A New Tea Dryer.

A gentleman in Colombo, Ceylon, a Mr. C. Shand, as we mentioned in our last, has invented a new patent Tea Dryer. The following is a description of his invention:—

The barbacue-shaped steam-heated Tea Dryer is the cheapest, most economical and safest drying machine.

As this machine can be made any length and width, the quantity of leaf which can be manufactured is only limited by the extent of drying surface. One, 5 feet wide, and 15 feet long, will admit of about forty pounds of Tea being spread as thinly as on Sirocco trays, and, if heated to 150° Fahrenheit, would dry a maund per hour. The steam for heating thin galvanized iron drying surface is generated in the space (3 inches) between it and the thin boiler plate bottom.

The machine, which is made steam-tight, is partially filled with water, and placed on a fire stove. It is evident that a comparatively small quantity of fuel will generate sufficient steam to heat a large surface, especially if the smoke flue is placed under the whole length of the machine.

As it is impossible to fire-burn the Tea, dried by the steam-heated Dryer, the enormous advantage of being independent of the care and judgment of coolies, and of the necessity of uninterrupted European supervision, is too evident to require comment.

Then comes the figure of the Dryer with the following note:—

“Barbacue-shaped Tea Dryer.—The far end should be slightly higher than that over the fire, to allow the space over it to be full of water.

An apparatus for escape of steam and supplying water is inserted in the end plate covering the boiler.”

The Ceylon Observer, referring to the above, asks the following questions:—

Is it really impossible by means of steam to over-heat, though we may not, indeed cannot, “fire-burn” Tea? And when a boiler is employed to generate steam, do we become quite independent of the care and judgment of coolies, and avoid the necessity of uninterrupted European supervision? Will not a thermometer be necessary to indicate the proper degree of heat, will it not require close watching, and will there not be danger of the boiler exploding if neglected? The danger may be reduced to a minimum, but we should be glad of proof that it cannot exist.

Mr. Shand in reply writes—With reference to your remarks and queries regarding my Tea-drying machine, will you allow me to mention that, as it is not intended to sustain any pressure of steam, the drying surface cannot easily be heated over 150 degrees.

As a matter of course, the Tea takes a longer time to dry than when made by Siroccos, in which the temperature is maintained at 275 degrees, but the extent of drying surface available makes this a matter of secondary importance.

I did not mean that no care or attention is required to keep up fire and supply boiling water periodically from a cistern placed over the flue; but you can understand that the same care, judgment and observation is not required to dry Tea at a comparatively low temperature as at a very high one: for instance, it does not injure coffee to allow it to remain on the barbacue after it is thoroughly dry; but put it in a roaster, and what care and judgment is not required to perfect the roasting!

No doubt, by the use of Siroccos and other modern appliances, the risk of fire-burning is now greatly diminished, but these still require great care in shifting the trays and watching the thermometer. This constant watching is obviated by the use of my machine, and all the superintendent has to do is to feel when the Tea becomes crisp and dry. He has the security that, if this is neglected to be done at the moment it is sufficiently dry, no injury takes place by its remaining on the heated surface.

The machine is especially adapted for redrying Tea before packing, this being an operation carried on at a low temperature, and requiring a good deal of care.

There are, it is well known, two difficulties connected with the proper manufacture of Tea, requiring at present the constant supervision of the superintendent: these are fermentation and firing. If the necessity of closely watching the latter can be dispensed with, it gives the superintendents more time to direct the fermentation, on which the colour of the infused leaf, and consequently the value, so greatly depends.

Jackson’s New Self-acting Tea Dryer.

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, 3½' 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.

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 1s. 6d. 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 7½ 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.

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:—

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.

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 2¼ to 2½ maunds pucka Tea per hour. One maund of pucka Tea can be dried with the consumption of about ¼ 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.

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.

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.

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.

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—

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.)

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.