THE MILK CONTRACTOR 317 



them to work about five times as fast. It consists of a tank with four 

 castors that travel on runners at each side of a table wide enough to hold 

 four quart bottles. Four nickel-plated brass valves that are opened and 

 closed by a lever are at one end of the tank which is rolled over the first 

 four bottles, the lever raised and the bottles filled when the tank is pushed 

 over the next four and the operation repeated and so on till all the bottles 

 on the table are filled when they are capped, washed off and put in crates 

 by hand. These machines with their solid metal valves are easily kept 

 clean but the valves in time wear and leak. 



Larger dairymen use fillers, the tanks whereof are mounted on a sub- 

 stantial galvanized iron framework and have four to a dozen valves at 

 one or both ends of the tanks and are operated by a hand lever that lifts 

 the crate holding the bottles and presses their mouths against the valves 

 in such a way as to open them and let the milk run in. Milk is usually 

 delivered into the bottles in such a way that it runs down their sides and 

 so foaming is greatly reduced. An air tube in each valve allows the foam 

 and surplus milk to escape from the bottle. When the bottles are filled 

 the lever is lowered, the crate drops and the valves close. If all the bottles 

 in a case are filled at a time, they are capped forthwith but if only four are 

 filled the crate is moved forward and four more bottles filled while the 

 operator caps the full bottles. Such machines as this fill 24 quart bottles 

 a minute. The tanks of these machines are usually of heavily tinned 

 copper with rounded corners and with all seams soldered smoothly. Some 

 of them have a gate so that the milk can be quickly drawn off into cans. 

 In some instances the tanks are of enamelware but on the whole this 

 material cannot be commended because it chips, leaving rough spots and 

 cracks that cannot be properly cleaned. The valves need careful atten- 

 tion. They usually consist of an air tube, stem, sleeve, spring and rubber 

 tip ; in some patterns there are nuts and -threads besides rubber washers 

 and jackets; consequently, unless the valves are made so that they can be 

 easily taken apart in such a way that each part can be separately cleaned, 

 they are likely to become very foul and contaminate every bottle of milk 

 that is filled. When the valves are of proper design and are kept clean 

 these fillers are excellent but when the valves are patterned so that the 

 rubbers and other parts cannot be detached or when the cleaning of the 

 machine is neglected, they are abominable. Case-moving devices are 

 often attached to the stands. 



Within the last four years rotary fillers and cappers have been put on 

 the market and have found acceptance by the largest concerns. The 

 milk is held in a round tank with 10 valves in the bottom. A revolving 

 conveyor carries the bottles in single file beneath the tank when each 

 bottle, in turn, as it arrives in position beneath a valve is automatically 

 raised, thus opening the valve and filling the bottle as it travels in a cir- 

 cular path beneath the tank. When it completes the circuit the bottle is 



