Chapter XXXVI: Tea Machinery (2)

Messrs. W. and J. Jackson have invented a new apparatus that will
deal with the Tea itself throughout the drying process, and thus,
they submit, secure a perfection in the dessication of the leaf not
hitherto obtained. The objects arrived at by the new invention are as
follows:--

1.--After the leaf is fed into the machine it requires no more
attention until it is discharged dry.

2.--Every individual leaf is simultaneously exposed in precisely a
similar manner to the action of the heated air, thus producing an
unvaried and perfectly even dried leaf.

3.--The Tea is steadily but very slowly kept in motion, thereby
dispensing with the tedious and tiring watchfulness of attendants,
hitherto required in Tea drying on the tray system.

4.--There are no trays about the machine to handle, and it is,
therefore, thoroughly durable and cannot get out of order.

In operating with the machine, a boy or attendant has simply to
spread the leaf on a slowly moving feeding web or band, which carries
it forward and places it in the machine, where it is steadily but
inactively kept in motion, and in due course is discharged dry and
crisp from a shoot at the delivery end; so long, therefore, as
the attendant continues to supply the machine with leaf, it will
steadily dry and discharge it, and should he have occasion to leave
the machine at any time, no injury can take place to the leaf in the
apparatus, as it must pass on and be discharged.

The leaf is continuously, but very slowly, turned over, disentangled
and individually presented to the action of the heated air by a
peculiar combination of concentric cylinders, thus ensuring not only
the most uniform fermentation, but the drying of each leaf being
simultaneously effected alike must produce an unvaried briskness and
quality of liquor not obtainable from any of the methods of drying at
present known.

The machine will dry about forty maunds of green leaf per day, and
will be approximately 9′ long, 3-1/2′ wide, and 8′ high.

The apparatus will take very little driving, which can either be
effected by steam or hand power. It is very simple, easily erected,
and self-contained.

I know nothing about this new Dryer beyond what is printed above, and I rather doubt if any have yet been set up. _If_ the advantages detailed are truly all realised, they are doubtless of much value.

_Kinmond’s Dryer._--I shall devote extra space to this, for I _believe_ in it. I have seen it working for a long time on the Phoolbarry Garden, and I continue since I left India to receive good reports of it. This is what the inventor himself says of it recently:--

This Tea-drying machine continues to give great satisfaction. The
improvements made last year considerably increased the out-turn of
Tea, and reduced the amount of fuel required. Further improvements
have this year been introduced in fastening the iron plates at the
corners of the trays with copper rivets, and otherwise strengthening
the trays, remedying many small defects suggested by planters who
are using the Dryers, and in improving the arrangement of the
fire-bricks over the furnace. The latter, as well as some of the
smaller alterations, were suggested by Mr. Ansell (inventor of the
sifting machine which bears his name), an engineer who has had great
experience in and around Darjeeling in erecting and working all the
three sizes of these Dryers.

This is the only Tea-drying machine which can keep pace with the
largest rolling machines. It is made in three sizes. The capacity of
the smallest or No. 1 Dryer is one maund of pucka Tea per hour. The
capacity of No. 2 Dryer is two maunds per hour, and that of No. 3
Dryer is three maunds per hour. The consumption of fuel is less than
one maund of wood fuel to one maund of pucka Tea dried.

One of the great advantages of this Tea Dryer is the facility it
gives for _final firing_ before packing. The enhanced price of Tea
which has been dried and final fired in this Dryer is well shewn in
the high average of 1_s._ 6_d._ per lb., which the Scottish Assam
Company’s Teas have fetched this season. See letters annexed from
their superintendent in Assam, Mr. Cruickshanks, and their secretary
in Edinburgh, Mr. Moffat.

When _final_ firing Tea with the Dryer, it is found convenient to
place a fine gauze cover over the top trays in each compartment, to
prevent any of the Tea dust being carried away with the hot air which
passes through the Tea.

In order to get the maximum quantity of work from the Dryer, the
trays must be spread with rolled leaf twice as thick as that used
when Tea is dried over charcoal, where there is no forced current of
air, and after the Tea has been _half-dried_, then the Tea on _two_
trays should be spread on _one_ tray, and the drying finished. In
the Dryers now in course of construction, the trays have been made
one-half deeper, so that the half-dried Tea on _three_ trays should
be finished in _one_ tray. The out-turn of the machine is greatly
diminished when the foregoing method is not observed; and owing to
its non-observance, many of the Dryers in use have never been worked
to their greatest capacity.

The Dryer should be lined outside with one thickness of bricks--they
are the cheapest and best non-conductors of heat--inferior or
badly-burned bricks may be used. Both ends of the Dryer should be
lined, and both sides and elbows as high as the trays. The top may
either have a lining of bricks, or four inches thick of sand or
clay. When the Dryer is lined round with bricks, it not only greatly
reduces the consumption of fuel, but by preventing the radiation of
heat, it enables the men to increase the out-turn of pucka Tea.

The Dryer is extremely simple and compact--the No. 2 size occupies
a space of about 7 feet long and 3 feet wide. The fan of this Dryer
requires about half a horse-power to drive it.

The fan should be driven at a speed of 500 revolutions per minute.
The pulley on the fan spindle is 7-1/2 inches diameter and 4 inches
wide.

Owing to the satisfaction given by these Dryers this season, an
exceptionally large number of orders are on hand, and although a
number of each size is generally kept in stock, the patentee will be
obliged to those requiring Dryers for next season to kindly send in
their orders early.

