Four Seasons: Potato Grader

Series

Series Name: Living Tomorrow

Issue

Issue No.

302

Length of issue (in feet)

983

Stories in this Issue:

Story

Story No. within this Issue

6 / 7

Summary

COI synopsis: Each season of the year imposes its own problems for the farmer. He must know when it’s best to plant, plough, harvest or nourish his land - and be ever alert in his battle with invading insects. Now, science and technology have joined in his eternal conflict with the four seasons. Potato sorting is normally done by hand, but an automatic grader can free humans from this dirty, wearisome job. A television camera scans a mirror image of the potatoes on a moving conveyor. On the screen, a light-pen marks any reject; a computer-controlled grid plots its exact location and mechanical fingers remove the offending tubers.

Researcher Comments

First shown in ‘Living Tomorrow No. 210’ as ‘Potato Wand’

Keywords

Agriculture; Horticulture; Science and technology; Engineering; Television; Computers and computing; Design

Written sources

COI Microfilm Roll 55 [BFI National Archive] Used for synopsis

COI Reference

MI 1458/302

Credits:

Sponsor: Central Office of Information (COI)
Sponsor: Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Cutter: R.I. Phillips

This series is held by:

Film Archive

Name: British Film Institute (BFI)
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Record Stats