PEA VINER AT WORK

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 8 January 1944, Page 4

PEA VINER AT WORK

NEW PLANT AT APPLEBY RAPID HANDLING OF CROPS SAVING OF LABOUR AND TIME In the early days of the pea canning industry farmers’ wives used to shell the pods at night, tie the peas up in sheets and sent them in by cart next day to the factory. The next stage was a hand-fed shelling machine, which was followed by various types of shelling machines up to the more recent automatic shellers. with constant supolies of pods, band-nicked, arriving from the country. Now' the farmer can put the reaper through, a field of peas in the morning, deliver the vines to the viner machine at Aodeby. and within n comparatively few minutes there are boxes of neas readv to be rushed into Nelson and canned iho same day T’be nlant. was installed by Messrs S. Kirkoatrick and Co. T.td. to cone “•ith nea erons in the Aonlebv district. The machines have ortiv been in oneration a few days and if is estimated that in about two weeVc fhev will bav« “cleaned un” the available harvest as neas are vioenin* fast. Had rain fallen the plant m'"ht. have been engaged till tbe end of January. TEN ACRES IN A DAY The machines can nut through anoroximatelv eight tons of vines per hour, which means that they can cone with about nine or ten acres of crops in a da v . Travellers nnnroaching the Aonlebv T»ost Office corner are greeted by a strong scent of crushed oea nods, and lor»*v Toads of green n»a nlants are a further indication of the nresenee ■n the neighbourhood of ihe nlant. When a “Mail” representative visited ihe works vesterdav a ‘“rain” was aonroachine. consisting of a tractor towing a trailer and twm old exnresses oiled hich with peas for the mill. PODDED READY FOR CANS The vines are unloaded at the enhance to the viner shed and men with uitchforks feed them constantly into the two machines. The plants are dragged into revolving drums consisting of rubber mesh screens, turning at the rate of 25 revolutions a minute. Stee 7 bars lift the vines to the too of the drums and, as they fall. 24 steel tfeaters. whizzing round at 180 revolutions to the minute, thrash the plants and pods. Tlie latter are rolled onen. the peas A r obnir»f through the »*ubhpr mesh into an endless chain of small buckets. A strong air current blows the winnowings away from the peas which fall onto an agitated grid where any remaining pieces of pod or vine are carried away, and the clean peas pour into boxes. The plant and pod refuse passes along an endless chain to be deposited on a platform outside where it can be easily loaded onto lorries by the farmers who find it valuable for ensilage. The peas are fed from the machine into air-conditioned boxes in which they are whisked to the factory with in a short time, all ready for canning. If pea crops are sown in rotation the plant can be kept going for several months each season and this will mean a great saving in labour for picking. When it is remembered that each of the two machines, when kept working at full speed, can handle the crop off five acres in the one shift that the men work, from 5.30 o’clock in the morning till 7 o clock at night, it is obvious that there will be economy not only of labour, but also of time, and crops that might go to waste for lack of pickers will be saved. The factory has not been able to take full advantage of the ftiant this season as the machines, which were made in Auckland, were late in arriving and other material was also delayed. As an example, the roof is still being put on the shed, tarpaulins having given temporary shelter. The viner machines may begin operations early in November next season. They will operate only on pea crops intended for canning and green peas for the market will continue to be picked by manual labour in the ordinary way.