No. 1 Dryer, capable of drying one maund of pucka Tea per hour, £150;
No. 2 Dryer, capable of drying two maunds of pucka Tea per hour,
£220; No. 3 Dryer, capable of drying three maunds of pucka Tea per
hour, £300. These prices are f.o.b. in London.

London Agents--Messrs. Geo. Williamson and Co., 7, East India Avenue;
Calcutta Agents--Messrs. Williamson, Magor and Co., 4, Mangoe Lane.

The best of the three sizes is No. 3. I have quite lately sent out two of them, one for the Phoolbarry, one for the Leesh Company’s Gardens, both in the Western Dooars. I think the prices are much too high, and might with advantage (to both inventor and planters) be reduced; but as to the excellence of the machine there can, I think, be no doubt. My opinion is shared by many. I have before me many testimonials as to its excellence. Space forbids me inserting them here, but Mr. Kinmond or his agents will send them on application.

In March, 1881, so satisfied was I even then with the Dryer (both the manager, Mr. Pillans, at Phoolbarry, and I am still more so _now_), I wrote the following to the _Tea Gazette_, and I give it here as details are embodied:--

KINMOND’S TEA DRYER.

To all interested in Tea in India, and their name is legion, Tea
manufacturing machinery and its capabilities must be a subject of
great interest.

Though Tea prices may, and I think to a certain extent will, revive,
the old scale which existed previous to the late serious fall
will never probably return. How serious the fall has been will be
appreciated when I state that gardens which previously realised 14
annas to 1 rupee for their produce think now they do well if they
obtain an average of 10 annas. Thus, an average of 12 annas (even
if the partial rise I hope for takes place) will probably be more
than most Indian plantations will get in the future. In two words,
the Tea industry of India is passing through a period of depression
and a crisis which argues “the survival of the fittest.” Not only
must plantations, destined to last, produce largely, they must
also make good Teas at a small cost. This latter, I hold, both as
regards quality and economy, _can_ only be attained by the use of
machinery; and thus, what is the best kind of rolling machine, the
best description of dryer, equaliser, and sifting apparatus, is an
all-important point.

Tea machinery is still quite in its infancy. Various as are the
machines in use, and superior as some are to others, perhaps none of
them are yet quite perfect. Still, planters cannot afford to wait
for ultimate perfection, for though any machines bought to-day will
probably be more or less out of date in a few years’ time, he who
waits _must_ go to the wall in the meanwhile. Realising this fact, as
those who know the subject do, they (and they are many) ask eagerly:--

“Which of the several machines for the different processes in Tea
manufacture shall we buy?”

I have not now, perhaps, the knowledge to discuss fairly the several
merits of the various machines for each different process, but as Tea
Dryers hold an important place in the list, and I have, perhaps, an
exceptional experience of one kind, I purpose to give your readers
the benefit thereof.

Years ago, when I first mooted the idea that Tea could be fired
without charcoal, it was scouted. It was said, “The fumes of charcoal
had some chemical and necessary effect.” “The Chinese would not
have used it from time immemorial had a substitute, and a cheaper
one, been practicable.” Such were the objections. It is now no
longer a question. A great part, perhaps the greater part, of the
Indian produce is to-day worked with other fuel, and it is only
a question of time when _all_ of it will be so. It is generally
admitted that Tea prepared in Dryers is more valuable than that fired
over charcoal; and begging the question that the fumes of charcoal
are _not_ necessary (the old idea is very nearly exploded), it is
reasonable that it should be so; for, if there is one thing certain
in Tea manufacture, it is that speed is necessary. Charcoal drying
took on an average 45 minutes; Tea is fired in the best Dryers in
eight minutes. In respect of speed, Kinmond’s Dryer (which is the one
I advocate) is certainly unequalled.

When, as in large factories, 30 or 40 maunds of Tea have to be made
daily, it is evident that, _cæteris paribus_, the machine which will
do most in a given time and given space must be the best. In these
respects also Kinmond’s Dryer stands well, for the small size (No.
1) will do one maund, and the larger size (No. 2) will turn out two
maunds per hour. In other words, in a working day of 12 hours (and I
allow no more, for I do not believe in night work) 12 and 24 maunds
daily are the capacities of the two sizes. Considering that the said
two sizes, with necessary stokehole, tables, &c., occupy respectively
not more than 200 and 260 square feet of space in a factory, the
satisfactory results, in both the above respects, are unquestionable.

Tea made at night, both because the colour of it in its different
stages cannot be well seen (let the light be what it will), and also
because superintendence cannot then be so close, is never so good as
day-made Tea. This is _why_ I do not believe in night work; and it is
also a very important extra reason why machinery (which by its speed
enables all the necessary Tea to be made by daylight) will prove such
a great and lasting advantage.

When Kinmond’s Dryer was first constructed, it was proposed to work
it at 300 degrees. Later experience has proved 260 degrees is better
and sufficient; but of course more time is thus taken, and with the
old sizes one and two maunds per hour could not be turned out at the
lower temperature. The machines are now made one-fifth larger to
obviate this.

The fan is worked at 600 revolutions per minute, and this is found to
be the best speed.

