The Packing Shed

[granitechops]

Thanks Rick thats very interesting, so I presume the cleat on the top ends were to give separation to the boxes when stacked to improve ventilation?
so is your climate hot & dry?,
would I be right in thinking  also that the 'cannery boxes' then did not travel a long distance, but locally so that they could be returned economically?
I have worked in markets & empty banana boxes ( thou recycled rather than refilled with fuit) were stacked similarly, each base inside top cover, opposite to normal way, one inside end on, & another on top making a neat nest of 3
A lorry driver working the fruit runs from channel ferries to London Markets made this obsevation, that for ventilation purposes fruit on pallets would not be cling wrapped before reaching market, as they would sweat & rot

I cant remember ( also from 50 years ago) seeing apple boxes still sealed, so cant say if ours had cleats on top, but I dont remember the wood apple boxes having any gaps between the slats, though I clearly remember the double orange crates doing so.

Maybe different climates dictated different conditions of transport,
& maybe oranges  need to be kept cooler than apples

[marc_reusser]

The cardboard packin boxes and wrapped pallets look incredibly real (the palletes themselves are nvery nice as well). Beautifully done.

M

[NORCALLOGGER]

Hi Don,
I think the cleats were for ventilation plus an aid in handling the boxes both empty and full, as well as added structural strength.  Which was the #1 priority?  I have no idea.

The climate down there is wet rainy winters and hot (90-100+ degrees) dry summers.  Didn't mean to mislead you, the boxes were stored in barns and sheds out of the weather. 

The Cannery boxes traveled from the "ranch" to the packing shed/cannery sometimes but mostly they stayed on the ranch.  They were used to pick and carry "wind falls" then loaded on the pickup or tractor and trailer and hauled to the "loading dock" (on the ranch) where they were dumped into "tubs".  These tubs were 4ft square and 4 foot high made of wood and sitting on their own pallet.  These tubs were placed on the ton and a half truck and the cannery boxes were dumped into them.  I think the apples were sold by weight for sauce, cider, etc. 

Picking "windfalls", if you have never done that you have missed a rare treat.  As the apples grow they force each other off the stems and they fall to the ground.  Likewise the wind can cause them to fall.  The orchards are disced in the summer to keep weeds down so you have about 8-10 inches of dry powder dust that the apples fall into.  The windfalls have to be gathered before the sun gets at them as they sunburn rapidly in that climate.  To gather windfalls on 25 acres you start about 4 AM and work like hell to about 8-9 AM throwing them in cannery boxes and stacking them along the driveways for pickup. 

The real fun part is; as it starts becoming daylight and warming up the Yellow Jackets come out and crawl all over the burnt spots on the apples that fell the previous afternoon.  As you grab the apples out of the dust you grab a hand full of YJ and get stung, it happened at least once and usually 2-3 times every morning. 

As a 10 -12 year old kid I made about 65-100 dollars each season picking windfalls at a nickel a box, you do the math.  I'm amazed that I can still eat apples and enjoy them.

The field lugs of apples were handled differently.  They were hauled to the packing shed in the field lugs and spilled out for inspection and grading.  No bruising or sunburn or the whole lot was thrown into the canners, hell of a price difference.  You sure didn't want them thrown out as you had usually already paid your itinerate pickers, but you usually had trust in them as the same ones came back year after year.

Thanks for the memories.
Rick

[granitechops]

Thanks greatly for the info Rick.`So I wonder if the changeover from wood boxes to preprinted card cartons in the late 50s early 60s also coincided with the increase in refrigerated transport for fruit as it probably reduced the need for card apple boxes at least not to have ventilation holes in?

[NORCALLOGGER]

Hi Don,
I think that the emergence of the cardboard carton and the wire/veneer crates my have had something to do with the advancing refrigeration technology but feel that it had more to do with the rapid dissappearence of the Suger Pine and White Pine that that was the main source of box shook.  The scarcity of good wood would of course drive up the prices on what was available.

