Sterilizing. 7 1 



been so at the time of closing the bottles, if it is so 

 yet at the time of sale or consumption. A bottle of 

 milk with the wire fastening may look all right when 

 it comes out of the sterilizing apparatus, but if there 

 has existed the slightest inequalit} 7 of tension in the 

 wires, and the stopper sits one-sided, or with the pres- 

 sure drawn to one side only, then, when cooling the 

 reduction in the volume of milk, produces a suction 

 strong enough to draw in some of the outer air into 

 the bottle, and with this air, naturally, germs enter. 

 As a consequence, such milk is no longer sterile, but 

 is likely to turn at any time and produce results 

 which, while they may prove disastrous to the con- 

 sumer, are sure to damage the reputation of the man- 

 ufacturing dairyman. Several cases of this kind re- 

 curring in a neighborhood are amply sufficient to ruin 

 the manufacturer and bring discredit on the article it- 

 self. Another porcelain stopper, made by Timpe, aban- 

 doned the wire locking and trusted to the atmospheric 

 pressure to do the sealing ; this would work well and 

 neatly as long as the top of the bottle was ground to 

 a perfectly smooth flange, to which the rubber washer 

 would adjust itself snugly, but this bottle did not find 

 extensive application — firstly, because it was too ex- 

 pensive and, secondly, because during sterilization 

 the expanding gasses from the bottle frequently lift 

 the stopper and washer, which then do not settle 

 down again to their place, so that such bottles have 

 to be readjusted and go through the sterilizing pro- 

 cess again. 



