Packing house and cold storage construction; a general reference work on the planning, construction and equipment of modern American meat packing plants, with special reference to the requirements of the United States government, and a complete treatise on the design of cold storage plants, including refrigeration, insulation and cost data ...

Front matter

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Preface

It has been the ami of the author m preparing this work, to present a complete treatise upon the subject, of practical value to those directly interested in the construction and maintenance of packing plants and cold storage buildings.

That there is a demand for such a work, has been evidenced to the author by numerous inquiries from architects and owners, and also by the fact that there exists no similar work describing modern American methods and materials.

The requirements of The Bureau of Animal Industry in Washington regarding the sanitary construction of packing plants, have been carefully considered by the author in presenting the illustrations and text pertaining thereto.

The chapters on cold storage construction contain information which heretofore^ has only been available through a close study and investigation of existing buildings or through scattered descriptions and discussions of this subject in current technical journals.

In describing methods of construction, the author has drawn largely from his own observation and experience of what has been successfully tried and tested in actual practice, although much assistance has been obtained from prominent authorities in the various subjects mentioned in the work. A great deal of valuable information has also been derived from various books and publications to which reference has been made in the text. To all such the author gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness.

4 PREFACE

In a book of this character, illustrations are worth many pages of writing and the drawings have been prepared by the author with that object in view. Lengthy explanations have been avoided for the reason that the work will only interest those who already are more or less familiar with the subject, either from a technical or operating standpoint.

To make the book convenient for practical use and ready reference, the various subjects have been paragraphed in bold face type and carefully cross-indexed.

H. Peter Henschien.

Chicago, 111., September 1, 1915.

Chapter I Packing Plants

The great progress made in the packing industry during the past few years is particularly noticeable with regards to buildings and equipment. The improvements along these lines are most apparent and far in excess of the natural progress of evolution, which is always found in any form of industry.

When the Federal Meat Inspection Law was passed in 1906, the packers were brought face to face with the fact that there was room for much improvement in their establishments, and that the government intended that these improvements should be made. The law gave the United States Department of Agriculture legal power to supervise the sanitary conditions of all plants doing an interstate business.

The Bureau of Animal Industry now requires that all packing plants, in which there is government inspection, be placed in a sanitary condition, satisfactory to the Bureau. It also requires that complete plans for new buildings be sent to Washington for their examination and approval, in advance of construction.

The recommendation which the Bureau has made regarding construction, sanitation and* certain particulars of equipment must be carried out in all new work, and this has largely been the incentive that has led to the well constructed and sanitary packing house buildings of today, where a high standard of cleanliness is maintained and where the working facilities are favorable both for man and product.

Before this law was enacted, packing houses were built with scant regard to sanitary conditions. The nature of the business compelled many owners to locate their plants outside of city limits and frequently in the least desirable neighborhoods, if within the city limits. This attitude of the public largely influenced the owners to limit the outlay of capital invested in buildings and equipment. The plants were often poorly planned and constructed, and the materials used were not of the kind best adapted to meet the requirements in a packing house.

The result generally was that these plants were costly to operate and maintain and are now gradually being replaced by new buildings of more modern construction.

To produce the best result in packing house planning, without unduly increasing the cost, requires an intimate knowledge of the conditions under which these plants are operated. The technical problems to be considered and the selection of the materials and equipment best suited for the purpose, are of such importance that only those thoroughly trained by experience and investigation can produce satisfactory results.

General Features and Requirements

Most of our present packing plants are the result of gradual growth and enlargement. Starting with small buildings, others have been added from time to time, often without regard to the best ultimate result in economy of operation. There are many of these establishments on which enough money has been spent in additions and repairs, to more than cover the cost of an entirely new plant. The profits of such plants are substantially reduced by high operating cost, upkeep and insurance.

The modern packing house establishment of average size is made up of a number of buildings grouped together in a manner best suited to handle the business of each particular plant, and there can be no set rules for the location of one building with relation to its neighbor. The requirements of each establishment must be considered individually.

Before deciding on the general features of a new plant a careful study should be made of the conditions and requirements confronting the new enterprise so that all immediate needs are taken care of, and future growth is provided for through practical and economical development of all departments. Careful study must be given to the arrangement of each individual building with relation to all other buildings and departments therein, so that products and materials are handled to the best advantage throughout the plant.

