MAKING EGGS "WITHOUT HENS."

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1065, 31 January 1884, Page 4

MAKING EGGS "WITHOUT HENS."

“ Do you mean to say that you made that egg without the assistance of a hen ?” asked the reporter of an egg manufacturer.

“ Yes,” he replied, “ and if you wish I will show you something of our process. Come.”

He led me through a room m which there were stored boxes upon boxes of eggs, and into another large cool room in the rear. Several strange looking wooden machines, totally unlike anything I had ever seen, stood in different parts of the room. Six or seven men were operating the machinery, which moved noiselessly and with great rapidity. I followed my conductor to one end of the apartment, were there were three large tanks or vats. One was filled with a yellow compound, the second with a starchy mixture, and the other was covered.

Pointing to these, the proprietor said : “ These contain the yolk mixture and the white of the egg. We empty the vats every day, so you can judge of the extent of the business already. Let me shew you one of the machines. You see they are divided into different boxes or receptacles. The first and second are the yolk and white; the next is what we term the * skin ’ machine; and this, the last one, is the sheller, with drying trays. This process is the result of many years of experiment and expense. I first conceived the idea after making a compound analysis of an egg. After a long time I succeeded in making a good imitation of an egg. I then turned my attention to making the machinery, and the result you see for yourself. Of course it would not be policy for me to explain all the mechanism, but I’ll give you an idea of the process. Into the first machine is put the yolk mixture ” “ What is that?” I asked.

“ Well, it’s a mixture of Indian meal, corn, starch, and several other ingredients. It is poured into the opening in a thick, mush state, and is formed by the machine into a ball and frozen. In this condition it passes into the other box, where it is surrounded by the white, which is chemically the same as the real egg. This is also frozen, and by a peculiar rotary motion of the machine an oval shape is imparted to it, and it passes into the next receptacle, where it receives the thin filmy skin. After this it has only to get into the sheller. It gets its last coat in the shape of a plaster of Paris shell, a trifle thicker than the genuine article. Then it goes out on the drying trays, where the shell dries at once, and the inside thaws out gradually. It becomes to all appearances a real egg.” “ How many eggs can you turn out in a day ?” “ Well, as we are running now we turn out a thousand or so every hour.” “ Many orders ?”

“ Why, yes. We cannot fill one-half of our orders. All we can make now are taken by two wholesale grocers alone. We charge Lz 12s per thousand for them, and they retail them at all prices from fid to is 3d per dozen. We sell only to the wholesa J e houses. They are perfectly harmless, and as substantial and harmless as the real egg. The reason we made the machinery of wood is because we found that the presence of metal of any kind spoiled the flavor and prevented the cooking of the eggs.” “ Can they be boiled ?” “Oh, yesand he called one of the men. “ Here, Jim, boil this gentleman

an egg.” “ Can they be delected ?” I inquired, while the bogus egg was being boiled.

“-1 hard’y think that anybody would be likely to observe any difference unless he happened to be well posted, as they look like the real thing. We can, by a little flavoring, make them taste like the real thing, of course altering the size. They will keep for years. That one you have just eaten was nearly a year old. They will never spoil nor become rotten, and being harder and thicker in their shells they will stand shipping better than real eggs. We calculate that in a few years we shall run the hens of the country clean out of the business.”