Hamilton Grading Machine 97 



"The grading is usually done in the Northwestern fruit 

 sections by persons who desire to learn packing. The new 

 person is started into grading with a grading board having 

 circular holes bored through it the size of the apples in 

 each grade. One of these holes is 3^ inches in diameter, 

 one 3 inches and one 2^/4 inches. All apples that will not 

 go through the 3 l / 2 -inch hole are placed in a bin by them- 

 selves, and are packed as three and one-half tier. The 

 3 inch, and up to 3J/2, are placed by themselves, and are 

 packed as four-tier, while those between 3 and 2^4 inches 

 are packed as four and one-half tier, and those smaller than 

 23/4 are packed five tier. 



"Some growers who do not put up the very fancy packs 

 make but two sizes, 8^2 and 4 l /2 tiers. The graders size 

 the fruit so as to go into these two packs. A grader after 

 using a sizing board for half a day or so, will become so 

 accustomed to the sizes of the apples in the different 

 grades that the grading board will not be needed for every 

 apple, but it is always a good plan to keep the grading 

 board or ring within convenient reach, and occasionally try 

 the apples to see that the proper sizes are being kept. A 

 person's eyes quickly become fatigued, and it is easy to let 

 the fruit increase so gradually in size as to be unnoticed 

 by the grader, unless tried several times a day with a siz- 

 ing board. 



"The essential features of the Hamilton grader are two 

 long parallel troughs, each about six inches wide, slightly 

 inclined; each trough, or chute, is divided into three sec- 

 tions, or compartments, the bottom of each of these sec- 

 tions being formed by a heavy rubber belt. Thus there are 

 really three of these rubber belts for each trough, and each 

 belt has a succession of holes; the holes of each section 

 are one-fourth inch larger in diameter than the preceding 

 section, to accommodate apples of different sizes. 



"Our illustrations show the general appearance of the 

 grader. One of the troughs is for apples of 'fancy' grade, 

 the other for 'choice' grade. The troughs have padded 

 sides, and as the bottom is rubber the apples are not 