It is, therefore, important that the designer be given a thorough working knowledge of the owner's business before he attempts the planning of the entire plant. The importance of a practical arrangement from an operating standpoint is evident, when we consider that the labor cost in a packing plant is seventy-five per cent of the money expended in converting the raw material into a finished product; the other twenty-five per cent is for administration expense, interest, depreciation and insurance.

The selection of the site on which the establishment will be built, determines to a large extent, the arrangement of the various buildings with relation to each other.

Where the property is located within city limits and bordered by streets, alleys, rivers, or by railroad tracks, the designer is often compelled to produce an arrangement which is far from ideal, and this accounts for many of the makeshift plants found in nearly every city.

It is with the view of locating the plant on a suitable piece of land that the suggestions as to the most practical and economical arrangement of buildings are set forth. Location j

Location is one of the first things to be considered when establishing a packing plant.

In most of our larger cities there has been established a stock yards district where live stock is brought for sale and distribution, and it is within such districts or in their immediate vicinity, that the owner of a proposed new plant frequently must look for his location. Where plants are established in or near a small city, a better selection of land is generally assured.

It is of importance that the property selected should be that best suited for packing house purposes, and that the most necessary requirements from a building and operating standpoint are available.

The modern packing house, more than any other manufacturing plant, requires ample room, good ventilation and sunlight, and should be located only where the surroundings can be kept in a sanitary condition, and where the ground is dry and well drained. The site must have railroad connection and a good wagon road leading to the premises. There must be adequate sewer connection to carry away all surface water and sewage.

An abundant supply of pure water must be available at all times, and particular attention should be paid to the source from which the water is obtained in order that it may be used without detriment in the preparation of meat food products. Chemical analysis should be made of the water to ascertain if it is suited as boiler feed water.

The water problem has been of such great importance to the packing house industry in the past that we find many of the present establishments situated on or near the river banks of our cities, where water can be obtained at low cost, and the sewage carried away by the river.

When considering the advantages of river location it should be remembered that such lands are frequently badly drained, and are subject to overflow when the rivers are flooded.

During the flooded period business must be curtailed or suspended entirely, until the water subsides far enough to allow the cellars and sewers to be drained.

The cost of constructing buildings on low grades, near a body of water, is increased by the additional foundations and waterproofing required to properly support and protect the buildings.

These facts should be considered by the owner in advance, and competent advice obtained regarding the technical and sanitary difficulties to be anticipated on the location selected.

Shipping Facilities

Transporting the raw and manufactured products to and from the premises is one of the most important problems to be considered in the arrangement of any large manufacturing plant. This is particularly so in a packing plant where the handling of perishable products makes it necessary that shipments are made with the least delay. When goods are ready to load in cars, there should be sufficient facilities to handle the entire shipment with dispatch as well as economy in labor.

It is therefore advisable to provide railroad tracks at all shipping points of the plant, and the buildings should be arranged so that the shipping of one class of goods will not interfere with that of another. Where coal and live stock are brought to the plant in cars, separate tracks should be placed alongside the boiler room and stock pens, so that the cars may remain undisturbed until unloaded.

Plants doing a large local business must have ample room for shipments by wagon, and the loading facilities arranged so that teams can drive up in front of the shipping room where local goods are made up ready for delivery.

These requirements are of first importance in practically all establishments, and the simplest way of arranging the plant is, therefore, to plac6 the buildings alongside two or more railroad sidings with shipping platforms running the full length of the buildings. The wagon platform should be on the side most convenient to the roadway. Principal Requirements in Packing Hous^ Planning

Of equal importance to the shipping problem is the grouping of buildings, so as to secure the greatest economy in the labor cost of transferring the products from one department to another. In this connection it is necessary to consider the requirements of the Bureau of Animal Industry, that no edible products shall be conveyed through or stored in rooms which contain any of the inedible products.

Prom an operating standpoint the killing floor in a packing plant will be considered as the starting point. Practical experience has located the killing department on the top floor of the slaughter house. In modern plants this will be on the fourth floor, as live stock can easily be driven to this height without detriment to their condition.

With such an arrangement we have the live stock conveyed by its own effort to a point from which the dressed carcasses and all the byproducts can be transferred by gravity, or by a minimum of labor, to their proper place of storage or manufacture.

The fresh meat is taken to the chilling rooms which are frequently located on the same level as the killing floor, but in an adjoining building. The offal and other byproducts are dropped by gravity to other floor-levels, and there separated and cleaned and made ready for further distribution to other departments or places of storage.

