392 



Meat Industry By-Products. 



used in making extract of beef and fertilizers. The leg bones of 

 the cattle are used for making tooth brushes and knife handles, 

 chessmen, mouthpieces, and screws for joining the mouthpiece 

 to the stems of pipes and buttons ; some bone refuse is ground 

 to flour and made into billiard balls and buttons ; bones from 

 the cooked meat are'boiled and the fat and gelatine extracted, 

 and all other bones are ground into fertilizers. Horns are made 

 into buttons, combs, brushes, and pipe mouthpieces, and the 

 refuse into fertilizers. Hoofs are made into buttons, cyanide 

 of potassium, and fertilizers ; a large export trade in hoofs was 

 formerly done with Japan, but a heavy duty stopped it. Gelatine 

 and glue are extracted, by boiling, from the soft bones of the 

 head, shoulders, ribs, breast and cores of the horns, but the 

 scraps from hides, especially those of calves, are great gelatine 

 producers ; glycerine is obtained from the "tank water," which 

 is left after the removal by boiling, under pressure, of the grease 

 obtained from scraps of meat, bones and intestines. Neats foot 

 oil is extracted from the feet. Oleo oil is made from the fat of 

 cattle, and is practically refined tallow. 



Of all these by-products the most important for the packing- 

 houses to handle themselves are those dealing with the perishable 

 parts, such as the intestines, glands, fat, &c. These often have 

 to be treated chemically, and experiments are continually being 

 made to find new results and lessen the cost of output. Many of 

 these methods are secrets of the firms employing them. 



The beef fat is gone over very carefully, and selected into two 

 grades for oleo oil making. It is then chopped up very fine by 

 a hasher, working at the rate of 600 revolutions per minute. 

 There are many different kinds of machines, but all are designed 

 to cut the fat up very small without bruising it. The chopped 

 fat is then put into large kettles, set level with the floor, and the 

 contents are boiled, being kept continually stirred by an agitator. 

 When the liquid has been thoroughly cooked, it is drawn from 

 the top and placed in another kettle, to settle and clarify. It is 

 then placed in shallow pans with a cloth in each, and put in a 

 press, and the whole is subjected to a pressure of 250 lb. to the 

 square inch. The oleo oil is generally subjected to two pressures, 

 and the stearine, which is left in the pans, is made into cakes. 

 The stearine is, generally, white, and is used for making 



