April i, 1886.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



72; 



5IAl"niNES FOR TREATUT.XT IN THE DRY STATK. 



The Stiiiilfort Macbint. — This decorticator is com- 

 posed of two machines or parts of macliines. The 

 first comprist-s two or three pairs of deeply fluted 

 rollers, haviug a forward and backward motion, wliich 

 brealcs thr \%otidy part of the stalks. It is used 

 mostly for lirtaking Hax, for which it is well adapted. 

 The second machine, or second part of the decotic- 

 ator, is composed of a big fluted revolving clrum, 

 working by friction, and is intended to softin the 

 material, if necessary, after it has passed thr.iivgh the 

 fir.'-t machine. The International Fibre and Juice 

 Kxtracting Company, of New York, to whom belongg 

 the Sanrlfort machine, has made several public ex- 

 periments of ramie, jute, hemp and fta.x, which have 

 spoken for themselves. 



rHE CHUSON MACillNK. 



This machine is a prettly little model, made ou the 

 principle of the hand-peeling method practised by 

 the natives of India on jute stalks. The peeling is 

 tlone by two steel cylinders, in which sharp grooves 

 blend iulo a spiral, the cutting part not overreaching 

 the diameter of the steel cylinders, so that it cannot 

 cut any part of the wood, but only lifts the fibrous 

 hark. The cylinders are placed one above the other 

 in such a manner that they exercise a certain pressure 

 on the st^lk, and thereby eeize the fibrous bark and 

 throw it between two rollers covered with gum cloth, 

 which delivers the fibre in two parts, the upper cylinder 

 seizing the upper part of the stalk and the 'ower 

 cylinder the lower part of it ; the stalk once free from 

 the bark slides l>etween the two cylinders ; is seized 

 by two rollers and thrown on the floor in front of 

 the machine. 



Mr. Uibson is showing daily the good work of 

 his machine. 



MACHINES FOB TBEATMENT IN THE UKEE.S SIAI.K. 



Til,- Ilnulliilye or Jamaica Machine, — This machine, 

 which is ol Urge dimen.sions, divides the stalks into 

 two p:irls liy means of a sharp knife; each part after 

 having beeti divided is beaten by two revolving bats, 

 which break the wood ; the fibrous bark then passes 

 between a drum having revolving knives and plates 

 fitting e.xactly the diameter of the drum and moving 

 in the same direction ; the bark then falls upon a 

 revolving table. 



VXIVEliSAI, FIBRE DECOETICATOB. 



Manufactured by Hemiugton Agricultural Company, 

 r. Albee Smith, patentee. Consists essentially of 

 three pairs of rolls and a pair of endless uprou. 



Ihe machines are of two styles. One is designed so 

 as to enable the feeder to deliver the stalks. The 

 other reipiires a workman at the rear end of the 

 machine to take the cleaned fibre, the feeder being 

 constantly employed in supplying the machine with 

 material. In the first style the front rolls are smooth ; 

 the second are fluted, running about seventeen 



evoUitions per minute. The third pair are armed with 

 scraping blades, rigidly fi.ted to their periphery and 

 winding spirally around the rolls. These rolls are also 

 hollow, with perfoiations through their shell, through 

 which water is allowed to flow for the purpose of keeping 

 the blades clean from gum; also to wash the fibre, 

 running uf"! revolutions per minute. The material is 

 placed on the table, and is passed half way or more 

 into the machine, then ruu back on the table, reversed, 

 and the other end cleaned in the same manner. The 

 second style of machine has scraping rolls in place of 

 the smooth rolls, as in the first style. These rolls 

 perform the office of feeding rolls, and also c)f cleaning 

 the passing ends of the material by reversing the pairs 

 of rolls, instead of the material being operate I on 



THF, LKIHAVC DECOETICA lOlt. 



Our company's machine, known as the Lefrauc 

 UecorticBtor, is made simply of two grooved rollers 

 and two endless chains working inversely with .scraper.s. 

