Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1884-01-03
Making Eggs without Hens. $

DO you mean to say that you made
that egg without the assistance of a
hen2' asked the reporter of d Connec-
ticut egg manufacturer
Yes, " he replied and if you wish
Will show you something IF the pro
cess. Come
He led D-e through a room in which
there were stored boxes upon boxes of
eggs, and into another large cool room
in the rear. Several strengthening
wooden machines, totally unlike any
thing | had ever seen, stood in differ
ent parts of the room. Six or seven
men were operating the machinery.
which moved noiselessly and with
great rapidity / followed my conduc-
tor to one end of the apartment, where
the were three large tanks or watts.
One was filed with yellow com
pound, the second with a starchy mix
ture, and the other was covered.
Pointing to these the proprietor said:
These contain the yelk mixture and
white of an egg. We empty these watts
every day, SO you can Judge of the
business already. Let me show you
one OF the machines. You see they are
divided into different boxes or receipt
acles. The first and second are the
yelk and white: the next is what we
term the skin machine, and this, the
last one, is the shelter, with drying
trays. This process is the result of
many years of experiment and ex-
pense. | first conceived the idea after
making a chemical analysis of an egg.
After a long time | succeeded in ma
king a good imitation of IN egg. /
then turned my attention to make the
machinery, and the result you see for
yourself OF course it would not be
policy for me to explain all the mech
anism, but I'll give you an idea of the
process. Into the first machine is put
the yelk mixture"
"What is thatl" | asked.
'Well, it is mixture of Indian meal,
cornstarch, and several other ingred-
tents. 1t is poured iuto the opening in
a thick, mush state, and is formed by
the machine into ball and frozen. In
this condition it passes into the other
box, where it is surrounded by the
white, which is chemically the same
as the real egg. This is also frozen,
and by peculiar rotary motion of the
machine an oval shape is impaired to
it, and it passes into the next recep-
tacle, where it receives the thin tilmy
skin. After this, it has only to go into
the shelter. 1t gets its last coat in the
shape of a plaster of paris shell, trifle
thicker than the genuine article. Then
it goes out on the drying trays, where
the shell drys at once, and the inside
thaws out gradually. 1t becomes to all
appearances, a real egg.
"How many eggs can you turn out
in day"
"Well as we are running now, we
turn out a thousand or so every hour
MANY orders"
why, yes. We cannot fill one
half of our orders. All we can make
now are taken by two wholesale gro
GERS alone. We charge 50 12s per
/, 600 for them, and they retail at all
prices from sixpence to one and three
per dozen. We sell only to the whole
sale houses. They are perfectly harm
less and as substantial and wholesome
as a real egg. The reason we made
the machinery Of wood is because we
found that the presence of metal Of
any kind spoiled the flavor and pre-
vented the cooking Of the egg"
Can they be boiled'n
"Oh, yes" and he called one of the
men. Here, jim, boil this gentleman
an egg.
Can they be detected2" inquired,
while the bogus egg was being boiled.
"Ihardly think that any body would
be likely to observe any difference
unless he happened to be well posted,
as they look and taste like the real
thing. We can, by a little havoring,
make them taste like goose or duck
eggs, of course altering the size They
will keep for years. That one you have
Just eaten was nearly a year old. They
will never spoil or become rotten, and
being harderand thicker in theirshclls
they will stand shipping better than
real eggs. We calculate that in few
years we will run the hens of the coun-
t,,t- olao, ont of buCiDpSS