July i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



55 



posite direction, dropping it in turn at its other end upon 

 a lower and longer band working in the opposite direction 

 to the one above it, which latter again takes it back and 

 drops it on a third lower and longer band, and so on till 

 the lowest is reached, when it emerges from the machine 

 completely dried. To prevent the tea from collecting in 

 lumps when thrown iuto the hopper, in other words in 

 order to sprinkle the tea and well and evenly over the 

 surface of the upper band, a patent " Kicker," is attached, 

 By pushing against the tea in its effort to be carried along 

 by the band, the " Kicker " has the desired effect, and Mr. 

 Jackson attaches very considerable importance to this fea- 

 ture in his Drier. Thermometers can be attached showing 

 the heat at different points, and as both the speed at 

 which the bands revolve and the heat can be regulated 

 and are under perfect control, there is only the danger of 

 carelessness to fear, so far as burning goes. An experi- 

 ment was tried with elder leaves. These were rolled in one 

 of Mr. Jackson's" Excelsiors" then saturated with water, 

 so, that on squeezing a handful the water poured out. 

 In 15 minutes after beiug thrown into the hopper they 

 emerged perfectly crisped and dried and without sign of 

 burning. Elder leaves are not tea leaves it is true, but 

 the result was eminently promising. The patentee has 

 formed his calculations as to its working capacity, but does 

 not wish to publish them until he has put them to the 

 proof after the machine has been tried with tea. The 

 price has not yet been decided upon. This Drier is going 

 out to Oiunomara, one of the Jorehaut Oo.'s gardens, on 

 trial. The party of inspection appeared of one opinion, 

 viz., that only one thing prevented a decided expression 

 of thorough approval and confident, and that was, that tea 

 leaves are possibly not to be judged by the behaviour of 

 elder leaves. Peripatetic Planter. 



TEA MACHINERY— ROLLING MACHINERY. 



(From the Indigo and Tea Planters' Gazette.) 

 No person is more indebted to the aid of machinery than 

 the tea planter, especially in the process of rolling. It is 

 by no means unusual in the height of the season to see 

 5,000 lb. of leaf plucked in a day in a medium sized tea 

 garden; and when it is considered that a man's daily task 

 at band-rolling is to roll about 40 lb., and that thus the 

 above quantity would therefore require the daily labour of 

 over 120 men, whoreas it could be easily rolled in less time 

 by an Excelsior or other well constructed rolling machine, 

 the value of the application of machinery to the process will 

 be perceived : indeed it is difficult to conceive how, with the 

 present scarcity of labour, the tea manufacture in India 

 could be carried out to the extent it is without the aid of 

 machinery. As the rolling machine is the most important 

 aid to the tea planter, we will give it the first place in the 

 present series of papers describing the machinery used in 

 tea manufacture. And let me premise my remarks by re- 

 minding the reader that it is always difficult for an engineer 

 to describe machinery without resorting to technical 

 words and phrases not easily understood by persons 

 not members of his own profession. In these papers 

 such technicalities will be avoided as much as possible. 

 The question naturally arises at the outset as to 

 why tea should be rolled. There are two good and suffi- 

 cient reasons for this. The first, is that it is necessary to 

 break the cells of the leaf in order that the juice or sap 

 may be exposed to the oxygenating effects of the atmos- 

 phere during that most important stage of tea manufac- 

 ture designated for want ofa better term the "fermentation" 

 of the leaf. The second reason has reference to the after 

 processes of sifting and separating the tea after being 

 dried, as the closer and more compact the twist given in 

 the roiling machine, the greater will be the quantity of tea 

 which will pass through the meshes of the sifting machinery, 

 and consequently there will be a less percentage of 

 coarse tea, and thus less necessity for breaking the coarser 

 tea and the consequent distinction of their appearance 

 and production of dust. Each process in tea manufacture 

 i* so intimately connected with the others that success in 

 ail can only be obtained by a close attention to each; thus 

 the success in rolling depends much on the care and at- 

 tention paid to the withering process, an even ferment- 

 ation will only be obtained when the leaf has been evenly 

 and coolly rolled, and so on. As to the extent to which 

 leaf should bo rolled opinions differ. I know a concern 



in which the superintendent, one of the beet tea makers 

 in Iudia, insists on rolling the leaf up to a point at which, 

 according to ordinary opinions, the leaf is utterly destroyed. 

