Thompson’s Challenge Roller.—This (quite lately invented) though given last is likely, by all I hear, to stand well among rollers. I have no drawing or description of it, but why I think well of it is that a Tea engineer, Mr. Ansell, of Kurseong, who thoroughly understands Tea machinery, thinks so highly of the machine that he has recommended its purchase by the Phoolbarry Tea Company. I have every faith in Mr. Ansell’s judgment, and feel confident therefore the machine must be a good one. One feature and advantage claimed for it is, “free contact of the leaf throughout the roll with the outer air.”
I may conclude my remarks on rollers with a quaint letter (from Tea Gazette) by a native. If he can judge of Tea machinery as well as he can write English his opinion is worth preserving:—
Tea Rolling Machinery.
Dear Sir—On the subject of Tea-leaf rolling machinery, the (to all appearance) strangely opposite results I have obtained from machines of the same make have led me to the following conclusions, viz.:—
1. All “genuses” of machines are equally good.
2. There are hardly two “species” of the same genus which give similar results.
3. Changing the “fixings” of a machine makes all the difference in the world.
Ergo a good mechanic will have a good machine whether he patronize Jackson, Kinmond, Haworth, or any other inventor.
I think with your correspondent “A Voice from Assam” that the machine that gives the roll quickly, and in a continuous supply, is the best.
I would defy any man to prove that any inventor has it “all his own way,” for I certainly have not found it so in my experience.