10 



BTJLLETIIT 973, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGEICULTURE. 



5. Fillers in which the bottles are filled in a manner similar to the 

 fourth method, but are capped by hand. 



Table 1 shows the labor used in filling and capping with the various 

 systems.* 



Table 1. — Comparative man-hour requirements, on the average, for filling and capping 

 bottles with different types of machines.^ 



Type of machine. 







Average 



Bottles 



Bottles 

 filled 

 and 



capped 



Plants. 



Cities. 



number 



of 

 machines 



filled 



and 



capped 







used per 



per 









plant. 



hour. 



hour. 



15 



5 



1.50 



5,994 



1,229 



31 



10 



2.00 



4,609 



701 



4 



4 



3.75 



10, 136 



763 



21 



8 



1.50 



3,717 



768 



60 



5 



1.20 



1,798 



553 



Bottles 



fiUed 



and 



capped 



per 

 machine- 

 hour. 



(1) Large automatic : . . 



(2) Rotary automatic 



(3) Single-row automatic 



(4) Machine filler and capper, operated by 



hand levers 



(5) Machine filler, with hand capping 



3,895 

 1,999 

 2,080 



2,338 

 1,576 



1 At practically all plants where data on labor used in filling and capping and in washing bottles were 

 obtained, the machines could be so adjusted that fialf-pint and gUl bottles could be handled as well as 

 quarts and pints. The data given were obtained on quart and pint bottles of milk only. 



The most important items in this table are those showing the 

 number of bottles filled and capped per man-hour. The largest 

 number of bottles per man-hour (1,229) was filled and capped with 

 the large automatic machine. The number filled and capped per 

 man-hour was not greatly different with the rotary, single-row, and 

 hand-lever types of machine, being 701, 763, and 768, respectively. 

 The number of bottles filled and capped per machine-hour was 

 nearly the same with the rotary and single-row tjrpes, being 1,999 

 and 2,080 respectively, v/hile with the machine filler and capper of 

 the hand-lever type 2,338 bottles were filled per machine-hour. 

 Some of the plants using the latter type of machine had large-capacity 

 machines, but on account of the extra men required to operate these 

 machines there was practically no saving in labor over the other types. 



In Table 2 are shown the wide variations in the man-hour and 

 machine-hour requirements at the various plants using the various 

 methods. 



Table 2. — Range of variation in the number of bottles filled and capped per hour, man- 

 hour, and machine-hour by the different methods. 



Type of machine. 



Bottles flUed 



and capped per 



hour. 



Bottles filled 



and capped per 



man-hour. 



Bottles filled 

 and capped per 

 machine-hour. 



(1) Large automatic 



(2) Rotary automatic 



(3) Single-row automatic 



(4) Machine filler and capper, operated by hand 



levers 



(5) Machine filler, hand capping 



1,933 to 10,958 

 1,350 to 13,333 

 1,833 to 15,077 



750 to 7,760 

 350 to 5,000 



966 to 2, 155 

 334 to 1,437 

 674 to 838 



320 to 1,552 

 238 to 866 



1,933 to 5, 479 

 1,114 to 3, 966 

 1,833 to 2, 154 



750 to 3, 880 

 350 to 3, 200 



It can be seen in this table that there is a wide variation in the 

 amount of work done at different plants using the same types of 

 machinery. It will be noticed that there was a wide variation in the 

 number of bottles filled per machine-hour, as well as in the number 



* For a description of various fillers and cappers, see U. S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin No.S 

 Milk-Plant Equipment. 



