Object number
53/197
Description
This cake breaker was used for breaking up slabs of oil cake. Oil cake was made from the pulp left after the extraction of oil from plant seeds. It was sold as animal feed but had to broken up into small pieces before it could be fed to livestock. This cake breaker was made and used at the donor's farm, in Langley, Warwickshire.
Physical description
1 cake breaker: wood; metal; completely rebuilt
Label Text
Cake breaker. This equipment is a cake breaker, a device used for breaking oil cake into smaller pieces so that animals could eat it. Oil cake is less appetising than it sounds - at least for human consumption! After liquid oil was extracted from rapeseed and linseed, the leftover solid material made into oil cakes. These cakes provided a key source of protein. However, it is important to know your plants before feeding the cakes to livestock, as some oil cakes - such as those produced from castor beans - are toxic and were used for fertiliser instead.
Object name
Material
Associated subject
External document
- L:\MERL\Objects\JISC 2012\60 series negatives\60_214.tif - High resolution image
