﻿>>.) 



BULLETIN 1U1, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



which are pushed into it occasionally as they accumulate, into the 

 waste conveyor. 



The conveyor for pared and trimmed apples occupies the center 

 of the table and is raised on posts, so that there is a clearance of 

 6 inches between its bottom and the top of the table. Pared apples 

 drop from the machines and roll down the incline beneath the con- 

 veyor to the opposite side, where they are arrested by the edging 

 strip. The trimmers then remove any bits of peel or other im- 

 perfections and toss the trimmed apples upon the conveyor. The 

 elevation of the conveyor above the table keeps peels and waste out 

 of it and also permits ready inspection and easy detection of care- 

 less work on the part of any trimmer. Details of construction of 



the table and arrangement of 

 its equipment will be clear 

 from an inspection of Fig- 

 ure 9. 



At the end of the paring 

 table the conveyors for apples 

 and waste deliver into paral- 

 lel elevators which carry them 

 to the second floor. 



These elevators are inclined 

 15 or 20 degrees from the ver- 

 tical and are of the link-belt 

 slat - and - bucket type already 

 described. The conveyor for 

 pared apples extends through 

 the floor and nearly to the ceil- 

 ing of the second story, where 

 it delivers the fruit into a hop- 

 per from which it drops into 

 the bleacher ; that for peels and 

 cores extends only far enough 

 above the floor level to deliver 

 the waste into a large box 

 mounted on a hand truck, on which it is rolled into the kilns. In case 

 peels and cores are not dried, but are pressed for cider or otherwise 

 disposed of, the elevator to the second floor is not constructed, and the 

 waste is taken directly from the end of the paring-table conveyor to 

 be pressed or discarded as the case may be. 



The bleachei\ — The purpose of treatment of the fruit with the 

 fumes of sulphur is primarily to prevent discoloration by oxida- 

 tion in the air and also to bleach or remove such discoloration 

 as has already occurred prior to the treatment. For this latter 

 purpose sulphuring is not wholly effective, and for this reason it is 

 imperative that fruit reach the bleacher in the shortest possible 

 time after paring. For the further reason that contact of iron 

 with the pared flesh greatly accelerates the rate at which discolora- 

 tion occurs and also makes it impossible to remove it, the conveyors, 

 elevators, and even the bleacher itself are so constructed that metal 

 does not come in contact with the pared fruit. Bleaching was at one 

 time carried out in sulphuring cabinets or boxes, in which the pared 

 or sliced fruit was exposed in trays or shallow boxes to the action of 



]'n.. '.}. — A section through the worktable. 



