lo Dec, 1909.] 



Grape Stcmiiiers. 



757 



GRAPE STEMMERS. 



AUSTRALIAN AND FRENCH TYPES COMPARED. 



/•". dc Castclla, Government Viiiciiliurist. 



When one compares the grape crushing and stemming machinery in 

 use in European wine countries with that made and generally used in 

 Australia, one cannot fail to be struck by a fundamental difference in 

 construction between the two which is, in my opinion, of sufficient im- 

 portance to merit the serious consideration of our growers. This difference 

 lies in the form of the movable or working portion of the stemmer 

 proper. 



Both French and Australian stemmers {egrafpoirs as they are termed 

 in the former language) consist of a non-movable half cylinder, generally 

 known in Australia as a " concave," made of perforated metal, in which 

 the separation of the grapes from their stalks takes place. In the axis 

 of this half cylinder turns a spindle to which are fixed beaters, which, 

 by throwing the grapes violently about cause the berries to fall through 

 the perforations, whilst the stalks move forward and are evacuated at the 

 opposite end of the cvlinder to that at which the gra|)es enter the machine 



FIG. 1. MABILLE's grape CRUSHER AND .STEMMER. 



It is in the form and nature of these beaters, that the radical difference 

 between the French and Australian machines is to be found. In Austra- 

 lian machines the beaters consist of oblique, but continuous, wooden bars, 

 set so as to form an acute angle with the plane in which the axis of the 

 spindle is situated. These beaters, usually to the number of four, move 

 at a very short distance from the perforated "concave" against which 

 they literally rub the grapes, separating and pushing them through the 

 perforation. The small angle at which they are set, causes the stalks 

 to move forward towards the end where they are thrown out. In 

 French machines the beaters, instead of being continuous, consist of a 

 series of pegs fixed into the spindle, around which they form a spiral 

 or helicodal row, this arrangement serving the same purpose as the 

 oblique set of our beaters, viz. , to make the stems move forward towards 

 the exit. 



