176 



EVAPORATING AS A HOME INDUSTRY IN EASTERN UNITED STATES 



about nine to twelve feet above the floor of the 

 furnace room. It is made of slats of hard wood 

 that are about one inch wide on top and one-half 

 inch wide at the bottom, so'that they have cracks 

 one-eighth to one-fourth inch wide. The cracks 

 are larger on the lower side, so as to prevent clog- 

 ging. On such a floor, hops, apples, pears, rasp- 

 berries, and the 

 like are evapo- 

 rated. Fig.260 

 shows such a 

 kiln filled with 

 apples. This 

 kiln is the com- 

 mon size in 

 New York, 20 

 x20 feet, and 

 will evaporate 

 one . hundred 

 bushels of ap- 

 ples per day. 





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^ --_ 



Fig. 260. A kiln of evaporating apples. 



or more if run all night. In this evaporator, two 

 men had charge of the furnace and of six kilns 

 that were evaporating 400 bushels per day. Fig. 

 261 gives the outside view of a five-kiln evaporator 

 of this type. It shows the ventilator at the ridge, 

 where the hot air escapes after passing over the 

 fruit. 



This system is open to the objection that the 

 fruit must be shoveled over from time to time to 

 insure uniform drying. If not skillfully done, some 

 will be too dry while other parts will not be dry 

 enough. The handling itself is likely to damage 

 some fruits. However, a skilled man ove'-comes 

 these objections. The system has some very decided 

 advantages over the tower system. Kilns are 

 cheaper to build, are less likely to take fire, and 

 require much less labor to operate. In some 

 neighborhoods the tower evaporators are now 

 being replaced by the kiln system for evaporating 

 apples. 



Tower or flue evaporators. — The tower evaporators 

 are the commonest ones in New York, where apple- 

 evaporating has become such a great industry. 

 They consist of a chimney-like structure of wood 

 or brick extending from the basement of the 

 building to a point higher than the roof. A stove 



Fig. 261. A flve-kiln evaporator. 



or furnace in the basement furnishes hot air that 

 passes through the tower. 



The tower is usually three to four feet square 

 and is provided with an endless chain or other lift- 

 ing device on which the screens may be placed. 

 The screens of fresh apples are placed in the tower 



at the first floor. By means of the lifting device, 

 the entire charge can be lifted by one operation, 

 so that the screens gradually rise as more are 

 added at the bottom. The screens of evaporated 

 fruit are removed on the second floor. In some 

 forms there is a double shaft, so arranged that the 

 screens are carried up to the top and down again 

 in the other side of the shaft, so that they may be 

 removed on the flrst floor. It will be seen that in 

 the former case the fresh fruit is placed directly in 

 the hottest part of the shaft, so that the vapor and 

 steam from this pass through the fruit that is 

 partly dried, while in the cabinet evaporators it is 

 placed in the coolest part and comes to the hottest 

 part as the drying nears completion. There is 

 some dispute as to which of these methods is the 

 more desirable, but the latter seems to be so. 



In Fig. 262 is shown an evaporator with three 

 brick towers. Each of these towers has a capacity 

 of twenty-five trays, each forty-nine inches square. 

 Such a plant will evaporate about fifty bushels of 

 apples or 1,600 quarts of raspberries per day for 

 each tower. 



Handling the crop. 



If the entire crop of an orchard is to be evapo- 

 rated, the apples are shaken from the trees. They 

 are cored, pared 

 and sliced by 

 machinery. Be- 

 fore slicing,they 

 are inspected by 

 a " t r i m m e r ," 

 who removes 

 any remaining 

 skin, core or de- 

 cayed places. 

 Before evapora- 

 ting, the apples 

 are placed in the 

 fumes of burn- 

 ing sulfur for a 

 few minutes for 

 the purpose of 

 bleaching. 



With a one- 

 tower evapora- 

 tor, fifty to sixty bushels can be evaporated in one 

 day by one parer, two trimmers, one slicer, and one 

 man to tend the evaporator, — five persons, four of 

 whom may be women and children. If kilns and 

 self-feeding slicers are used, the labor may be much 

 reduced. The average cost per bushel of evapora- 

 ting is eleven to fifteen cents. A bushel (50 pounds) 

 of apples produces five to eight pounds Of dried 

 stock. The early apples produce less than the 

 winter varieties. There is also much difference 

 between different varieties of the same season. If 

 properly dried, the average is six and one-fourth 

 to seven pounds. 



Apples that are not suitable for drying are 

 chopped and evaporated without paring or coring, 

 and are sold as chops." The cores and skins are 

 also dried, and are sold for the manufacture of 

 jellies and wines. 



Fig. 262. Three-Stack evaporator (coal- 

 shed on left) In Wayne county, Hew 

 York. 



