Imperial Valley press., 1945-06-20
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JiggeIomefers

JisgeIomefers
The scientists in the Exchange Re
search Department, besides being
top-flight men in citrus research, are
great ones for thinking up gadgets!
Went out to the Ontario laborato-
ries the other day to see some Of
these in action.
The first gadget they demon
strated for your reporter was little
wooden panel with some test tubes
in it and rubber bulb at one side.
Seems the packing houses had had
trouble checking on the ventilation
in lemon storage rooms. So the re
search men worked out this Carbon
Dioxide Tester"
Now all Sunkist packing house
man has to do is go into lemos
stora gerOom with one OF these
gadgets, hold it up to the Tight,
squeeze the bulb a couple Of times,
and the color in the test tubes tells
him right away if the air is okay or
if it is going dead and endangering
the fruit.
x X X
To test the sugar and acid content
Of orange juice, you use a standard
amount: 25 cubic centimeters. To
get that amount exactly, you'd
measure and euss and measure
again. One scientist got so annoyed,
he invented a little glass jar with u
steeple-shaped stopper. Field men
call it jug; scientists, modified
pycnometer.
Now you simply fill one Of these
jars with juice, and push in tie stop
per. The excess juice squirts out
through hole in the stopper-and
what's left is exactly 25 &C. Speeds
up the work so much that SunkiSt
field inspectors can now make this
important test in a jitfy.
One of the neatest gadgesf, nick
named the ''jiggelometer,D grew out
of need for more accurate grading
of pectin. Pectin is graded according
to how perfect a jelly it makes. But
how TO measure accurately anything
as full Of shimmy as jelly?
After many tries, two Of the men
found a way. The perfect jelly, after
standing awhile, win sag just 50
much. They took little device
called the Ridgelimeter and rede-
signed it to give a quick, accurate
measure of sag. While your reporter
watched, d research man slid a
cleaning mound Of jelly into the
machine. He turned a screw, causing
a metal point to descend slowly until
it Just touched the top Of the Jelly.
That was all. "A reading OF the num-
bers on the calibrated screw gave
him the exact grade of the pectin.
The million pounds of pectin made
last year by the Exchange products
plants were grade-tested by this
new, fast, accurate method.
w. E. Baier, head of the DEPART
ment, is very modest about the many
useful contrivances his staff have
developed, speaks Of them Is mere
'by-products Of the by-produzts.
And it's true they don't indicate the
scope and Importance az the depart
ment's main work, which VIII be de-
scribed in another column soon. But
they do illustrate enc thing that's
mighty important to tSsa growers.
The Il scientists who make up the
Exchange Research Department
staff are down-to-carth. practical
men. They make things sgerE- They are
at the service OF the entire Ex-
change; and there's scarcely any
phase Of the Exchange operation
that doesn't move more efficiently,
economically and productivity be
cause Of their help.
There's no such group Of men i'm
any other California citrus market
ing organization. This department il
another of those advantages made
possible only by cooperation, by
many growers i0orking together.
Merit report: In this paper tho
lCeeks from today
canforaia Frrit Growers Exchange
9unkiat Building. Ics Angeles S. California