 The Products |
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 The "Packaging Line" in Ray's garage. This is where his products were packaged (duh) into either sacks or cans. The raw supplements, which arrived in large sacks, were dumped into the hopper in the floor to the back-center of the picture. An elevator behind the wall lifted it up to a bin in the attic, where gravity fed it down into the packaging machine seen in the far back-left of the room. The bags/cans would travel down the belt conveyor at left where the packages would be weighed by hand on the scale, then proceed to be cased up at the end. |
 Once in cases at the end of the assembly line, the boxes were shoved down this roller conveyor, where they were plucked off and stacked for shipment. All this work was performed by a small crew of high school boys recruited locally, who spent a few hours here on weekends on an as-needed basis. It was strenuous work, but as a special reward (in addition to something like 50 cents an hour wages) they were given a break, at which they each received a cup of water and a Nut Goodie Bar. Now THAT made it all worthwhile. (By the way, the little "box" just to the left of the window was an intercom to the house, where Ray could keep an "ear" to the whole operation. |
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 Ray-Vitam had several products; the names and composition of most of those products have been lost. However, some traces remain - such as this label from an original Ray-Vitam 400 (formerly known as "Vita-Ray 400 D" due to its emphasis of vitamin D) vitamin supplement. (Ray's son, Norm, provided the following details.) "400" was his original and most staple product. It was even sold for years after he sold the company -- so strong was it's reputation. It was a big source of vitamin D, along with others. |
 Another product was called Super Lift. It was a cool product, sold in cool-looking cans with snazzy labels. Here, cases of packaged Super Lift sit in Ray's garage waiting to be shipped out. Super-Lift was a water-dispersible product for poultry and hogs, and it contained anti-biotics, which was a relatively new additive in the feed business. I wasn't all soluble, thus the term "dispersible". Peter Hand manufactured the antibiotic and would not release it to other businesses the water-soluble form. (I can't remember if it was chlorotetracylin, oxytetracylin or pennicillin -- or maybe it was auromycin, terramycin and pennicillin manufactured by Merck -- we used a lot of them at one time or another in different products.) This was one of the more expensive products in the line. (Thanks to Norm for that in-depth discussion of this product.) |
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 Sometimes Ray sold his products in larger bags, such as this 25-pound bag of Base Mix. (Again, Norm comes to the rescue with these words.) The 25 pound bag of "Base Mix" was specially designed for an independent feed mill owner to manufacture a complete feed under his own name, to compete with the large industrial feeds such as Hubbard, Sargents, Walnut Grove 4 x 4, Purina, etc. This could be manufactured at a much lower cost and retain the same quality. (The formulations were my [Norm's] job, as well as providing their own personal tags; and we provided the quality control.) |
 Ray had his own truck - or trucks. I'm not sure if he had more than one. I remember him getting a new truck back in the early 60s, and he was really proud of it. This may or may not be the same truck pictured here. For a while, a Mr. Bob Byrne was his driver and distributor. |
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 A stack of Vita-Ray 400 D packaged, cased, and waiting for the delivery truck. (Before taking the picture, Ray thoughtfully placed a few individual bags on top -- just to show them off. Thanks!) |
 The driver(s) of his truck(s) couldn't escape Ray's attention to detail. Here, a Route Sheet kept track of tickets used, money collected, and everything else the driver needed to track. Looking at the form, it looks a lot like an IRS Income Tax form, doesn't it? |
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 While not really a product of "Ray-Vitam Products Co.," this bowl WAS another product from Ray Wolfe -- under the new name of "Wolfe Enterprises." Patent was applied for, but not awarded due to existing patents of similar products. Few bowls were actually made, and fewer still remain in existence today. |
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 The "salad bowls" (since that's the main reason Ray created them) came with a small brochure. Here's the front and rear cover of the pamphlet. |
 And here's the inside of it. |
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 The bottom of each bowl declared simply the new "company" name, location, and patent status. |
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