Several alterations, and important ones, have been made since the
first machines were constructed, but I will mention them shortly,
for they will only be understood by those who know the Dryer--1. The
trays now take out alternately both sides. 2. The fine Tea or dhole
trays take out independently. 3. Outside bearings are supplied to
the fan shaft or spindle: thus the lubricating oil cannot now run
down into the fan casing. 4. The chimney is moved forward, and thus
heats a larger amount of air and reduces fuel. After the necessary
temperature has once been obtained, one maund of wood will fire one
maund of Tea. This is an outside estimate.

The great feature in Kinmond’s Dryer is the fact that a _separate_
blast of hot air is forced through the Tea on each tray. In all
other Dryers I have heard of, the _same_ hot air passes through each
tray successively, and moisture is consequently more or less carried
upwards through each. It is principally in this respect, and in the
large quantity of work it executes, that I consider the excellence of
Kinmond’s Dryer to consist.

It remains only to give shortly the results of a long series of
experiments with Kinmond’s Dryer. The valuations were made by more
than one Calcutta broker:--

_Class._ _Charcoal dried._ _Machine dried._

Pekoe Rs. 0 11 0 Rs. 0 14 0
Broken Pekoe Rs. 0 10 0 Rs. 1 1 6
Pekoe £ 0 1 6 £ 0 1 10
Broken Pekoe £ 0 1 5 £ 0 2 7

These were made from the same leaf, at the same time, with every
care. In one of my gardens, after Kinmond’s Dryer was obtained, the
Teas averaged upwards of 2 annas per lb. more all round.

The Dryer can also be used for withering leaf, but in my opinion no
Tea Dryer is fit for that work, inasmuch as to do a large quantity
takes far too much time.

Artificial withering is only necessary when the weather is wet and
cold, and the machine to do it should do a large quantity _at a
time_. No Tea Dryer _can_ do this. A machine fitted for that work has
yet to be invented, unless Baker’s Wet Leaf Dryer, of which I have
heard good accounts, but have not seen, would answer.

EDWARD MONEY.

Since the above was written, further improvements and alterations (suggested by Mr. Ansell, the Tea engineer, and Mr. Pillans, manager at Phoolbarry) have been carried out. The machine is now very perfect, and I consider it the best Dryer at present in the market.

Mr. Kinmond has invented quite lately a coke-burning Dryer. He is now taking this with him to India to try it, and has sent me the following prospectus of it:--

The Coke Burning Tea Dryer has been made to meet the want of Tea
districts where wood fuel is scarce, and coke can be obtained at a
reasonable price. The upper part of the Coke Burning Tea Dryer is
exactly the same as the No. 2 Wood Burning Dryer, which is adapted to
burn any kind of fuel, but its capacity is a little more, being from
2-1/4 to 2-1/2 maunds pucka Tea per hour. One maund of pucka Tea can
be dried with the consumption of about 1/4 maund of coke. Besides its
large capacity for doing work, and its small consumption of coke, the
Coke Burning Dryer has other advantages. It is nearly one-half less
in weight than the Wood Burning Dryer, which means one-half saving
in freight. It requires no foundation or brickwork of any kind; and
taking into consideration the quantity of work it does, it is the
cheapest Dryer in the market--costing only £180, f.o.b. in England.

I know nothing of this Coke Dryer. Its price compares favourably with his other Dryers.

In April, 1881, the following leader, written by me, appeared in the Calcutta _Statesman_. Though other Tea matters are included (all of interest), I give it here as further testimony to the merits of Kinmond’s Dryer:--

The days are passed when Tea planters hoped to make a fortune in
a few years. There are mainly two reasons for this. Firstly, the
prices of Tea have fallen greatly, in many cases 30 and 40 per cent.
This is due to the fact that supply, in the case of Indian Tea, has
overtaken demand. Still, there is some comfort to all interested
in the industry to be derived from the low prices which have ruled
during the last two years. So cheap have Indian Teas been that
the attention of the trade has thereby been directed to them, and
consequently the deliveries of the last few months have exceeded any
known previously.[99] It is calculated by those best able to judge,
that if the present rate of deliveries in London continues, the stock
in June next will not exceed twelve million pounds, and the truth is,
strange as it may appear, that below this point it is not well that
the stock in hand should fall, because, if it does, dealers will not
be able to meet their requirements, and will then perforce buy more
China. Low as prices are, we therefore, nevertheless, consider the
statistical position of Tea to-day as good. There is another point
which should give comfort and hope to the Indian planter, in spite
of the fact that we are heavily handicapped in our race with China,
inasmuch as owing to more expensive labour our cost of production
_must_ exceed theirs. This source of hope is the great point now
generally admitted, that Indian Tea is better and goes further than
China Tea. The experience of each of us can quote instances of
individuals dropping China Tea, and taking to India; who knows of
anyone doing the reverse? We admit the taste for Indian Tea is more
or less an acquired one. Still, the public at home have already been
educated to the taste by the yearly increasing proportion of Indian
mixed with China Tea. Speaking generally (though the exceptions
are many and increase yearly), it is true that Indian Tea is not
obtainable pure, but no more is China. The bulk of the Tea now sold
to the public in the United Kingdom is a mixture, three parts China
and one Indian, and all points to the fact that in a few more years
the general mixture will be half-and-half.

We are thus surely paving the way, in other words, teaching the
English public to like Indian Tea, and the broad fact that, once
used, it is never abandoned for its rival is surely a very hopeful
feature. The truth is that were it possible to _make_ the population
of England, Australia, and America drink Indian Tea for one week
only, the demand after that week would be enormous, and we should
hear no more of “supply exceeding demand;” nay, more, many thousands
of, acres would at once be added to the present cultivation in India.

