CAN WASHING 141 



odors discourages the farmer from making the necessary effort 

 to produce good cream because he realizes that if it is exposed 

 to the contaminating influences of such a can, the cream will soon 

 deteriorate anyway, regardless of the care he has exercised in 

 its production. The proper cleaning of the cans at the factory 

 should, therefore, receive most careful attention. 



Can Washing Equipment. Great efforts have been made 

 within recent years by creameries and manufacturers of cream- 

 ery machinery to devise and construct machines that could be 

 depended upon to cleanse, sterilize and dry the cans. While 

 there is still room for much progress on this point, much im- 

 provement in the available can washing equipment has resulted 

 from these efforts. 



Washing cans by hand is a laborious and time-consuming 

 work, distasteful to the great majority of creamery employees. 

 On account of its disagreeable features it is difficult to secure 

 men who are dependable to do this work properly and who do 

 not yield to the temptation of slighting it when rushed and in 

 the absence of close supervision. 



The earlier attempts at machine washing consisted of the 

 use of mechanical brushes revolving in a can wash trough. The 

 cans were slipped over these brushes, the brushes by the opera- 

 tion of a lever, were then expanded to touch the inside and out- 

 side of the cans, cleaning it while revolving. Later steam and 

 hot air jets were attached to the end of these washers for the 

 purpose of sterilizing and drying the washed cans. 



The latest designs of can-washing machines consist of so- 

 called hydraulic can washers, in which the cans automatically 

 pass in an inclosed chamber over a series of jets which rinse, 

 wash, steam and dry the cans. These washing machines are 

 made in varying sizes taking care of 100 to 300 cans per hour. 

 Some are of circular type while others are straight-away. The 

 circular washers have the advantage of economizing space and 

 of making it possible for the same person who places the un- 

 washed cans into the machine to also remove the washed cans 

 from the machine. In plants where it is desirable to discharge 

 the clean cans as far away as possible from the intake of the 

 unwashed cans, in order to clear the floor, the straight-away 

 machines are more serviceable. 



