The Oskaloosa herald., 1904-10-20
TOMATOES BY THE TON
one Of the Big Industries Of the
City in Full Swing.


during the past three weeks. The
force is running out all of the toma.
toes brought in, however, and while
they are constantly engaged, yet the
output of the factory could be speedel
up to some extent and increased. No
night work is done this season.
The output of the factory at this
time is about $4,000 cans of tomatoes
daily, 1000 or over per hour, and they
have been going at this rate during
the past four weeks.
The uninterrupted capacity of the
machines running at. their present
rate OF speed would be 25,252 cans
per day, and they approach very near
to this point This is AZ per minute.
The factory has received eight car
loads of tin cans this season, and
more are en- route. A car contains
from $4,000 to $4,000 cans, and car
load lasts the factory a trifie over two
days. The cans are shipped in bulk
SO that car load Of cans filed means
several car loads of the tomatoes
packed and cased.
The cans are taken out of the car
and taken to the third story of the
ware room and they have an interest
ing trip before they are finally packed
away again in storage. They are
rolled down an incline into the can
ming department and received by a
boy who shoVels in a bit of salt with
spoon and drops the can down a
chute in line with the Gamer. The
can is caught in its turn by an arm of
the machine and placed directly I'M
der the bottom of a huge force pump.
1t is lifed up against the mouth, re.
ceives its load and Immediately is
lowered and showed along to a cir!
who inspects the contents to see that
the can has received it's full share
of the vegetable. The can is now be-
ing carried toward machine that
washes the top with series of
brushes and prepares them for the
Soldering process. The tin caps are
placed on the cans by a little girl and
they are now ready for sealing by the
soldering machine. The finishing
touches are put on by hand by lad
who closes the last hole with a bit of
solder, The can passes last inspec-
tor and is placed into large steel
truck which, when filled, is lowered
into great vat of boiling water for
the processing" which requires
about forty-fve minutes. Automatic
machinery causes the truck to travel
through the length of the vat and to
be hauled up at the exit end, where
it is received and the steaming hot
cans are placed in cases, showed onto
a conveyor and carried into the base
nlent of the store house where it is
laid to rest for the time being. The
time required for the trip of the emp
ty can out of the building and back
again with it's load of tomatoes is
several minutes less than one hour.
The adventures of the tomato from
garden to can is also interesting. The
vegetable is grown by the farmer,
picked, Grated, loaded and hauled to
the factory The crates are received
and handled at the factory in their
erder. A crate of the vegetables
when it is desired for canning is
dumped into scalding tub where it
remains few seconds to render the
outside skin loose. The vegetable is
then soused in cold bath so that il
may be handled by the girls VINO
clean them and remove the skins.
They are picked out of the bath by a
travelling scoop and elevated to the
canning room floor where they are
dumped into numbered boxes. These
boxes are placed on travelling table
and are conveyed to the worker
whose number corresponds with that
handles every tomato by hand, remov.
ing the skin, cutting out the blossom
and cutting away any imperfections
that may be present. The handled
tomatoes are placed in a larger buck
ct and are passed on to the canning
machine where they are dumped into
a larger hopper and forced into the
cans. There are almost ninety hands
new on the pay roll Of The factory,
and the amount of money paid out
weekly to the employees and the farm.
ers amounts to between twenty-five
and twenty-eight hundred dollars.
The season has been holding Off
we'll for the factory and the work has
been progressing splendidly. The en-
ployes have become quite expert in
their work and are handling the veg
etable in a way that leaves no room
fer complaint. They work rapidly
and there is no time for idlers in this
bssy place. Mr. Anderson states that
the output of the factory this fall will
10 between seventy and seventy-five
ear loads of the finished goods, de-
pending upon the length of the season.
A number of improvements are to
be added to the factory for next sea-
sea. The factory department will be
augmented by complete equipment
f~ the canning of corn. This will ne