General Information

Serial #

405

Part Number

1

Total Parts

29

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Equipment generally composed of wood, metal, canvas and rubber.

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

N/A

Width

N/A

Height

N/A

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Agriculture

Category

Crop processing

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Wayland

Country

United States of America

State/Province

Virginia

City

Covesville

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Quebec

Period

1930's +

Canada

Used at a Canadian orchard co-op packing-house on Covey Hill in Quebec's Eastern townships.

Function

Small-scale packing line composed of multiple manual and mechanized components aiding in the sorting, sizing, and packing of produce. Specifically used to sort orchard fruits – apples mostly.

Technical

Before the advent of high-tech mechanisation, packing fruit was a labourious multi-step process. The grading, sorting and packing of fruit usually took place under one roof – more specifically, a packing house. Several pieces of equipment were used in conjunction to complete each step. Here is the process, broken down for this specific combination of equipment; using apples as an example of fruit being processed. Commonly referred to as ‘dumping’, a labourer grabbed a box of apples and emptied its contents onto a hopper (.002) – the entry point of the packing line. From there, the apples were fed onto a chain-driven roller conveyor (.003) where two labourers were tasked with sorting the culls from the grade apples. This step involved thorough visual inspections and manipulations so that the apples could be properly sorted and sent down the right conveyors. The conveying system was powered by a single motor (.024) and was made-up of a multitude of components: troughs (.010 & .011) set on a large frame (.009), conveyor belts (.020-.021) and drive shafts – like .018 and .019. When arriving on the sizing belt, the apples moved passed a series of ‘kicker’ wheels that were designed to expel apples, according to their sizes, into distinct packing bins (.013). As they went down the line, the apples were expelled systematically from largest to smallest. Sometimes, oversized fruit would get stuck or pinched underneath the kicker wheels; this was problematic as it clogged-up and slowed down the entire system. To prevent such a problem from occurring, the conveyor was equipped with an anti-jamming mechanism consisting of a series of brushes placed after each kicker the wheel. Set at specific heights, the brushes simply knocked oversized fruit off the belt before they could reach the next sizing wheel. When expelled from the sizing belt, the apples accumulated in bins or ‘packing stations’ (.013-.017). A labourer manned each station. Equipped with a packing table, packing tissues, liners, and multiple storage containers, a ‘packer’ would wrap each individual apple in a piece of tissue paper and place it in a box or basket. Apples had to be packed firmly so as to reduce the likelihood of having loose apples bouncing around and damaging the surrounding fruit. Once packed, the containers were sent to a lid-press to be sealed before being stamped and shipped to market.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

N/A

Missing

Multiple components missing. Fruit & vegetable grader & sizer was not acquired in its entirety. See multimedia tab for pictures of fully assembled system.

Finish

Unknown

Decoration

N/A