The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

456 THE MECHANICAL HANDLING OE MATERIAL of the delivery terminal the bananas are dropped on to a band conveyor. This illustration particularly shows the extraordinary adaptability of the two levers in reaching from an extreme height to an extreme depth. The dotted lines show the apparatus in the housed position, and the two smaller views indicate the two extreme working positions. Banana Carriers for Loading and Unloading Vessels.—The carrier shown (Figs. 635 and 636) was installed for the United Fruit Co. in 1903, at the I. C. Ry. Co.’s Wharf, Mobile, Ala., under the patent rights of Messrs Edleston & Harris, by the Link Belt Co. 'I he machinery consists of a canvas apron, attached to cross-bars between two chains in such a manner as to form pockets into which the bunches of bananas are placed, as shown. These pockets automatically adjust themselves to the direction of travel, and handle fruit without bruising or breaking the bunches. It is adjustable to depth of hold and height of tide. A similar apparatus is in use at New Orleans. It consists of an endless belt carrying canvas pockets, and is so arranged that one end may be introduced into the hold of the steamer through the hatchways, and the other situated contiguous to the railway trucks. The band is kept in a continuous slow motion by an electric motor. The bunches of bananas are taken from the ship’s hold, hid in the moving canvas pockets, and then elevated and conveyed to a point opposite the door of the railway truck, where they are removed and hung or piled in the truck for shipment. Before the introduction of these labour-saving appliances, the bunches of bananas were.carried from the ship by labourers, a large number of whom were employed for this purpose. In raising the bunches on to their shoulders, and in carrying them along a rather uneven way from the ship to the wharf and thence into the truck, a good deal of the fruit was damaged, and the bunches themselves were, frequently jammed and dis- figured. The present method, in addition to assuring the transfer of the fruit from the ship to the cars in thoroughly good order, results in the saving of a notable amount of time and labour.