18 



BULLETIN 973, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGKICULTURE. 



MAN-HOUR RKQUIREMENTS FOR WASHENG BOTTLES. 



A study of the labor required for washing bottles was made in 

 different cities at plants using various t^es of machines. In Table 

 6 are given the man-hours of labor used m washing bottles at various 

 plants, arranged according to the number of bottles washed daily. 

 Two types of bottle washers are considered: 



1. The automatic-pressure washer, which consists of a series of tanks containing 

 washing solutions and rinsing waters, which are forced into the bottles through jets by 

 powerful pumps. 



2 The ordinary brush washer, which consists of a mechanically driven brush, with 

 tanks in wliich the bottles are soaked and rinsed, and a chamljer for steaming the 

 bottles. 



In the column showing "number of bottles washed per man-hour" 

 it will be noted that for the plants using automatic washers the 

 number of bottles washed per man-hour tends to increase, and the 

 number of man-hours required to wash 1,000 bottles tends to de- 

 crease with the size of the plant. The group of plants washing from 

 20,000 to 40,000 bottles daily is an exception to the general tendency, 

 because one plant in this group used an exceptionally large amount 

 of labor, thus making the average labor cost for the whole group con- 

 siderably greater than it would be if this plant were eliminated. 

 This particular plant had an arrangement that was very expensive 

 (as to number of men required) for transferring bottles from the wash 

 rooms to the clean-bottle storage room and thence to the filling room. 

 The bottles, too, were transferred to another set of cases before going 

 to the washer, thus requiring considerable extra labor. Sixteen men 

 were used at this plant in the bottle-washing department, while the 

 average for the group is only 4.6 men. 



Table 6. — Hours of labor employed for washing bottles at plants of various sizes, u^ing 



various methods. 



Number of bottles 

 washed daily. 



Plants. 



Aver- 

 age 

 num- 

 ber of 

 bot- 

 tles 

 wash- 

 ed per 

 plant. 



Aver- 

 age 

 num- 

 ber of 

 men 

 per 

 plant. 



Aver- 

 age 

 num- 

 ber of 

 man- 

 hours 

 per 

 plant. 



Number of bottles 

 washed per hour. 



Number of bottles 

 washed per man- 

 hour. 



Number of man- 

 hours used per 

 1,000 bottles 

 washed. 





Aver- 

 age. 



Variation. 



Aver- 

 age. 



Variation. 



Aver- 

 age. 



Variation. 



Automatic washers 

 (1 machine): 



10.000 or less 



10.001 to 20,000 



20,001 to 40,000 



40,001 to 60,000 



Over 60,000 



19 

 12 

 17 

 5 

 3 



6,079 

 16, 146 



28,811 

 51, 587 

 79,333 



2.7 

 3.6 

 4.6 

 6.2 



8.0 



6.0 

 15.6 

 31.2 



48.4 

 72.0 



2,497 

 3,622 

 4,278 

 6,614 

 8,815 



1,296 to 5,400 

 2,523 to 5,000 

 2,760 to 7,916 

 4,666 to 10,187 

 7.556 tn 11.111 



1,004 

 1.036 

 920 

 1,0S6 

 1,102 



648 to 1,691 

 780 to 2,169 

 2811 to 2,209 

 694 to 1,718 

 855 to 2,519 



1.00 

 .93 



1.10 

 .94 

 .91 



0. 59 to 1. 54 

 . 46 to 1. 28 

 .43 to 13.55 

 .58 to 1.44 

 . 40 to 1. 17 









Average for 





23,125 



4.0 



23.1 



4, 6281,296 toni,lll 



1,002 



281to2 2,519 



1.05 



. 40 to 3. 55 









Automatic washers 

 (2 machines): 

 50,000 to 90,000.. 



4 



63,500 



13.2 



110.0 



7, 5825,555 to 10,588 



577 



375 to 844 



1.73 



1.19 to 2. 66 



Turbine brush 

 washers: 



1.000 or less 



1.001 to 2,000... 

 2,001 to 3, 000... 

 3,001 to 5,000... 

 Above 5,000 



10 

 17 

 9 

 7 

 6 



626 

 1,503 

 2,321 

 3,943 

 8,700 



1.6 

 2.4 

 2.4 

 3.1 



5.0 



2.1 

 4.2 

 7.3 

 11.0 

 29.3 



447 250 to 780 

 710 233 to 1.700 

 685 430 to 1,150 

 952 400 to 2, 400 

 1,5821,000 to 3,200 



305 

 360 

 317 



358 

 297 



250 to 400 

 233 to 566 

 215 to 525 

 250 to 525 

 200 to 800 



3.28 

 2.77 

 3.16 

 2.79 

 3.37 



2.5 to 4.0 



1.8 to 4.3 



1.9 to 4.6 

 1.9 to 3.7 

 1.2 to 5.0 



Average for 

 49 plants 





2,704 



2.6 



8.4 



928 2 233 to 3.200 



323' 2 200 to 800 



3.0 



1.2 to 5. 02 

















1 One plant in tliis group used an exceptionally large number of men for this worlc. 



2 Total range of variation. 



