FARMERS' FREEZING WORKS.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 December 1916, Page 6

FARMERS' FREEZING WORKS.

y * «#■ » Commencing Operations Shortly. Compact and Comprehensive. Description of the Buildings. That Taranaki farmers know the l.iaio of co-operation is proved by the 1. amber of successful ventures of that iiiiti'i'c which have been established in Taranaki. Starting from the co-operative ciairy factory, the movement has grown ii'.til the farmer owns his own bacon factory, box factory, cool storage works, and r.ow by the end of the year there should be in operation Taranaki's latest co-operative venture the Taranaki Farmers'' Heat Company, Ltd. It only requires that the farmers should be as loyal in supplying their stick as they have been in taking up shares to ensure, its success, and judging by the promises that its stock buyers have already received, it should obtain its fair share of the farmers' Btock.

"he new freezing works, which are now rapidly approaching completion arc situated on an ideal site at Smart Road close to the railway line, and being just outside of the borough they are within easy reach of the tram system, which should prove a great factor in solving the problem of housing the employees, of which there will be some two hundred when the works are ill full swing The works are large and of a comprehensive nature and are so designed that they can be added to without any structural alterations. They have their own electric supply and water supply, and are practically self-contained. They are u ithin easy reach of the port of Motorua by rail, thus entailing the miuimum p mount of handling of the produce and listening the expense. All the various buildings have been designed from the joint of view of utility, nothing being wasted on ostentatious embellishments hu.ecd, in works of this nature from a sanitary point of view plainness is a necessary feature. The works, which cover an are* of 26 ceres of freehold, arc very compact and convenient, filled with the most modern plant, and are designed throughout with the object of combining 1 eflicicnt and economical work ing, and from a careful inspection it would seem that that has been achieved. Men with considerable experience in freezing works speak very highly of the results that have been achieved here. Taianaki farmers, and particularly the hard-working directorate, of which Mr. Q:.in has been chairman, have every reason to feel proud of the works. The company were fortunate in obtaining the services in an advisory capacity of lles>rs. J. C. Cooper and J. Milne, of the Wellington Farmers' Meat Co., and the Waingiuva Works. Masterton, who have liven them the benefit of their experience. Mr. J. Connell, of the Wellington Farmers' Meat Freezing Company, Masterton, has bteu appointed manager of the works and it also acting-secretary. He shows a keenness and capacity that augurs well for the future of the company, which is equally fortunate in securing Mr. E. 0 McDougall, of the Wanganui Moat Freezing Company, as chief engineer. It is understood that the company has secured a staff of expert labor necessary fer the successful running of the various departments. This week a representative- of the Daily News paid a visit to Smart road and was shown over the works by the manager and engineer.

RAILWAY FACILITIES. j Hie Railway Department have had a gang of men busy for months past remodelling and enlarging the station yard in readiness for the increased traffic that will coincide with the opening of the freeing works. These alterations include the deviating of the main line for a c.n&iderable distance in order to remove an awkward bend, and allow room for necessary sidings for the accommodation cf s large amount of rolling stock. Tablet apparatus lias also been installed in the station to facilitate the working of trains. The Freezing Company have ilso had their own private lines installed into the works, at very considerable expense. This enables all their out-going produce and in-coming stores, etc., to be handled as economically as possible. In fact right throughout the works this lias been a big factor in their design and construction. Commodious sheep and cattle yards have been erected alongside the station. These are very strongly built anil ore all paved to ensure cleanliness. The works are equally conveniently situated for cattle arriving by road, as they are. right alongside the main road. Fifteen holding paddocks ha ye been provided, each watered by the work's own supply, whilst the company lias been fortunate to secure grazing rights over the large area, a little distance away, occupied by the Golf Club. A metalled read has been made through the company's property, thusv facilitating the stockmen's work in drafting the cattle. THE SLAUGHTER HOUSE BLOCK. For convenience of description, one will follow the track of the sheep or cattle from the time they enter the works on their own feet until they are carried into the trucks for shipment to the Home markets. From the yards previously described stout sheep and cattle races run practically on the level side by side, the former being about eight feet wide. Most of the distance thoy run along the ground, whicli has been paved, but for the last portion they are built on strong platforms and are stoutly floored in such a way as to prevent slipping. Gangways run alongside each race for the use c.f the stockmen driving the animals to slaughter. The slaughter house block is a huge building 151 ft long by 83ft wide. It is tuilt of brick with concrete floor. The upper floor is of ferro-concrete supported on pillars of the same material. The roof is of iron being specially built for ventilation, whilst this is also ensured by the provision of numerous iron louvres in the walls. All windows and sashes are of steel, making it as near fo*e-proof as possible. The slaughtering is done on the upper floor. This is lofty and well ventilated, whilst the drainage !:? a special feature, an inexhaustible supply ol' water being provided for flushing purposes. The sheep and cattle arcslaughtered it adjoining houses. The sheep slaughter is provided with double fcoardf. with 21 hooks, 12 hooks to each board. As licok is a term used in the works synonymous with butcher, it mt.ans that twelve butchers can work at each board. It- is estimated that these 24 men could handle, working full time, on an average 2000 sheep daily. Trapl«3ors are urovided down which drop re-