But we have somewhat wandered from the question we set out with,
_viz._, _why_ Tea does not pay now as it once did. The first reason
we have given; the second is that there is now no market for Tea
seed. This last reason is little dwelt on, but it is a very important
factor. The days were when Rs. 300 per maund, and even more, were
paid for Tea seed, and though this did not last long, the price for
many years up to 1878 was about Rs. 100. Now it is simply unsaleable.
The receipts for Tea seed, during all these years, formed a large
part of mature garden earnings, and, to quote one instance, thereto
in a great measure were due the big dividends paid by the Assam
Company.

But though Tea prices may, and we think will, improve, it is not
likely we shall ever again see the rates obtainable formerly. This
being so, it is probable that only those plantations in the future
will pay that produce Tea cheaply. How is this to be done? Those
gardens that are heavily weighted by unsuitable climates, by a bad
class of plant, by slopes which are too steep, by inordinately
expensive labour, or other causes, will have a hard time of it, but
plantations with natural advantages need in no way despair. Though,
as we said above, we cannot, in the matter of cheap labour, vie with
China, we have a great advantage over the Flowery Land as regards
economy of production in another respect. We allude to the use of
machinery, which does much now, and will do more and more as each
year passes, to reduce the cost of production. Machinery in the
manufacture of Tea is, we believe, almost unknown in China. There
each and every operation is performed by hand; here in India many now
do, and eventually all will, wither, roll, fire, and sort by the
help of machines. It says not a little for the enterprise and the
inventive genius of the Anglo-Saxon race that, while in China the
manufacture of Tea dates back many centuries, and yet all the Tea is
still made by hand, we in India, who have only planted Tea some forty
years, have invented machines and use them to-day for each and every
operation in manufacture. It is but as yesterday that we imported
Chinamen to teach us the _modus operandi_. We now know far more than
they do on the subject, and verily the pupil has beaten his master.

Though machinery reduces the cost of production, and in more than
one case improves the quality of Tea, and planters know it, the
difficulty before them to-day is to know which is the best machine
for each operation. Unanimity on this point is not to be expected
yet. One swears by Jackson, another by Kinmond, others by Ansell,
Barry, Lyle, the inventor of the Sirocco, and so on. The machines
and names of inventors are many, and each has its disciples. Perhaps
the most favourite rolling machines are Jackson’s and Kinmond’s, but
we see the latter has just produced what he calls a “Centrifugal
Rolling Machine” which he thinks will supersede all others. We have
not seen it, though it is at work on several gardens, and so can give
no opinion about it; but another of Kinmond’s machines, his Dryer,
we know well. It was long a moot point if Tea could be efficiently
fired by any other agent than charcoal. Many affirmed that the fumes
of charcoal were necessary; and when, years ago, Colonel Money, so
well known by his writings in Tea matters, affirmed from experiments
that charcoal was not necessary, but that any fuel would do the
work, few believed him, for people said it was impossible to credit
that the Chinese would have gone on using charcoal (so much more
expensive than other fuel) for centuries, were it not a necessity.
What Colonel Money then predicted has already come to pass. Much of
the Tea now produced in India never sees charcoal at all, and it is
very certain that in two or three years all Indian Tea will be fired
by machinery. We say this is certain simply because, apart from the
saving effected by using other fuel, the value of Teas fired by
machinery is increased. It is natural it should be so because, by the
use of the best machines invented for that purpose, the heat can be
regulated to a nicety, an impossibility by the old mode of charcoal
firing.

Kinmond’s Dryer is, in our opinion, the best Tea Dryer machine
yet invented. Space forbids our describing it minutely (besides,
only those, and they are few, who understand Tea machinery would
appreciate our description), but its general features we will shortly
touch on. In the comparatively small space it occupies in a factory,
and in the large quantity of work it does in a given time, we think
it unrivalled. This last feature does away with the necessity of
night-work, which, apart from other drawbacks, is prejudicial to the
excellence of Tea, because, among other reasons, its colour cannot
then be appreciated in its several stages. Tea made at night is
never very good. With sufficient motive power, sufficient rolling
machinery, and Kinmond’s Dryers, the factory (let the leaf gathered
be what it may) can be shut up at dark. Kinmond’s Dryer may yet
be improved upon by himself or by others, but as it now stands it
possesses a feature peculiar to itself, and all important. The hot
air, driven by a fan (the speed of which, under control, regulates
the temperature), does not pass successively through the different
trays, for the hot air, drying the Tea in each tray, has a separate
inlet and outlet. By this means is avoided the objection of carrying
the moisture absorbed by the hot air from one tray to the other.
Another peculiarity in the machine is, that the same air is used
again and again, being re-dried and re-heated each time. By this two
advantages are obtained: (1) fuel is saved, it is easier to heat air
which still retains caloric than fresh air; (2) the aroma of Tea is
very volatile, and when hot air, which dries it, passes away, some of
the essence and strength of the Tea goes with it. But here the same
air being used again and again, the volatile essence (how much who
can say?) is returned to the Tea. It is reasonable to suppose that
this will increase the value of the Tea; indeed, we know it did so
materially in one garden last season.

We do not doubt that the unanimity wanting at present amongst
planters as regards machinery will more or less come with time, but
only long experience can settle the merits of rival machinery. One
thing, however, is very certain--if the exports of Indian Tea ever
vie in quantity with China, it will be due to the use of machinery in
manufacture.

