AN IMPORTANT INVENTION.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1182, 23 September 1885, Page 3

AN IMPORTANT INVENTION.

An important invention in butter firkins has been patented by Mr T. M. Bryant, a dairyman of Onehunga, Auckland. The old fashioned firkins have been long used, but when the butter has to be sent in these a long distance, say from New Zealand to Britain, the cost of carriage is considerable, and the form of the firkin causes the carriage to be comparatively high on account of the large amount of waste space caused by the round form. Mr Bryant has looked upon this point as a serious obstacle in the way of making a large export of butter as the space in a cold chamber is much more valuable than the same amount of space in the ordinary hull of a ship. He firafc designed a square form of package, which could be put together when the butter was made, and the cost of carrying " empties " would be thus reduced to a minimum. But one difficulty stood in his way, and that was how to save the butter being tainted or flavored by the wood of which the boxes were made. In every ' instance and whatever wood he used he found that when the butter was packed in it for several months some taste was imparted to it, and it presented a less attractive appearance on being scooped out of a firkin than it would have by being packed in boxes, 12 inches square inside, which could be knocked to pieces and leave the square block of butter standing on the bottom part. He found that a 12-inch cube of butter, firmly pressed would ' weigh 561bs, but how to make this box available puzzled him. At last Mr J. A. Pond was consulted to see if his chemical knowledge could be of service, and Mr Bryant offered him half the interest in the patent to be secured, if he succeeded in giving a glaze or polish to the inside of the boxes which would neither impart an unpleasant^ flavor or tasto to the butter, and which would not become injured by keeping. A solution was found to meet all the conditions required, and, to make the success more complete, machinery was arranged to put the solution on to the inside of the boxes under severe pressure, and with a great degree of heat. Hollers were designed for passing the boards between, after being planed, and as the upper row is hollow, it can be heated to any degree desired by jets of gas and common atmospheric air mixed. The solution is applied under these circumstances, and when the board comes from between the rollers the dressed surface is quite smooth, and the gloss given to it by the solution used is quite hard, and not effected it by any chemical agencies it will be subjected to in convoying butter from New Zealand to Britain or elsewhere. Butter has been spread upou a prepared board and kept for months and it has remained unaifected. The boards with one side thus prepared will be made into butter boxes by machinery, so that the joints will fit very closely. The butter will be pressed into these boxes under a screw press, so that all the butter milk and air cavities will be squeezed out. The timber is kahikatea, that having been found to absorb the protecting solution better than kauri, besides being somewhat cheaper. While measuring 12 inches square inside, the outside measurement is exactly 14 inches square, and when the sides are knocked separate, a square cube of butter is disclosed, weighing 563b5.