speifively the offal, heads, and skin into huge wooden shoots in whit li copious streams of wr.ter carry them to their destinations, as will be shown later. On the board provision is made for dressing rooms, including bath rooms, with hot and cold water, for the butchers. The slioep are hung by hooks and gambles oito rails. These rails are so designed that there is a down grade throughout, so that the meat requires the minimum ot handling, delivery to the freezing chamber being accomplished by gravitation. This economic handling is also aided by y'.ie system of points that connect all rails. The sheep pass through the inspector's rooms, which are well lighted and fitted with scales, and here the caicases are examined by Government inspectors and graded, after which they are hung in a cooling room, which can accommodate 2000 carcases. Here the meat is naturally cooled by ventilation orior to being frozen.

The beef slaughter lioiise is fitted wit;, the most modern machinery for expeditious and Immune slaughtering. It has a rapacity of 1(10 bodies per day. It also has openings in the floor, through v.liieh the offal, hides, etc., are dropped into shoots. The meat also is inspected an.i,graded before passing into the chilling room, where it is hung and chilled for twenty four hours before being taicm to the freezing chambers. These chamber'. are fitted with the usual array of pipes. The inside walls and floor are of wood, insulated with pumice. On this daughter house block are also offices for the use of the Government inspectors. THE FREEZING BLOCK. A "tunnel," or covered-in gallery, atoiit 38ft long and Bft wide, running over the company's private railway track joins the slaughter house to the freezing L'.cok. This is a massive concrete structure of two storeys. Its dimensions are 130 ft by 103 ft inside measurement. The iewer portion comprises two cold storage rooms and the upper floor 12 freezing rooms, six on either side of a wide passuge way, which is a continuation of the "tunnel." By means of a system of n-is and points, the carcases can be taken into any of the rooms with the smallest amount of manual labor. Each of the twelve freezing rooms has a capacity for 750 carcases, and it must be understood that a carcase is faken to be a sheep weighing OOlbs, and every 001b of beef is also estimated as a carcase. The moat is hung here until it is frozen, when it is lowered down hatch-ways, of which there are two in each room, into the cold storage room immediately underneath, where it is bagged and stacked until it is to be trucked. These cold stores have a capacity of 80,000 carcases. The freezing chamber and every department of the works are fitted up with electric light from current generated at the works. The cold storage rooms are fitleo with four discharge ports, \vhi«i> open direct on to concrete platforms, roofed in, which are right alongside the company's private line, so that the produce can be loaded direct from the works to the truck and railed immediately to the port. This block is also fitted with dressing rooms for the men. THE SIDE LINES. That practically nothing is lost but the squeal is b»re manifest. The ground floor of the slaughter-house block houses the fcllmongery, offal department, wool store and pelt-curing department. Here, too, every possible labor-saving contrivance is in evidence. As the come down the chute already mentioned, they drop into two huge dollies (troughs containing revolving paddles), where they are washed, the power being derived from an electric motor. The offal and tile heads are delivered on to concrete tables, which ensure cleanliness, and this is made certain by the liberal supply of water and the perfect system of drainage. The