Preserving Works.

Progress, Volume I, Issue 9, 2 July 1906, Page 228

Preserving Works.

The spacious building in which the much-dis-cussed canning of meats is earned on is 50 x 170 ft. and has two stones. Boned and trimmed meat enters this department direct fiom the Cooling Room, and may have originally consisted of overfat or heavy- framed sheep, which would not find a ready sale m the retail shops. As this is the most important reason for consigning beef or mutton to the cannery it makes little difference to us so long as we are sure of the absolute soundness

and good quality of the meat. This, once it has arrived by an endless conveyor from the slaughter house, is immediately placed in pickle tanks ; and after sufficient time has been given to salting, it is subjected to the first scalding, and is as yet unturned. From the scalders the meat is passed to rotary-filling machines, where scoured tins are awaiting it. The filled tins are next check-^ weighed and put through the initial stage of hermetic sealing. A " bridge " is inserted on the inside of the round aperture at the top of the tin, and over it is placed the cap having a small perforation called the " broghole," in the centre. The tins are now placed into retorts, or " process kettles," in order that the remaining moisture in the meat and any deleterious gases may be expelled. Here the " bridge " keeps the meat m position while the gases are driven off through the " broghole "in the cap. Still the work is not complete, for the " broghole " has to be closed, and the tins put through the final cooking under a higher steam pressure, before being transferred to the Test House, and this not before they have been dipped into a caustic solution to remove coatings of grease. In the Test House the tins are dried in sawdust, and are then allowed to stand for about two weeks m order that faulty soldering may be detected. This stage of the canning is

as mteiesting as it is important, for if a fracture of minutest extent should exist in any tin the fault is at once detected by the tester, who taps every tin with a steel bar which draws a clear ringing note from the former. All being well, the goods are finally sent to the Store, where lacquering and labelling conjointly assist in giving the tins their finished appearance and correct designation. If stowed away from boilers and other heat-producing media canned goods of the Gear quality will, it is claimed, retain their virtue for an indefinite period. The merit of goods canned at these works under the supervision already described is so high that the Company is enabled to prove the loss m packing at as low a figure as one quarter per cent. All tinsmi thing is conducted on the upper floor of the Preserving Works, there being five bodypresses for cutting out the bodies, tops and bottoms of tins. Interchangeable dies are, of course, fitted to these presses, and an automatic soldering machine operates at the rate of 2,000 an hour. The Engine Room and Boiler House. In such a huge establishment as the Gear works it is accepted that the power to drive the innumerable machines used in the host of processes must be considerable. Electric motors of which there are thirty-five, ranging from 1 to 30 h.p. each, are used m all departments of the works —the Engine Room, 95 x 65ft., being utilised as the central station. The electric power plant comprises three sets • one of 150 k.w., consisting of a Belliss & Morcom compound engine and Siemens generator ; one 60-k.w. set with Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies engine and Crompton generator, and one 40-k.w. set by the same makers, the current being at no volts pressure, and the number of lights supplied 1.200. There are two switchboards — one a KelvinWhite and the other a Crompton. The refrigerating machinery includes one of Hall's carbonic

mg director, and Mr W H. Tripe secretary of the Company. The heads of the departments, who have placed every facility before us in the making of this article, are — Messrs. W. G. Lodder, Chief Engineer, Freezing Works ; E. C. Corner, Slaughter Yard and Tallow Department ; S. Y. Burndge, Fellmongery , J. G. Castle, Preserving , A. Carter, Chemist and Analyst, Manure Department ; and T. H. Brown, Shops.

machines, and a converted Haslam, these machines having a capacity of 2,000 and 5,000 sheep per diem respectively. The auxiliaries 111 the Engine Room are all of the most modern type, and are composed of two Weir feed pumps ; Kennedy feed-water meter ; four Gwynne circulating pumps ; Deane condenser ; air compressor having a capacity of 70ft. per minute ; two large pressure pumps for the works and fire purposes ; Cameron compressor pump with a capacity of 400 gallons per minute ; and a Worthmgton pump of 200 gallons. There is also a Hall's carbonic-acid gas plant with a capacity of 3501bs for eight hours. The Boiler Room, which is 65 x 75ft., contains six boilers, placed in two nests, one of four and the other of two. Two of these boilers are by Luke, two by Cable, and two by Sparrow, and they are equipped swith Sturtevant's fans, a Hotchkiss water circulator, which deposits all sediment in a bulb on the top of the boiler, while Green's economisers are fitted for the purpose of heating the feed water up to a high temperature. Adjoining the Engine Room and Boiler House are the Joiner's Shop, 25 x 75ft., in which all the office furniture required at the works is made, in addition to the usual work turned out ; Lathe Room, 25 x 50ft.; Turning Shop, 25 x 35ft.; Blacksmith's Shop, 25 x 20ft. , containing two forges and one steam hammer ; Boilermaker's Shop, 25 x 25ft.; Electrician's Workshop, 25 x 30ft.; and Plumber's Iron Store, 25 x 40ft. All the new buildings, including the iron roofs, have been designed, and the work done, by the Company's staff. According to the last balance sheet of the Company the capital subscribed is of which has been paid up. The directors are — Messrs. James Gear (chairman), D. Anderson, H. Beauchamp, H. D. Bell, J. R. Blair, A. K. Newman, and N. Reid. Mr. W. H. Millward is manag-