Figure 7. Transferring congealed gelatin 

 to dry lag yard. 



completion of the process. 



by placing an oblong of gela- 

 tin in a box and pushing it 

 through a screen in the bottom 

 with a pliinger. The screen is 

 4 inches by 3 inches and the 

 mesh is 15 by 10 (Figure 8). 

 The shredded material and the 

 oblong sections are trans- 

 ferred to larger tregrs to 

 allow betuer circulation of 

 air (FigTires 9 and 10). The 

 tvays are stacked and left in 

 the field for from two to 

 three days for preliminary 

 freezing and hardening and 

 then are spread out for the 



d. The dehydration process consists of successive slow 

 freezing of the material during the night and thawing and drying during 

 the day. The principle of this process is that by the slow freezing of 

 the water content of the material, large ice crystals form, and when the 

 thawing takes place, the water runs off, carrying with it those impurities 

 which are water soluble ^nd those which are in suspension in the colloidal 

 gelatin. During the process the trays containing the gelatin are placed 

 in a tilted position to permit water to drain off as rapidly as possible 

 (Figures 10 and 11). 



e. This process is continued for a period of about two 

 weeks. The length of time required depends upon the weather conditions. 

 It is' sometimes necessary to extend the time as much as one week. When 



snow or rain occurs, the dry- 

 ing material is moved into a 

 ^ oovered shed to avoid ab-. 



sorption of water and impuri- 

 ties by the gelatin. 



f . When the 

 dehydration is completed, the 

 agar-ag^r is taken to the 

 packing shed (Figure 12) to 

 be sorted according to size, 

 shape, £ind color and is tied 

 in bundles of a convenient 

 size (Figtire 12) . From the 

 original 225 kilograms of 

 dried seaweed used in one 

 batcli, about 53 kilograms 

 Figure 8. Shraddisg of gelatin. (23 percent) of pure agar^- 



11 



