The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1884-12-24
THE GREAT PACKING HOUSES.
How the Pork, Hams and Shoulders Of
Commerce nre Prepared on
Grand Scale.

Now, my lads, let's drop into slaughter
house i'll Cincinnati, indianapolis or Chicago
and see If tho old fashioned methods have
been improved on. Instead of finding n
pen full of hogs we find them by the acre
IN the big yard where they are unloaded
from the cars. From tho yard to tho top
Hoor of the slaughter-house is an inclined
plane, something like what you will find at
wheat elevators in small towns for farmers,
teams to drive up. Two or three boys with
switches are kept in tho yard to urge the
animals up the plano, and they rush into
the pen ut the top expecting square meal
of corn.
The pen is presided over by a man whose
heart is at devoid of pity for the whole hog
race. He holds in his hand steel clasp
attached to stout chain. The clasp works
like pair of ice tongs-the more pull tho
tighter the grip-while the chain runs over
an iron pulley on an iron track overhead,
and from thence passes down over cylin-
der or drum worked by handy little steam
engine. Keep watch of tho man. With G
swift movement he attaches the clasp to a
hind leg, the engine gives puff and the
animal travels up to the pulley while you
are counting five. There is click, and the
engine lets go of the pulley nd....away GO
pulley and pig together. The track on
which the former runs being n gradual de.
scent
There are few direful squeals from the
hog as he rolls along but only few. The
iirst man he comes to is the sticker, who is
broad-shouldered, strong-armed fellow,
with o long, sharp knife in his hand. One
thrust of the knife does for the victim, and
he travels along to the scalding-yat, and an
other click loosens the clasp and he takes a
plunge into the hot water. Stout men with
hooks catch and turn him over, and then
sort of gridiron rises up from the bottom of
the kettle, lifting the body with it and
dumping it upon broad belt which carries
him into the scraping machine.
Up to few years ago the scraping was
done by four men, two of whom scraped
one side and passed the body along to be
scraped on the other. The modern inyen-
tion takes tho hog in head first, lying on his
back, and the scrapers, worked by steam,
rob him of every bristle and push him out
at the other end almost rs quickly as YOU
can pass an ear of corn through n corn-shel-
Ter. lie then comes TO u man who sewers
the head, splits open and cleans the skull,
and has this part of him ready for market
while you count fifteen. Whilo he is doing
this the hendless hog is run up to another
pulley and sent jogging along to the butcher.
Three or four strokes of the knife down the
belly and the hog is what you might call
dressed. hose pipe rinses him out, and
The pully runs him down into the cooling
room to join his hundreds of dead compan-
ions. just three minutes and half from
the time he entered the pen he is hanging
in the cooling-room.
Tho intestines of the animal travel off in
different direction, the liyers to be sold to
hotels and restaurants mazda into aauaaeo,
and no portion to be actually wasted. The
trying watts extract grease from such parts
MS cannot be worked up, and tho refuse
from the watts is used as fuel to run the en-.
ginos When the carcasses in tho COOLING
room are cold they go into the hands of the
packers. These men cannot do their work
MS rapidly rs tho killers, but every labor.
saving invention is brought into use to light.
en- tho work and prevent waste of time. As
the carcass is lowered to table, five Soc
onds' work separates the HAMS another five
the shoulders, and hams go one why, side
pieces another and shoulders third. Tho
hams are TO be rubbed, smoked sacked and
labeled, the shoulders smoked or packed,
the side-pieces packed in the cleanest of
barrels as pork, or prepared TO become
breakfast bacon, and from the moment the
house opens in the morning until the whis-
tie blows at night there is not an idle man
nor an idle moment Everything goes like
clock-work-is obliged to. II pig, run
ming down from the catcher to the stioker,
Or from tho sticker to tho watts, should hall
for five seconds, or drop midway, it would
produce n confusion to BIO felt all along the
line.-Detr0H Free Press