There were 48 damaged boxes in the 8 test loads from controlled-atmosphere 

 storage, an average of 6 boxes per load. The damaged boxes constituted only 

 0.9 percent of the total of .5,325 boxes in these 8 test loads. 



The 295 damaged boxes in the combined 21 test loads averaged 14 boxes 

 per load and represented 2 percent of the total of 14,567 boxes in these loads. 

 The principal types of container damage were: Compression or squeezing, 

 creasing, bulging or buckling, puncturing or denting, and wetting from ice 

 water leaks in the trailer ice bunkers. Of the 295 damaged boxes, 274 were 

 in these damage categories. Although 2 percent container damage is not con- 

 sidered an excessive amount, even less would be desirable. 



The causes of the transportation damage to the containers, according to 

 frequency of occurrence were: Overhead weight of boxes coupled with vertical 

 load impacts or vibration; failure of load-securing devices to hold the load 

 in place tightly; poor load arrangement, some of which was due to irregular 

 loading patterns from mixing nonuniform sizes of boxes in the same load; load 

 shift from too much load slack; impacts from over-the-road operation of 

 trailers; moisture absorption by boxes; and rough handling of boxes during 

 loading of the trailers. 



The comparative amount of commodity bruising at origin and destination 

 in 12 test loads of Mcintosh apples out of regular storage from Massachusetts 

 and Maine origins to Florida destinations during February and March 1959 

 appears in table 2. These data were developed from inspection by the Federal - 

 State Inspection Service in Massachusetts and Maine and by the USDA Fresh 

 Products Standardization and Inspection Service at destination. 



The cell -pack fiberboard boxes in the 12 loads, on the basis of the 

 inspection of all sample boxes combined, averaged 12 percent slight bruising 

 (not affecting grade), 1.8 percent damage by bruising, and 0.3 percent serious 

 bruising at origin. At destination the corresponding percentages were 17.6, 

 8.3, and 4 percent. Thus there were increases in the bruising averages at 

 destination of 5.6 percentage points for slight bruising, 6. 5 percentage points 

 for damage by bruising, and 3.7 percentage points for serious bruising, most 

 of the latter consisting of punctures from the stems of other apples. 



Examination of the sample boxes showed bruising at origin in the master 

 fiberboard boxes containing plastic film bags of apples averaged 2.1 percent 

 slight bruising (not affecting grade), 1.1 percent damage by bruising, and 

 0.5 percent serious bruising. At destination the corresponding averages were 

 21.6, 11, and 26.9 percent, increases of 19.5, 9.9, and 26.4 percentage points 

 compared with the averages at origin. Stem punctures comprised the major part 

 of the serious bruising. 



The increases in bruising rates at destination over the bruising rates 

 at origin, expecially serious bruising, were much greater for the master 

 boxes containing plastic film bags of apples than for the cell -pack boxes in 

 which each apple is packed tightly in an individual paperboard cell. The 

 apples could not be tightly packed in the plastic film bags because of the 

 irregular sizes of the fruit. Usually the filled bags did not reach the 

 top of the master fiberboard box. The resulting looseness of pack caused the 



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