 The ramie stalks are introduced iu packages of about 

 twenty stalks well spread out, under the rollers, which, 

 alter having mashed them, conduct I hem to ilrive 

 out the wood between the .scrapers of the cn.lless 

 9J 



chains. During the operation a pair of pincers seizes 

 inversely the crude bark, which, thereupon, are taken 

 up iu double action by the scrapers that completely 

 eliminate all ligneous p.rts. The forepart of the 

 machine then takes up th'^ fibrous bark, which is theu 

 perfectly cleaned. This machine turns out about 50'1 

 pounds in a working day of ten hours, and its price is 

 from sKW to ^550, according to size. 



OTHER MACHINES. 



liesides the five machines above described, three 

 others, not on exhibition, have been pointed out to 

 us in New Orleans : — 



1. Mr. Luffs machine, made by a very skillful 

 mechanic of your city, Mr, Lewis Johnston. 



2. The Vogel machine, whose inventor has been 

 for a long time studying the ramie question. 



:i. The Delavigne machine, constructed by a veteran 

 in the art. We are not acquainted with these 

 machines, but they are all pateuteil, aud their inventors 

 speak very highly of them. 



At all events, imw that the farmer is only asked to 

 produce the rough bark for the market, the problem 

 of machinery is solved in every way, eith*-r to work 

 the green or the dry material. It is only a matter of 

 choice. Practical working will determine which is 

 the best method, aud, as the machines mentioned 

 above can scarcely find work to any extent before 

 the cro)> of 1.^87 is taken in, there will in the meantime 

 probably he made improvements which will make them 

 perfect. Nevertheless, taking the decorticators now 

 (m exhibition at the Kxposition as they stand at 

 present. I would suggest, in the face of a question of 

 such im]X)rtaiice to Louisiana and the United States, 

 that the official jury of the Exposition make a special 

 test of the matter by giving each decorticator an 

 equal number of ramie stalks to work, the clean 

 product to be placed on exhihition, with a report on 

 the work done by each. 



I'HEMll-'.VI. treat:\ient. 



The great difficulty to overcome in making vegetable 

 fibres Useful as textiles, comes from the cement that 

 attaches the fibres to;;ether and the colored pellicle 

 which covers them. 'I'he substances to be eliminated 

 for the utilization of those fibres are called, " vasculose. 

 cutose and pectose," and our chemical process proiluces 

 the effect of dissolving these substances, not only 

 without weakening the fibre but making it stronger 

 and more s'Iky. Other processes have obtained a 

 certain result by the use of caustic alkali with pressure, 

 or such occiJizers as permangauese of potassium, 

 hyperchloiate, chlorine aud brtunide, but these come 

 high and consume more time than ours. We began 

 first by applying our dissolving agent to ramie with 

 mollifications according to the quality of the phints 

 treated. For example, American raruie required .'1^ 

 Beauine of our dissolvent, while the China grass, 

 already somewhat cleansed, required only a bath of 2' 

 with the same time in boiling, three hours. It is 

 particularly the washing and depurating with plenty 

 of water after our chemical bath which should be 

 done with great care. By this means a perfectly 

 distinct fibre is obtained which we bleach and brighten 

 up with our two other products— azotozone and 

 chlorozone. The results obtained have won for us 

 two first premiums at your Exposition. 



ALL TE.XTII.E PLANTS ASD PEOSPECT OF THEIE TBEAT- 

 51ENT IN NEW OHLEANS. 



It is in studying how to dissolve the gummy aud 

 resinous matters of the ramie that we have been led 

 to treat almost in the same manner all the textile 

 plants which grow, so to speak, .it the vf r' ates of 

 New Orleans; the bananas nuil silk grass of Honduras, 

 the- pita and maguey of Jlexico, Guatemala, (.'aba, 

 .Jamaica, the lil ■ of Florida, and the yucca of the 

 Gulf Coast. I will not insist upon what I have pre- 

 viously said of the certain fmure of New Orleans as 

 the first market in the world for all textiles. All I 

 ask from this assembly is that a committee be aiipoiuted 

 this very evening from among you to study the ijuestion 

 she icifically and tcchidcally with me, and to make a 

 piihli<' report of all that can be imported in the way 



