Labeling Press.
—Of late every large packer labels his boxes before they are nailed together. This is done by passing the shooks through a labeling press, which prints under pressure the required label on each side or top, the name, etc., appearing in concave type on their face. These presses are run by machinery and work very rapidly.
Tables.
—In the packing-house are tables of various kinds; they are generally long and narrow, and about four feet wide. The assorting tables should be furnished with square holes at intervals of five or six feet, so that the loose raisins may be scraped through them into boxes below. The assorting and weighing tables are furnished with a low flange or guard all around, to prevent any raisins falling on the floor.
Bags and Bag-holders.—Two kinds of bags are used,
—cotton sacks or jute sacks. The former are white like flower sacks, the latter coarser and brownish. In the former no paper linings are used, but in the latter a paper bag is stitched, in order that the air may not penetrate and dry the raisins. Both kinds of bags are used to an equal extent. The cotton sacks contain either thirty or sixty pounds, while the jute sacks are made to contain an average of eighty pounds each. Patented bag-holders are used everywhere for holding the bags open while they are being filled.
Trucks.
—For inside work, trucks very similar to those used in the vineyard are now generally adopted. They are handled with ease, and for moving boxes of various kinds are absolutely indispensable in the modern raisin packing-house.
Trays for Weighing.
—These are small, shallow boxes, made of zinc or tin, and large enough to hold five pounds of raisins each. One short side of the tray should be slanting outward in order that the raisins may fall out readily. They are only used in weighing the raisins which are to go in each five-pound layer in the whole boxes.