Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

102 BRITAIN AT WORK. had but two or three competitors to wrestle with, has to-day to reckon with between thirty and forty. It is interesting, in pass- ing, to note how the word “ biscuit ” has varied in the spelling through the cen- turies. In the fourteenth it was written “ besqtiite ” ; tn the fifteenth, “ bysquyte ” ; in the sixteenth, “bysket”; and in the eigh- teenth, “ bisket.” The present method of spelling the word is, letter for letter, the same as the French. The derivation of the word is clearly shown in its com- DOUCtH coming out of the mixer. position — thus, “ bis,” twice, and “ cuit,” baked, or twice-baked—and has reference to the custom of doubly cooking biscuits which prevailed in the distant past, at a time when they were rendered so hard as to ensure their keeping for a great length of time. Every biscuit manufacturer with a trade of any dimensions must have plenty of storage room, in which to keep the various ingredients in bulk. Flour, sugar, butter, eggs, almonds, dried fruits, essences, syrups, etc., all have to be received in large quantities nearly every day. They are, however, used directly, or soon after arrival. To all intents and purposes, it is a case of going in at one part of the build- ing raw, passing straight through and out, cooked, at another. Some articles are kept in a cold storage chamber, in which the terrb perature is eighteen degrees below freezing point. Various kinds of flour are used for different kinds of biscuits. There is also an elaborate process of blending employed. The flours are put into “hoppers,” and during a single journey down and up again they are blended, mixed, sifted, and pass into a sack ready for use. The sifting is necessary not only on behalf of the consumer, but of the manufacturer also. Any foreign substance contained in the flour might not alone be detrimental to the flavour of the biscuit, but render a large stock unsaleable. Pure butter is used for the rich class of biscuits, and larcl for the plainer kinds. Both are broken and beaten up, the more easily to be manipulated. Eggs are also broken, turned into a large metal cup, and beaten up; almonds are blanched first by machinery, and finished by hand. The various ingredients, all having been duly weighed, are thrown into huge mixers, where they are thoroughly in- corporated, and the clough kneaded. When the dough is taken out of the mixer, in a bulky and sticky mass, it is dusted with flour, and passed through various rolling machines or brakes, by means of which it is flattened out to the required thickness for the biscuits. Thus, in long sheets or ribbons, it passes along to be dealt with by the biscuit-cutting machine. This machine is fitted with rollers, endless webbing, a series of cutters on top, and carries beneath a procession of metal trays. There are men to feed and relieve the machine. One man introduces into the machine a length of clough, which is carried along on the webbing, beneath the cutters, for the biscuit shapes to be stamped out. The ribbon then divides, the waste rising on to a roller and being carried into a receptacle ; at the same time the unbaked biscuits pass through underneath, and are dropped automatically on to the metal trays, which synchronise in their move- ment so as to receive the rows of biscuits from the cutters.