The well of the kiln is lined with fire-brick one course thick, with a stratum of coal ashes three inches thick tamped in between the brick and wall, which proves a great protection to the wall. About 2,000 fire-bricks were used. The proprietors of this kiln say about one-half the lower part of the well might have been lined with a first quality of common brick and saved some expense and been just as good. The form of the well shown in Fig. 3 is 7 feet in diameter in the bilge, exclusive of the lining of brick and ashes. Experiments in this vicinity have proved this to be the best, this contraction toward the top being absolutely necessary, the expansion of the stone by the heat is so great that the lime cannot be drawn from perpendicular walls, as was demonstrated in one instance near here, where a kiln was built on that principle. The kiln, of course, is for coal, and our stone requires about three-quarters of a ton per 100 bushels of lime, but this, I am told, varies according to quality, some requiring more than others; the quantity can best be determined by experimenting; also the regulation of the heat--if too great it will cause the stones to melt or run together as it were, or, if too little, they will not be properly burned. The business requires skill and judgment to run it successfully.
This kiln is located at the foot of a steep bluff, the top about level with the top of the kiln, with railway track built of wooden sleepers, with light iron bars, running from the bluff to the top of the kiln, and a hand-car makes it very convenient filling the kiln. Such a location should be had if possible. Your inquirer may perhaps get some ideas of the principles of a kiln for using coal. The dimensions may be reduced, if desired. If for wood, the arch would have to be formed for that, and the height of kiln reduced.
THE MANUFACTURE OF APPLE JELLY.
[Footnote: From the report of the New York Agricultural Society.]
Within the county of Oswego, New York, Dewitt C. Peck reports there are five apple jelly factories in operation. The failure of the apple crop, for some singular and unexplained reason, does not extend in great degree to the natural or ungrafted fruit. Though not so many as common, even of these apples, there are yet enough to keep these five mills and the numerous cider mills pretty well employed. The largest jelly factory is located near the village of Mexico, and as there are some features in regard to this manufacture peculiar to this establishment which may be new and interesting, we will undertake a brief description. The factory is located on the Salmon Creek, which affords the necessary power. A portion of the main floor, first story, is occupied as a saw mill, the slabs furnishing fuel for the boiler furnace connected with the evaporating department. Just above the mill, along the bank of the pond, and with one end projecting over the water, are arranged eight large bins, holding from five hundred to one thousand bushels each, into which the apples are delivered from the teams. The floor in each of these has a sharp pitch or inclination toward the water and at the lower end is a grate through which the fruit is discharged, when wanted, into a trough half submerged in the pond.
The preparation of the fruit and extraction of the juice proceeds as follows: Upon hoisting a gate in the lower end of this trough, considerable current is caused, and the water carries the fruit a distance of from thirty to one hundred feet, and passes into the basement of the mill, where, tumbling down a four-foot perpendicular fall, into a tank, tight in its lower half and slatted so as to permit the escape of water and impurities in the upper half, the apples are thoroughly cleansed from all earthy or extraneous matter. Such is the friction caused by the concussion of the fall, the rolling and rubbing of the apples together, and the pouring of the water, that decayed sections of the fruit are ground off and the rotten pulp passes away with other impurities. From this tank the apples are hoisted upon an endless chain elevator, with buckets in the form of a rake-head with iron teeth, permitting drainage and escape of water, to an upper story of the mill, whence by gravity they descend to the grater. The press is wholly of iron, all its motions, even to the turning of the screws, being actuated by the water power. The cheese is built up with layers inclosed in strong cotton cloth, which displaces the straw used in olden time, and serves also to strain the cider. As it is expressed from the press tank, the cider passes to a storage tank, and thence to the defecator.
This defecator is a copper pan, eleven feet long and about three feet wide. At each end of this pan is placed a copper tube three inches in diameter and closed at both ends. Lying between and connecting these two, are twelve tubes, also of copper, 1½ inches in diameter, penetrating the larger tubes at equal distances from their upper and under surfaces, the smaller being parallel with each other, and 1½ inches apart. When placed in position, the larger tubes, which act as manifolds, supplying the smaller with steam, rest upon the bottom of the pan, and thus the smaller pipes have a space of three-fourths of an inch underneath their outer surfaces.
The cider comes from the storage tank in a continuous stream about three-eighths of an inch in diameter. Steam is introduced to the large or manifold tubes, and from them distributed through the smaller ones at a pressure of from twenty-five to thirty pounds per inch. Trap valves are provided for the escape of water formed by condensation within the pipes. The primary object of the defecator is to remove all impurities and perfectly clarify the liquid passing through it. All portions of pomace and other minute particles of foreign matter, when heated, expand and float in the form of scum upon the surface of the cider. An ingeniously contrived floating rake drags off this scum and delivers it over the side of the pan. To facilitate this removal, one side of the pan, commencing at a point just below the surface of the cider, is curved gently outward and upward, terminating in a slightly inclined plane, over the edge of which the scum is pushed by the rake into a trough and carried away. A secondary purpose served by the defecator is that of reducing the cider by evaporation to a partial sirup of the specific gravity of about 20° Baume. When of this consistency the liquid is drawn from the bottom and less agitated portion of the defecator by a siphon, and thence carried to the evaporator, which is located upon the same framework and just below the defecator.