for these early engines was a volatile hydrocarbon obtained from coal gas. With a boiling point near 85 °C, it was well-suited for early carburetors; the development of a "spray nozzle" carburetor enabled the use of less volatile fuels. Further improvements in engine efficiency were attempted at higher compression ratios, but early attempts were blocked by the premature explosion of fuel, known as knocking. In 1891, the Shukhov cracking process became the world's first commercial method to break down heavier hydrocarbons in crude oil to increase the percentage of lighter products compared to simple distillation; the evolution of gasoline followed the evolution of oil as the dominant source of energy in the industrializing world. Prior to World War One, Britain was the world's greatest industrial power and depended on its navy to protect the shipping of raw materials from its colonies.
Germany was industrializing and, like Britain, lacked many natural resources which had to be shipped to the home country. By the 1890s, Germany
Minestrone
Minestrone is a thick soup of Italian origin made with vegetables with the addition of pasta or rice, sometimes both. Common ingredients include beans, celery, carrots and tomatoes. There is no set recipe for minestrone, since it can be made out of whatever vegetables one has, it can contain meat, or contain an animal bone-based stock. Angelo Pellegrini, argued that the base of minestrone is bean broth, that borlotti beans "are the beans to use for genuine minestrone"; some of the earliest origins of minestrone soup pre-date the expansion of the Latin tribes of Rome into what became the Roman Kingdom, when the local diet was "vegetarian by necessity" and consisted of vegetables, such as onions, cabbage, broad beans, carrots and turnips. During this time, the main dish of a meal would have been pulte, a simple but filling porridge of spelt flour cooked in salt water, to which whatever vegetables that were available would have been added, it was not until the 2nd century B. C. when Rome had conquered Italy and monopolized the commercial and road networks, that a huge diversity of products flooded the capital and began to change their diet, by association, the diet of Italy most notably with the more frequent inclusion of meats, including as a stock for soups.
Spelt flour was removed from soups, as bread had been introduced into the Roman diet by the Greeks, pulte became a meal for the poor. The ancient Romans recognized the health benefits of a simple or "frugal" diet and thick vegetable soups and vegetables remained a staple. Marcus Apicius's ancient cookbook De Re Coquinaria described polus, a Roman soup dating back to 30 AD made up of farro and fava beans, with onions, garlic and greens thrown in; as eating habits and ingredients changed in Italy, so did minestrone. Apicius updates the pulticulae with fancy trimmings such as cooked brains and wine; the introduction of tomatoes and potatoes from the Americas in the mid-16th century changed the soup by making available two ingredients which have since become staples. The tradition of not losing rural roots continues today, minestrone is now known in Italy as belonging to the style of cooking called "cucina povera" meaning dishes that have rustic, rural roots, as opposed to "cucina nobile" or the cooking style of the aristocracy and nobles.
Like many Italian dishes, minestrone was originally not a dish made for its own sake. In other words, one did not gather the ingredients of minestrone with the intention of making minestrone; the ingredients were pooled from ingredients for other dishes side dishes or contorni plus whatever was left over, rather like the pulte. There are two schools of thought on. One argues that in the 17th and 18th centuries minestrone emerged as a soup using fresh vegetables and was made for its own sake, while the other school of thought argues that the dish had always been prepared with fresh vegetables for its own sake since the pre-Roman pulte, but the name minestrone lost its meaning of being made with left-overs; the word minestrone, meaning a thick vegetable soup, is attested in English from 1871. It is from Italian minestrone, the augmentative form of minestra, "soup", or more "that, served", from minestrare, "to serve" and cognate with administer as in "to administer a remedy"; because of its unique origins and the absence of a fixed recipe, minestrone varies across Italy depending on traditional cooking times and season.
