The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-11-03
No Waste In the Coeoanut

LF'rom the San Francisco Chronicle1
A Chinese proverb says that the CO.
cOanut tree has as many properties as
there are days in the year. The fruit
of the tree is the only part imported
into California, and it is now put to
many and widely different uses, not one
atom being thrown away. One local
importer receives about 100000 cocoa
nuts a month. Only a small portion Of
them is kept for the green trade" as
1t is called when the nut is sold in it's
original state, the greater bulk passing
to the factory, where the husk is re-
moved and the inner nut is steamed to
facilitate the removal of the meat
About thirty-five boys and girls are
employed there in peeling off the thin
brown skin. This is carefully preserved
and sent to the oil and lead works,
where a substance resembling lard and
known as cocoanut butter is extracted.
This is worked into all sorts of toilet
articles. The white. meaty part Of
the nut, after being washed, is thrown
into different machines to be ground
according to the quality required, some
grinding it almost as fine as flour, 9TH
ers cutting it into strips half an inch
wide. The next process is the cook
ing, which is done in immense brass
kettles continuously revolving to insure
an even result. Only the milk contained
in the heart of the nut is used in the
cooking. After the nut is sufficiently
cOOked-that is, when the moisture has
wholly evapOrated, the pulp is placed
in shallow iron pans and dried in dry
ing closets, and the ''dessiccated cocoa
nut" of commerce is the result, which
enters into many different CONNECTIONS.
That part of the cocoanut whose pro-
pertieS are not so well known in Cali
fornia is the outer covering or husk.
The inner woody shell of this makes ex-
cellent fuel. If you are initiated into
the mysteries-or. rather, tricks-of the
trade, you will also know that it does
duty as spice" How spicy it really
depends upon what is mixed with it.
At any rate it is too good a fuel to be
shell of the cocoanut was, until very
recently, thrown into the bay, to float
off and disfigure the surrounding
beaches. There is now a factory on the
Berkeley shore of the bay which uses
this despised husk in the manufacture
of another useful commercial cOmmod-
ity. 1t is the only factory of it's kind
in California, and it assumes a position
of peculiar Importance when it is re-
Inembered that it is converting what
was previously considered waste mat
ter, which was hard to get rid of and
which bid fair to become a nuisance,
into an article of great utility. Out of
this huSk a very aromatic, perfectly
sanitary and springy material is being
made to serve as a substitute in mat
treSs making for the unsanitary curled
hair. The husk of the cocoanut shell
contains a fibrOus material which real
ly makes excellent furniture and mat
tress filling. It is infinitely superior to
shoddy. This industry is only in its
infancy on this coast. Twenty-Five per
cent OF the musk IS mar or uDrer the
rest is dust; but not even this dusk is
wasted, for nurserymen have found
that ii makes an excellent covering for
winter flower beds. The first process
through which the huSk is put is that
of crushing. This is accomplished by
a machine resembling a rock crusher,
and sounding very much like one when
at work. driven by a forty horse power
engine. This is called the picker. The
husk comes out of it as dust and
coarse hair-like fibre, with here and
ed over by boys and thrown again into
the picker.
When it comes out a second time a
portion of it is twisted into rope by a
machine called the twister. When
about a hundred feet of this rope is
made it is tied up into a bundle and
hung in a steam box. After being thor
oughly steamed, these bundles are dried
in a room heated to 120 degrees. While
so treated the fibre is still kept in the
shape of rope. 1t is by this process
that the fibre is curled ana gets it's
sDTingy quality. The twisted fibre is
then put through the picker a third
time and when it is thrown out it looks
as liEht as down and settles in the
sweetest, most aromatic heap imagin-
able for it retains its pleasant woody
and spicy odor which alone ought to
make it an ideal material for mattress
filling Independent of its n ore import
ant sanitary properties The price OF
this cocOanut fibre ranges from two and
one-half cents to ten cents pound. 1t
has lately been listed as an article of
commerce, 50 that it is now one OF the
established industries of this coast.
Is it burn? Use DR.. Thomas EcIee-
a pUf9 Use Thomas &c.