14 



BULLETIN 569, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



with unusual care if the trimmings are to be used for pulp, about 

 one-eighth as many sorters as peelers must be employed. 



Various methods have been tried unsuccessfully in different plants 

 in the hope of avoiding the labor and expense involved in a thorough 

 sorting of the stock before it passes to the peeling tables. An account 

 of the least successful methods follows. 



One method consists in furnishing each peeler with two buckets, 

 one for sound trimmings, the other for decayed portions. The 

 peelers are paid only for the peeled tomatoes. Hence, very little 

 or no attention is given to sorting the good from the bad portions 

 of the trimmings. Even if the sorting were done carefully there 

 would still be the objection that the good portions had been con- 

 taminated by contact with the partially rotten portions during the 

 handling after scalding and before peeling. 



Another method tried by some manufacturers is to rinse the trim- 

 mings themselves. This is unsatisfactory for the following reasons : 

 The washing results in a great loss of material; the trimmings on 

 account of their bulk can not be washed effectively ; and no washing 

 system has been devised which will remove certain types of decay. 



A third method is to inspect the trimmings after they leave the 

 peeling tables and to remove the bad portions. A small proportion 

 can be picked out in this manner, but the amount is so small that the 

 system is of very slight value. After a large number of cut pieces, 

 such as occur in trimmings, have been dumped together it is a 

 physical impossibility to sort out any but the more solid portions, 

 such as large pieces and those of dry or black rot. The pieces of 

 soft rot become mashed and contaminate the whole mass and can 

 not be removed. 



UNIFORMITY AND RATE OF FEEDING. 



The rate at which the tomatoes are fed upon the apron is an im- 

 portant factor in the efficiency of sorting. Tomatoes frequently are 

 fed so irregularly that it is impossible to obtain good results. 



Observations were taken at several plants for the purpose of 

 determining what variation occurs in feeding the tomatoes to the 

 sorting apron. The data from one of these inspections are given in 

 Table 3. 



Table 3. — Variation in rate of (lumping tomatoes into the washer. 



Time. 



Bushels. 



Time. 



Bushels. 



First 9 minutes 



8 

 

 9 

 

 4 













4 















4 

















