HOW THEY CONDENSE MILK. 
Driving the Water Out of It. 
A GUEAT BUSIXK68 STARTED BY AMERICANS 
Condensed nailk has grown of late years into a very 
prominent factor in household life—in towns and 
cities, on shipboard, and especially for supplying 
countries where dairying is unprofitable or imprac¬ 
ticable. Immense quantities go to Australia, for in¬ 
stance, and to the more newly settled sections all 
over the world. Prominent in supplying the demand 
for this product, are the establishments, of the Anglo- 
Swiss Company. The first factory this company estab¬ 
lished was at Cham, Switzerland. It was an American 
brain that conceived the plan and that pushed it to 
completion, and while the name would indicate a 
different state of affairs, we can justly lay claim to 
what honor accrues from the enterprises thus begun. 
Since the erection of the first ore in 1806, seven 
other factories have been started and are in operation 
by this company. Another was built in Switzerland, 
one in Bavaria, three in England, and two in the 
United States—one at Dixon, III., and the other at 
Middletown, N. Y. This last, 
an illustration of which is given 
at Fig. 5, was started in 1882, and 
has had a steadily increasing 
business from the beginning. 
What is Done with the Milk. 
The milk is delivered once each 
day, as soon as practicable after 
the morning milk can be cooled. 
Arriving at the factory it is emp¬ 
tied into a copper receiver, on 
platform scales, where it is 
weighed, and from which it runs 
directly to the story below. The 
empty cans are washed and 
scalded with steam, and returned 
to the farmer—a very important 
factor in the business, insuring 
clean cans and relieving the 
producer of an arduous piece of 
work, which, in most cases, 
would fall on the female end of 
the family. 
“What is the next proceeding 
with the milk ? ” was asked of 
Mr. Fellows,-the superintendent. 
“ It goes into these copper 
boilers, where it is heated almost 
to the boiling point. This is to kill germs. Sugar is 
then added, and the milk passes into the vacuum 
boilers or pans, where it is evaporated.” 
‘ ‘ Tell us why you evaporate your milk in a vacuum?” 
“There are many reasons. One is that boiled in 
the open air there would be great danger of scorching 
or burning it. In these vacuum boilers, milk can be 
boiled at a temperature as low as 115 degrees Fahren¬ 
heit.” 
Peeping through the glass set in the door of one of 
the boilers, we could see the milk boiling very vigor¬ 
ously, and yet one could easily hold his hand on the 
polished copper of the boiler without it being burned. 
Making Every Edge Cut. 
“ What is the next process ? ” 
“The condensed milk is taken from the boilers, 
cooled and put into cans.” 
“ Is it canned while cold ? ” 
“ Oh, yes. Step here and see the process.” 
Putting the milk into the small cans is done by 
girls. They beccme very skillful by lon,f practice, and 
with hand on the faucet, will fill the can just right, 
at a single gush, rarely needing to add to or take from 
the amount. Other girls put on the little tin center, 
which they soldered in its place in much less time 
than it takes us to tell of it. 
The process throughout seems a very simple one, 
though doubtless there are many trade secrets in it, 
not visible to the casual observer. One thing strikes 
the visitor at every turn—the extreme neatness and 
cleanliness which prevail. Stepping from the room 
where the milk is canned, into the machine shop, the 
fioor is seen to be clean enough to use as a dining 
table. 
“ Do you also scrub the floor of your machine shop?” 
was asked of Mr. Fellows. 
“ Oh yes. It is regularly scrubbed once a week, 
and is never allowed to become seriously soiled.” 
In an adjoining room were four large vacuum 
pumps, each requiring six horse power actively at 
work in exhausting the air and steam from the boilers 
where milk was being condensed. The boilers are 
rated at lOO horse power, but the greater part of the 
st^am is used for the various processes of the work—a 
minimum being used for motive power. 
