Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

THE MANUFACTURE OF BISCUITS AND CAKES. iOS operation. After the wafers are cut they are ejected at the rear of the machine, where a number of girls are ready to receive and pack them. Another kind of wafer, known as the “ Cornet,” is fashioned in the form of a hollow cone. It is newer than the plain tablet, which is not now so popular. The imple- ments and process of manufacture of this are curious. The stove is the same as in the case of the other wafers, but in the bottom half of the moulds is a series of conical apertures, having small holes at the bottom to admit air ; the top half of the mould is fitted with a corresponding series of conical protuberances made to fit almost flush the stove, re- appearing at the mouth with the wafers cooked. Another very interesting de- partment is that in which the icing is done. Biscuits with fancy de- signs in sugar on top are familiar to most people, but possibly very few are aware of the method by which the effect is produced. It by hand, and almost exclusively by girls. No doubt the latter are selected for the work on account of their deftness and lightness of touch. The icing sugar is contained in a small canvas bag which tapers to a narrow neck, and is fitted with a metal perforated end. The biscuits are spread out on a bench ; the girl takes the icing bag in her right hand, and by applying slight pressure forces the contents through the perforations at the end, which adhere in a fancy design to the top of the biscuit. I hen there is plain icing. For this a kind of artist’s palette knife is dipped in the liquid, and lightly passed over the top of the biscuit. The liquid ingredients are contained in a metal reser- voir, in the floor of which are a number of small jets, one to each aperture of the mould, and so arranged that they may be brought immediately over them. Thus, by means of uni- form pressure, all the jets are made to eject into the apertures an equally distributed quantity of liquid. The reser- voir is then removed, the mould closed icing biscuits. down,and sent round 14