IMPROVED SHEEPWASHING APPARATUS.

Marlborough Express, Volume IV, Issue 185, 24 July 1869, Page 4

IMPROVED SHEEPWASHING APPARATUS.

The Argus, of the 28th, has the following account of an improved sheepwashing apparatus manufactured in Melbourne. It is one of those which Messrs. N. Edwards and Co. are about to erect on the Avondale run, in Marlborough:— “ Sheep-washing is a process which has materially changed its character during the last few years. It used to be a very primitive and simple matter at one time. In the old days there was a rude and rickety stage by the side of a large waterhole or running creek, and from this stage the sheep were pitched into the water, and there forced to swim about for a while, and perhaps duck under a pole, after which they were regarded as washed. This mode answered all requirements, and was, in fact, the only mode practicable at the time. However, the .returns of recent wool sales have clearly shown that where a thorough hot-water wash has been practised the wool has been sold at prices that fully repaid the trouble and outlay, and moreover that these prices have improved notwithstanding the general depreciation in the price of wool. Our largest sheepowners have not been slow to draw the practical inference, and the apparatus and machinery now employed on a large sheep station contrast favourably with the primitive means they have superseded. A notable instance of this is afforded by a visit to the engine factory of Messrs. Wright and Edwards, Little Bourke-street, and an inspection of a sheepwash-—the largest yet constructed — made from the designs of Mr. Gore, C.E., for an extensive station, owned by

Messrs. M’Culloch, Sellar, and Co., in Riverina. Ihe wash is the result of careful experiments and close watching of the different methods of washing, and it is considered that it secures the advantages of thorough cleaning the wool, yet preserving its fibre unimpaired, and without reducing it too much in weight. The sheep are passed in rotation through the * soak,’ in two large round iron tanks, the water containing nothing but soda and soap. The sheep while passing through are kept sheltered from cold, and are not exposed to fatigue, and after being in a sufficient time, they pass on to the jet, each of which consists of a single sheet of water as fine as a knife-edge, supplied under a pressure of twelve feet, and about the same length as a sheep’s body. This divides the fibre of the wool without in the last degree injuring the staple, and thoroughly removes all impurities. The wash throughout is constructed entirely of iron, made in sections for the convenience of carriage, and it is easily put together at the station. The water is supplied by a powerful centrifugal pump worked by a steam-engine. The heater for supplying hot water possesses many advantages. It requires no brickwork or masonry, and the fire-place is adapted to take in large logs of wood six feet long. Provision is made for clearing dirt from the soaking tanks without any loss of soap and soda, and for maintaining the water at a uniform temperature. The wash is of ample capacity to clean 4,000 sheep daily. From its material it is of ample capacity to clean 4,000 sheep daily. From its material it is of course indestructible, while its cost is very little, if any, in excess of a properly built timber wash. Messrs. Wright and Edwards appear to do a great deal of machine and engine work for the pastoral districts, and now have on their premises, besides the apparatus we have spoken of, some large steam-boilers, water-heaters, tanks, &c., for Riverina, and a compact steam-engine and boiler for a station in Queensland."