BONE DEPARTMENT.
BONE DEPARTMENT -- HARD BONE -- GLUE BONE -- BONE PRODUCTS -- HORNS
-- MANUFACTURED ARTICLES -- SKULLS -- TEST YIELD FROM SKULLS AND FEET
-- BUTTOCKS AND THIGHS -- BLADES AND RIBS -- DRYING -- CRUSHED BONE
-- GRINDING BONE -- NEATS FOOT OIL STORAGE -- NEATS FOOT OIL PURIFIER
-- YIELD TESTS.
=Bone Department.=--The bone department is where the bones are cared
for and prepared for commercial purposes. Nearly all bones that are of
value, to be sold as such, come from cattle, and to this department is
sent the horns, skulls, jaws, feet, shank bones, thigh bones, blade
bones, rib bones and those resulting from cutting and boning cattle.
These yield what is known as manufacturing bone, such as shins,
blades, buttocks and thigh bones. Most of the balance is used for bone
fertilizer, glue and grinding. The bone usually produced in the bone
department is hard bone.
=Hard Bone.=--Hard bones are those not cooked sufficiently to extract
the glue stock, but enough to remove all grease. They are cooked in
open vats. Excessive boiling brings the bones out in what is known to
the trade as a “chalky condition” and injures the quality.
=Glue Bones.=--Bones used for glue stock are green bones just as taken
from the animal, or dried hard bone. In the former case the bone is
crushed green, washed, boiled, and the liquor collected, filtered and
evaporated. The residue is dried and is the article of commerce sold
under the heading of “Steam Bone,” used extensively in fertilizer
manufacturing. Those who slaughter on a moderate scale are usually not
in a position to undertake the manufacture of glue. Consequently they
are most interested in proper methods of manufacturing hard bones.
=Bone Products.=--Small bones are also converted into bone charcoal,
which is largely used for the purpose of bleaching sugar and in
various medicinal preparations. Bones are used for a great variety of
purposes, including the manufacture of bone charcoal for bleaching,
empyreumatic oils; tallow; black pigment for painting, shoe blacking
and filling sheet rubber for overshoes; bone dust for manure; sulphate
of ammonia; cupels; vitrified bone of use in making opal glass, and
in the manufacture of knife-handles, combs, fans, buttons, etc. Bones
also furnish gelatine and glue, and are the starting point for the
manufacture of phosphorus.
=Horns.=--Horns are the most valuable bone products measured by weight.
Owing to the dehorning of cattle as well as the breeding of polled
cattle, the supply of horns has been greatly diminished, and whereas
twenty-five years ago horns were worth $20.00 a ton they are now worth
from $280.00 to $300.00 per ton if they are of the proper selections,
hence it will be seen that intelligent handling is worth while. The
horns severed from the head preferably by sawing and cutting at a point
beyond the meeting point of skull and horn, are thrown into a vat of
water, held at a temperature of from 140° to 150° F. After soaking for
ten or fifteen minutes they are taken out and by hammering the horn
across some solid substance, or by laying it on a block and pounding
it with a weight or mallet, the pith slips out. The piths are dried
and used in the manufacture of glue. The horns should be stored in a
room where there is ample outside air circulation and not too dry.
Artificial heat will cause them to crack. They are never dried on steam
coils. Selections are made for some markets, although they are usually
sold as taken off.
=Manufactured Articles.=--The manufacture of horns into manufactured
articles is a highly specialized work and rarely undertaken by the
packer as a commercial possibility. Horns are used for the manufacture
of combs and various other ornamental articles. In the course of
manufacturing, the tip is sawed off to the hollow part of the horn.
It is then split open, the horn is steamed, softened and flattened by
pressure, usually hydraulic pressure. Any checks or flaws in the horn
damage it for manufacturing purposes. If submitted to excessive heat in
drying or stored in a room that is hot and dry they are sure to become
damaged. When in storage they should be placed in a cellar or room
where there is some moisture, but not enough to cause them to mold.
[Illustration: FIG. 60.--CATTLE HEAD SPLITTERS.]
=Skulls.=--The treatment of skulls in process is as follows: The cheek
meat is removed from the head, the jaws pulled out, the head split and
brain removed, and the skull is ready for the cooking vat. The brain
is an edible product, for which there is a ready sale in most markets,
consequently they should be properly taken out. The illustration, Fig.