I may state that Kinmond and some other inventors of Dryers claim for them that in wet weather green leaf may be withered by their means. But, as I stated some pages back, I do not think any Dryers suitable for withering. _That_ machine has yet to be invented.

To conclude my remarks on dryers, I give (again from the _Tea Gazette_) an estimate of the cost of drying by the old primitive mode with charcoal, and with machines. There was no signature to the letter. I cannot say if the figures assumed are quite correct, but in any case the machines have much the best of it:--

TEA DRYING MACHINERY _v._ CHARCOAL.

Dear Sir,--Tea drying by machinery _versus_ Tea drying by charcoal
fires over choolahs is, I believe, still discussed as to the relative
merits of each. I will try and give you a fair estimate of cost, and
speak from experience as far as I know relative to the merits, ills,
&c., &c., of both modes of firing.

_1st. Charcoal firing and its merits._--Except for those who persist
that the fumes of charcoal are necessary to make good Tea, I can
see no merit whatever in charcoal drying, either in cost, quality,
rapidity, saving of labour, or anything else, over machine-dried Tea.

_Cost per maund Tea of Tea dried over choolahs by charcoal._

R. A. P.
Charcoal at 8 annas per maund, 1-1/2 maunds = 0 12 0
1 Battiwallah at annas 4-6, kutcha firing = 0 4 6
Do. pucka firing, say = 0 0 6
---------
Cost of firing by charcoal Rs. 1 1 0

N.B.--Notice the labour staff required for three months in the year
to make charcoal; the immense space (and heat) taken up by choolahs;
cost of timber used for charcoal; the number of trays, gauze, iron,
&c., &c., required; the masonry and carpenter’s work always more or
less out of repair; loss of small tea falling through trays, &c., &c.

Now let us take

_Cost of machine-dried Tea per maund._

R. A. P.
1st. Those machines which dry by coke, say cost
of coke = 0 8 0
3 men at annas 4-6 per 5 maunds Tea = about 0 2 8
---------
Cost of drying per maund Tea for a machine,
drying by coke 5 maunds in 10 hours 0 10 8

I now give an estimate of cost of 1 maund Tea dried by a machine of
similar capabilities, but drying with any sort of fuel--coal, wood,
grass, bamboo, &c., say 2 maunds of firewood at 6 pie per maund = 1
anna per 1 maund Tea.

N.B.--Price of firewood at 3 pie per maund should be nearer the mark.

3 men’s pay, annas 4-6 for 5 maunds in 10 hours = annas 2-8 per
maund. The analysis of the above comes to this--

R. A. P.
Charcoal drying = 1 1 0
Coke „ = 0 10 8[100]
Wood fire „ = 0 3 8

We read of machines drying with any fuel, and doing double the Tea
of what I have estimated above, and how people can still stick to
charcoal beats me.--(No signature.)

_Sorting or Sifting_ is the next process--that is to say, dividing the Tea (by passing it through sieves) into different kinds, as Pekoe, Broken Pekoe, Pekoe Souchong, and Broken Tea. All do not divide it thus, for some make other kinds also. In the body of this Essay (page 122) I say, “I do not believe in any present or future machine for sifting Tea.” I did not then; that was in the early days of Tea; but I was wrong. A sifting machine, on the large scale on which Tea is now made, is essential for every garden.

_Jackson’s Sifter._--I have seen this, and heard it well spoken of, but I have no experience of it.

_Greig’s Sifter._--This I have not seen, but from the drawing I have I should doubt if it would sift enough per day for a large garden.

_Pridham’s Sifter._--This is quite a new thing. I know nothing of it.

The fact is, the manager at Phoolbarry and I have been so thoroughly satisfied with the Sifter we use there (Ansell’s) I could conceive nothing better, and I have not therefore looked into the matter of Sifters.

In January, 1881, I sent an article to the _Tea Gazette_ describing _Ansell’s Sifter_, and as I thought then I think now. I believe it is by far the best Tea Sifter yet invented. Many are the testimonials, too, in its favour. The price, £80, is too high; but the manufacturers (Ransomes, Head and Jeffries, of Ipswich) advise me they propose reducing it to £70. Even that, I think, is too much; but there can be no question the use of it effects a great saving in a factory.

This is my article:--

ANSELL’S SIFTING, SORTING, AND FANNING MACHINE.

_January 27, 1881._

In the days gone by, Tea cultivation was, to those commencing a
Tea career, _the_ thing to study. Those days are passed. None
are embarking in new gardens, and but few are extending existing
cultivation. Prices have fallen so wofully that all that Tea planters
think of to-day is how to make what they have _pay_. _I_ believe in
Tea still. I think the present low range of prices cannot last, and I
think so simply because I know Tea will not be cultivated year after
year at a loss. But the present crisis is very serious: it means,
in five words, “the survival of the fittest,” and even the fittest
will not succeed, unless every advantage is taken of all existing Tea
knowledge.

