<x3 MONTHLY. C>* 
XXIII. 
COLOMBO, AUGUST, 1st 1903, 
No. S. 
THE TEA FACTORY OF THE 
FUTURE. 
{ContrihuUd.) 
(Continued from page 806.) 
III. 
BBEAiaNG AND SOKTING. 
ROM the drying room the leaf 
would go direct, iu a oontinous 
stream, to the breakers and 
sorters, where it wonld be 
manipulated and fed directly 
into the buiking machines. 
What form the breaker and 
sifter wil) take in the future 
is difficult to see; the breaker appears to be settled in 
all uiaiu principles, as it has been practically decided 
that it miist be a cutter as distinguished from a breaker, 
and it has been demonstrated that revolving teeth are 
better than vibrating perforated plates, the only 
apparent qaestion now remaining is how to prevail 
upon all the tea to oblige by lying across the teeth 
to be cut instead of trying to worm its way through 
endways. This frequently happens when the machines 
become old and more or less out of repair, and is 
got over in the most popular machine by autoraati- 
cally rubbing it through a strong No. 4 or No. 6 
wire mesh, v/hich would be alright if only the few 
long leaves were subjected to the treatment ; uufortu- ? 
Uiitely, however they often! block the road for the 
well cut leaf and subject it to the same treatment , 
so that the saving of a few pounds in renewals fre- 
quently spoils the appearance of the teai even if it 
does not result in the production of an undue amoaat 
of dust and fanniugs, for which the machine is 
unjaatly blamed, Anyhow, we ir.ay coulidcutly expect 
that the revolving cutter ia the one which has come 
to stay. With regard to the sorter, it is at present 
a case of revolving cylinder versus the vibration of 
planes over a small arc. The revolving machine 
gets through a vast amount of work more or less 
efficiently even when pressed, but some managers 
blame it for greying the tea, owiug to the constant 
rubbing it gets by running down the rising sides; 
this has been got over in the latest cylinder machine 
by the iotrodaction of more lifting pl^iites an! re- 
duced diameter. The up-to-date vibrator, ■ however, 
avoids this altogether by causing the leaf to jump 
from point to point in a manner that is absolately 
bound to give it a chance to get through its proper 
mesh sooner or latter, if only the sn.id mesh is long 
enough. The only difficulty with this machine, as 
now made, is, that it leaves too much to the skill 
and patience of the operator, as, if overloaded, it 
gets too deep to give the tea a chance to get through 
its proper mesh until the opportunity is pissed. 
I do not think the unit size of the machine will 
ever be much increased, because that must entail 
a lot of tea being crowded and hustled aboui and 
the largBL the machine, the longer the respsotiv* 
meshes, and so the longer the last leaf will be 
subjected to the possibility of being reduced to 
dust and fannings besides losing its bloom. It is 
difficult to give a strict and unbiased judgment 
between the two systems with regard to the future ; 
it is highly probable that both will continue to im- 
prove as time goes on, and it is also likely that 
both will be backed. The cylinder has the best start, 
as the original jauaper of many years ago was more 
or less of a failure from defective design, personally 
we would bick the mo'lern jampar for effijieacy and 
clean sorting, when properly worked. 
BULKi:^G. 
The bulkei's will have to be snffioiently large in each 
case to take a full twen±y-foar bonra' supply in each 
gcade, they must of course De kept hot and dry as the 
tja will go direct from thern to the packing department. 
PACKING. 
P.icking wil! of course be mechanicil in every ca-^^e, 
but in addition to the ordinary convenient balk sizes 
of chests, a large proportion of tea will continually be 
put up in canisters and packets for direct retail sale 
