Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-11-26
HOW CRACKERS ARE MADE.
Dough Machine That Handles Six
Barrels OF Flour at onee-Dies Cat
ting All Sorts of Things

here IS Wnere tue beginning is
made" said the cracker maker. as
usherng a Denver Tribune -Rspubli-
can reporter down stairs into the
bowels Of the earth he pointed out a
huge iron cylinder in one corner, IN
to which some genius from above was
letting down hoar as fast as a man
beside the machine could take care Of
it. The cylinder was what is known
as barrel mixer, and could work at
once dough containing six barrels of
flour. 1t had an open, rectangular
mouth into which the -four was slfted
down through a chute above as it was
wanted, and within were two hollow
shafts of equal length revolving in
opposite directions on a single core
shaft axis, and on which the cylinder
turns wnen it is to be emptied Of its
load. Perpendicula ar arms from these
shafts thoroughly mix the water and
flour, or sponge" as it is called,
which is the first operation in manu-
facture. Two lines of betting work
the shafting. 1t requires but twelve
minutes on an average to work up a
batch Of sponge, which is gotten out
by turning the mixer three -fourths
way and pulling the sponge out into
long, vat-hke tubs on wheels, holding
half batch apiece. These watts are
only half filled, as the sponge is left
to work over night, 50 that in the
morning 1t is not unusual to find q
vat running over. The aerated sponge
is thea tumbled back into the mixer,
and after few minutes working over
It becomes the regular article of
dough.
This machine IS a wonderful help
for bakers, as with one man it does,
in the twelve minutes stated, what IL
would take three men three-fo1rths
Of an hour to accomplish, and half
kill them at that.
For plain sponge goods, the ingre-
dents Ia this malt stock, as paper
makers would call it, are the -four,
water, fine lard, salt, and bicarbonate
of soda; butt is only with soda-crack-
er stock that the spoage dough is
used. For sweet goods the mixing is
a single process. 1t is also at this
stage of manufacture that spices,
fruits, sweet-meats, and other allur-
ing and palatable things 90 into the
goods. And it is here that the making
OF fancy crackers is full of secret
mixings, some of these having re-
quired months of experimenting and
large outlays of money in their per
lection. For this reason, weights and
mixlures are carefully guarded from
prying eyes, especially from compe-
titors.
From the mixing machine, it is but
a step to the kneaders, known as first
and second brakes. Each of these
consists ofstwe smoothT,a and parallel
iron rollers, set at such a distance
apart as the desired thickness of the
dough sheets may call for. The first
brake is in the cellar with the mixer,
so that the dough is led directly TO this
brake from the dough watts. The
sheets are sent up stairs and fed
through the second brake preparatory
to running through the cutting ma
chimes. These brakes" are some
what analogous TO the brake and
fnisher Of q woolen-mill "set, which
cloth men will readily recognize.
These machines can be turned by
hand or steam power as may be de-
sired, or some fancy doughs OF pc
culiar mixing require band power;
and they take the place OF the first in
kneading. After the finishing brake
has polished off tie dough into finish
ed sheets of A regulation width the
stock is then started on the cutting
machine, The dough is here carried
by an endless cloth carrier and fed by
a regulation attachment to another
endless cloth carrier belt below,
whence it passes under the cutter dies.
Here whatever form the cracker
IS to take is stamped out, and
just beyond the dies the cracker
stock passes under rack like machine
set With the dip toward the belt, and
which picks up the skeletoped dough,
carrying it over into a receptacle,
whence it is taken to be kneaded over
again into dough stock.
One boy keeps inserting wire trays
about three feet long at this end of the
carrier betting, and another boy furth-
er along moves the pan out as the
betting drops the cat stock upon the
pans, Each cutting machine IS worth
from $50 to $1,000, and the one re-
ferred to can take care Of stock requil-
ing $50 sacks Of flour in twenty -iour
hours
AS fast as the psns are filled the,
are set on the swing shelves of the
ovens, where a single revolution Of
the pans, requiring on the average
three minutes for the baking Of all
goods. There are two ovens in this
establishment of ten and twelve pan
capacity. The first is ten feet wide
oy twenty high, and the latter is
sixteen feet wide By twenty four high,
and the shelves are three feet wide by
ten and sixteen feet long. These
shelves upon which the pans are plac-
ed are on an iron skeleton wheel
which, revolves, with the shelves re
naming, OF course, horizontal.
The cooked goods are then carried
over to the packing table, where the
best are selected and packed in boxes
of such sizes and styles as the market
may call for The broken and i'm
perfect crackers are ground up into