General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

3

AKA

wreath compactor

Patents

N/A

General Description

Predominantly wood & metal: wooden components painted off-white/light grey; black rubber (?) straps and tube; green [asphalt shingle ?] covering on foot pedal.

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

170.0 cm

Width

163.0 cm

Height

177.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Agriculture

Category

Crop processing

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Unknown

Country

Canada

State/Province

Nova Scotia

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Nova Scotia

Period

This press probably used c. 1960.

Canada

The production of Christmas trees [and associated products, such as wreaths] is a significant farming activity occurring in all provinces across Canada. With the exception of Alberta, Manitoba and Newfoundland each province has an association representing Christmas tree producers. Until the 1950s most trees harvested in Canada were cut in forests; since that time, trees have been grown on specially developed plantations or planted and then harvested from clear cuts. [Ref. 1]

Function

Used to compress natural Christmas wreaths for shipment.

Technical

Used to flatten evergreen wreaths in preparation for shipment to wholesalers or retailers. The foot pedal allows a number of wreaths to be flattened consistently around their circumference. The wreaths were piled on the table of the device and then manually pressed and tied with twine. Like baled trees, if the packed wreaths arrive at their destination in a fresh condition, they will spring back to form a desirable looking product. Given the manufacturers'/wholesalers' narrow profit margin, every means possible needed to be found to make every part of the business as efficient as possible. This ranges from the use of left-over boughs from the harvest of trees to make wreaths to making the load of wreaths more compact in order to ship more, resulting in lower fuel costs. This wreath press is a home built solution to a common problem for which a commercial product does not exist. [Ref. 1]

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

" 10" = 6/ 12" = 6/ 14" = 6/ 15" = 6" printed by hand in black marker on both right and left hand sides of backplate facing press operator. "18 =3/ 24 = 3/ 30 = 3/ 36 = 2 43 = 1" printed by hand in black marker on left side of backplate facing press operator. "DM" and "8:00" printed by hand in pencil on frame; other markings may be present.

Missing

Unknown.

Finish

Predominantly wood & metal: wooden components painted off-white/light grey; black rubber (?) straps and tube; green [asphalt shingle ?] covering on foot pedal.

Decoration

N/A