60, is of a machine with a hollow knife intended for splitting the
skull but not damaging the brain. With this machine the heads are split
after the jaws are pulled. The head is laid on the table with the teeth
up. The knife is made with a semi-circular space in the sharp edge
which comes down over the brain without touching same as the balance
of the blade is forced through the skull, leaving the brain intact
while separating the skull bones. Where a large number of heads are
handled in this manner it saves a great deal of labor. It is desirable
to remove the brains before cooking the skulls, as the bones become
discolored if the brain is left in the skull.
_Cooking._--After the skulls are placed in a tank they should be kept
covered with cold water until collected in sufficient quantity for
cooking. They should be thoroughly washed, as there is a large amount
of clotted blood usually adhering to the skull, and if not well washed
the grease derived from the cooking is discolored and injured. In
connection with the washing, it is always well, when the vat is filled,
to heat the water to a point about 90° F. and draw this water off. The
vat is then filled with water sufficient to cover the skull and the
steam turned on, the temperature raised to 200° F. The steam should be
graduated so as to hold this temperature eight and one-half or nine
hours, when the heads will be found to be cooked sufficiently. The
steam is then shut off and the oil cooked from the heads is allowed to
collect on the surface, after which it is skimmed and strained, and
allowed to settle. It is then ready for tiercing.
_Cleaning._--The skulls should be kept covered with water until ready
for washing. This is done by passing through a reel screen arranged
with a central hollow axle or a perforated pipe suspended in the top,
used for spraying the revolving bones with a plentiful supply of warm
water for cleansing them.
_Jaw Bones._--Jaw bones should be handled the same as skulls, except
that they should be cooked from nine to ten hours. The jaws are
cracked at right angles to their length in order to open the bone for
extracting all oil.
_Drying._--The bones are now ready for drying. Dryers are mentioned
subsequently.
=Feet.=--The cattle feet are of prime importance owing to the value of
the products resulting. In mentioning feet, we mean comprehensively the
feet from knee to hoof, inclusive.
_Washing Feet._--The feet upon being taken from the animal should be
washed promptly, and all manure and refuse removed preferably through a
revolving washer.
_Cutting Sinews and Sawing Bones._--The sinews are removed from the
feet, and the shin bones sawed out. The sawing of the bone is an
important matter. The bone should be rigidly held and sawed by a sharp
moving blade, the saw carriage moved against the tightly held foot. The
set of saw should be such as to avoid a ragged edge. Saw should have
high speed up to 1,200 r. p. m. and be filed with but little set. In
moving the blade it should be done firmly and regularly--not jerky.
The cutting should be done about midway through the “sponge” formation
at end of bone so that the oil can be cooked clean.
[Illustration: FIG. 61.--BONE SAW WITH IRON FRAME.]
_Raw Shin Bones Cooling._--These bones should be kept in clear cold
running water until the day’s cook is collected.
_Removal of Hoofs._--The removal of hoofs is to be done by putting the
feet in a tank or tub of water. Steam is injected into the water and
the temperature raised to about 180° F., where it is maintained for 20
to 30 minutes, or until the hoofs will slip. Hoofs are pinched off and
feet passed to cook boxes. Hoofs are usually air dried and selected
into white and striped hoofs, the most valuable used and sold for
manufacturing. Black hoofs are ordinarily coil dried and ground for
fertilizer. The oil is the neatsfoot oil of commerce.
_Cooking Shin Bones._--Shin bones should be cooked about eight hours at
a temperature of 160° to 170° F.
[Illustration: FIG. 62.--HAND HOOF PULLER.]
Judgment is to be used in the cooking as the age of the cattle and the
hardness of the bone will have to do with the bone appearing “chalky”
when dry.
[Illustration: FIG. 63.--POWER HOOF PULLER.]
_Cooking Feet._--The foot portion resulting in the small knuckles when
cooked is cooked separately from the shin bones and oil handled in the
same manner.
_Skimming the Oil._--The oil rising to the top of the cook vats should
be carefully skimmed off with as little water as possible. It should
be strained through a fine mesh screen covered with two thicknesses of
scrim, so as to take out all floating fibre or floaters.
_Skimming and Settling._--Upon skimming deposit oil in the oil
receivers, keep the oil under heat at a temperature of 150° F. The
settling or sediment should be daily removed at the drain outlet until
oil begins to show, since the settling and moisture are sure means of
making oil sour.
[Illustration: FIG. 64.--REVOLVING BONE WASHER.]
