EFFICIENCY OF DIVIDED WIRE-BASKET BUNKERS 9 
the lowering temperature. If a comparison of the temperatures at 
the top bunker and top doorway positions is made, it will be seen 
that there is but a slight difference, those at the doorway falling still 
within the temperatures at the bunker. There is, however, a slight 
difference in the range of temperatures at the top positions. Those 
in car A are practically the same as those in car B at the doorway, 
which is only 1 degree lower, while at the bunker there appears to be 
an equal range between the cars, which would be readily seen if it 
were possible to superimpose the curves shown in Figure 6. 
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TEMPERATURES 
The average fruit temperatures of the top and bottom layers of 
the cars (fig. 7) show a marked similarity. If it were possible to 
place the initial temperature at loading at the same starting point, 
this similarity would be more marked and would in all probability 
show the performance of car A to be superior to that of car B. Both 
cars show a very abrupt fall from the initial temperature, car B be- 
ing very slightly slower in cooling its load in the bottom position, 
but the temperature in car A lagged somewhat and 24 hours after 
loading was 2 degrees higher than car B. At midnight of the third 
day there were practically no differences in temperature at this posi- 
tion in the two cars. At the top positions a similar relation was found 
in the same length of time. Car B showed the lower temperature 
7 car A the higher, with an average difference of only about 1 
egree. 
A study of the average fruit temperature of the middle layer 
discloses that the difference between cars A and B averaged only 
about 1 degree throughout the trip. The rather remarkable fact is 
also apparent that no difference exists between the average tempera- 
tures and those maintained in the middle layer at the quarter length, 
which alone would indicate a striking uniformity in the perform- 
ance of the cars. From the foregoing discussion of the tempera- 
tures maintained by the cars on the second trip it would seem that 
such differences as exist are so slight as to be negligible from the 
viewpoint of practical transportation. 
At the time of unloading at market destination a careful inspection 
was made of the test boxes of fruit. Only one decayed specimen 
was found in car A and no decay whatever in car B. 
The efficiency of a refrigerated car is largely determined by its 
ability to reduce quickly the temperature of a warm load to a 
relatively low point and to maintain it until the arrival of the car 
at its destination. Not only must the car be rated for efficiency 
upon the temperature maintained within it but also upon the com- 
parative quantity of ice it melts in producing these temperatures. 
Refrigeration can not be obtained without ice meltage, but it is 
not necessarily true that the car which melts the most ice is the 
most efficient. However, if the car is in good condition and the 
temperature of the commodity at the time of loading is taken into 
account, ice meltage will be some indication of the comparative per- 
formance of the car. 
In the two tests under discussion the car equipped with the divided 
wire-basket bunker maintained temperatures equivalent to those 
