The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1903-09-18
one Day In a CANNING Factory

loceilu Viblt 70 SHENANDOAH, iowa, ln-
spected a canning factory in full oper-
alton during the hight Of the season
an interesting sight to anyone at all
interested in the preparation of food
products or in complicated and in
geniously constructed machinery.
There are a good many similar indus
tries in the town mentioned. VIM. E.
CurtiSs, the famous correspondent of
the Chicago Record-Herald, recently
visited Shenandoah and wrote it up
for his newspaper-mentioning this
particular canning factory among
other enterprises in the town-but
William isn't in it with yours truly
when it comes to work Of this kind
so we're going to tell you about IT.
tell you at least how Your canned corn
is prepared.
Next to the big three-story brick
factory proper is a large shed with the
floor six feet above the ground. Here
the sweet corn, fresh picked from the
fields, is unloaded after being inspect
ed and weighed on the other side of
the factory. The price paid this year
at this factory is SIS a ton, husks on,
just as it comes from the field. At
100 pounds to the bushel this would
be Is cents per bushel. Farmers plant
large acreage of corn for the p%articu-
lar use of the Gamers. In the shed
where the corn is unloaded are the
huskers-about seventy-five OF them
men, women and children. They get
q cents per bushel for husking, and a
good husker can do his 100 bushels a
day-though not many do that and the
average is not much over SO. In the
center of the building or shed, on one
side, is the big hopper which grabs the
corn and by an endless belt and buck.
cts carries the corn to the top story Of
the factory. AS the huskers finish a
basket of corn they take it to a man
at the hopper who punches their
ticket and passes the corn to the as
%sorters about the hopper. 1t takes a
dozen OF them to feed that endless
belt constantly asking for more corn.
The husks are pitchforked into hay
racks on wagons at the shed and
drawn off by farmers and stockmen
for feed. The same use is made Of
the fresh and succulent cobs as they
shoot out of the factory from the
Smelling machines or strippers. They
sell for % cents a load.
On the third floor of the factory are
a half dozen machines, fed by boys,
which strip the corn from the cobs.
Near the machines, in n corner Of
the room, is a small in which
there is a cooker and apparatus for
preparing the sweetening preparation
for the corn. Directly under the
stripping machines on the floor below
are the cookers and shredding mach
Ines. The corn comes from above into
revolving strainers which take out all
pieces of broken cobs, strings and silk
and passes out nothing but clean,
smooth kernels of corn. The machine
which strips the mass of corn from
the silk and the stringy stuff which
you often find in a poor quality Of
canned corn is a marvel of mechanical
ingenuity.
On the next floor below, under the
cookers, are the packing and soldering
machines. This work is largely auto
matic-though it is necessary in all
stages Of the work to watch that no
defective ans pass out from the ma
chimes. The hot corn is let down from
above into a revolving machine which
takes the cans automatically from a
spout kept filed by two boys on the
floor above and fills them and delivers
the cans to an endless chain which
carries them along a little farther
where two girls put the caps On as the
cans move slowly along to the solder
ing machine. This is the most inter-
esting machine to watch in the build
ing. 1t takes a dozen cans from the
traveller aud soldiers them at one OPP
GRAFTON with revolving soldering irons
and then passes them out to another
traveller which takes them along to a
boy who with a hand soldering iron
stops the little holes left in the covers
made by the soldering machine, AS
the can go to him and leave him
other boys sit and watch the cans for
any imperfection in notwithstanding
out such cans rs fast IS they show up
for a finishing touch Of the soldering
iron by hand. AS the cans pass from
the soldering operation they are pack
ed into great iron baskets about four
feet in diameter and three feet high
and by cranes hoisted and passed
along and lowered into retorts which
cooks the corn by steam with about
ten pounds pressure. When left a
sufficient length Of time in the retorts
the baskets are hoisted from the re-
forts and carried by cranes outside
tho h,,i11ipu nr,d tho hot oonc l;rnod