_Purifying Oil._--The oil is kept in the containers until ready for
purifying. The two receivers are connected together by a common pipe
which terminates in a pipe arranged in the form of a cross with a tee
connection at each end. Over the ends of this cross are suspended
cotton flannel bags of double thickness tied tightly over the tees. The
oil is strained through these into the purifier where it is settled
for two or three hours. Should any moisture appear it is withdrawn
at the drain cock at bottom. Bags should be used once and carefully
washed. The oil is then dried out by heating the same through the steam
jacket on kettle until it reaches a temperature of about 250° F., at
which temperature it is held several hours. The oil is to be stirred
occasionally during the drying period. The steam is closed and the oil
allowed to settle and cool and is then put in casks. Temperature of
oil when drawn into casks, about 80° to 90° F., casks, hard wood, well
hooped and of superior quality to prevent leakage.
_Neatsfoot Oil._--Obtained from cooking round shin, flat shin, small
knuckle bones (being bones from feet) and shin bones.
_Finishing Bones._--After taking the oil and depositing same in the
neatsfoot oil receiver, the shin bones are removed and placed in the
polisher where they are revolved for about one hour or until the bones
are cleaned. Warmed water is passed through the bones during this
process, introduced through hollow shaft in washer. The substance
washed out contains more or less oil which should be trapped and the
clear oil skimmed off, and balance of material sent to the rendering
tanks. The knuckles are similarly treated until cleaned.
_Drying Bones._--When the shin bones are washed and cleaned they should
be spread on racks to dry, in natural temperature (not coil dried) and
out of draft or cold temperatures to avoid checking or splitting. Small
knuckle bones from the feet are to be coil dried for manufacturing bone.
_Sinews._--These are chiefly sold for glue stock. In removing sinews
from the legs, care must be used not to cut too deep in the heel of the
foot, it being preferred to leave some glue stock on the foot rather
than to cut too deep and remove the fat which goes to make up the
neatsfoot oil which is much more valuable than the glue stock. This
part of the product, well drained, should be taken to a cool, although
not necessarily refrigerated room, and thoroughly salted; It is often
found necessary to overhaul it and resalt it in order to keep it from
“sweating.” After it has been cured ten days or two weeks it is ready
for the glue department.
=Test Yield from Skulls and Feet.=--Test on following page shows the
yield from head and feet of 130,470 cattle, same based on the market
prices prevailing at the time the test was made. While prices vary the
percentages given are accurate.
=Buttocks and Thighs.=--These leg bones are treated substantially the
same as the shin bones in cooking and to completion.
AVERAGE YIELD OF HEAD AND FEET ON KILL OF 130,470 CATTLE.
=============+======+=====================+=======
| | Market price |
| Yield+------+-----+--------+ Value
| per | per | per | per | per
Product | cent | ton | gal.| lb. | head
-------------+------+------+-----+--------+-------
Skulls | 4.079|$18.00| ... | ... |$0.0367
Jaws | 2.289| 18.00| ... | ... | .0206
Knuckles | 2.641| 18.00| ... | ... | .0237
Hoofs | 1.744| 22.00| ... | ... | .0191
Hoofs, white | .147| 50.00| ... | ... | .0036
Piths | .456| 21.00| ... | ... | .0047
Round shins | 1.198| 42.00| ... | ... | .0251
Flat shins | .956| 30.00| ... | ... | .0143
Horns | .518|200.00| ... | ... | .0518
Neatsfoot oil| 1.061| ... |$0.64| ... | .0905
Cheeks | 3.580| ... | ... |$0.03 | .1074
Head meat | .698| ... | ... | .03 | .0294
Fine meat | 1.072| ... | ... | .03 | .0321
Sinews | 1.899| 19.00| ... | ... | .0180
Tallow | 1.730| ... | ... | .06³⁄₄| .1167
Tankage | 1.160| 16.00| ... | ... | .0092
Brains | .650| ... | ... | .02¹⁄₄| .0146
Head oil | 1.068| ... | ... | .06³⁄₄| .0726
-------------+------+------+-----+--------+-------
Total value| ... | ... | ... | ... |$0.6901
-------------+------+------+-----+--------+-------
=Blades and Ribs.=--Where cutting and shipping cattle is done in
profusion there are many small bones resulting. If hard bone is being
made these bones are cooked in open vat from six to eight hours.
Cellular bones are usually cracked so as to make for free extraction of
oil.
=Drying.=--Two systems of drying are used in the bone department.
