6 
BULLETIN 890, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The following table shows the quantities of milk saved by drip 
savers at several plants: 
Table 3. — Quantity of milk saved by drip savers at several plants. 
Plant No. 
Quantity 
cf milk 
dumped. 
Milk saved with a 
drip saver. 
1.. 
Gallons. 
6,000 
4,000 
3.000 
2,000 
Gallons. 
16 
15 
12 
6 
Per cent. 
0.266 
2 : 
.375 
3.. . . 
.40 
4 
.30 
Losses of milk from handling in city milk plants as reported by 
115 dealers varied from 0.3 per cent to 7 per cent, and the average 
was 2.29 per cent. If a dealer handles 3,000 gallons daily, with a 
shrinkage of 2.29 per cent, his daily loss would be 68.7 gallons, or 
at 30 cents a gallon, $20.61, or $7,522.65 a year. Such a loss is a 
big item and every precaution should be taken to .keep down the 
shrinkage. 
There is necessarily a certain amount of shrinkage in transferring 
milk from cans to bottles and in the process of clarifying and 
pasteurizing. Special attention to this matter, however, has been 
given by some plants and the losses considerably reduced. Collecting 
pans should be placed under all milk apparatus where milk is apt to 
spill, and especially under the filling machines, to catch all drip. While 
the milk saved should not go back to the filler, it may be utilized in 
other ways. 
RECEIVING VAT AND STORAGE TANKS. 
Jacketed storage tanks or a receiving vat are used to hold the milk 
from the time it is received and dumped until it goes to the pasteur- 
izer. The storage tanks are insulated and are often fitted with 
jackets so that the milk can be kept cold by means of brine. (See 
fig. 3.) The milk is agitated by air blown in from the bottom or 
by a revolving paddle. These tanks are valuable where milk is to be 
held for a considerable time before it is pasteurized. At many plants 
milk is held in these tanks for several hours and a great saving in 
milk cans, refrigeration, labor, and floor space is effected. 
If the milk is not held over for any considerable time it can be 
held in an ordinary receiving vat which may have revolving coils 
containing the cooling medium that keeps the milk cool and agitated. 
A larger receiving vat will be required if the continuous system of 
pasteurization is used than if the vat system is employed, as in the 
latter case the milk may go direct to the pasteurizing vats. 