Directly below the killing floor is the offal department, and all products going from here to the rendering tanks, are trucked over to the filling floor in the tank house, without the necessity of using elevators for raising or lowering the offal, as is often the case in less modern plants.

The building in which the rendering tanks are placed is known as the tank house, and is generally located as a separate building, convenient to the slaughter house. This is done, principally, to provide sufficient light and ventilation on as many sides of the two buildings as possible.

The fertilizer building is often placed adjacent to the tank house, although it should be kept as far away from all edible food departments as can be conveniently arranged for, and the window openings should be left out on all walls which face directly upon any other building in which edible products are stored. The oleo department and bone cooking, in beef killing plants, should be placed close to the slaughter house. In smaller plants, these departments are placed on the lower floors of this building. Otherwise they are located in the bone and oil house adjoining the slaughter house.

The coolers for hanging dressed carcasses, or for storage of meats should be m buildmgs which are used for cold storage purposes only. Even the smallest plants should provide for this and not locate the chill rooms below the killing floor, as is often done in poorly arranged plants.

The cooler buildings can be conveniently located across the railroad tracks from the slaughter house, and the dressed cattle and hogs conveyed over a bridge to the hanging rooms which are built on the same level as the killing floor; when the coolers are placed below the level of the killing floor, an inclined conveyor or elevator is used to take the carcasses down.

The meat curing rooms, freezers and shipping coolers are placed on the lower floors, as required.

The manufacturing building, where finished products such as lard, sausage and smoked meats are handled, should be convenient to the cooler building, tank house, and smoke houses, so that all products used in the manufacturing can be transferred economically from one building to another.

The boiler and engine room should be in separate buildings and located adjacent to the buildings where steam and refrigeration is most needed. Live and exhaust steam for cooking and heating purposes is required on practically every floor in the tank house, lard refinery and bone and oil house.

Natural Light

In order to give adequate light and ventilation to all buildings- and departments, it will be necessary, in many instances, to separate the buildings, and make use of the space betw6en them for light and ventilating courts.

This space can be utilized, on the first floor, as driveways, or trucking passages between buildings, and for railroad tracks.

One of the principal requirements of the Bureau of Animal Industry is that natural light and fresh air be admitted to all rooms where food products are prepared or stored. This does not include coolers, curing cellars or oleo seeding rooms. It would be advisable, however, to arrange for outside ventilation in these rooms by a limited amomit of window openings, so that the rooms could be aired and ventilated, if desired.

The best arrangement of buildings in which the manufacturing and slaughtering is done, w^ould be to shape the buildings so that daylight could penetrate the entire depth of all rooms. This would limit the width of the building to 80 feet and require a maximum amount of window openings in both side-walls.

Windows should not be placed over four feet from the floor line and should extend up to within a few inches of the ceiling in order to throw the light into the room as far as possible.

The value of sunlight as a disinfectant is so important in a packing house that careful attention should be given to the number and arrangement of windows. When the requirements necessitate the use of wire-glass windows for fire protection, it is advisable to use the clear wire-glass instead of the ordinary rough glass, as the latter obscures the light and keeps the direct sunlight from entering.

Skylights should be placed in the roofs of buildings where much sunlight is desirable on the top floor. This refers particularly to the slaughter house and all manufacturing buildings. The skylights should run North and South in order to give the best results and be provided with sufficient ventilation to take off all foul air. Ventilation

A thorough ventilation of all rooms in a packing house is necessary in order to maintain sanitary working conditions for the employees and prevent putrefaction.

By proper distribution of windows and doors in a well designed plant it will be possible to secure satisfactory natural ventilation in most departments, during the time of the year when the windows can be kept open. But when the outer air becomes cold, as in winter, the windows are closed more or less, and the rooms are poorly ventilated.

This condition will prove most objectionable in those departments where hot water and animal heat create an atmosphere filled with vapors, often to such an extent that one cannot see half way across the room. Mechanical ventilation must be provided and heating pipes installed to overcome this objectionable condition during the cold months when windows and ventilators cannot be kept open.

The best result in ventilation is obtained by rotary fans and a system of air ducts, which will exhaust the foul air from the room and supply pure air at the opposite side from the place where the air is removed.

The current of incoming air should not be of a higher velocity than three feet a second, unless the ducts are placed so high above the floor that the air will not strike directly on the workmen.

When mechanical ventilation is employed, the intake for fresh air should be placed so as not to be near the fertilizer building or catch basins.

