Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-12-14
Committee on Manufacture
Makes important Report to
Planters Association

That the former practise of shred
ding the cane. instead OF merely
crushing IL, could be resumed In the
mills Of Hawaii with profit, is the
gist of the report OF the committee
on manufacture OF sugar and utiliZa'
ton OF by-products as submitted today
at the annual meeting of the Hawaii
an Sugar Planters Association.
Another interesting feature of the
report is the statement of the fact
that for the first time In Hawaii the
average extraction for the season has
reached 9S per cent.
The committee consists of r. s. Nor
ris, chairman; F. f. Baldwin, l.
weinzheimer, H. B. Penhallow. w. g,
Ogg, A. Lidgate. George F. Renton,
Andrew Adams and F., A. Alexander
Their report follows, in part:
Although there have been no radt
cal changes in methods, except the
revival of cane shredding in one fac,
tory, there has been gratifying gen
eral Improvement In manufacturing
efficiency the past season. More Of the
available sugar In the cane was put
into the bag than ever before.
MilIina; Cane Shreddlno.
The past season has Witnessed the
beginning of radical change In
methods of milling, which, IL 1t proves
as successful as 1t now gives hopes
of doing, will mean return to pro
cess which has been gradually dis.
carded within the last 10 years. We
refer to the shredding of the cane be
fore II is delivered to the mills. Al
one time there were about 10 mills
on the islands provided with shred
ders of the revolving disc type. AS
changes were made in the mills these
National shredders were gradually
eliminated, until now they are only
used on three of the smaller mills.
Their disuse has not been due SC
much to q change in opinion In regard
to the advantage of shredding the cane
as to dissatisfaction with the machine
Accidents were frequently happening
with 1t for which no remedy was
found. It has been quite otherwise In
Australia and Fiji, where, We under
stand, the National shredder il used
on nearly all the cane mills. In Ha
wall the tendency has been toward
theuse Of crushefs IN place of shred
ders; In the countries above mention
ed, shredders have been adopted tc
the exclusion Of crushers.
That there was still strong belief
In the islands in the efficacy of shred
ding the cane as a means of extract
ing the juice from 1t, Is shown by the
favor the new Searby shredder has
met with since 1t has been shown to
be an efficient shredder.
Shreds Cane Fine Enough.
The use of this shredder on one OF
the tanderns of mills In the factory OF
the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar
Company during the past season has
convinced everyone who has observ'
ed its work that there can be no
question of its ability to shred the
cane to the requisite degree of fine
ness.
Just what benefit to the extraction
its work will have cannot be judged
fairly from the results on this MILL
since the installation was only tenn.
porary and could not be arranged to
the best advantage. 1t Ia now being
added as a permanent installation In
several other factories, and the com.
ing season should show how much
profit is to be derived from 1t.
Juice Grooves.
Next In importance to the reintro
duction of the shredder as a part OF
the milling plant, has been the use
Of juice grooves in discharge rollers
The previous season had shown a
large gain in the efficiency of the mill
ing plant through the growing of the
feed rollers in such a way that the
juice that was pressed out could run
away in small streams from the en-
tire length of the rollers, with but
little obstruction.
It was thought that there might be
some benefit from growing the dis.
charge rollers also. This has been
proven to be the case during the past
season, when the right kind Of grooves
are used and they are kept well clean
ed out. In three factories an imme-
date drop of three per cent in the
moisture in the bagasse was noticed
with the installation of grooves in
the discharge rollers, which, other
things being equal, should raise the
extraction from two to three-tenths OF
a per cent.
Must Keep Grooves Clean.
An important point that has been
brought out this season in connec-
ton with the employment of juice
grooves is the great Importance Of
keeping them cleaned out It has beer
noticed in several factories using juice
grooves in the discharge rollers thai
the moisture in the bagasse increases
progressively each day throughout the