The Zoologist/3rd series, vol 1 (1877)/Issue 4/Observations on Egg-blowing

by Edward Bidwell

 

OBSERVATIONS ON EGG-BLOWING.

By Edward Bidwell.

 

During the last few seasons I have had considerable experience in egg-blowing, and though endowed by nature with a good pair of natural bellows, I frequently found that blowing a hundred large eggs in an evening was no light task, and it occurred to me that could I devise a machine for the purpose it would be a great boon to collectors.

My first attempt was with a large india-rubber syringe attached to a blow-pipe by a tube; but I found that it did not always contain sufficient air to empty the egg. I then substituted a kitchen-bellows for the syringe, but besides being clumsy it frequently broke the egg, from the handle requiring so much pressure that it moved the blow-pipe. I then procured a cylindrical bellows, shown in the engraving, and find it answers admirably, as it works very steadily, and it is easy with this to regulate the pressure of the air to the size of the egg.

The blow-pipe (a) is held in a groove by two small buttons, so that whilst firmly fixed it can easily be removed for cleaning should it get stopped up. b is the tubing connecting the pipe with the bellows (c), which is supplied with air through a hole (d) in the wooden stand to which it is fixed. When travelling, the space e is fitted with a box for the drills, &c. For greater steadiness a block of lead weighing about two pounds is placed in the space under the bellows, or the latter can be fixed to the table by means of a small clamp. A small wooden stand is used as a rest for the left hand while holding the egg.

On the subject of drilling I should have had no remarks to offer had I not learned from Mr. Seebohm that he used a carpenter's spiral drill for eggs, which he fixed in a horizontal position. Fig. 2 shows a small appliance which I have adapted for this purpose. It is held in a vice, and is fitted with a drill, which is turned by hand. Should greater speed be required it can easily be fitted for a bow and the handle unscrewed.

It will be found a great saving of time if, when the hole is drilled in an egg, the membrane around it be extracted with a fine pair of spring pliers. The contents come out much more rapidly, and the shell drains much sooner.^[1]

Every egg-collector knows the annoyance and danger of cottonwool, &c., adhering to eggs through their not having drained thoroughly, which is frequently caused by the egg rolling after it has been placed on the blotting-paper pad. To obviate this I have had thin brass tubes of different sizes cut into lengths varying from one-fourth to five-eighths of an inch and bent to an oval. If the egg is placed in this with the hole touching the blotting-paper, the nuisance of its moving is done away with. The rings fit into each other, and so take up very little room.

A small india-rubber syringe possesses great advantages over the old-fashioned "squirt" for injecting water for rinsing, as it can be used with one hand whilst the egg is held in the other, thus lessening the danger of breakage, and enabling the user to keep the exterior of the shell dry—a matter of greater importance than many consider it.

Now that collecting "clutches" is so much in vogue, it is of greater importance than formerly to bring home each "clutch" intact, and to secure this I use round tin boxes, into which five pill-boxes have been glued in a circle, thus forming six compartments. Each egg is wrapped in cotton-wool and placed in a division. Every box is numbered, and particulars of its contents entered in a rough note-book on the spot. Another good plan is to wrap each egg in tissue-paper after rolling it in wool, as, if this is not done the egg frequently works out of the wool and gets broken.

The whole of the apparatus described fits into a box twelve inches long by six inches deep and six wide, and may be seen at Messrs. T. Cooke & Son's, 30, Museum Street, London, who will be happy to show it.

 

 

1. There is another advantage in extracting the membrane. If allowed to remain in, it often contracts so much in drying as to cause thin shells to crack.—Ed.