June, 1954] JAMES N. WARNER AND O. P. AGARWALA 113
The mechanism consists of a two supporting pieces and one U-shaped collar.
The collar and one of the supporting pieces are made of flat steel about one-eighth
of an inch thick and one-half inch wide. The second supporting piece is the same
width and length as the first; it is about twice as thick, however, except for about
one-half inch or its upper end where its thickness suddenly diminished to about one-
eighth of an inch, or to the same thickness as the other piece. This forms a shoulder
on which the free end of the U-shaped collar rests when the bracket is closed, tied
and sealed; the string or wire which is used for this purpose is protected by this
arrangement from being sheared off should some sudden pressure be exerted on the
tap outside of the collar.
The two supporting pieces may be from two to three and a half inches long;
each is welded at its lower end in a vertical position, to the bottom outside piece
either front or rear, of the carrier frame; they should be about one and one-fourth
inches apart inside and extend above the carrier frame from one to two and a half
inches, depending on the height of the top edge of the faucet feed pipe above the
bottom edge of chime on the can used. They are located on the carrier frame so
that a milk can must be set snugly in the corner of the carrier when the can faucet
feed pipe lays between these supporting pieces. This is about four or five inches
from the corner of the carrier frame to the near side of the nearest supporting piece;
this distance will depend on the diameter of the can among other things. Each of
these pieces is bored with a one-eighth inch hole, in the centre and about one-fourth
of an inch from its upper end. The inside of the U-shaped collar is about one and
a one-fourth inches wide and one and a half inches deep; its ends are bored with
one-eighth inch holes to coincide with those in the supporting pieces.
One end of the collar is fixed to the upper end of the thinner of the supporting
pieces by a rivet through the holes, so that the collar may be rotated but not easily
removed. When the can is in position the faucet feed pipe should lay between the
two supporting pieces of this bracket, with these pieces extending upward between
the feed pipe flange and the faucet plug housing. The collar is then rotated over
the top of the feed pipe and its free end tied to the upper end of the second or thicker
supporting piece by use of string or wire; the tie should be sealed with a wax or
lead seal, such as is used on the tamper-proof lid and on the tamper-proof faucet,
before the routeman leaves the dairy. The routeman must allow this seal as is
true of other, to remain intact until it is carefully inspected after his return from the
route, so the manager or the operator of the dairy is quite certain the seal was not
tampered with on the route.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
A grant from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research helped to make this
study possible. The basic principle of the ring valve was suggested by the design
of a special milk can valve supplied by the Agricultural Engineer to Government,
Bombay State, Poona. The Alkathene from which the ring valves were made was
supplied free of charge for this study by the Imperial Chemical Industries (India)
Ltd. Mr. S. R. Biswas, Dairy Manager, Allahabad Agricultural Institute, gave
his assistance throughout this study by using the mechanisms described here on the
regular milk routes of the Institute Dairy and by suggesting many of the features
of the mechanisms described here; he also made the final copies of the figures
included. The contributions from these sources are gratefully acknowledged.
18 AR/53.
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