The most economical fan to operate would be a rotary fan of large size, operated at low pressure, and driven either by a separate motor or from a line-shaft operating other machinery.

Natural ventilation can be obtained with good results in the lower stories by an intelligent arrangement of flues, built into the brick walls. The inlet to such flues should be close to the ceiling and the opening made of the same area as that of the flue.

The author believes that if such flues were installed in sufficient numbers in tank houses, sausage rooms and similar manufacturing places, they would do a great deal to overcojiie the badly ventilated condition which so often exists in even the most modern plants. Communication Between Buildings j

Communication between departments located in different buildings must be so arranged that it will not be necessary to convey any of the nonedible products of the carcasses through rooms used for edible products. For this reason, separate communication should be provided between the offal floor and the tank house for the trucking of edible and inedible products.

The same ruling applies to elevators and it is, therefore, required that where elevators are used for the handling of hides, fertilizer and other inedible products, they are to be used for such purposes only, and separate elevators must be installed to handle the edible products.

Where buildings adjoin one another and are separated by a fire wall, the communication should be through a fireproof vestibule. This will prevent a fire in one building from spreading to the next building and tends to reduce the insurance rate.

Underground communication between cellars should be provided for, so that goods can be transferred without the use of elevators. Tunnels can be constructed under the railroad tracks to serve as passageways and for running pipes and conduits from one building to another. This method of installing the numerous w^ater, steam and refrigerating pipes will be found very convenient, and far superior to the usual method of running the pipes in covered trenches, or on overhead supports.

The expense of constructing the tunnel will be covered by the reduced cost of installing the piping and the ease with which repairs can be made afterwards.

Cokimn Spacing

The most practical and economical spacing of columns in any manufacturing or storage building is one which permits the utilization of space between the columns with the least loss of room. For this reason, a spacing of 16 feet from center to center of columns has been universally adopted in packing house construction.

In a cooler building, divided into 16 foot sections, the hanging rooms for hogs will have six rails per section and the distance between the rails is sufficient to allow the air to circulate freely between each row of hogs.

In a beef cooler there are in e0,ch section, six rails, four of which are hanging rails, the other two being used for transferring quartered beef to other parts of the cooler. This spacing allows room for the buyer to pass between each row of beef carcasses when making his selection.

In curing rooms we find that the 16-foot sections will accommodate three rows of curing vats of standard size (1,500 lbs.) and leave room between the single and the double row of vats for a working alley. When this is repeated in the next section, all vats will stand in triple rows with a working alley between.

On the killing floor, two beef beds are placed in each 16-foot section.

In the tank house, four 6-foot rendering tanks are supported in one section.

From a construction standpoint the same spacing of columns is equally satisfactory where timbers are used for the support of floors and roof. Mill constructed buildings can be designed economically with timbers of such size as are easily obtainable in most lumber yards and mills.

With reinforced concrete construction, the floor slab can be supported on girders of moderate size without the use of intermediate floor beams. This is of particular advantage when refrigerating pipes are placed overhead. Planning for Future Expansion

When a plant is designed for its present requirements only, and no provisions are made for future expansion, the ov/ner may find later on, that it will be impossible to enlarge his output without making costly changes in the part of the plant already built.

It is always possible to inc;rease the killing capacity of a new plant without enlarging the killing floor, whereas the coolers and other departments may be inadequate to take care of the increase in killing. This condition applies to all plants and the designer should arrange the buildings so that there is room for growth, tor addition, on» at least one side of each building.

Where the ground area is limited, or the value of the land is high, the capacity of the plant may be enlarged to better advantage by adding more stories to the buildings. In such case the foundations and lower stories must be built of sufficient strength to support the additional weights that may be placed upon them.

When it has been determined how the enlargement of the plant can best be taken care of in the future, all building walls, which later on may become party walls between two buildings, should be constructed so as to carry the additional loads from the future building. The recommendations of the fire underwriters regarding party walls must also be considered.

In buildings of small area, such as tank houses and boiler and engine rooms, it is often advisable to erect a temporary wall on the side on which the future addition may be built, and remove this wall later on, in order to avoid a division of the building. These temporary walls should always be built with columns and beams to support the floors and roof and the columns and beams must be made strong enough to carry both the old and new construction. Where the roof is carried on trusses over boiler and engine rooms, which rest on the permanent side walls, these will support the loads from the roof and also in this case the temporary end wall need only be strong enough to support its own weight.