The open air system for horns, selected white and striped hoof
for manufacturing, shin bones, buttock bones, and those sold for
manufacturing purposes; the coil, or room, drying principle, for
grinding bone. The latter, crushed bone, is sold to glue makers and
grinders. The usual method of handling the latter style of drying is to
make platform coils or grids of 1¹⁄₄-inch pipe of an area convenient,
as ten by sixteen feet, or units convenient to the space. These are
in multiple and arranged to be accessible from two or more sides for
convenience in filling and removing bones. The grids should be placed
twelve or fifteen inches above the floor to permit cleaning underneath.
The pipes or grids are usually substantially supported to carry the
weight placed upon them. A wire screen of No. 5 screen 1¹⁄₄-inch mesh
is a convenience to prevent bones dropping through. The bones are piled
upon the grids to dry, when they are then transferred to storage rooms.
=Crushed Bone.=--The skulls, jaws and larger bones, are usually crushed
before storing so as to get a greater weight in less space. In this
condition they are ready for grinding into “raw bone meal,” the name
given to ground bone for sale to glue makers for extracting glue.
=Grinding Bone.=--Ground bone is usually ground through an attrition
mill, of which there are several types. The mill delivers the grindings
to a bucket type endless chain elevator, which in turn passes it
through a screen--shaking or revolving--preferably the latter. The
screen is usually about three feet in diameter by twelve feet long and
covered with a screening of No. 16 wire, eight meshes per inch, which
screens it to a size that will readily pass through a grain drill.
The tailings or over sized bone is returned to the mill for further
grinding.
=Neatsfoot Oil Storage Tank.=--This is preferably a jacketed tank, one
tank within the other, and must be made with a jacket to withstand
the pressure that may be applied. Consequently the jacket should be
reinforced with stay bolts so as to prevent distortion when pressure
is applied. Any and all oil settling vats are best made cylindrical in
form with a sharp cone at bottom. The cone is equipped for withdrawing
sediment at the bottom and for withdrawing oil for purification
sufficiently high in the cone to avoid withdrawing any sediment.
=Neatsfoot Oil Purifiers.=--The same type of kettle or tank as
described above is required, the latter being sufficient in size to
accumulate a week’s work.
=Yield Tests.=--The appended tests give the resulting yields from
handling skulls and jaws, feet and shanks:
TEST YIELD FROM SKULLS AND JAWS OF 1,209 CATTLE
=========================+======+=======+======
| | | Per
| |Average| Cent
| | per | Green
Products |Weight| head |Weight
-------------------------+------+-------+------
No. 1 Ground Bone | 1972 | 1.63 | 9.48
No. 2 Ground Bone | 282 | .23 | 1.35
Bone Meal | 1381 | 1.14 | 6.64
Butter Stock Tallow | 1353 | 1.12 | 6.51
Bone House Tallow | 585 | .48 | 2.81
Pressed Tankage 50% water| 6512 | 5.37 | 31.32
=========================+======+=======+======
Total weight of feet from 1,209 cattle, 20,790.11 pounds. Average
weight green feet per cattle, 17.19 pounds.
TEST YIELD FROM FEET OF 1,391 HEAVY CATTLE
=================+======+=======
| |Average
| | per
Products |Weight| head
-----------------+------+-------
Green Sinews | 3424| 2.46
White Hoofs | 528| .38
Striped Hoofs | 2506| 1.87
Black Hoofs | 534| .38
Neatsfoot Oil | 1476| 1.06
Bone and Grease | 280| .20
Grinding Bone | 4667| 3.29
Heavy Round Shins| 1247| .90
Light Round Shins| 195| .14
Heavy Flat Shins | 1092| .78
Light Flat Shins | 73| .05
Tankage | 682| .49
+------+-------
| 16704|
=================+======+=======
Total weight of feet from 1,391 cattle, 24,778 pounds. Average weight
green feet per cattle, 17.8 pounds.
TEST YIELD IN FINISHED PRODUCTS FROM SHANKS
================+======+======
| | Per
| | Cent
|Total | Green
Products |Weight|Weight
----------------+------+------
Butter Stock | 1245 | 18.86
Butter Tallow | 60 | .91
Thigh Bones | 275 | 4.18
Blades | 278 | 4.21
Buttocks | 203 | 3.08
Cannons | 180 | 2.73
Knuckles (large)| 1955 | 29.62
Tankage | 179 | 2.71
================+======+======
Weight 3,300 pounds each, fore and hind shanks, total 6,600 pounds.