PHOCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 497 



"the steam pipes. After leaving the hot-air chamber the band was 

 carried back on rollers underneath the box. The temperature of the 

 hot-air chamber was regulated by means of a steam-tap and a lever 

 which opened two ventilators situated under the box. A thermometer 

 was passed through a hole in the roof until its bulb was situated a few 

 centimetres above the cloth band. The seed was fed on to the band 

 by an automatic feeder consisting of a grooved roller revolving under 

 a hopper with an adjustable outlet. The rollers carrying the canvas 

 band were connected with a variable gearing apparatus by means of 

 which the speed at which the band travelled could be regulated. 



The machine was tested by Mr. Storey in June 1914. It was found 

 to kill the worms satisfactorily without affecting the germination of 

 the seed, but was only able to treat one ardeb of seed in five hours. 

 This machine was only a working model. 



Our carbon bisulphide machine and Crovisier's machine were 

 •demonstrated in June 1914 to a meeting of ginners and other persons 

 interested in the problem. The results of the meeting showed that 

 gimiers would object more to any machine employing a poisonous or 

 explosive gas than to a machine whose action was based on the applica- 

 tion of heat. The Ministry of Agriculture consequently decided to 

 devote special attention to the elaboration of a machine on the latter 

 lines and to have a working model erected. 



The contract was given to Messrs. T. Cook & Sons, Bulaq, in 

 January 1915, and the machine was expected to be delivered by the 

 end of February. Owing to the war, delivery was not actually made 

 until November 1915. 



The machine is really a very simple one. In its main lines it consists 

 of a furnace for the generation of the hot air, a hot air chamber through 

 which the seed passes, and a motor (Plate 92). The hot air 

 machine is a rectangular box of iron, insulated on the outside by asbestos 

 to avoid loss of heat. Internally there are four endless bands made 

 of iron chains, with trays on which the seed is carried. By a contri- 

 vance the seed, after having been carried nearly the whole journey on 

 the upper surface of the upper part of a band, is discharged on to the 

 upper surface of the lower part of the same band, and from here, after 

 travelling nearly the whole journey, it is again discharged on to the 

 upper surface of the upper part of the next band, and so on, until 

 ■finally it is discharged into an Archimedean screw conveyor which 

 carries it into the sacking exit. 



The seed is fed in at the top of the machine by an automatic hopper, 

 which drops in exactly the quantity of seed required to make a layer 

 one seed deep on the endless bands. 