Chapter II Plans And Description Of A Modern Packing Plant

Capacity and Construction

The illustrations, Figures 1 to 8, inclusive, show the arrangement of an establishment doing a general packing house business, under Government inspection.

Cattle, sheep and hogs are slaughtered and the byproducts handled and cured to a finished commercial product. The plant is designed for a daily killing capacity of 200 cattle, 400 sheep and 1,500 hogs.

All buildings are of fireproof construction with brick walls and reinforced concrete fioors and roof. Firewalls have been built wherever it was necessary to separate one part of the plant from another and the principal requirements of the fire insurance companies have been complied with.

By referring to the first-floor plan. Figure 1, the general arrangement of the plant can best be studied. The buildings have been grouped with the intention of leaving room for future expansion on at least one side of each building, and, at the same time, give light and ventilation to all departments where manufacturing or slaughtering is done.

Railroad tracks have been placed convenient to all shipping points in the plant, and separate railroad sidings are provided for coal and live stock. The team loading is handled in a wagon court placed in front of the cooler building, adjacent to the street.

The fertilizer building and live stock pens are placed as far away from the street as the arrangement would permit, and they are served by a separate railroad siding at the rear of the property.

The general offices and the men's dressing room and toilet station are in separate buildings which are not shown on the ground plan.

Slaughter House

This occupies a central location with light and ventilation on three sides. The north end adjoins the boiler and engine room, and as these buildings are only one story high, the slaughter house will also get light from this side above the second story.

All killing is done on the fourth floor and the live stock is driven up from the stock yards over an inclined runway placed on the east side of the building. Storage and resting pens have been provided at three different levels in order that an ample supply of live stock may be kept at hand during the killing hours.

The slaughter house floor is divided by a brick partition into two rooms, one for the slaughtering of cattle and the other for hogs. Four beef killing beds, with a capacity of 200 cattle per day, have been provided, and also space for small-stock killing, where 400 sheep and calves can be handled daily.

The hog killing arrangement provides for a capacity of 1,500 hogs per day. The equipment includes a double hog wheel, two sticking rails, hog scalding tub with conveyor, one large scraper and moving hog bench. After the hogs have been gambrelled and hung on the dressing rails, they are kept moving on the rail by a variable speed conveyor until dressed and ready for the chill-rooms. Ample space is provided for the Government inspection of retained hogs. This retaining room is well lighted and is fitted up with rails for the storage and final inspection of all retained carcasses.

All offal and byproducts from the killing floor are passed by gravity chutes to the floor below and there separated and cleaned for further distribution and manufacture in other departments. Tongues, hearts, brains, etc., are trimmed and sent to the coolers. Heads and feet are cleaned and trimmed before being taken to the tank house or bone cooking vats. Tripe is washed and cooked or sent to the curing coolers and all casings are cleaned and packed away in salt until shipped.

On the third floor is also located a part of the oleo oil department, which is separated by a partition from the rest of the occupancy on this floor. The oleo equipment includes fat cutter, two chilling vats, hasher and two melting kettles.

The second floor is occupied entirely by the oleo department, excepting a small room for the drying of bones. The oleo oil is drawn from the kettles to the clarifiers and then placed in seeding trucks for storage. Two oleo oil presses are provided, as well as a press table and stearine bin.

The first floor is partly insulated and used for the storage of oleo oil, which is kept in the cooler at a temperature of 50° Fahr. until shipped. The oil is collected from the presses into an elevated receiving tank and then drawn into tierces and placed in the cooler.

The remaining room on this floor is used for storing tallow and stearine.

The cellar under the killing building is used for curing of hides and sheep pelts. Salt storage is provided under the platform adjoining the railroad tracks where the salt can be conveniently unloaded from the car. Cooler Building

The dressed carcasses of cattle, sheep and hogs are conveyed from the slaughter house over a covered bridge to the cooler building, which is located a^cross the railroad tracks, with frontage on the street. This building is divided by a brick flre-wall into two sections, one for pork products and the other for cattie and sheep.

Each section is five stories high with a cellar. There are three elevators and stairways placed in fireproof vestibules and all communications between the buildings are through openings protected by double fire-doors.

Pork Building

The top floor of this building is used as a pipe loft for the hog hanging coolers on the fourth floor. These coolers are on the same level as the killing floor and have a hanging capacity of 3,000 hogs, figuring one hog for every 14 inches of rail space. The coolers are divided by insulated partitions into 16 foot sections, with six hanging rails in each section. One cooler is reserved for leaf lard.