- Author:
- Knox, Thomas Wallace
- Publication Info:
-
New York:
Harper,
1880,
pg 390
Text on page 390
390
THE HOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.
the size of an English walnut; the bean is enclosed in a thick husk, and the great point in the preparation is to remove the husk without injuring the bean. Pounding by hand is likely to damage the bean by breaking it. and when this is done the market value of the coffee is considerably reduced. Inventors have studied the problem, and a good many machines have been devised to accomplish the desired separation. The most successful one thus far is the invention of an Englishman in Ceylon, and his machines are in use all over the coffee-producing world.
He has called the principle of specific gravity to his aid, and made it
DUTCH OVKUSKEUS.
very useful. The coffee-berry floats on water, as the husk is very light, but the bean by itself sinks to the bottom. A stream of water floats the berries along a narrow channel, and feeds them automatically into a groove where two plates of copper revolve in opposite directions about half an inch apart. These plates crush the berry, but do not injure the bean ; the husk and bean together are carried to a trough, where the bean sinks and is caught in a tub, while the useless husk floats away to whatever distance the water is made to carry it. The coffee is then spread out on a platform and dried in the sun, and it is afterwards sorted, winnowed,very useful. The coffee-berry floats on water, as the husk is very light, but the bean by itself sinks to the bottom. A stream of water floats the berries along a narrow channel, and feeds them automatically into a groove where two plates of copper revolve in opposite directions about half an inch apart. These plates crush the berry, but do not injure the bean ; the husk and bean together are carried to a trough, where the bean sinks and is caught in a tub, while the useless husk floats away to whatever distance the water is made to carry it. The coffee is then spread out on a platform and dried in the sun, and it is afterwards sorted, winnowed,
