March i, 1884.J 



THE TROPICAL AGftlCULTUWST. 



67s 



Report on the working of Kinmond's machine on 

 the Dunedin Estate on the 29th February, under the 

 personal direction of Mr. Kinmoud. 



Mr. Kinmond arrived here on the 27th February. On 

 Thursday, the 28th, he went to the Factory and first ex- 

 amined, the roller. The principal fault in this niaobiue 

 has been the way in which the leaf used to catch 

 and clog against the wooden battens on the movable 

 rolling disc. To jjreveut this, Mr. Kinmond suggested 

 filling in the angles at the sides of the battens with 

 wooden fillets nailed on, and this was most successful, 

 as the roller cleared itself entirely after each roll. 

 I was afraid the alteration on the battens might 

 interfere with their rolling and twisting action, but 

 apparently such is not the case, as the machine turned 

 out today 1,0401b. green leaf in as good style as 

 could be desired. 



Mr. Kinmond seemed to think that the reason the 

 roller threw out leaf was owing to the hopper not 

 being properly fitted and made to overlap the iron 

 plate, but I am inclined to think, if the manufacturers 

 had done this work better in the fitting of the discs 

 to the cylinder that the epilling of leaf would 

 be reduced to a minimum not worth noticing. Two 

 remedies were suggested by Mr. Kinmond to reduce 

 the spilling, both of which I shall try and report 

 further as to effect. 



With the drier Mr. Kinmond conclusively proved 

 that the machines could not only turn out the tea 

 perfectly dry in IJ to 1.5 minutes, but also that the 

 quantity of two maunds as specitied in his circular 

 could be dried in the hour. The two most serious 

 errors made in the working of this machine are, not 

 driving the fan at a sufficiently high rate of speed 

 and spreading the leaf too thick on the trays. Follow- 

 ing the printed instructions. I was spreading my leaf 

 twice as thick as I used to do over charcoal tires ; this is 

 a great mistake. To ensure br-isk and regular firing the 

 leaf should only be spread J to § of an inch thick 

 on the trays. One lot of broken pekoe was fired off 

 yesterday in live minutes ; this is of course quicker 

 than the coolies could work regularly, but as 1 have 

 said I think eight to 10 minutes fur the finer teas and 12 

 to 15 minutes for the coarser will be found to be 

 correct. 



I annex a table kept bj Mr. Fairweathcr and myself 

 of the time taken in drying the leaf in the two sides 

 of the drier. The former took the side with the trays 

 in top, I took the other or the lower tray side ; the 

 time was accurately noted by the factory clock ; 

 the quantity of tea dried was 290 lb., and the time' 

 taken was exactly two hours, or at the rate of 

 145 lb. dry tea per hour, which with more trays to spare 

 might, I have no doubt, be easily increased to 1601b, 



For the days work the fuel account stands thus : 



Engine 9 cwt., drier 5 cwt.,— total 14 cwf. for 2901b. 

 dry tea. Engine wood cost 45 cents, drier wood 25 

 cents, or per lb. of tea rolled and fired ^ cent. 



After the firing was finished, five or six samples 

 of the day's make were tasted by Mr. Fairweather 

 and myself. We considered the tea increased four- 

 pence per lb. in value chiefly on account of the brisk 

 firing, 



(Signed) W. Foksythe, Superintendent. 



Dunedin Estate, Ist March 1S84. 

 Table of time taken in firing off iOOlb. of finiohed 

 tea : — 



Put in dryer. Taken out. Time taken 

 hrs. min. hrs. miu. each set. 



Broken pekoe ... 606 6-44 8 min 



Do ... 6-38 6'48 10 



argeleaf ... 6'46 7'00 14 „ 



Do 

 Do 

 Do 

 Do 



7-04 

 0-42 

 6-47 

 6-50 



715 



6-55 



or.g 



■Ii4 



Average time nearly 12 minute.s. 



1' „ J^O 



Classification of the teas made on the 29th February: 



Broken Pekoe 62 lb or 21 per cent 



Pekoe 180 „ or G2 „ 



Pekoe Souchong 40 „ or 14 „ 



Dust 8 „ or 3 



290 lb 

 No. of coolies working Engine 

 „ of do do Holler 



„ of do do Dryer 



100 



2 

 2 

 6 



10 



Note :— The table of time does not extend to the 

 whole of the 290 lb. dried, but only to a portion ; 

 the total time, however, is two hours, and the 

 details though not carried out will show how an 

 average of 12 minutes is arrived at for firing a set of 

 trays — previously it took SO to 40 minutes to a set. 

 Eegardiug the dcfccte in manufacture or in work- 

 manship of the roller referred to by Mi-. Foraythe, 

 it was acknowledged by Mr. Kinmond that the manu- 

 facturers, Kobey & Co., had not done th-; work us well 

 as it should have been done, and that, if tliey had, 

 there would be very little cause of complaint as to 

 throwing out leaf. This defect in the rollers now in 

 Ceylon will no doubt be avoided in any made in 

 future. 



ANSELL'S PATENT TEA SORTING AND 

 WINNOWING MACHIKE. 



Colombo, 4th March 1SS4. 

 Dear Sir, — We have the pleasure to enclose copy 

 of a report received from A. E. Scovell, Esq , man- 

 ager of Strathellie estate, Nawalapitiya, on the working 

 of the above machine, which may interest many of 

 your readers. With reference to the last paragraph of 

 the report, we are glad to be able to state that the 

 manufacturers have reduced the price of the machine 

 from £80 to £70.— Yours faithfully, 



W. H. DA VIES & Co. 



Heport on the icorhing of A nseJVs Patent lea Sorter. 

 Strathellie Estate, Nawalapitiya, 12th Feb. 18S4. 



I ha^■e had one of your patent sifting and winnowing 

 machines at work on this garden continuously for the 

 whole of last year, and have pleasure in stating that the 

 work performed has been very satisfactory, both as regards 

 quantity and quality. By a re-arraugemeut of the sieves 

 1 have been able to arrive at excellent results as evinced 

 by the prices realized tor Strathellie teas. The average for 

 the year is so far very good : the last invoice has yet to 

 be sold ; the two previous ones averaged Is 9d and Is 9Jd 

 respectively. Pekoe souchong selling at Is 3id to ls5d; pekoe 

 Is %! to 2s 4Jd ; broken pekoe 2s 5Jd to 2s lUd, and 

 broken orange pekoe at 4s lOd. These results have been 

 attained with careful manufacture by Jackson's Excelsior 

 and Universal rollers, Davidson's Siroccos and Ansell's 

 sifter. 



I have pleasure in adding my testimony to that generally 

 expressed as to the efBcieucy of your sifting and winnow- 

 ing machine, and, with a reduction of the present price, 

 I liave little doubt hut that Ansell's will be the favor- 

 ite sifter on the many Ceylon gardens now forming. 

 (Signed) Aethoe E. Scovell, Manager. 



In order to add completeness to the information 

 regarding tea machinery, we insert, gratis, a portion 

 of Mr. Andrew Thompson's advertisement regarding 

 his "Challenge" roller. Testimony is borne to the 

 value of this roller, but where did Mr. Tbennpson 

 acquire his style, which is " peculiar in the extreme"? 

 It certainly does not resemble his machine if that is 

 distinguished for "the utmost simplicity of constnic- 

 tiou and detail," This and " a, more or less individual 