wool-room is fitted with the latest Anderson (Ohristehurch) wool dryer, also a large number of bins for the purpose of keeping the various classes separate. There is also a Donald's press, whilst ample provision is made for an office for the foreman. The pelt-curing room is fitted up with six dollies for Hashing and curing purposes, also the/ latest pelt-flcsliing machine, which removes any flesh from the pelts that may have been left on by the butchers. There are also numerous bins for the reception of the various grades of cured pelts. Alongside is the hidehouse, where the hides are salted and stacked, ready for sending out. THE DIGESTER HOUSE. This is a, substantial brick building some 26ft 'high, 50ft long and 30ft wide. It contains three floors of ferro-«on-crete. It is connected with the offal department by a concrete run-way along which the offal is carried to an electric (Wadsworth) lift, which raises it to the top floor in trucks. These trucks, fit- j ted with trap-doors in the floor, are wheeled over the digesters, of which there are four now installed, and there is provision to instal two others. These digesters are like large upright boilers, and are heated with steam, which cooks the offal, any fat in which is brought up in the form of tallow to four large iron refiners, whence it is run off into wooden cooling vats on the next floor' and run off into casks, which are stored in the tallow store, a building &oft by USft. The offal or manure is taken out of the bottom of the digester and put into trucks, and is run to the manure store, a building 122 ft by 40ft, where it is first put through-an hydraulic manure press, which extracts any tallow that may have remained after the cooking process, and drives out any cxces moisture. It is then fed by means of an endless chain bucket elevator into Mi "Cable" manure-drier, a huge cylindrical machine 30ft long, and weighing over 15 tons, which is securely set oil concrete blocks. After this the manure is ground and bagged. This machinery is heated by steam, conveyed from the boiler-house. PRESERVING DEPARTMENT. The preserving department is a portion of this block. It is a commodious structure flOft by 42ft, in close proximity to the slaughter-house block. It is fitted with all the most modern preserving machinery, and the tin-making machinery, which will enable the-com-pany to turn out those various delicacies that are so familiar now on the breakfast and dinner table. All these departments also open direct on to the private railway line, as also does the "eneral stores' room, a concrete structure ".oft by 33ft, which is built so as to allow for additions being economically constructed. THE ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT. Adjacent to the freezing block, with which the design harmonises, is the en-gine-room and boiler-house, both built in concrete. The latter is !)oft by 40ft. It «ontaina three multitubular boilers, made by Murray, of Wanganui. These generate all the steam necessary for heating purposes, digesters, wool-driers, etc., all over the works. All boilerß, steam pipes, dizesters. etc.. are lagged

I>y Messrs Lonsdale Bros., of Petone, ivith a substance of which magnesia forms a - :i uent. and such an weNeii ' of heat is it u:: J- .-..it'orftble bear one's liand on of a steam-pipe, which is carrying -! ;.;;i at a h?!»h temperature. Tins retention of the heat allows the steam to be carried all over the works with very little loss of heating power. There are also two Anderson's Atlas producer-gas plants, each of •240-brake-hor.-c-powel' capacity. This gas is made by burning lignite in retorts under suction. Practically all the machinery has been running for some (lavs in preparation for the test.

