The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1895-07-20
CHEESE-BOX MAKING.



them from being bruised or broken in
the handling. It was only factory
made cheese that received such protec-
ton, while dairy cheese was sent to
market destitute of any covering other
than its own roughly bandaged rind,
which in most cases proved invulner-
able. Competition among manufactur-
ers has changed all this, and at present
the manufacture of boxes gives employ.
ment to a large number of hands and
necessitates the use of powerful and
expensive machinery.
It was customary in the early days o1
the business to saw the hoops, as the
large body of the box is called, ont OF
the log in planks about one-ffth of an
inch in thickness. The waste Of mate
rial was most serious objection to this
plan, fully fifty per cent. of the timber
going in sawdust. The invention Oh
the rotary cutting machine has pre-
vented this waste and at the same time
produced better hoop than the sawed
article. The chief timber used in max.
ing cheese-box hoops is the common
swamp elm. No other timber seems
to possess the same qualities of light
ness, toughness and elasticity, so re
quisite for cheese boxes, as this once
despised product of American forests.
The logs, after being cut in the proper
lengths, generally five feet for an ordi-
nary cheese box of fifteen and half
or sixteen inches diameter, are thrown
into long vats filed with water, where
they are boiled from fifteen to twenty
hours. The time required to soften the
timber, or cook it., as the operation is
called, varies according to the size of
the timber and the season. Large logs
require to be cooked longer than small
ones, particularly when the logs are
frozen. It is not uncommon to find the
center Of log still frozen after fifteen
hours of boiling. Experience is the
best guide in this part of the business,
and to know when the timber is thor
oughly cooked and not overdone is one
of the things acquired only by con-
slant observation. When sufficiently
boiled the logs are lifted in iron grap-
pies from the vats and laid on skids,
where the bark is removed. Then q
log is lifted by crane and swung into
place in the machine, where it is held
in horizontal position by chucks or
dogs that center it at each end.
In this position the log revolves like
a roll of paper in a printing press. The
knife which does the cutting is very
heavy and is bolted to a heavy head
called carriage, which is fed for
ward by screws toward the revolving
log. In the most approved machines
the knife has an end or oscillating as
well as forward motion. This reduces
the strain on the machine and permits
the cutting of soft, uns0und and shaky-
hearted logs. AS the knife comes in
contact with the timber the inequali-
ties of the log are first shorn off, and
gradually the log becomes perfectly
round and yields an unbrolxen sheet of
lumber, like the unwinding OF roll OF
cloth. This sheet Of wood is broken
off in convenient lengths, which are
passed under dividing knives that cut
them into uniform widths, correspond
ing with the required depth of the box.
It the boxes are to be made up at
once the hoops are bent around iron
cylinders to give them the form of the
box, after which the bottom is pressed
in and nailed in place. Comparatively
few boxes are put together in the
larger mills. In most cases the product
is dried and shipped to the cheese man
ufacturing centers, where the boxes
are completed. The boxes in the
finished state are too bulky for econom-
ical handling.
The remnants which are not wide
enough for hoops are used for the cover
band and for the narrow band that
roes around the bottom OF the box.
The boxes vary in size both as regards
depth and diameter. The most conf
mon size will hold cheese OF from
sixty to sixty-five pounds. Such q box
is ten inches deep and fifteen and one
half inches in diameter. This is the
size of cheese most in demand Tor ex-
port. The size for home consumption
is as a rule much smaller and requires
a box from five to six inches deep, but
of the same diameter as the other.
Various kinds of timber are used to
1OTl1 Tue uG0QS "a L4AC OO<As OOUr ~AAAA -
the accepted material for the hoops
Owing to peculiarities Of the soil, the
timber in some localities IS inclined to
be shaky, the checks or shakes running
around the log and following the grain
OF the timber. Such timber was use-
less when the hoops were sawed, but
in the rotary process much OF it can be
turned to good account. The bulk OF
the elm timber used in this business Il
brought in from Canada.
The western peninsula OF Ontario
living north Of Lake Erie contained one
OF the largest tracts Of elm timber on
the continent. It has been greatly de-
pleted in recent pears The logs arc
taken out in winter whsn the swampa
are frozen and are slddded near the
railways Or on the 1ahe shcee The
bulk Of them ere taken to thu mills ~
water IN tow of powerful steam tugA
a GIRLS NOBLE ACT.
j11S1InU