Tea manufacture is now the most important branch in the industry. We
have advanced greatly in the last few years; but Tea manufacture, as
regards economy in doing it, is yet comparatively in its infancy.
Still we have done a great deal since the indigenous plant was
discovered in the jungles of Assam, now nearly fifty years ago; we
have advanced more in Tea manufacture than the Chinese, who have
been making Tea many centuries. That is to say, I affirm that the
Indian Tea planter of ordinary intelligence knows more of both Tea
cultivation and Tea manufacture to-day than any of his Chinese
contemporaries. The Chinaman grows Tea, and makes Tea, as he taught
_us_ to do it twenty to thirty years ago. The pupil in this case
has certainly beaten his master. We have made some improvements
in Tea planting and Tea cultivation, but where we have left our
teachers far behind is in manufacture. “Johnny” makes his Tea as
his father made it before him, taught by his grandfather who made
it the same way; and, for aught we know, no improvements, in that
way, have taken place in the course of many centuries. All is hand
labour; machinery to them is unknown. The most primitive ideas in Tea
manufacture are still adhered to. In support of the latter, I will
quote one instance: Tea, from time immemorial, has always been dried
by charcoal in China; no other way is known there now. How is it
here in India? A large proportion of the produce is fired with other
fuel, aided by machinery; and it is only a question of time (and a
very short time) when the whole of it will be thus prepared. I could
quote other instances: let this suffice, for no comparison can be
drawn between Tea manufacture as followed out in China and India in
this year 1881. The former is as crude as it was two or five hundred
years ago: the latter (though still far from perfection) in its many
details, in its numerous machines cleverly contrived to save labour
and better the Teas, is a striking illustration of the activity, the
energy, the inventive genius of the Anglo-Saxon race!

An Indian Tea factory, well set up with machinery--that is to say
with a green-leaf drying apparatus, rolling machines, Tea dryers,
equalisers, and sifting and sorting machines, all driven by an
engine of 15-horse power--offers a wonderful contrast to a Chinese
Tea factory, where all is handwork. But more strange still is the
comparison alongside of the fact, that in the former case the
industry dates back only some thirty years; in the latter many
centuries.

Tea machinery is destined to work great results in India. When
brought to perfection (it is far on the road now), it will so cheapen
the cost of manufacture that, though labour is dearer with us than
in China, we shall, thanks thereto, be able to lay down our Teas at
cheaper rates than the produce of the Flowery Land. If Indian Tea
ever vies in quantity with China in the Tea-consuming countries of
the world, it will be due entirely to the economy effected by our
machinery. I do not myself anticipate that Indian Teas will ever
beat China out of the field, but, inasmuch as our Teas are better,
because the taste for Indian Tea is growing apace, I do believe the
day will come (it will scarcely be in our time) that the Tea exports
from India will equal those from China; and, as I said before, to
machinery, far more than to anything else, will that end be due.

There is therefore no question of more importance to the Indian
planter to-day than Tea machinery. It is a difficult question too,
because so many machines, for each of the different necessary
processes, are vieing in competition for public favour. “Which is
the best machine to buy?” is the question one hears asked daily.
I propose, with your leave, to write a series of articles on Tea
machinery, pointing out, as far as in me lies, the advantages and
defects of those which commend themselves most to me, for I wish to
give planters, through your paper, the advantage of my experience;
and as my expressing an opinion in no way precludes others from
doing the same, and I know your columns are open to all, I would
invite discussion on rival merits, and thus certainly benefit the Tea
industry.

I will to-day describe what, I think, is the best Tea sifting and
fanning machine extant. It is true it is the last machine used in
manufacture, but that does not signify; I will take all the others in
turn.

The said machine is the invention of an able man and engineer, Mr. C.
W. Ansell, well known in the Darjeeling district for his knowledge of
Tea machinery. He has been for many years employed as an engineer in
Tea factories. I heard of his machine when I was lately in England,
and went down to Ipswich to the manufactory of Messrs. Ransomes,
Sims, and Head to see it. Though difficult to judge of it, as there
was no Tea wherewith to test it, I was so pleased with the principle
that I ordered one. The cost was £80. It has now been working on one
of my gardens some thirteen months, and in every way it has proved a
great success. But to describe it, as far as I can, in a few words:--

Its length is 19 feet, its breadth 5 feet. The Tea, in bulk, is
delivered through a hopper from an upper floor, on what I will call
the A end of the machine, to distinguish it from the other end, which
I will name B. The principle of all other sifters (except Jackson’s),
as far as I know, is, that the succeeding trays of differing wire
mesh are arranged one below the other, the slope all being the
same way, that is--from A to B. This plan is objectionable in the
following way: if the Tea has been well rolled and clings together, a
good deal of the fine Teas that are in the mass or bulk often passes
some distance down, perhaps over half the tray or wire-mesh length,
before falling through. If they do so, and the object is to sift out
any particular class on the next succeeding tray, there is only half
the length of mesh left to traverse to effect the object, instead of
the whole length of the tray. This is obviated in practice by pushing
the Teas continually back up the inclined tray; but this is done at
the expense of extra labour and making the Teas dusty and grey.

The above objection is obviated in Ansell’s machine. It consists
of four slopes, but each of these incline downwards, alternately,
different ways--_viz._, No. 1 (the upper), from A to B; No. 2, from
B to A; No. 3, from A to B; No. 4, from B to A, and below the mesh
of each slope is a carrying tin tray, sloping the same way, which
carries all the Tea which falls through each mesh down to _the head_
of the succeeding slope, while in each case the Tea which will _not_
pass through the mesh is delivered separately. The above arrangement,
however, does _not_ hold with the upper or No. 1 slope. This consists
of two wire trays or meshes, with the carrying tray below the lower
one. Such of the bulk as will not pass through the upper tray is
delivered on the head of No. 2 slope, at the B end of the machine.
What passes through the upper tray, but will not pass through the
lower, is delivered by a side shoot at the B end of the machine, and
is “No. 1 Pekoe.” What passes through both sieves on to the carrying
tray is also delivered by an opposite side shoot from the B end of
the machine, and is “Broken Pekoe.” Between Nos. 1 and 2 slopes is
an air chamber, which, as the bulk left on the upper sieve of No. 1
slope falls on the head of slope No. 2 (a blast being sent through it
by a fan at the A end of the machine), drives out of the said falling
bulk all red leaf, stalks, fannings, &c.

