PALM OIL AND KERNELS. 37 



them between the jaws. The machine is light, simple, 

 and strong, and seems to work well. 



The working of another new palm-nut-cracking machine 

 devised by Mr. Kent Johnston has been demonstrated 

 recently in Liverpool. This machine works on the centri- 

 fugal plan, but differs from other centrifugal machines 

 in that the nuts are flung from one ribbed rotating disc 

 or drum into or against another disc rotating in the 

 opposite direction. The machine is said to work satis- 

 factorily, and weighs 130 Ibs., being of convenient size 

 for transport. 



Every such effort to get the most out of kernels will 

 probably be welcomed by merchant and native alike, 

 especially as soap-makers and margarine-makers, and 

 other users of kernel oil are calling for a contract in 

 which kernels will be valued according to their oil con- 

 tents, anything containing less than 48 per cent, of oil 

 to be penalised. 



Palm-kernel cake is the residue from the kernels of 

 the nuts of the West African oil palm after expression 

 of the oil.* More than one-quarter million tons of nuts 

 have been for the past few years annually exported from 

 West Africa, but until the outbreak of the war, and the 

 consequent closing of the German ports, this huge trade 

 was almost entirely in German hands. A small quantity 

 of the nuts was imported into Britain, but almost all 

 the cake left from the extraction of these was exported 

 to the Continent, where it has always commanded a 

 considerably higher price than in this country. 



* " Expression " is the more correct term when the material is crushed 

 in a press and the oil squeezed out, " extraction " when oil is dissolved by 

 suitable solvents (e.g,, benzine). Solvent extracted oils are now used 

 extensively for edible purposes. 



