A peach-sizing machine

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Contribution from the Bureau of Markets
GEORGE LIVINGSTON, Chief

Washington, D. C. PROFESSIONAL PAPER July 28, 1920

A PEACH-SIZING MACHINE.

By MANnLey STOCKTON, Investigator in Marketing, and J. F. BarGHAUSEN, Investigator
in Agricultural Technology.

The sizing machine described in this bulletin was developed to
meet a demand from peach growers for a simple and efficient machine
that would accurately and carefully size and distribute peaches to
the packing bins. In addition to those features which are always
highly desirable in sizing machines, such as sufficient capacity for
economical operation, substantial construction, and freedom from
delicate adjustments, it was necessary to produce at a reasonable
cost (the estimated cost of building single machines at the present
price of materials should not exceed. $450), a machine which would
not injure tender fruit by bruising. or roughening the pubescence.
Several sizers were in use in the Teen and southern sections when
the first experimental machine was built and put in the field, but exist-
ing types were open to the general objection tltat they were too expen-
sive for the smaller grower or, if relatively inexpensive, either were
not accurate enough or handled the fruit too roughly.

While the sizer described herein (see fig. 1) was developed primarily
to meet the needs peculiar to the packing of peaches in 6-basket car-
riers, it may also be used, with a few slight changes in the bin con-
struction, for jumble packing of bushel baskets. Furthermore, al-
though the bureau does not officially indorse its use for sizing other
crops, it is believed that this machine may be adapted to the sizing
of other fruits, such as pears and apples. Where barrel packs are used
for apples and no necessity exists for sizing the crop into numerous
exact size classes, as is the case in box packing, this machine could
probably be used with as good results as any other machine which sizes
the fruit by measurement.

CONSTRUCTION,
In designing this machine an effort was made to specify as many
standard parts as possible in order to facilitate construction. In the

conveyer section (fig. 2) the wood framework is simply made and
190761°—20—BulL. 864

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2 BULLETIN 864, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. oS

serves as a structure to carry the roller sorting conveyer. The con-
veyer is made by joining a series of wood rollers to a standard drive
chain made of alternate D-5 and plain No. 45 links. The roller
conveyer is carried up an incline of 23°, as illustrated in figure 1.
This slope may be reduced by lengthening the belt, but the conveyer
can not be operated successfully if it is made steeper, as some of the
larger fruit would be bruised by rolling back. The rollers are 2}
inches in diameter and each is reamed out at both ends to receive the
pins on the D-5 links in the drive chains. The hopper or feed, which is
heavily padded and sloped slightly to permit the fruit to roll to the

Fig. 1.—In order to make the machine more compact the sorting conveyer is joined to the sizer section
atrightangles. Note the continuous bins and packing bench and also the tracks which carry the ropes.
The galvanized iron distributers seen at the ends of the ropes are used to divert the fruit to all parts of
the end bin.

sorting conveyer, holds from a half bushel to a bushel of peaches.
Some sort of ghite should be attached to the sides of this conveyer
at about halfway up the incline in order to provide a convenient
means for the disposal of defective fruit by the sorters.

Figure 3 shows a cross section of the sizing mechanism and bins.
Rope sizers resembling this one in a general way have been in use to a
limited extent for many years. This machine is an improvement over
others of the same type, because the tracks carrying the sizing ropes
can be adjusted easily and quickly to any desired. width while the
machine is in operation by the device shown in figures 4 and 5 and also
because the ropes are joined by a coupling which obviates the use of a

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PEACH-SIZING MACHINE, 5)

cumbersome splice. The crop is sized and distributed to packing
bins having adequate space to accommodate ten to fifteen packers,

7 who normally can pack the fruit fast enough to keep up with the work
% when the machine is running at full capacity.

FIG. 2.—Side view of conveyer.