No. 2 slope receives the bulk at the B end of the machine, after the
red leaf and fannings are taken out as stated above, and what will
not pass through the mesh is delivered at the back of the A end of
the machine, and is “Congou;” while what does fall through the mesh
into the carrying tray below it (which is still bulk, consisting of
“Pekoe,” “Pekoe Souchong,” and “Souchong” mixed) is delivered at the
A end of the machine on to the head of No. 3 slope.

What will not pass through the mesh of No. 3 slope is delivered at
the B end of the machine in front, and is “Souchong;” while what does
pass through the mesh of No. 3 slope on to the carrying tray below
(still bulk, consisting of “Pekoe” and “Pekoe Souchong”) is delivered
on to the head of No. 4 slope at the B end of the machine.

No. 4 slope has no carrying tray: it would be useless. What will not
pass through the mesh is delivered at the A end of the machine, and
is “Pekoe Souchong;” while what does pass through the mesh falls
on the floor of the factory and is the remaining “Pekoe,” that is,
“Pekoe No. 2.”

The sorting is so far finished, and the results are the following
Teas, placed round the machine thus:--“Pekoe No. 1,” at the left
side of B end; “Broken Pekoe,” at right side of B end; “Red Leaf
and Fannings,” some distance in front of B end; “Souchong,” also in
front of B end, but nearer to the machine; “Congou,” at back of A
end; “Pekoe Souchong,” also at back of A end, but nearer the machine;
“Pekoe No. 2,” on the floor below the machine.

With Teas thus minutely sorted, all possible requirements are
provided for, and the planter can, by mixing or otherwise, make any
number of classes he may choose.

It will be observed that “Pekoe” is taken out twice, resulting in
“Nos. 1 and 2 Pekoe.” These differ slightly, but are better mixed
together. “Why take them out separately,” some exclaim, “to mix them
together again?” But there are three very good reasons: firstly,
the “Pekoe” is taken out at the commencement, previous to fanning,
to prevent the small or broken Pekoe tips being blown out in that
process; secondly, the “1st Pekoe” being taken out thus early,
its appearance is not injured by passing over a large amount of
sieve-mesh area; and thirdly, _all_ the “Pekoe” is thus extracted,
which it could not be, as far as I can see, by any other process.

From all the kinds detailed above, I make only four--viz., “Pekoe,”
“Broken Pekoe,” “Pekoe Souchong,” and “Broken Tea;” but others can do
as they will.[101]

The machine is of course driven by steam.[102] The movement of all
the trays is a backward and forward one of 3 inches longitudinal
semi-circular motion, the latter movement being imparted by the steel
spring hangers. Only a small amount of power is required to drive the
machine, viz., under half horse.

I must here conclude my description.

Now as to the amount of work the machine will do. I speak from actual
experience when I state what follows:--

It will sift and fan seven maunds of Tea per hour. The only hand
labour required to supplement it is a few (a very few) women to pick
out any foreign substances out of the “Congou.”

At our garden in Western Dooars, 1,260 maunds of Tea were made in
1880, and all sifted by this machine, the hand labour besides being
only 44 women during the whole season, or about one-fifth of a woman
per day.

The machine requires only two men to work it continually, and one boy
to feed it from the upper floor.

I can think of no possible objection to this machine, or even of any
possible improvement. I believe, in the case of a 300-acre garden
with a decent amount of produce, the machine, in its saving of
hand labour, pays for itself in one year, whilst the Teas are much
improved in appearance by its use, and fetch higher prices.

EDWARD MONEY.

I add two more letters in favour of the machine from the same paper:--

ANSELL’S PATENT TEA SORTING AND WINNOWING MACHINE.

Sir,--In respond to your call for information regarding Tea
machinery, I am happy to supply you with my experience of Ansell’s
Patent Tea Sorting and Winnowing Machine. I have been sifting the
whole of my Teas, through it this season, and am therefore in a
position to state what I think of it. I consider it a most useful
machine, and a great saver of labour. With four men, I do with it in
one day an amount of work which without it I would have to employ
from twenty to twenty-five men to accomplish.--Yours, &c.,

“SIFTER.”

ANSELL’S SIFTING MACHINE.

A correspondent writes from London to the _Ceylon Observer_ as
follows:--Ansell’s Patent Tea Sorter seems to be an article which
will later be much used in Ceylon. In a memo. before me there is
an extract from Messrs. George Williamson and Co., who say:--“The
manager of our Majilighur Garden writes:--‘I have now had sufficient
experience of Ansell’s Sifter to be able to report very favourably
upon it. It does its work thoroughly and cleanly, and, owing to the
comparatively small space it occupies, little or no loss occurs even
of the finest dust. Sixteen maunds in nine hours is what I find to be
about its capabilities, and four boys do all the work connected with
it. It has effected a great saving in the Tea house this year, and
has quite done away with hand-sieving, except equalizing the broken
Pekoe and broken Tea--a very trivial operation.’”

