the completion. Any bruising that appeared could then be attributed to a 

 specific component of the line. 



After completing a test run, the fruit was recovered and set aside at 

 room temperature for a period of 24 hours. When this period had elapsed each 

 apple was examined, and the number of apples bruised, together with the 

 severity of their bruising, was recorded. The results are summarized in 

 table 5. In some cases, test lots comprising apples of varying degrees of 

 firmness were used, so that the relationship between fruit firmness and 

 amount of bruising could be determined. 



Conducting Bruise Tests 



Orchard run fruit was dumped by the drum dumper, carried across the leaf 

 eliminator, and passed over the sorting table. U. S. Fancy and better apples 

 continued through the singulator and sizer and traveled on the return-flow 

 belt; utilities were placed on the utility disposal belt and were collected by 

 automatic box fillers. Each component was tested individually with bruise-free 

 apples to determine the amount of bruising it caused, and then they were 

 tested together as a complete line. 



Dumper . --Field crates of bruise-free Mcintosh apples were placed down 

 on the friction-chain conveyor which delivered them to the drum dumper. 

 Arms on the dumper picked up the crates and carried them through the complete 

 dumping cycle. Each field crate was full, but no fruit extended above the 

 top of the crate. As apples dropped from the crate they scattered onto the 

 spreader belt, from which they were recovered and carefully placed in boxes 

 for holding. Fruit did not go onto the eliminator. 



One lot of apples tested had an average firmness of only 9-10 pounds, 

 and 5.6 percent of them were bruised. Of these, 1.6 percent were bruised to 

 a moderate degree, probably by an occasional top apple wedging between the 

 crate edge and rubber V-belts; or by an apple being pressed against the 

 V-belts as the crate was inverted. When fruit testing 16 pounds was dumped, 

 only 0.3 percent were bruised, and then only slightly. During a day's run, 

 overfilling of crates was probably responsible for most of the bruising that 

 took place in the dumping operation. 



Leaf eliminator . --Apples were set down on the spreader belt following 

 the dumper and recovered at the discharge end of the eliminator. Fruit 

 testing 15 pounds was used to test this component. Only 1 percent of these 

 apples bruised, and then only to a slight degree. 



Sorting table . --Bruise- free apples were introduced at the head of the 

 sorting table, traveled the length of the table (14 feet), and were recovered 

 after they left the brusher (which was not in operation) , and had rolled out 

 onto the spreader belt supplying the singulator. During the test, rollers 

 were rotating at 94 revolutions per minute, and the rate of translation was 

 30 feet per minute. 



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