Wrapping and Packing Department
It is next passed to the cooking department and placed in huge steam-jacketed kettles, which revolve continually and thus keep the chicle from scorching. While it is being cooked in these large kettles sugar is added, and as soon as the gum is done it is placed in a kneading machine. It is now about the consistency of bread or cake dough, and after being kneaded and cooled, flavor is added.
Peppermint, spearmint and other oils used are triply distilled and absolutely free of all impurities. The orange oil comes from Messina and is always the product of the very latest orange crop.
From the kneading machine it reaches a sizing table, to which are attached heavy rollers for reducing the mass of gum to a strip about a quarter of an inch in thickness and twelve inches wide.
At this stage it will be seen the gum begins to take on a ribbon shape. As it comes from the first series of rollers, it is cut into short lengths sprinkled with powdered sugar, and these short lengths are passed in sticks about two feet high on to a second series of rollers. Under the second rollers each short length of gum is once more reduced in thickness and extended in length.
The surfaces of the second rollers contain knives running lengthwise and around. These knives partially cut the gum to its final size. The thin sheets are then sent to another drying room. They remain in this room from twelve to forty-eight hours, according to the season of the year, and are then ready for the wrapping machines.
Machines have also been invented which stamp out little nuggets of gum. To be finished these pieces are sent to a long room containing a line of twelve large white kettles, each on a separate base. It is these machines which coat the nuggets with snowy sugar. The kettles revolve until a sufficient coating of the liquid sugar has adhered.
The chewing gum wrapping machine is considered by machinery builders to be one of the most ingenious automatic manufacturing machines in use. It is about the size of an ordinary typewriter desk and is operated by one girl. She receives the thin sheet of partially cut gum from the last drying room. The machine operator drops the slabs of gum into a feeding chute. Each slab is here automatically wrapped in wax and silver-foil papers. These papers are fed from rolls, as printing paper is fed to a newspaper press.