How Christmas Crackers are Made.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIII, Issue 25, 22 December 1909, Page 45

How Christmas Crackers are Made.

INVENTED IN FRANCE, THE CRACKER HAS BEEN MADE POPULAR BY THE ENTERPRISE OF ENGLISH FIRMS—ARTISTIC SKILL AND - INGENUITY ARE EXPENDED ON THE WORK, WHICH GOES ON CONSTANTLY FROM CHRISTMAS TO CHRISTMAS—SEVENTY-THREE ARTICLES IN A SINGLE SIXPENNY BOX.

By

PERCY COLLINS.

rV~\ OST people who have given a 1 I | thought to the question have j j 1 I concluded that the Christmas / cracker, like the Christmas

bear a necessary part in the manufacture of Christmas crackers. The ''make up” of a single sixpenny box of crackers includes the box and its gay label, twelve wrappers of pretty fancy paper, twelve ornaments, coloured scraps or pictures, twelve pieces of white paper beneath the fancy coverings known technically as “linings,” twelve surprise articles, twelve mottoes, and twelve “snaps” or detonators—making a grand total of seventy-three. Of course, the more costly boxes include a still larger number of items.

tree, came to us from Germany. As a matter of faet, this is not the case. For the modern cracker, as well as its name, was evolved from the old French cosaque. The cosaque —meaning, literally, a sack or package containing something—came into existence about the time when men were writing ’4O on their letter headings. It was simply a screwed-up piece of paper containing a sweetmeat of one kind or another. It possessed none of the artistic beauties which characterise modern crackers—its sole ornament consisting of a roughly-frilled edge which had been dipped in some bright coloured dye.

But, although the cracker is French in origin, its amazing modern development as a pretty adjunct to Christmas festivities is almost wholly due to the enterprise of English firms. In the year 1847 a far-seeing man of business began to manufacture crackers in London. At that time the work was carried on in two or three small rooms, while the number of hands employed did not exceed forty. To-day, the wellknown firm of Tom Smith and Co. occupies a huge block of fireproof buildings consisting of eighteen floors, and employs several hundreds of hands. Moreover, other firms, both in London and the provinces, vie with one another for a share in the growing demand for crackers which each succeeding Christ-

mas brings. Cracker-making to-day is anything but a simple undertaking, nor is it confined to any particular season of the year. “We reopen our works immediately after the Christmas holidays,” Eaid Mr. Walter Smith, the managing partner of the firm, “and shall go on Steadily working upon our next year's output until Christmas Eve of 1910; and it will take us all our time to get lour supply in readiness.”

The work involves an immense amount of labour never dreamt of by the public in general. A visitor to the factory is shown huge machines designed for box-making, lithographic printing, the cutting and shaping of Card, paper and gelatine, ail of which

The tons of cardboard, paper, coloured gelatine, and other materials pass through many processes in preparation for the act of cracker-making proper.

A score or more of ingenious mechanisms conduce to this end. As an example, the wonderful frilling machines

may be cited. They are used for frilling the ends of the paper which is to be made in crackers, and their teeth—like a fine comb—are capable of cutting through many thicknesses at one time.

But the casual visitor to a cracker factory finds most to interest him in the final or making-up process. This is accomplished by girls; and the necessary speed and deftness are by no means easy to acquire. As a rule, it is found that a girl does not become a really first-rate hand until she has been at the work for two or three successive seasons. The girls in the cracker-making department sit on stools at a long bench divided into numerous sections —one for each worker. Each girl is .supplied with a store of the papers and contents necessary to the special kind of cra/ker she is to make, a glue pot, and certain implements consisting of a short hollow cylinder, a metal block and a piece of waxed string.

In making a cracker the girl first spreads upon the bench the showy external covering, together with the white lining sheet and the ornamental borders. The “snap” or detonator is then laid centre-wise upon the paper, and the whole is lolled quickly round the hollow cylinder—the cylindrical block being placed at one end inside the paper. If these operations have been performed “to gauge," the juncture of the cylinder with the block gives the place for constricting the cracker at that end. This

is done by means of ttte waxed The motto and the surprise souvenir — be it tightly rolled cap, jewel, or toy—are dropped in, and the hallow cylinder is withdrawn. The metal block is now inserted at the other end, which is constricted in its turn, by means of the string. Finally, the outer ornamentation is gummed on. and the complete cracker is set aside to await its journey to the packing-department. That these operations are performed with almost lightning like rapidity will be appreciated from the fact that a skilled hand will easily turn out from four to five gross of crackers per day.

