The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom: Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c.Simmonds, P. L. (Peter Lund)
Science
The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom: Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c.
Simmonds, P. L. (Peter Lund)
Botany, Economic
_Peeling, pulping, and winnowing._--The coffee-peeler, used for
separating the bean from the pellicle, was formerly a large wheel
revolving in a trough, the disadvantage of which was the flattening
more or less of the bean when not thoroughly dry. A new machine has
been recently introduced, the invention of Mr. Nelson, C.E., of the
Ceylon iron works, by which this evil is obviated; its principle being
not weight, but simple friction, of sufficient force to break the
parchment at first, and, when continued, to polish the bean free from
the husk. A very simple winnowing machine for cleaning the coffee as
it comes out of the peeler, is attached. From the winnowing machine it
runs into the separating machine, which sorts it into sizes, and
equalizes the samples, by which a vast amount of time and manual
labour are saved. The same principle is intended to be applied by Mr.
Nelson to pulping, which will obviate the injury now inflicted by the
grater upon the fresh berry. In spite of the greatest care numbers of
the beans in a sample, on close examination, will be found scratched
or pecked; and when the closest attention is not paid, or the person
superintending the process is devoid of mechanical skill, the injury
is proportionate.
The ordinary pulping-mill in use, consists of a cylinder of wood or
iron, covered with sheet brass or copper, and punctured similarly to a
nutmeg grater. This cylinder, technically called the barrel, runs upon
a spindle, which turns a brass pick on each side of a frame.
Immediately in a line with the centre upon which it turns, and placed
vertical to each other, are two pieces of wood, frequently shod with
iron of copper, called "the chops," placed about half an inch apart,
or sufficient to allow the passage of "parchment" coffee between them.
The lower chop is placed so close to the barrel, yet without contact,
that all coffee must be stopped by it and thrown outwards. The upper
chop is adjusted to that distance only which will permit the cherry
coffee to come into contact with the barrel; but will not allow the
berries to pass on till they have been denuded of their red epidermis
by a gentle squeeze against its rough surface. The far greater portion
of the pulps are separated by being carried past the lower chops upon
the sharp points of the copper, and thrown out behind, and a few are
left with the parchment coffee. As from the different sizes of the
berries, and their crowding for precedence as they descend from the
hopper above to the gentle embrace of the barrel and upper chop, some
pass unpulped, the coffee as it comes from the lower chop is made to
fall upon a riddle, which separates the unpulped cherries. These are
put back again, and passed through a pulper with the upper chop set
closer. The secret of working-appears to be the proper setting of the
chops, and many have been the schemes proposed for reducing this to a
certainty. Perhaps, after all, few plans are better than the old
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account