Fausto Celorio, the inventor of the tortilla machine that changed the history of Mexico forever

Fausto Celorio Mendoza It doesn’t have a Wikipedia entry, and it should. It is incomprehensible that the man behind one of the most important inventions of the last century and promoter of Mexico’s economy is not included in the digital encyclopedia quintessence. Today any self-respecting Mexican can enjoy a hot tortilla by waiting a few minutes and having it in their hands, it is worth thanking this Veracruz native He has 150 patents in his name, Even today he is the Mexican with the highest number of industrial records in the country.

The history of Mexico, of the Latin American continent, in its entirety, cannot be understood without corn. Since pre-Columbian times, this grain has been an indispensable basis of the continent’s cuisine and there are countless tools that humans have devised over the centuries to manipulate it and produce it in various forms. But if there’s one gadget that stands out from the rest, it’s the automatic tortilla maker.

consumption of The omelette dates back to 500 BC In Mesoamerica, in what is now the region of Oaxaca, with the first evidence of its domestic and manual preparation. However, we had to wait until the beginning of the 19th century for unprecedented mechanical devices capable of producing this nuclear food without explicit human intervention at all stages of production. The first thing was the tortilla press, also known as the ‘.crush tortilla makers‘, the two plates were connected by a hinge and a wooden lever, with which pressure was applied until they obtained the flat shape and uniform consistency that characterize this ancient product. Then came a machine for grinding grain and another machine for preparing pasty mass, both the works of Julián Gómez. Based on these advances and many others that emerged with the development of modernism, Salvador Guzmán and Félix Rabago introduced their semi-manual machines To make tortillas. The first was done in 1935 and the second in 1936.

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The inventions of these two Mexicans formed the prelude for Fausto Celorio to conceive of his own method of making tortillas in 1947. such an invention Its manufacturing was mechanized From receiving the grains to getting the final product ready to be packed and sold in the supermarket. In his machine, Celorio skillfully gathered all previous advances and for the first time introduced a roller system for cutting and transporting the tortilla, allowing its industrial production. That same year, he founded the company Tortilladores de Lujo S.A. (current) Celorio Tortilla Maker), from where he began commercializing his invention capable of making 3,000 to 10,000 tortillas per hour, depending on the model.

Legend associated with Fausto Celorio: Fear of street vendors

Initial sales of the automatic tortilla maker were poor. Once a month if you’re lucky. However, it was from their association alphonso gandaraEngineers at the National Polytechnic Institute, that both partners managed to expand their business to unprecedented heights. In 1959, he began improving his talent with a new extrusion system, flat chassis and piped gas operation. In 1963 he introduced the Duplex Tortilla Maker, which was capable of producing 132 kg tortilla In just one hour. In 1975 he again improved the machine so that it could produce up to 200 kg every 60 minutes. And it adds up and continues until the end of his days.

Legend has it that this inventor without a Wikipedia entry, born in Córdoba, Veracruz in 1909, dedicated himself to improving and selling his machine in secret. The reason? He feared retribution from the tortilla vendors on the street, who they made the product by hand, know that their gadget will revolutionize the way food is produced and, perhaps, put them out of work. Fausto Celorio Mendoza died in Mexico City in 1996. he was 87 years old, It is estimated that at least 100 tortilla manufacturers worldwide currently bear his name.

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