Instead of molded pulpwood trays, polyurethane-foam pads were used by 
some packers in 1960. Fountain (30) compared bruising of apples when place- 
packed on 1/8-inch polyurethane pads with that of apples packed in trays and 
in individual cells. The bruising of Delicious and Winesap apples amounted to 
8 to 10 percent in trays and 21 to 25 percent when place-packed. Golden Deli- 
cious bruised 18 percent when place-packed and 3 percent when packed in indivi- 
dual cells. Inspection of many cars of apples shipped in polyurethane packs 
indicated that 3/16-inch pads were inadequate to prevent bruising. It was the 
general conclusion of the inspectors that these pads do not protect Golden 
Delicious as well as cell packs, and pads do not protect Delicious and Winesaps 
as well as trays. Polyurethane pads thicker than three-sixteenths inch were 
not evaluated (98). In 1962, Fountain (31) tested various cushioning materials 
between layers of apples packaged in shrinkable films. He found none performed 
better than double-face corrugated board. 
It was reported in 1953 that as many as five sizes of apples can be 
grouped in one standard box with no increase in bruising, provided proper pack- 
ing technique is used. Small apples should be placed in ends of the boxes and 
the larger apples in the middle. Small and large apples scattered throughout 
a package increased bruising (34). This kind of pack requires close supervi- 
sions; but, both experimentally and commercially, group-size packs have been 
produced with no more--and in some cases less--bruising than the regular stand- 
ard pack (36). Further, it has been stated that these group-size packs permit 
not only the use of simpler sizers and easier segregation in the warehouse, but 
also they make possible easier mechanical packing of apples (34). 
Float-packers have been used in the United States for some time to reduce 
bruising of apples and lessen packing costs, Essentially, these packers consist 
of sliding drawers with false bottoms. The apples are put into molded trays, 
and the trays are placed in position in fiber cases simply by pushing the drawer 
in, pulling it out, and then releasing the false bottom to allow the tray to 
settle into the case by gravity. This method also was introduced recently into 
Australia (2). 
In 1955, Carlsen and Herrick (17) described an automatic box filler for 
loose-filling wood or fiberboard containers. They wrote: 'It uniformly fills 
three to four boxes of apples a minute, or up to 1,600 boxes a day, when heavy 
supplies of fruit are available to the packing line. It provides more gentle 
handling of the apples, with less danger of bruising than most manual methods 
of box filling." 
Burt (14) used an automatic box filler which reduced bruising of apples 
of 9.5 firmness to 6.4 percent from a former average of 21.6 percent. There 
was little or no significant difference in bruising of fruit that tested 16 or 
17 pounds firmness. 
Containers 
Once it was customary for shippers to pack apples in wooden boxes in 
such a manner that a crown or bulge occurred when the lid was applied. It was 
assumed that a tight pack reduced damage to the enclosed apples and that buyers 
demanded the practice. In 1948, a Los Angeles survey (109) showed that 60 per- 
cent of the jobbers and retailers preferred a middle weight to a heavy pack, in 
order to obtain less bulging. The consensus was that the bulge pack produced 
not less bruising but more. The bulge pack often badly bruises every apple in 
contact with the lid, flattens those that touch the sides and bottom of the 
package, and many of those in the middle are deeply dented (46). The causes of 
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