Flour sifters and baking
Born in Canada in 1823, Joseph Baker started a business with his son, Allen Baker, selling books, maps and other products door-to-door in 1870.
The same year, Joseph Baker invented a home-style flour sifter, sold it with his other products, and got a Canadian patent. Baker and his son visited England in 1876 and Allen stayed there and set up offices in London and Liverpool. Several other family members moved to England and established a factory in Finsbury in 1879. They demonstrated flour sifters and biscuit (cracker) making machinery at the Paris Exhibition in 1889 and sold them to Huntley and Palmers and to Peek, Frean and Co., both British producers. (See cracker tins pyramid.)
Since Baker’s original sifter, many other companies have tried to improve and revise his design.