If interested in this industry (box shook to cardboard) a good source of information is a book by Tim Purdy called "Fruit Growers Supply Company'  Hilt - Susanville - Westwood - Burney  Published by Lahontan Images in 2000.
A very fasinating book if interested in this sort of thing.  I basically discusses the wood box industry in the pine forest of northern California.

As an aside the wooden box industry in the Pine forests of Northern California is alive and well, even if on a more limited basis from the "glory days" of box factories.  A local family owned (since the 1890's) steam powered sawmill still cuts box shook and produces custom boxes.
You can check them out here.


http://www.phillipsbrosmill.com/phillipsbrosmill/Flash/default.htm

Later
Rick

[granitechops]

Thanks Rick using that link I found a few more links
Sunkist timeline, althou citrus rather than apple, its historically interesting as to trends affecting product & shipping


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/citrusmodeling/messages/277?xm=1&m=e&l=1
which led to
http://www.sunkist.com/flash/timeline.html
and
http://foodservice.sunkist.com/tour/tour.asp

[granitechops]

If your workforce are standing on stone slabs all day they get leg pains, so slatted duckboards have been provided for their comfort, but they wont stay this colour for very long,

The wood for this has come from a small clementine fruit tray, recycle!

[granitechops]

The cardboard packin boxes and wrapped pallets look incredibly real (the palletes themselves are nvery nice as well). Beautifully done.

M

Thanks for your comments Marc,
Its interesting about the pallet wrapping, a lorry driver who moves fruit & veg from Europe into UK markets said they dont wrap with plastic, as it encourages sweat & rot, but I see on the Sunkist web site, "timeline" a pic of them wrapping oranges on pallets,
so I guess you pays yer money & takes yer pick!

Edit;-  my mistake it was not the timeline link, but this one
http://foodservice.sunkist.com/tour/tour.asp 
& pic 19

[marc_reusser]

If interested in this industry (box shook to cardboard) a good source of information is a book by Tim Purdy called "Fruit Growers Supply Company'  Hilt - Susanville - Westwood - Burney  Published by Lahontan Images in 2000.
A very fasinating book if interested in this sort of thing.  I basically discusses the wood box industry in the pine forest of northern California.

As an aside the wooden box industry in the Pine forests of Northern California is alive and well, even if on a more limited basis from the "glory days" of box factories.  A local family owned (since the 1890's) steam powered sawmill still cuts box shook and produces custom boxes.
You can check them out here.


http://www.phillipsbrosmill.com/phillipsbrosmill/Flash/default.htm

Later
Rick

The Purdy book is a good one.  I have a copy of a film from the RRLCo. that shows the entire process of making box shook...sort of a "from tree to box" type film.

M

[Philip Smith]

Very interesting packing shed. Yet another history lesson.

Your crates and labels are very nice. I can almost smell the produce!

Philip

[granitechops]

The duck boarding has  been coloured up, but still too even, must try to remember to add sploshes to it when painting other things

No idea what he's doing with that crowbar!

[granitechops]

Designed some in house labels for the sheds "heritage" output, or is the jargon "Retro"

for those that dont know, over here the govmt sponsers a healthy eating campaign urging one to eat ""5 a Day""
so the proprietors of this packing operation have slanted their slogan to take advantage of that publicity

[granitechops]

Contrast these rather decrepit, old, stored at random, weathered naturally, boxes

[granitechops]

Its been decided that an overhead, office,/ overseers position would add interest, not sure yet wether to enclose it for comfort, or leave it open, as its use as a packing shed would be seasonal, although it probably would be used in winter periods for maintenance tasks on vehicles & equipement.
So designing stairs, with quarter or 'winder' steps to make a bend, instead of a plain flat landing

[artizen]

I can tell you are really enjoying yourself with this build. Excellent work and research, keep it up.

BTW - where did you get the overseer figure from? Completely off-topic, I just picked up a block of Top Gear soap with an embedded Stig inside which is actually correct size etc for 1:24!!!!! I just gave myself a Christmas present!