The record-union., 1895-03-23
How BUTTERINE is MADE.
Vast Quantities of 1t Produced in
Chicago.
Full Description of the Manufacture
of an Article Which is
Widely Used.


around Paris during the siege of lS70-7l |
the Frenchmen inside OF the beleaguered
city awoke one morning to find that they
would have to eat their bread without
any butter. 1t was one of the first inti-
nations that the supply OF provisions
was running short, and 1t leaut color TO
the fears already expressed that the city
would be conquered as much by starYa-
ton as by the Prussians.
One by one other commodities disap-
peareA lrom the stalls and markets and
the prices rose higher and higher. Yet
2 few days before the capitulation sign
appeared in the market place advertising
butter for sale, and although there was
rush to purchase the supply seemed IN
eXhaustible. At first the street throngs
thought that some avenue had been
opened through the Prussian franks for
the transportation OF food, and the Joyful
Eumor quickly spread over the city.
But the butter had not come through
the lines. An ingenious inventor uamed
Mege Mouries, spurred on by the want
and necessity on every hand, mad made 1t
in Paris factory.
That was the beginning of the oleomar-
Garine or butterine industry, says
writer in the Chicago Record. The
French found that the new compound
was not only good to eat but cheap and
wholesome, and since that time the man
Utacture has grown Immensely and the
capital invested runs far up into the mill
IONS Much of the worlds product is
made in HOLLAND from oils transported
from this country, but the Chicago fac
tories supply not only all the American
trade but have surplus TO ship IN all
directions.
The manufacturer Of butterine merely
uses new way OF producing we'll
known food product. He does by ma
Chinery what the cow does by the laws of
nature. BY analysis certain ingredients
are found in butter and oleomargarine IS
made5by obtaining them from some other
source and combining them in correct
proportions One of the principal Of
these is olein, an exceedingly rich oil Sc
creted by the udder Of the cow. The dis
coverer of the new process argued that If
olein was found in the milk it would
probably occur elsewhere in the animal,
and by analysis he learned that the caul-
fat, which forms a cushion and blanket
for the intestines, was rich in the sub
stance. 1t was a comparatively simple
process to extract the OIein and make it
the base of Dutterine.
In one of the great Chicago factories a
whole building is devoted to expressing
olein or oleomargarine oil, as 1t is more
familiarly called, from the caul-tat. AS
soon as the fat comes into the manutactory
from the slaughter-hou 1t Is dumped
into a vat of water, where all the blood
and dirt are thoroughly washed away
from it. 1t is then carried to an upper
floor, where it is poured into a row of
iron kettles provided with steam jackets
for heating purposes. Here the tempera-
ture is carefully raised to I550-at higher
temperature than that the fat will burn
and the oil slowly tries out, assisted by
revolving toothed shafts not unlike the
agitatOrS of an ice-cream freezer.
When the skilled eye of the workman
sees that it has been sufficiently heated, it
is drained TO the next floor into large
cool kettles or claritiers, where all the
dirt and refuse, if there is any. settles to
the bottom. The clear oil is then drawn
out into tin-lined trucks by means of a
siphon, and trundled away to a big room,
where it is allowed to cool and granulate
for three days at & temperature of So.
At the end of that time it is sent down.
stairs TO the preSs-room. This is busy
day. All men the are clad in neat white
jackets and their sleeves are rolled to
their shoulders. The truck, with its yell
lowish-whlte contents, is wheeled to a
little table, around which tour men are
standing. In front OF each there is
small rectangular box open at the top and
fastened to the table. over this the work.
man spreads piece of stout white duck.
Enough of the tallow oil is dipped up to
fill the box and then the next workman
over the soft mass and passes the cake up
to the man on the presser. This ma
chine consists of sixty pieces of sheetiron
loosely fastened at the ends TO shafts.
Between each pair of these plates eight of
the little duck packages of tallow are
placed, and when the whole machine is
full pressure is given by means OF a screw
at the top. AS 1t increases gradually the
oil is squeezed out through the duck and
drips downward into d trough. OF the
fifty pounds of tat to an animal, twenty
nine pounds is oleomargaIine oil. When
the pressure is removed the tlattened
duck packages come out filled with
pure white cake, an almost tasteless sub
stance known as stearine, which is used
as an ingredient in making certain brands
of lard.
The oil as it runs from the press is
ready for use in the making of buLterine
Part of it goes directly to the factory near
at hand and part is barreled for ship
ment TO Holland. The amount exported
In 1892 from this country was 81, ,5SI, ,703
pounds, valued at $9,0ll, $50.
The oleomargarine factory is a most in
teresting place. On entering the build
ing the visitor is struck almost at once by
the scrupulOus cleanness of the floors
and tables. They are polished and re-
polished until they are almost as white as
the proverbial New England kitchen
floor. All the employees throughout the
aprons, and the girls IN the packing
rooms wear dainty white caps.
The process of making the oleomar-
garlne begins on the third floor of the
building. Here, in one corner of the
room, stream Of oleomargarine oil OF
bright amber color is pumped into sew
eral large steam jacketed kettles, where
1t Is kept stirred by means of dashers
similar 10 those in the drying-rooms
Inc temperature is carefully raised to IS5
degrees TO melt the oil thoroughly aud
then it is conveyed into large tin-lined
Vats, where it is stored and chilled Ii is
then passed through a bath of brine,
where II is washed and deodorized, and
when 1t comes back it looks a good deal
IKE light brown sugar, and has dis
tlnctly buttery taste. 1t is packed in tin
Aimed trays about six feet long by three
wide, and placed in a cool storeroou
until 1t is needed for use. Everything
shout this storeroom must be kept free
from dirt, for the reason that the oil like
butter, is so sensitive that it readily tax es
up foul odors. a single drop OF kero-
sene IN the room might taint and ruin
whole supply OF oil.
Into the storeroom neutral" as it is
called, or the purest of leaf lard, which
has gone through the process of deodor-
1Zlng IN brine, Is brought and stored. AS
these two parts of the oleomargarine
both OF which are practically without
taste, are needed they are trundIed out
on trucks and two workmeu with their
sleeves rolled up shovel them in equal
parts into the haring tin funnel of a
chute which leads to the creamery below.
On reaching the next floor the mass
falls into big vat or churn heated to 1902
and is rapidly stirred by two men with
wooden paddles until the lumnS all dis