In the lumber room, vast piles of box material, put 
up in what are known as “ shooks,” lay awaiting the 
box maker. This lumber, coming from Maine and 
Michigan—is all cut into the sizes needed in making 
the small shipping cases, and a man with a pile of it 
sits at a nailing machine, which does the work of a 
half dozin men, and turns out the boxes in a continu¬ 
ous stream. In the can room, girls operate the various 
machines, stamping out the pieces in the requisite 
sizes, putting them together and soldering them— 
machines do it all. Another machine, a most in¬ 
genious one, tests the finished cans to see if they are 
absolutely air-tight, and it never makes a mistake, 
though doing the work very rapidly. 
“What do you do with all the waste—the bits of tin, 
too small for use as tin ? ” I asked Mr. Fellows. 
“ Itis melted up and used for such purposes as sash 
weights, ballast for yachts, etc. It is a very brittle 
metal—'a little tin and much steel—most of the plates 
being made of the latter.” 
The carpenter shop was another interesting place— 
where all their patterns are made, and any other fine 
work in the wood line. Like all the other places, it 
was a model of neatness, a model well worthy of 
imitation by farmers and dairymen everywhere. 
Something About the Trade. 
“ How many different brands of milk do you put 
up ? ” I asked. 
“Five : Milk Maid, Rose, Belle, Full Weight and Tip 
Top.” 
“These are milk coolers,” said Mr. Fellows, “ for 
use on the farm. We import them from (lermany, 
and, with the duty on them, they cost us about $40 
each. We rent them to our producers for a nominal 
rent ” 
The laboratory is a clean, neat, well-lighted room, 
containing all facilities for such chemical work as is 
needed in the business. 
“ Do ycu make quantitative analyses of milk ? ” 
I inquired. 
“ As a rule, we only go far enough to determine the 
percentage of solids and fats—that is suffiiient for 
our purpose.” ' 
“ Will legal milk content you ? That is milk show¬ 
ing only 12 per cent of solids, of which three are fat ?” 
“ No, sir ; decidedly not. If a patron’s milk should 
remain at that figure, he would be notified of the 
situation, and if the milk were not improved, he 
would be dropped from our list. 
Our average milk shows about 
13 per cent solids and four per 
cent fat,” 
“ How many dairies send their 
milk to you here ? ” 
“About 200. Oar combined 
factories in Europe and America 
use the milk from about 40,000 
cows. The product from the 
Swiss factories goes all over 
the world—a good deal of it is 
sold in this country to druggists 
and by grocers with a fancy 
trade.” 
“ What did you pay producers 
for milk last year ? ” 
“ A trifle over 34—that is, add¬ 
ing the price of milk for each of 
the 12 months logether, it aggre¬ 
gates that amount. That was a 
little better than those who 
shipped to the city received, and 
it has the further advantage of 
eliminating the possibility of bad 
debts, delayed payments, stolen 
milk cans, etc.” 
“Certainly those are marked 
advantages. What feeds do you 
exclude from the list your patrons may use ? ” 
“Ensilage, glucose meal, either wet or dry, brew¬ 
ers’ grains, wet or dry, barley sprouts, etc.” 
“ How many people do you employ ? ” 
“ From 150 to 200, as the production demands.” 
An artesian well, 2,000 feet 'n depth, has been bored 
on the premises, which furnishes about 100 gallons of 
water per minute. This was a very expensive piece 
of work—nearly half a mile in depth. The water 
would flow in time, but it is pumped out, the val/es 
of the pump being 400 feet below the surface, e. g. f. 
Many people prefer condensed milk for table use to 
that purchased from the milkmen in its natural state. 
Others claim that it is preferable for feeding infants. 
Certainly milk produced, handled and prepared as 
described must be entirely wholesome, and is greatly 
to be preferred to that sold by many milkmen who 
peddle from door to door. The methods of the latter 
are certainly not such as to commend their product 
One thing is sure, the consumption of condensed milk 
is rapidly increasing, even among people so situated 
as to be able to procure the fluid in its natural state. 
An Orange County (N. Y.) Condensed Mirk Factory. Fig. 5. 
