18 
BULLETIN 973, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
MAN-HOUR REQUIREMENTS FOR WASHING BOTTLES. 
A study; of the labor required for washing bottles was made in 
different cities at plants using various types of machines. In Table 
6 are given the man-hours of labor used in washing bottles at various 
plants, arranged according to the number of bottles washed daily. 
Two types of bottle washers are considered: 
1. The automatic-pressure washer, which consists of a series of tanks containing 
washing solutions and rinsing waters, which are forced into the bottles through jets by 
powerful pumps. 
2 The ordinary brush washer, which consists of a mechanically driven brush, with 
tanks in which the bottles are soaked and rinsed, and a chamber for steaming the 
bottles. 
In the column showing "number of bottles washed per man-hour" 
it will be noted that for the plants using automatic washers the 
number of bottles washed per man-hour tends to increase, and the 
number of man-hours required to wash 1,000 bottles tends to de- 
crease with the size of the plant. The group of plants washing from 
20,000 to 40,000 bottles daily is an exception to the general tendency, 
because one plant in this group used an exceptionally large amount 
of labor, thus making the average labor cost for the w r hole group con- 
siderably greater than it would be if this plant were eliminated. 
This particular plant had an arrangement that was very expensive 
(as to number of men required) for transferring bottles from the w^ash 
rooms to the clean-bottle storage room and thence to the filling room. 
The bottles, too, were transferred to another set of cases before going 
to the washer, thus requiring considerable extra labor. Sixteen men 
were used at this plant in the bottle-washing department, while the 
average for the group is only 4.6 men. 
Table 6. — Hours of labor employed for washing bottles at plants of various sizes, using 
various methods. 
Number of bottles 
washed daily. 
Automatic washers 
(1 machine): 
10.000 or less 
10.001 to 20,000 
20,001 to 40,000 
40,001 to 60,000 
Over 60,000 
Average for 
56 plants... 
Automatic washers 
(2 machines): 
50,000 to 90,000.. 
Turbine brush 
washers: 
1.000 or less 
1.001 to 2,000. . . 
2,001 to 3, 000... 
3,001 to 5,000. . . 
Above 5,000.... 
Average for 
49 plants... 
Plants. 
Aver- 
age 
num- 
ber of 
bot- 
tles 
wash- 
ed per 
plant. 
6,079 
16, 146 
28,811 
51, 587 
79,333 
23,125 
63, 500 
626 
1,503 
2,321 
3,943 
8,700 
2,704 
Aver- Aver- 
num- 
ber of 
men 
per 
plant. 
num- 
ber of 
man- 
hours 
per 
plant. 
13.2 
1.6 
2.4 
2.4 
3.1 
5.0 
6.0 
15.6 
31.2 
48.4 
72.0 
23.1 
110.0 
2.1 
4.2 
7.3 
11.0 
29.3 
S.4 
Number of bottles 
washed per hour. 
Aver- 
Variation. 
2,497 1,296 to 5,400 
3,622 2,523 to 5,000 
4, 27S 2,760 to 7,916 
6,6144,866 to 10,187 
8, 8157,556 to 11,111 
4, 6281,296 to2 11,111 
7, 5825,555 to 10,588 
447 250 to 780 
710 233 to 1,700 
685 430 to 1,150 
952 400 to 2, 400 
1,5821,000 to 3, 200 
928 2 233 to 3. 200 
Number of bottle: 
washed per man- 
hour. 
Aver- 
age 
1 
Variation. 
Number of man- 
hours used per 
1,000 bottles 
washed. 
Aver- 
1,004 648 to 1,69H 
1,036 780 to 2,169 
920 281 1 to 2,209; 
1,0361694 to 1,718 
1, 102*855 to 2,519 
1.00 
.93 
1.10 
Variation. 
0. 59 to 1. 54 
. 46 to 1. 28 
.46to*3.55 
94 .58 to 1.44 
91 .40 to 1.17 
1,002 281 to* 2, 519 1.05 
577 375 to 844 
305 
360 
317 
358 
297, 
1.73 
250 to 400| 
233 to 566 
215 to 525 
250 to 525 
200 to 800 
3.28 
2.77 
3.16 
2.79 
3.3 
323 2 200 to 800 3. 
1 One plant in this group used an exceptionally large number of men for this work. 
2 Total range of variation. 
. 40 to 3. 55 
1. 19 to 2. 66 
2. 5 to 4. 
1. 8 to 4. 3 
1.9 to 4.6 
1.9 to 3.7 
1.2 to 5.0 
1.2 to 5.0 2 
