June 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



637 



HARDENING 



The rough-rolled stock is trayed and set aside to cool naturally 

 for 24 hours or is left for the same length of time in a room 

 supplied with conditioned air. This period of rest and cooling 

 sets the stock so that in the second or finishing rolling the exact 

 gage will be retained. 



STICK GUM SIZES 



The usual sizes for stick gum arc 3 by J4 '^y 1/16-inch although 

 the product of the largest manufacturers measures Zys by 54 by 

 .070-inch. 



FINISHED ROLLING AND SCORING 



The cooled and hardened rough sheeted gum is rolled to fin- 

 ished gage and scored in a machine provided with two sets of 



Having the diameter of the finished ball. These cylinders of gum 

 are separated by hand and fed to a ball-making machine. This, 



Clough S- Witt 



Fig 9. Scoring M.^chine 



rolls. The first pair have circular cutters spaced to score the 

 rolled sheet lengthwise into stick width, while the second pair 

 have longitudinal knives for cross-scoring the sheet for stick 

 lengths. Both sides of the sheet are scored at the same time, 

 the cuts extending one-third the way through from each side, 

 leaving the center of the sheet to be broken in separating the 

 individual sticks. In the case of gum in small squares such as 

 "chiclets" or "nuggets," the scoring is spaced equally both ways. 



BREAKING THE SHEETED GUM 



The scored gum sheets are hardened for a time in air-condi- 

 tioned cooling rooms before separation into pieces. Stick gum 

 is broken by hand, a very skillful operation done by women. 



American Chicle Cc. 



Fig. 10. Gum Breaking Department 



They remove the side trim from llie sheets, break the sticks 

 apart and pack them edgewise in trays at a single handling, 

 ready for the packaging machines. 



'■CHICLETS" 



Sheets of gum scored in small squares are broken apart by 

 tumbling in an octagonal revolving barrel open at the front end 

 where the scored sheets are thrown in. These promptly break 

 apart and are removed by the attendant in a large hand scoop 

 \ hich he holds in the tumbler to receive them. 



BALL GUM 



Chewing guin in the form of balls is made by the use of two 

 separate machines. The first known as a sizing machine consists 

 of a pair of grooved rolls through which a kneaded batch of 

 gum emerges in the form of round bars or cylindrical sticks 



Thvs. Mills &■ Bro. 



Fig. 11. Ball Sizing 

 Machine 



Fir. 12. Ball Rolling 

 Machine 



like the sizing machine, consists of a pair of grooved rolls, both 

 of which revolve in the same direction, but one has double the 

 speed of the other. The efltect on the gum cylinders which are 

 fed sidewise into the ball machine, is to cut the stock into short 

 cylinders which are promptly rolled into approximate spheres 

 by the differential speed of the rolls, and drop out on the side 

 opposite to the feed. 



CANDY COATING 



The operation of candy coating small squares and balls of gum 

 is an operation in confectionery making and is accomplished in 

 a tumbler known as a coating pan. The pan is made of heavy 



I'lG. 13 Candy Coating Department 



hammered copper in spherical form, is lined with tin and mounted 

 on an inclined axis on which it revolves with sufficient speed to 

 cause the contents to ascend the sides of the pan to about the 

 horizontal diameter, thus producing a tumbling of the goods as 

 they fall back. This action distributes the sugar syrup evenly 

 over the charge and the friction gives the dried coating a polished 

 surface. To facilitate the operation of coating, conditioned air 

 is constantly supplied to the interior of the pan. By this means 

 the moisture in the sugar syrup is rapidly removed. 



Coating pans are usually set up in rows and one operator can 

 attend to many. The sugar syrup for coating is supplied to the 

 pan by hand, one ladleful at a time. In the largest gum factories 

 the operation of coating is hastened by the use of conditioned air 

 piped through large ducts with an outlet entering each pan of the 

 group. The low relative humidity, 55 per cent, and the rapid 

 ventilation materially shortens the time of coating and polishing 

 accomplishing the operation in alioul three hours. 



AUTOMATIC PACKAGING 



Except in small factories where wrapping and boxing is done by 

 hand, packaging of gum is effected by the use of automatic 

 machines. The model shown in Fig. 14 is specially designed 

 for packaging stick guin. It makes up the standard five-cent foil 

 package of stick gum. The macliinc wraps each stick in either 

 foil or wax paper, applies a band to the individual stick and seals 

 it. It then asscm1)les five wrapped, banded sticks, reversing the 

 fifth one so that the front of the outside stick shows whichever 



