3-028-471 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Untouched by Hand: a Model Lard Factory - Where machinery is paramount: filling and weighing packages of lard, 1909. Production '...in the modern factory of the well-known Manchester firm of N. Kilvert and Sons, Ltd...From the moment the raw lard is received in the works until it is dispatched to its customers, it is untouched by hand. Thus the greatest possible cleanliness is assured...each of the many processes which give to it purity and refinement [are] carried out by machinery, much of which is this firm's own invention and sole possession...reaching the ground floor, [the lard] is filled into parchment-lined boxes by girls, whose spotless white overalls and dainty appearance accord well with the purity and cleanness of the finished product...The output of the firm amounts to some 360 tons per week...Electricity is the motive power throughout the factory, thus securing a striking freshness of atmosphere, and the absence of dust or dirt; while all the tanks, vessels, and the miles of piping for the treatment and conveyance of the lard, which would be a possible source of contamination were copper or brass used, are of steel and iron'. From "Illustrated London News", 1909.