James F. Boyce

[2] Boyce's successful work as a commercial chemist allowed him to move to Hyde Park Township—at the time an exclusive suburb of Chicago.

[6] Boyce had his first career success as the supervising chemist in the formulation of Gold Dust Washing Powder,[1] an all purpose cleaning agent first introduced in 1889.

Although never patented by his employer, Fairbank, he developed a novel industrial hydrogenation process (using nickel as a catalyst) that proved successful for use in food products and was considered a scientific breakthrough.

[1] Incorporating these advances into the limited cooking oils market at the time resulted in the Fairbank Company's creation of Cottolene, a product containing 90% vegetable fat and 10% beef suet.

Packaged similarly—and also promoted with accompanying cookbooks just as the marketing for Cottolene had done—Crisco was composed entirely of vegetable oils, and became the preferred brand found in many kitchens of the day.

[9] Boyce's nickel-catalyst hydrogenation procedure allowed its application (by the likes of French chemist and Nobel laureate, Paul Sabatier, and the manufacturing giant Procter & Gamble) in the commercial exploitation of vegetable oils and fats.