WEIGHING AND BULKING OF INDIAN TEAS. 285 



in the following manner : The revolution of the drum is stopped when 

 the openings through which the Tea is released are brought over the 

 weighing machines there are two for greater expedition on which 

 are placed the chests ready to receive it. The delivery doors (worked 

 by levers) being opened, the Tea is allowed to descend till the chest is 

 about half full, when the presser and beaters are brought into play by 

 hydraulic pressure. The presser is a piece of flat iron about an inch 

 in thickness, removable at pleasure, and varies in size to fit either a 

 chest or a box. The beaters are four pieces of the same metal, which 

 support the chest so soon as it is on the weighing machine. When 

 the chest is partly filled, the beaters are released, and, by the action 

 of a wheel, are made to strike all four sides of the chest, and thus 

 shake the Tea down. The presser is also brought down to press the- 

 Tea in. The action of both of these agents can be regulated to any 

 required degree of force. Thus by degrees the chest is filled, and (the 

 supporting beaters having been released and the presser raised) 

 is weighed and ultimately removed. Such, in brief, is the action 

 of the new Tea bulking machine. One or two points, however,, 

 remain to be mentioned. The power by which the machine is 

 actuated is hydraulic. The presser will not injure the Tea. The 

 beaters serve the triple purpose of holding the chest in position on 

 the weighing machine, of supporting it should it be of weak 

 construction, and of materially assisting the repacking of the Tea. 

 The beating action does not in any way injure the chests. Our readers 

 will also be pleased to know that certain very marked improvements 

 even upon the above described are already in hand by this Dock 

 Company improvements which will greatly increase the value and 

 usefulness of their machinery for bulking Teas. 



To descant on the advantages over the old system of bulking 

 which are possessed by the machine which has been described would 

 be little better than a waste of time. Yet some few points may be 

 briefly referred to. First, cleanliness is secured, for from first to last the 

 Tea is never touched by hand or foot. Again, the Tea cannot be injured, 

 nor can it lose its aroma, for it is never exposed to the atmosphere at 

 all. Instead of being allowed to lie on the floor of the warehouse for 

 any period, the entire process of bulking is completed without break 

 or delay. The Directors of the East and West India Dock Company 

 are not, of course, so sanguine as to imagine that the old system of 

 bulking will be at once abandoned; indeed, they have, as has been 



