TREATMENT OF RAGS 27

water and rotated for a further period of about an hour. This washing water
is then run off, and the rags are ready to be emptied. It is advantageous if
they are then put through a conical washer of the same construction as the
duster already described. This washer rotates in running water, which carries
away more dirt and the remains of caustic soda, and greatly reduces the
time of the final washing in the rag breaker. The rags are emptied from this
washer into boxes on wheels and are ready to be taken to the rag breakers.

RAG BREAKING
The rag breaker (Figs. 6 and 7) consists of an engine of exactly the same design
as a Hollander beater, except that it is always fitted with a washing arrangement,
and also contains a sand and button catcher. It has a bed plate and roll, which
can be raised or lowered. The sand catcher is formed by having a portion of
the bottom of the trough, along the midfeather and opposite the roll, cut
away, or cast below the general level of the trough. This cavity is about
4 or 5 feet long by 18 inches broad, and is covered with a perforated or slotted
plate.
The idea is that the sand and any heavy particles will sink to the bottom of
the trough and fall through the perforations of the plate, and thus disappear
below the level of the stuff and remain there until cleaned out after the rags
have been let down.
The button catcher is on the same principle, except that it is placed immedi-
ately in front of the roll, and instead of a perforated plate it has a slotted plate,
so that the buttons, safety-pins, etc., may slip through sideways on.
Some breakers do not have these somewhat elaborate arrangements, but
depend simply on a narrow channel cut in the bottom of the trough, about
11 inches deep by i^ inches wide, and extending from the corner of the mid-
feather to the side of the trough. The washing is accomplished in two ways.
The first method is to have one or two drum washers, which may be raised
or lowered into the stuff at will by means of a worm wheel and pinion. These
washers are placed above the trough, as shown in the illustration (Fig. 7),
and they consist of a hollow drum, covered with perforated honeycomb bronze
plates, which are again covered with fine-mesh wire cloth. Inside the drum
is a bucket-lifting arrangement for catching the dirty water which comes
through the wire mesh, and for conveying it through one end into a trough
which carries it away to the drain. A later drum washer has one open side
connected to a pipe in the side of the trough.
The second method, which may be used either alone or in conjunction *wi*it