Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-18
AUTOMATIC BoTTLE-WAsHER.
A Machine Now in Use That Cleanses
$4,000 Bottles in Single Day.
From the Literary Digest.

FROM the Literary Digest.
A machine for washing empty bottles by
wholesale, accommodating over 1900 at a
time and turning them out at the rate OF
10000 day, is described by Max de Nan
souty IN La. Nature The writer notes at
the outset that, while bottle-washipg asa
problem of domestic hygiene demands mitch
care, still greater attention is required
When the operation must be carried on
| satisfactorily and continuously, with thou
sands upon thousands of bottles. as is the
case in great breweries, wine houses, dis
| tiileries and manufactures OF mineral
waters or of perfumery. He writes: &
The bottles that go out of such estao-
| lishments ceaselessy return thither. more
| or less soiled, having sometimes been used
| for other liquids than the original. They
must be cleaned thoroughly and when they
| have been used to hold petroleum or veg
etable oils it is often necessary to throw
them away. In any case the manufacturer
Is obliged to employ a considerable force
OF cleaners, whose work must be carefully
supervised If he is to be sure that 1t is
| always consclentiously done.
"Mechanicians cannot avoid interfering
| in a difficulty of this kind, clearly defined
| as 1t Is. Various automatic washing ma
| chimes have been invented and have rem
| dered service. but the record is now held
/ by an American machine.
This automatic bottle-washa- adds pow
| er IN operation to economy of manipula-
| ton. According to It's size, 1t washes au-
| in a working day of ten hours, and 1t re-
quires the presence of only four workmen,
| two to feed it and two to place the washed
bottles in baskets. These four attendants
| may be women, for the work requires no
violent effort: women do 1t very well. with
| their habitual care in cleaning work of all
kinds. The mechanical power consumed
varies, with the size of the apparatus, from
| two to three-horse power
THE mechanical arrangement Is easy to
grasp. In brief the apparatus Is composed
| of rectangular tank divided into three
compartments; the first two contain the
! cleaning liquid, which is a mixture of aka
| line solutions in carefully studied proper
! lions; the third is filed with pure water
| for the final rinSing, which Is renewed as
| often as desired.
IAN endless chain. formed of parallel
rows of metallic cases, receive the bottles:
| it passes over the fixed guides arranged In
| and above the tank; thus the bottles are
methodically carried along by the slow
| movement of the chain without power to
| fall out of the cases.
Suppose we have q machine in which
| there are 26S rows of transverse plates TO
which the cases are fixed. Half of these
| rows consist of nine cases each and that
4 other half of eight each. that they are
| In quincunX arrangement. Thus the chain
| contains altogether 227S cases holding as
many bottles. which, after having passed
| twice into the cleansing liquid. finally are
carried through the rinsing bath They
| then drop in regular order into q shallow
tank half full of running water. whose pur-
| pose is to break the shock of the fall. A
wooden paddlewheel turns slowly in this
| tank, setting in motion a regular current
which constantly brings the bottles to the
hands of the women, who stand ready 10
receive them and place them in baskets TO
drain. Loss by breakage is almost nothing
| in these conditions.
1.-THE bottles are about thirty-ffve minutes
| in passing through the apparatus In gen
eral, the water used in the first two tanks
should be at temperature between 30 and
| 60 degrees c. Q22 and 40 degrees FL. New
ertheless, when the bottles have contained
oils, either vegetable or mineral. IL is a
good thing to raise the temperature OF the
baths up to nearly 80 degrees c. GIG de-
grees FD. With q few simple trials II IS
easy to determine the temperature most ia
yora BILE To SUCCESS In any particular case"