THE WEINBERG CASTING PEN
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—Many readers of the Spectator will be glad to know that a demonstration of the working of the Weinberg casting pen on six bullocks at Mr. Taplin's slaughterhouse at Leeds on Wednesday, October 24th, marked a distinct advance in the prospects of this humane device coming into general use in the casting of cattle for Jewish slaughter. Leaflets giving a full description of the pen may be had free of charge from the R.S.P.C.A., 105 Jermyn Street, London, S.W. 1. I will only explain here that it consists of a strong, covered and well padded stall, easily adjusted to the size of the animal inside it. The pen revolves within two large iron rings, and, by operating a lever, is made to turn half a revolution, thus laying the animal gently on its back, its head protruding through an opening, and its throat exposed upwards.
These are the improvements made in the pen : To check the oscillation of the cage there is now a strong lever-operated brake which acts on an iron ring two inches wide and five- eighths of an inch thick which has been bolted to the inner surface of the front large ring. The boards at both ends of the pen have been reinforced by iron straps. The original wooden door at the front end of the pen has now been replaced by one made of sheet iron and curved outwards so as to add six or seven 'inches to the length space of the pen. The sliding wooden front piece which formerly dropped against the animal's throat when cast has been replaced by an outwardly curved one, made of sheet iron, which is arrested and kept in position a few inches above the animal's throat. The beasts were cast in couples, that is, the second one following quickly on the first. The carcases were then dressed. The average time of casting was twenty seconds, and all the proceedings went through without a., hitch.— Hon. Humane Slaughtering Adviser to the R.S.P.C.A.
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