The examiner., 1882-04-01
ThA Baking RusinAss.

The baker comes down to us from sr
 tiquity and has always figured more o1
 less prominently in sacred and profane
 history. Witness the conspicuous part
 played by Pharoahs baker, and the ap-
 pearance of the functionary in nursery
 lore in connection with the butcher and
 the candle stick maker. The baker and
 his cavernous oven belong to many lands
 and many ages, but it was reserved fol
 modern days to transform the industr.
 from an enlargement of the domestic 1 process into one of the branches oi
 trade employing labor-saving ma'
 chinery.
 Let us first inspect the cracker de-
 partment. The cracker is "peculia1
 institution" The dough is first pre- pared in long troughs. It is then put into "worm," where 8 device which resembles huge corkscrew turns and twists it, gives it it's final kneading and forces it into trough, from which it is passed through rollers and appears in 8 long sheet, ready to be cut into crackers. This work is performed by cutting machine, which by sliding the sheet of dough on table under die cuts out 72O crackers 8 minute. These are taken from the table on fiat wooden shovel and deposited in the oven, and the clip pings are thrown back into the dough trough. Gazing in at the mouth Of the oven we see spacious compartment which we are told measures twenty feet square and thirty feet deey. It is heated by furnace in the basement of the building.
 The oven contains eight shelves, nine feet long and three feet wide, arranged on 8 revolving frame and holding two and half barrels of crackers. Eight minutes are required for the baking, and as soon as one shelf is emptied it is filled again from the cutting table. The baked crackers are conveyed to bins in the upper story by an arrange ment somewhat similar to that by which grain is elevated. The buckets empty the crackers into bin where they are allowed to cool and fall into recep- tacle beneath, from which they are taken and packed. The packing ma- chine is a curiously contrived device, andI arranges the crackers in rows so as to greatly facilitate the work of the packer. About thirty-two barrels per day is the product of the establishment of which we speak.
 Let us pass to that part of the bakery where ginger snaps are made. Long, thin sheets of ''snap' dough pass be- heath cutting machine, similar to that used for crackers, which punches out twelve snaps at stroke or 964 per min utel The cakes are then passed through steam and water to give them glossy and are then placed in the oven, which has tables revolving hori- zontally. One turn of the tables bakes the thin snaps, and two turns does the business for the thicker ones. The time taken to convert the dough into baked snap is only about five minutes, and 5O,0OO snaps per hour, or 500,000 per day is the product
 After all, bread is the most import ant product of the baker. Here we see B revolving crank in an iron trough mixing ten barrels of flour in eight minutes. The bread is given four '' risings," and the weight of each loaf is ascertained before it passes to the oven. The number of 1oaves turned out every day is 3,1OO. About 800 Ioaves of brown bread are baked daily, some cooked by heat and some by steam. the latter process requiring six hours.