2 BULLETIN 864, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



serves as a structure to carry the roller sorting conveyer. The con- 

 veyer is made by joining a series of wood rollers to a standard drive 

 chain made of alternate D-5 and plain No. 45 links. The roller 

 conveyer is carried up an incline of 23°, as illustrated in figure 1. 

 This slope may be reduced by lengthening the belt, but the conveyer 

 can not be operated successfully if it is made steeper, as some of the 

 larger fruit would be bruised by rolling back. The rollers are 2\ 

 inches in diameter and each is reamed out at both ends to receive the 

 pins on the D-5 links in the drive chains. The hopper or feed, which is 

 heavily padded and sloped slightly to permit the fruit to roll to the 



Fig. 1.— In order to make the machine more compact the sorting conveyer is joined to the sizer section 

 at right angles. Note the continuous bins and packing bench and also the tracks which carry the ropes. 

 The galvanized iron distributers seen at the ends of the ropes are used to divert the fruit to all parts of 

 the end bin. 



sorting conveyer, holds from a half bushel to a bushel of peaches. 

 Some sort of chute should be attached to the sides of this conveyer 

 at about halfway up the incline in order to provide a convenient 

 means for the disposal of defective fruit by the sorters. 



Figure 3 shows a cross section of the sizing mechanism and bins. 

 Rope sizers resembling this one in a general way have been in use to a 

 limited extent for many years. This machine is an improvement over 

 others of the same type, because the tracks carrying the sizing ropes 

 can be adjusted easily and quickly to any desired width while the 

 machine is in operation by the device shown in figures 4 and 5 and also 

 because the ropes are joined by a coupling which obviates the use of a 