_Packing._--This is the final process. Unless Teas are packed directly they are made, they require to be heated once more to drive off any moisture imbibed. This can be done in a way in most of the dryers described, perhaps in Kinmond’s best of all.[103]

This concludes my remarks on Tea machinery; but I shall not have a more appropriate place than this to mention the ornamental tin boxes devised by Messrs. Harvey Bros. and Tyler, as a new mode of packing Teas. The following is an article of mine on the subject to the _Tea Gazette_, written in 1880:--

I saw lately tin Tea boxes made to hold 20 lbs., which are
manufactured by Messrs. Harvey Brothers and Tyler, 21, Mincing Lane.
I was much pleased with them, for I foresaw that by their use great
good to the Indian Tea industry would accrue. I went to Mincing Lane,
and had a long talk with the firm, and came away convinced that the
fact of the said boxes should be known far and wide in India.

The boxes measure 15-3/4 by 10 15/16ths by 10 5/16ths. They are
handsomely illustrated with Indian Tea plantation subjects.[104]
Each piece runs into a groove in the adjoining one, so that one
minute will put a box together, and a touch of solder here and there
completes it; they are then perfectly air-tight. The boxes are very
sightly. Price is now 2_s._ 5_d._ per box. Boxes sent to Calcutta
up to this have been charged 2_s._ 7_d._ The price is dependent on
the fluctuating price of tin, which is somewhat lower now. Of course
they are sent out in pieces. Cases holding pieces for 100 boxes weigh
4 cwt. The firm tell me that Messrs. Schœne, Kilburn and Co., and
Messrs. Begg, Dunlop and Co., in Calcutta, have consignments of the
boxes, so any of your readers can see them.

In my opinion there are several advantages, to be derived from their
use:--

1. They will help to open up new markets. The ungainly, unwieldly
packages we have used hitherto are certainly detrimental, at least
where Indian Teas are not known. By the use of these tin boxes the
sale of our Teas would, I am sure, be extended at home, and they
would also give great facilities for successfully introducing Indian
Tea into Australia, Canada, the United States, the Cape, &c. It seems
some Indian Tea has already been sent home in these tins, and I am
told it met with a ready sale, quite to 8_d._ per lb. over what it
would have brought in chests. This is, of course, too good to last,
but less than one penny a lb. increase would pay for their use.

2. The sale of Indian Tea in India would be developed by using them.

3. The tares of these boxes is and must be exact, viz., 3 lbs. 15-1/2
oz., so only a few would be opened at the Custom House,[105] and the
great loss by the deterioration of Tea being exposed (few know _how_
great it is) would be avoided.

4. There is no doubt Tea will keep better in transit in these boxes
than in our old packages. How often are the latter broken and the
lead torn! This evil would be quite avoided.

There seems to me to be but one doubtful point. The boxes cannot be
sent loose on board ship: how then are they to be packed? Chests
holding four tin boxes were recommended, but they do not smile on me.
True, they might be made very light: still they would add to the
size, weight, and cost considerably. I think crates of strong light
battens would answer perfectly, and six, or perhaps eight boxes might
then be placed in each. However, this is a matter of detail, which
experience would quickly decide. To continue the advantages:

5. Teas packed in these boxes, and so sold, would not be used for
bolstering up China rubbish. They would be drunk pure, and thus the
great desideratum of teaching the public, both here and abroad, to
use Indian Tea by itself, would be, in a measure, attained.

I do not say that any planter should pack _all_ his Teas in this
new way. The mass of Indian Tea, do what we may, will still be used
to mix with China. Again, the highest class of Indian Teas are not
the ones to commence with. As a rule they are too expensive for the
public to use them alone. Ordinary Teas, or perhaps a mixture which
could be sold cheaply, and would be a good household Tea, is what I
should recommend. It is just this kind which is now such a drug in
the market, and necessarily the diversion of some of this into other
channels would help us greatly.

6. A considerable saving in the loss of Tea at the Custom House would
result by the use of these boxes, as the following figures will show.
To begin with, the trade allowance of 1 lb. per package which is now
allowed the buyer, and which is of course a loss to the producer,
would be avoided; for this allowance does not apply to any package
under a gross weight of 28 lbs., and these tins with 20 lb. 2 oz. of
Tea in them, will weigh gross only 24 lbs. 1-1/2 oz.

To make the figures below clear, I must state that the rule of the
Custom House is to discard fractions of a pound both in the gross
and the tare. But in the gross the number _below_ is written, in
the tare the number _above_. Thus, if the gross weight of a package
is 132-1/2 lbs., the gross is written 132. If the tare of a package
is 37-1/4 lbs., it is written 38. Now to take one extreme case, to
show the loss on our ordinary Indian packages: a chest weighs gross,
say, 132 lbs. 15 oz.; it is still written 132 lbs. The tare of the
said package weighs, say, 37 lbs. 1 oz.: it is written 38. The tare
deducted from the gross gives the net weight of Tea. In this case 132
minus 38 equals 94 lbs., which is all the producer is paid for. But
the net weight of Tea in the box is 132 lbs. 15 ozs., minus 37 lbs.
1 oz., equals 95 lbs. 14 ozs., and thus on such a package there is a
loss of exactly 1 lb. 14 ozs. Add to this the trade allowance of one
pound, and the whole loss is 2 lbs. 14 ozs., which is about 3 per
cent.