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46
These trucks are taken direct to the butchering department of the works where
large pieces of meat are cut by band-saws into smaller pieces. From these they
are conveyed to a crusher and thence by conveyor and elevator to the hoppers of
the melting machines. These vessels are steam-jacketed, and in them the meat is
subjected to a temperature of between 280 degrees and 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
This ensures complete sterilisation.
At the conclusion of the cooking process the free tallow which is obtained is
run off into settling tanks, which after settlement is pumped to cleansing and
storing tanks. Only one class of tallow is made and the whole of this is disposed of
for candle and soap making. The residuals less this free tallow are raked from the
vessels into a creeper.conveyor which carries the material into an elevator, whence it is
discharged into a steam.heated revolving kettle. From this the residual is fed by
means of a strickling box into hydraulic presses. These presses by means of accumulators,
subject the resulting product, known as the wet "greave," to a pressure
of 35 cwts. per square inch, the total pressure on each cake is therefore about
3,000 tons. This results in the bulk of tallow which is carried by the wet greaves
being expelled and a solid cake of greaves is left behind. This can be handled
with a very low percentage of breakages. These greaves are used in the manufacture
of poultry food, dog biscuits and similar commodities.
The works are capable of dealing with very large quantities of material,
much larger than the average amount obtained from the various sources under
the control of the City Corporation. In fact when the additions which are now
being installed and near completion are finished the works will be capable of dealing
with 500 to 600 tons weekly.
The main supplies of materials handled consist of raw unsound meats, but the
firm deals also with large quantities of tinned meat, fruit, jams, etc., and the supplies
of these commodities are heavier since the armistice than in normal times
owing to condemnations from Army dumps.
It is interesting to know that it takes nearly 3,000 twelve.ounce tins to produce
onetonof meat. Any profitable method, therefore, of dealing with this meat obviously
requires a speedy method of emptying the tins. To overcome this difficulty the
Company have built in their own workshops an electrically driven circular saw
capable of opening 7,000 tins per hour.
Fruit, jam, etc., having no fat contents, and being of no value for feeding
purposes, is destroyed by acid and steam.
With a view to ensuring economy and efficiency, all floors and other parts to
which dirt impregnated with fat adheres are scraped down every day, and the
fat content in the scrapings is subsequently extracted. Bags, cloths, etc., which
have contained fatty materials are also washed and the grease extracted.
The Company endeavour to avoid giving offence in any degree to the inhabitants
or workers in the district surrounding the property, and for the purpose of
minimising effluvium nuisance have installed a complete system of ducts through
which the fumes thrown off during the cooking process are drawn by suction through
a furnace. This practically ensures the destruction of the fumes.
Various members of the Sanitary Committee have visited the works and have
expressed their approval of them. Whenever I have visited I have found them to
be conducted satisfactorily and adequate safeguards against leakage are adopted.
I think the Corporation is to be congratulated on having made these arrangements,
and I hope that the venture by the traders may prove profitable. The
accompanying photographs illustrate the character of the work, which as stated
above, is in every sense effective and efficient.