EVAPORATING AS A HOME INDUSTRY IN EASTERN UNITED STATES 



175 



The poorest grades are quoted at seven cents for 

 evaporated and five cents for sun-dried. Other fruits 

 show similar differences. Not only is the sun-dried 

 product less valuable than the evaporated, but the 



process is slow and 

 inconvenient. The 

 fruit must be pro- 

 tected from showers 

 and dew. In rainy 

 weather, it is almost 

 impossible to get it 

 dry without having 

 it damaged. 



Artificial evapora- 

 tion. 



In the process of 

 evaporating, two dis- 

 tinct methods are 

 followed : one, by 

 means of air heated 

 by stoves or fur- 

 naces and then made 

 to circulate through 

 the drying fruit; the 

 other, an indirect 

 system, by means of 

 steam-pipes that pass through the evaporator. The 

 latter system has not yet been generally employed, 

 but it has many points in its favor and seems 

 likely to replace the direct-heating system in large 

 evaporators. 



There are three general types of construction of 

 the direct-heating system : the cabinet, the kiln, 

 and the tower or flue. 



Cabinet evaporators. — The cabinet evaporators 

 usually consist of a series of drawers with screen 

 bottoms, placed above a furnace or stove so that 

 the hot air passes up through the fruit. Sometimes 

 the floor under the lower screen is solid, with open- 

 ings at the sides. The hot air strikes this floor, is 

 divided into two currents that pass up on the sides, 

 then over the fruit to the center of the evaporator 

 and out at the top. Pig. 255 shows an evaporator of 

 this type. In these evaporators, the fresh fruit is 



Fig. 257. A fruit drier Get on an 

 ordinary cook-stove. 



usually placed in the upper drawer. When that on 

 the lower screen is sufficiently dried, it is removed 

 and each screen is lowered one space, making room 

 for a new screen in the top space. Usually there 

 are two series of drawers carrying twenty to 

 twenty-five screens, which are one to four feet 

 square, according to the size of the evaporator. 



There are many sizes and styles of these cabinet 

 evaporators. Some are small enough to stand on 

 the kitchen stove (Pigs. 256, 257), cost three to five 

 dollars, and have a capacity of one to four pecks 

 per day. Pig. 258 shows one of a larger size, made 

 of galvanized iron and provided with its own fur- 

 nace. This has twenty 12 x 24-inch screens, and 

 has a capacity of four to five bushels per day. 



Fie. 259. 



A simple portable evaporator, provided with 

 its own heater. 



Fig. 258. Fruit evaporator and furnace. 



Larger evaporators constructed by farmers usually 

 consist of a wooden building on a brick basement, 

 in which the furnace or stove is placed. The stove 

 pipe is carried around the basement so as to get 

 the full benefit of the heat. These usually have two 

 compartments, each of which has room for ten to 

 twelve screens that are about four feet square. 



Another form of cabinet evaporator sometimes 

 used is made with doors at the front and at the 

 back, and is much larger, so that there is room for 

 six to ten screens on one plane. Each newly filled 

 screen is put in at the highest level, and as it goes 

 in it pushes the preceding one toward the back. 

 When the first one reaches the back, it is put in 

 the next lower level and started toward the front 

 again. The screens are thus run back and forth 

 till they come out at the lowest level when the 

 fruit is sufficiently dried. 



Because of their cheapness and simplicity, the 

 cabinet evaporators are very popular with begin- 

 ners and with small growers. The smaller ones are' 

 well adapted to evaporating for home use. 



Kiln evaporators. — The kiln evaporator is simply 

 a room with a slatted floor, underneath which air- 

 pipes or smoke-pipes from a stove or furnace are 

 conducted. The buildings are usually constructed 

 with double walls or with some other device for 

 retaining the heat. The drying floor is placed 