Minestrone ranges from a thick and dense texture with boiled-down vegetables, to a more brothy soup with large quantities of diced and cooked vegetables. In modern Italian there are three words corresponding to the English word soup: zuppa, used in the sense of tomato soup, or fish soup. Minestrone alla Genovese is a variant typical of Liguria, which contains greater use of herbs, including pesto. Minestra is a variant from Malta, which prominently features kunserva, kohlrabi and sometimes spaghetti. Pasta e fagioli List of Italian soups List of legume dishes List of soups List of vegetable soups
Frito-Lay
Frito-Lay, Inc. is an American subsidiary of PepsiCo that manufactures and sells corn chips, potato chips, other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-flavored snacks; each brand has generated annual worldwide sales over $1 billion in 2009. Frito-Lay began in the early 1930s as two separate companies, The Frito Company and H. W. Lay & Company, which merged in 1961 to form Frito-Lay, Inc. Four years in 1965, Frito-Lay, Inc. merged with the Pepsi-Cola Company, resulting in the formation of PepsiCo. Since that time, Frito-Lay has operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo. Through Frito-Lay, PepsiCo is the largest globally distributed snack food company, with sales of its products in 2009 comprising 40 percent of all "savory snacks" sold in the United States, 30 percent of the non-U. S. market. In 2018, Frito-Lay North America accounted for 25 percent of PepsiCo's annual sales. In 1932, Kansas City, Kansas-born Charles Elmer Doolin, manager of the Highland Park Confectionery in San Antonio, purchased a corn chip recipe, a handheld potato ricer, 19 retail accounts from a corn chip manufacturer for $100, which he borrowed from his mother.
Doolin established The Frito Company, in his mother's kitchen. Doolin, with his mother and brother, produced the corn chips, named Fritos, had a production capacity of 10 pounds per day and 30 cents per product. Doolin distributed the Fritos in 5¢ bags. Daily sales totaled $8 to $10 and profits averaged about $2 per day. In 1933 the production of Fritos increased from 10 pounds to nearly 100 pounds due to the development of a "hammer" press; the Frito Company headquarters moved to Dallas to capitalize on the city's central location and better availability of raw materials. In 1937 The Frito Company opened its Research and Development lab and introduced new products, including Fritos Peanut Butter Sandwiches and Fritos Peanuts, to supplement Fritos and Fritatos Potato chips, introduced in 1935. In 1939, the company incorporated the Dallas business. Frito relocated the operation from Haskell Avenue to a new facility at 2005 Wall Street. Alice Rupe, one of Fluffs' original six all-woman crew, was placed in charge of operations.
In 1940, she was named Assistant Manager. In 1941, the company opened its Western Division in Los Angeles with two sales routes, which would become the prototype for The Frito Company's distribution system. In 1945, The Frito Sales Company was established to separate sales from production activities. Expansion continued with the issue of six franchises through the Frito National Company in the same year. In 1950, Fritos were sold in all 48 states; the Frito Company issued its first public stock offering in 1954. At the time of Doolin's death in 1959, The Frito Company produced over forty products, had plants in eighteen cities, employed over 3,000 people, had sales in 1958 in excess of $50 million. By 1962, Fritos would be sold in 48 countries. In 1931, North Carolina-born salesman Herman Lay sold potato chips in the Southern United States out of his car. In 1932, he began a potato chip business in Tennessee. Lay was hired as a salesman for the Barrett Food Products Company, an Atlanta, Georgia manufacturer of Gardner's Potato Chips, took over Barrett's Nashville warehouse as a distributor.
Lay hired his first salesman in 1934, three years had 25 employees and a larger manufacturing facility where he produced popcorn and peanut butter sandwich crackers. A representative of the Barrett Food Company contacted Lay in 1938, offering to sell Barrett's plants in Atlanta and Memphis to Lay for $60,000. Lay borrowed $30,000 from a bank and persuaded the Barrett Company to take the difference in preferred stock. Lay moved his headquarters to Atlanta and formed H. W. Lay & Company in 1939, he purchased the Barrett manufacturing plant in Jacksonville, along with additional plants in Jackson, Mississippi. Lay retained the Gardner trademark of Barrett Food Products until 1944, when the product name was changed to Lay's Potato Chips. Lay expanded further in the 1950s, with the purchase of The Richmond Potato Chip Company and the Capitol Frito Corporation. By 1956, with more than 1,000 employees, plants in eight cities, branches or warehouses in thirteen others, H. W. Lay & Company was the largest manufacturer of potato chips and snack foods in the United States.
In 1945, the Frito Company granted the H. W. Lay & Company an exclusive franchise to manufacture and distribute Fritos in the Southeast; the two companies developed a close business affiliation. In September 1961, The Frito Company and H. W. Lay & Company merged to become Inc. combining their headquarters in Dallas, Texas. At this point, the company's annual revenues totaled $127 million generated from sales of its four main brands at the time: Fritos, Lays and Ruffles. In February 1965, the boards of directors for Frito-Lay, Inc. and Pepsi-Cola announced a plan for the merger of the two companies. On June 8, 1965, the merger of Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola Company was approved by shareholders of both companies, a new company called PepsiCo, Inc. was formed. At the time of the merger, Frito-Lay owned 46 manufacturing plants nationwide and had more than 150 distribution centers across the Unite