The tracks are supported by overhead iron braces attached to the
central structure of the sizing section in such a way that the peaches
have an unobstructed path in dropping through to the packing bins.
The tracks in which the ropes travel are made of straight-grained white
pine and are grooved out, as illustrated, to carry the ropes and to

Fic. 3.—Cross-section view.

keep them accurately lined and exactly spaced throughout their
length. The ropes are 3-inch 3-strand cotton rope and are very
flexible. This flexibility makes it easier to keep the rope in the
grooves. The ropes are also held in the grooved tracks by the tension
produced by weight idlers under the machine. A piece of stretched

4 BULLETIN 864, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

canvas extends the length of the machine immediately under the
opening between the tracks, to receive the fruit from the ropes and
break the fall into the slopmg bins. This strip is fastened to a ratchet
drum at one end by which it may be tightened. The bins (see fig. 1),
which slope about 20°, are in two parts; the sloping floor is heavily
padded and the bin pockets are formed by the loose canvas at the
bottom, from which the fruit is taken by the packers.

OPERATION.

The peaches from the field are placed in the feeding hopper and
fed in regular amounts into the spaces between the rollers as they are

Fic. 4.—Detail of screw-controlled track adjuster.

presented. The rollers revolve as they travel up the incline, thus
revolving the peaches which rest on them as they pass before the
sorters. This is a great aid to sorting, for it makes unnecessary the
turning of the fruit by hand in order to see the entire surface and there-
fore makes it possible for more efficient work to be done by fewer
people than is the case where an endless canvas belt or an inclined
chute is used for this purpose.

The sorters remove the defective specimens not intended for pack-
ing and place them in baskets or chutes attached to the sides of the
conveyer frame. When the peaches reach the upper end of the con-
veyer they are delivered to a divided galvanized-iron. chute that
directs half of the fruit to one set of sizing ropes and half to the other.

PEACH-SIZING MACHINE. 5

The ropes at this end of the machine are parallel and remain so for
the first 3 feet. They are spaced to permit all fruit too small for pack-
ing to drop through into a canvas chute which delivers it into a basket
or bin. After the first 3 feet the ropes begin to diverge and continue
to do so till they reach the far end of the machine. The amount of
divergence of the ropes is governed by the sizes desired in the bins.
When the sizes are uniform and an equal distribution is desired to all
bins the divergence will be less per foot than if there were a wide
variation in the sizes of the fruit passing over the ropes. One of each
pair of ropes travels slightly faster than the other, which tends to

Fic. 5.—View showing the driving pulleys, the track-adjusting wheel, and the galvanized iron chute used
to distribute the fruit from the roller-sorting conveyer to the sizing unit.

cause the peaches to straighten out lengthwise on the ropes, so that
the transverse diameter is subjected to measurement. Very few
peaches ever get on the ropes crosswise, as the V-shaped trough
which extends for the first 3 feet serves to straighten them out. Thus
the peaches are sized on the basis of their minimum transverse
diameter.

The largest peaches go over the end of the ropes and pass over
galvanized-iron adjustable chutes (see fig. 1), which facilitate the
distribution of the fruit to all parts of the end bin. The size of the
fruit which passes into the end bin is, of course, regulated by the wheel-
and-lever adjusters at the end of the machine.

6 BULLETIN 864, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

The sloping bins are without partitions, so that the packers are free
to station themselves at any place where fruit of the desired size is to
be found. The range of size at any point furnishes the packer with
the slight variation that customarily appears between the fruit in the
top and in the bottom of the baskets in packing the 6-basket
carrier.

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If the grower wishes to pack bushels or hampers, and does not wish
to arrange each individual specimen in the container, he can alter
the bins slightly and run the peaches into the shipping package in the
usual jumble pack.

Notr.—A set of nine working drawings for this machine may be secured from the
Bureau of Markets for $2. Letters of patent No. 1,338,276 have been issued on this
machine to Mr. J. F. Barghausen, of the Department of Agriculture. Free use of
the invention is dedicated to the people of the United States.

ADDITIONAL COPIES
OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM
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GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
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AT
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