OUR DAILY BREAD.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1618, 9 December 1912, Page 8

OUR DAILY BREAD.

TO BE MADE BY MACHINERY. AUTOMATIC BAKERY FOR WELLINGTON. Hearing that a large automatic bakery was to be established in Wellington on tire lines of those now established in England, America, and more recently in Australia, a Dominion reporter made in? quiries on Saturday, and as the result ascertained that a company with a capital of .£35,000 is about to be floated in Wellington. The initiative is being taken by Mr. W. A. Kellow, for many years one of the leading bread-makers of Wellington, and tho. proprietor of a model bakery in Taranaki Street.

In the coursa of an interview, Mr. Kellow stated that from tho information ho had received, he. realised that the automatic bakery wad the thing of the future. Not only did it make for cleanliness and economy in turning out bread, but to a very great extent it would relieve them of harassing labour troubles, from which no industry ever seemed to be quite clear. The chief virtue of tho automatic baking plants was the cleanliness and dispatch with which the work was done, from tho time the. Hour was received in the bakehouse until it was presented to the public in the form of crisp, brown loaves. During the whole of that time the flour or dough was not handled by human hands, but was automatically set, kneaded, made into loaves, and baked under hygienic conditions never dreamt of in the old days, and all in plain view of the public. "Three otjer" master, bakers are concerned with me," said Mr. Kellow, "in the formation of a company to establish a large automatic bakery, big enough to supply the whole of Welington if need be. Tho basis will be niy own business, which is one of the largest and oldestestablished in Wellington. The bakery will .be established right here on this block, which has a frontage of Bift. to Taranaki Street by a depth of 125 ft. The shop building will bo pulled down and the bakehouse will be partly used in connection with the erection of a huge brick three-storied bread factory, to extend over the whole block. ' The best plant of the kind in the world is being obtained from Joseph Baker and Sons, of'Willesden Junction, London, England, which will be worked in full view of the public through the plate-glass front of the premises. The capacity of the plant would be 15,000 loaves (21b.) every eight hours, which, working the full twenty-four-hours, would mean an output of 45,000 loaves a day." When asked for a precise description ot the automatic plant, Mr. Kellow handed our representative a letter from .the makers, which gives a general idea of how the "automatic" works. It runs as follows:—

"Tho -flour is hoisted to the first floor by means of a sack-hoist, and on this ■floor would be placed the flour-blending machine. The flour is blended hero, and is then elevated by means of the elevator to the sifting-machine, which is suspended from the roof of the building. The 'flour passes through the sifting-machine, is delivered into the flour storage hop•pers, where it is stored ready for delivery through the flour-weighing machine into the kneading machine, which is placed on the-first floor. The whole process of blending, sifting, weighting off, and delivering the flour into the,kneader, is, of automatic, and the necessary water is also supplied by means of the tempering and guaging cisterns. After the dough is mixed it is emptied into troughs, where it is left lor proof. The building has to be designed so as to allow for sufficient space on the first floor for the proving troughs and also for the dividing machine, if it is desired to have the machine on the'first floor. It can, however, be arranged, so that the whole I automatic dividing, handing-up, proving, moulding, and tin-filling plant is on the ground floor, in order that the whole process may be viewed from the outside by the.-general public (which is the system to be' adopted '.by the Wellington company). When tho dough has had sufficient-'pToof\"'in";tho troughs it is thrown into the hopper of the four-box Baker-Callow dough-divider, which has a capacity of from '40 to 60 loaves per minute, according to'the speed at which it is desired to run the machine; from the divider the loaves fall automatically, into the handewip, which is fixed in front of the divider) and is worked from the same. As they fall they are automatically dusted. Prom the hander-up the loaves pass into the first proving machine, which is either fixed under the ceiling (if the divider is on' the first floor) or is placed at an angle, and is made, to act not only as a prover, but as an.elevator also. In this prover the dough, which has been somewhat compressed during the dividing process, now gets a rest, and has time to recover by the time, it reaches the end of the prover, where it falls into a conveyor, which delivers the pieces of dough automatically into the Baker-Callow moulder. On the moulder is fixed a very ingenious device, which places the loaves one by one into the second prover, which is fixed underneath the ceiling. In this prover the loaves are carried four abreast until they get to the far end of it, where they are turned over and return to the feed end of the prover. In this way the loaves are given the same proof on both sides, being proved on one side going through the prover, and the other side on the return journey. When the loaves return to-the feed end they are delivered on to a conveyor, or rather a series of conveyors, which automatically space tho loaves and deliver them into the double century machine and automatic panning machine. The latter is a most wonderful machine, as it not only gives the loaves the final moulding (when being used for tin bread), but it also places them automatically in tins, either one' or two in a tin, as may be desired.' When _ fancy bread is being made, tho loaves, instead of being placed in tins, are picked off the band and moulded by the hand. From the panning machine the loaves are placed on racks, which are wheeled into tho stationary proving chamber,, heated by steam coils. The loaves are left in this chamber until they, have received the correct amount of proof, and are then placed in a travelling oven by hand.' The loaves, after being placed on the plate of tho oven, are. carried slowly through the baking chamber,, and are delivered at the other end baked, and are placed in racks by hand. The speed of the oven' may be regulated to suit the class of bread being baked, whole thing is very fasily controlled."