The contents of each cracker is, nowadays, a matter for serious consideration. Thirty years ago. the public were well satisfied with the orthodox sugar-plum or burnt almond. But the demand for novelty grows apace, hnd crackers —like all else—must be up-to-date. At the present day. all parts of the earth are scoured for the little souvenirs wlii<4i are to be the cause of jollity and laughter in thousands of homes at Christmastide. For instance, there is a regular trade with China and Japan for the supply of numberless little articles such as tiny native dolls, fans, vases, and figures. Bohemia, too, sends to England a large and regular supply of nicknacks destined to become the contents of Christmas crackers. Of trinkets and charms, those which are this year (being wrapped in their bonbons by t'al.'y and Son of Norwich, are especially praiseworthy, They comprise scores of unique designs beautifully executed in hard white metal. To gain an idea of the immense stock of articles adapted to every conceivable taste which the cracker-m.ake.r must stock, it is only necessary to glanee into his store-room whence the workers draw their supplies. We find ourselves in a veritable curiosity shop. Ringsand pins, necklaces and drains, brooches and lockets—all are here in almost endless variety. Then there are magic flowers, fly cages, pawn tickets, marriage certificates, air balloons, tops, teetotums, puzzles, pictures—together with a thousand and one other articles resembling one another only in this particular, namely, that they are all of a size suitable for rolling up in a cracker. It has been said that many of these odds and ends are brought from abroad. The paper hats and caps, on the eontrary, are all made on the premises. The coloured tissue paper is cut into shape by machinery—hund/eds of sheets at a time. These shapes are then fitted together and modelled upon blocks, when the necessary orr/iments are added. Then, after a brief period of drying, the hats and caps are folded into the smallest possible compass. Mottoes, too. are homemade, and it is whispered that certain of our minor poets do not scruple to take advantage of this outlet for versifying. Some of the mottoes are exceedingly smart and to the point. This "one. for example, found in a “Press Cracker” is wo quoting

How many ••Times’’ must I ’•Express” Hw dear thou are to me— A “Mail’’ whose “Standard” happiness Is “Daily News” of love aftd glee iWhat “Sporting l imes’’ of love and glee •Aly •’Outlook’’ would relate, If you would only let me be “The Guardian” of your fate. Tin most notable advance traceable in the history of the Christmas cracker lies in th'» artistic skill and ingenuity displayed in its inception and manufacture. The designs, both for the boxes and for the covers of the crackers themselves, are most carefully thought out, in order that the effect of the whole may suggest and be in keeping with the central “idea” of tin* production. The ideas vary greatly, of course, and complete novelty is in perennial demand. Public thought and taste, however, as shaped by notable events, discoveries, or invenItions, are carefully studied. Thus we have the “Marroni Message Crackers,” •‘Motoring Crackers,” “Leap Year Crackers,” “Submarine Crackers,” “John Bull’s Store Crackers,” and quite a numilrer of crackers specially designed to meet the present taste, of the British public for anything and everything connected with Japan and the Japanese. In all these instances, boxes, crackers, mottoes, and contents have been carefully planned to bear upon the central idea which they •nggest. Modern crackers are by no means in-

variably the well-known cylindrical elk jeets which we are accustomed to associate with the name. A glanee at the accompanying photographs will give the reader some idea of the forms, weird and beautiful, taken by some of the latest novelties. Some of the special table decoration cosaques which have recently been placed upon the market are really, works of art, and the prices asked and paid for the more elaborate varieties are little short of amazing to those who have been accustomed to think of crackers merely as a means of providing a delightful hour at a children’s party. It must be remembered, however, that when paying half-a-guinea or so for a box of six cosaques, the purchaser receives a good deal more than a mere snap and surprise rolled in prettily coloured paper. Many of the table decoration crackers produced by such a firm as Messrs. Caley are ornamental in the highest degree, and are surmounted by a spray of exquisitely modelled flowers and foliage. It is, moreover, a noteworthy fact that the whole of the embellishments used by this firm are manufactured at their Norwich works. Another notable feature in connection! with Messrs. Caley’s output is seen in the high art labels on their boxes. These are the work of artists who are, year by year, making their names at the Royal Academy. The designs are p-inted in two or three colours, and are of great breadth' and strength. Many of them fie exceedingly striking.