 Most persons content themselves, however, with giving 

 the leaf as good a twist as they can without breaking it 

 up. We will next proceed to consider the essentials 

 of a good tea rolling machine before proceeding to de^ 

 scribe the different machines themselves. The first great 

 essential is a large outturn. In the height of the season, 

 except in a small factory, the rolling machine should be 

 able to turn out daily a minimum of well-twisted leaf of 

 about 60 maunds, or say 4,SU0 lb., and this even when the 

 leaf is hard through cold weather or excessive rain. The 

 rolling should be done in a period of time not exceeding 

 ten hours, so as not to have the fermenting and drying 

 process going on after dark. Everyone who has had any 

 practical experience of the working of a tea factory 

 knows how important this is. The tea makers get tired, 

 and are apt to be careless in a process which requires the 

 most unremitting care and attention. It is also difficult to 

 see the correct colour of the fermenting leaf by lamp- 

 light. Every tea house therefore should possess sufficient 

 rolling and drying power to finish off every thing, even in 

 the height of the season, or when the leaf is difficult to 

 wither, by 5 p. m. The importance therefore of having a 

 machine capable of turning out quickly large quantities of 

 leaf is obvious. There is another reason of great im- 

 portance. The leaf must not be over-withered before 

 being rolled, and as sometimes a lot of leaf is ready at 

 once for rolling, it is important that it should be 

 manipulated as quickly as possible before it gets too 

 much withered. The second essential in a good rolling 

 machine is, that it must give a good twist to the leaf 

 without breaking or crumbling it up much. I referred 

 above to the advantage to be derived in the sorting stage by 

 the leaf having been previously well twisted, but this is not 

 the only one arising from a good even twist. The more 

 evenly the tea is twisted, the more regular and even will be 

 the fermentation, and consequently the liquor and outturn 

 will be better, and the tea fetch a higher price. It is most 

 disappointing to a good tea-maker to have all his efforts in 

 the tea-house nullified by his rolling machine beiug unfit 

 to give a good even and firm roll to the leaf. It is essen- 

 tial, or at least in the opinion of most tea-makers benefi- 

 cial, that the leaf should be rolled as coolly as possible, 

 and that as little heat as possible be evolved by friction in 

 the process. The lower the temperature of the leaf is kept 

 during the process of rolling the better and more even will 

 be the fermentation. Another important point to be noted 

 is, that no iron In the machine should come in contact 

 with the tea, as iron tennate, a substance similar to 

 writing ink, would at once be formed and the tea dis- 

 coloured. Another point of very great importance is that 

 the machine should be capable of being readily filled and 

 emptied. When leaf is spoiling in the withering loft by 

 being overwithered, or when heavy flushes are on the 

 garden, and much leaf coming in and every minute is pre- 

 cious, the importance of the above cannot be overestimated. 



The last aud one of the most important of the essentials 

 of a good rolling machine is that it should be of simple con- 

 struction, not liable to readily get out of order, easily repaired 

 and kept in order, and easily driven. Few concerns can 

 afford to keep an engineer or mechanic of their own, and it is 

 not always easy, especially in the rains, to obtain the services 

 ofa competent man ; nor do most planters care about taking 

 on themselves the responsibility or trouble of repairing 

 their own machinery, even if competent to do so, which few 

 are. Moreover it is a great loss to have to take a lot of 

 men from the hoe to roil the leaf, just when they are most 

 needed at their legitimate cultivating work. It is then ex- 

 tremely desirable that tea machinery, aud most of all 

 the rolling machine should be strongly and simply con- 

 structed so as to minimize the chances of a break-down. 



Let us now proceed to consider the different machines 

 used in rolling tea leaf. It is difficult to obtain the facts as 

 to whom the credit of introducing machinery for rolling 

 leaf must be given, but I believe Mr. Nelson to have been 

 amongst the first if not the first inventor in this line. I 

 will proceed as much as possible chronologically in describ- 

 ing the machinery so that the reader while studying its 

 construction may also observe the various improvements 

 which have taken place, and its gradual development. 