_ Adjoining is the engine-room, 90ft by 52ft, a very commodious concrete structure, with its massive machinery, all ipic-and-span. Here is seen the powerful gas-electric engines that supply -all the power and light to the various departments. There is one ISO-brake-horse-power twin-evlinder special elec-tric-light type Tangye gas engine, direct coupled to a !)0-k.w. K.CX. generator, and a similar engine of .100-b.h.p., direct coupled to a 150-k.w. E.C.C. generator. There are two Haslam freezers, with a combined capacity of 100 tons of ice..per day. ISoth are driven bv variablespeed motors, one being belt-driven and the other rope-driven. Some idea of the work entailed in erecting this machinery may be gathered from the fact that some of the flywheels weigh over | 10 tons. The refrigerating is done on a direct expansion system throughout. The liquid ammonia is regulated into the circuits in the rooms to be tooled, where it is evaporated and takes up the heat, returning to the machine in the form of a gas for compression and discharge into a condenser, which is a series of coils of pipes surrounded by water, which condenses the ammonia again into a liquid to start off on another round. This has been proved to be most efficient. The condenser is placed on the upper storey of the' engineer's workshop, a concrete structure of 40ft by 20ft. THE WATER SUIPPLY. A copious and permanent supply of water is an essential in every freezing works, and in this respect the works are repmikably well situated. Advantage has been taken of the Mangaone stream, which runs alongside, and is in every way suitable. It is stated that never in the driest summer has its flow been than 65,000 gallons per hour. Water is taken from this stream by ty concrete race into a sump below the pump house, a ■concrete structure of •20ft x 12l't close to the etrearn. Here three pumps have been installed. One steam pump with a capacity of 1ft,500 gallons supply the general service of the operated pump with a capacity of 22,500 gallons per hour and an electrically works through a six-inch main, which goes right through the works, 'and from 'which there is ft splendid reticulation system. There is' no need for any storage reservoir as the pumps work just as fast or as slow as the water is needed. There is also a smaller electrically operated pump with a capacity of 8000 gallons per hour, which will supply the condenser.

EIRE PROVISION. AH the buildings are us fire-proof as possible, but to make doubly sure no less than 12 fire hydrants are installed in various positions in the works, suitable for carrying 2 1 / 2 -inch hose. It was mainly on their account that the steam pump was installed, as in case of fire the steam pump would be handier to operate. S ss DRAINAGE. The drainage system is simplicity itself, and is at the same time efficient and sanitary, having been approved by the Health Department. The site of the works permits of all the drainage being discharged directly into the Waiwakaiho river under water. THE OFFICES. The offices are situated in the front of the works overloking the main road and like the rest of the structure are designed more for utility than for architectural beauty. They consist of" a single storey building 50ft by 40ft, built of wood and iron with a strong room. There is a general office, manager's private room, typists' room, etc. ANOTHER SIDE LINE. On the flat below the freezing works another concrete structure, fiOft by 45ft, is in course of erection. In this will be manufactured sausage skins, fiddle strings, etc., a well known New Zealand firm having contracted with the works for the purchase of the material necessary for the manufacture of these articles. GENERAL. Too much praise cannot be given to those responsible for the erection of the buildings and the installation of the plant. The construction of such large works always involves considerable responsibility, and in this case that has been muoli added to owing to the war making it difficult to secure material and machinery with any precision and also make it difficult to secure labor. However all these difficulties have been overcome, and though there has naturally been a little delay, all connected with the enterprise must be congratulated on the success achieved a-nd the thoroughness that has characterised their work. The plans were prepared by a well-known architect, Mr A. S. Mitchell, and their compactness and convenience are a tribute to his skill. The preparation of the site and construction of the buildings have all been done by day work under the personal supervision of* Mr. F. M. Grayling, the well known New Plymouth contractor. He has kept a keen eye on everything from the levelling of the site—no mean job, entailing the removal of 35,000 yards of 'spoil— milil the present. His reputation is a sufficient guarantee for the tlicroughness of the construction. The ini stallatiod of the machinery was supervised by the chief engineer, Mr. J2 McDougall. The contractors for the machinery were, Messrs. John Chambers and Sons, and W. Cable and Co. Messrs. F. S. Greenshields and Co. had the contract for the electrical work, Messrs. Okey and Eollo the rails, etc, Smart Bros plumbing, Bellringer Bros., painting. The heavy rimu required practically all came from the Carrington road sawmills (T. V. Simons), being cut at over 1000 ft level. Messrs Sladrlen and Palmer carried out the engineering work.

The company's stock buyers are Mr. O. Openshaw and Mr. P. Garvey, both men of experience, and w«sll known to the producers of the province.