124 COCOA AND CHOCOLATE 



and sorted before passing on to the roasting shop. In 

 this process curios are occasionally separated, such as 

 palm kernels, cowrie shells, shea butter nuts, good 

 luck seeds and " crab's eyes." The essential part of one 

 type of machine (see illustration) which accomplishes 

 this sorting is an inclined revolving cylinder of wire 



CACAO BEAN SORTING AND CLEANING MACHINE. 



Reproduced by permission of Messrs. J. Baker & Sons, Ltd., Willesden. 



gauze along which the beans pass. The cylinder forms 

 a continuous set of sieves of different sized mesh, one 

 sieve allowing only sand to pass, another only very 

 small beans or fragments of beans, and finally one 

 holding back anything larger than single beans (e.g., 

 " cobs," that is, a collection of two or more beans stuck 

 together). 



Another type of cleaning machine is illustrated by 

 the diagram on the opposite page. 



This machine with its shaking sieves and blast of air 

 makes a great clatter and fuss. It produces however, 

 what the manufacturers desire a clean bean sorted to 

 size. 



