26 THE C U BA RE V I EW 



increased output of the factories and the improvements in the manufacturing methods 

 and the equipment. ISIuch of the new work has been entrusted to capable and experienced 

 resident engineering firms, but the willingness of the American owners to invest the 

 capital necessary to insure efficient equipment has elevated the previous standards. 



The nationalities of the ownership of the mills in the years 1914 and 1920 were as 

 follows : 



1914 1920 



American 38% 51% 



Cuban 29 28 



European 33 20 



These figures do not accurately show the relative shares in the yearly output, for 

 the American mills are, in general, larger than the others. Of the 85 Arnerican-owned 

 mills, 49 are either owned outright by American seaboard sugar refinery companies or are 

 affiliated with them by interlocking officers and directors. These 49 mills have an 

 average capacity of 47,572 tons each, a total of 2,331,033 tons, equal to 53 per cent of the 

 total sugar production in Cuba in 1918-1919, the year of the island's greatest production. 

 Assuming that in their year of greatest production the 85 American-owned mills ran to 

 capacity, they had a combined annual capacity of 3,116,942 tons of sugar, or equal to 

 70 per cent of the total amount of sugar produced in Cuba in that year. The 36 mills 

 not affiliated with American sugar refining interests have an average capacity of 21,831 

 tons, while the output of the 113 Cuban and European owned mills in 1921 was 18,088 

 tons per mill. 



Coincident with the increased output per factory and the improved equipment, the 

 installation of electrical machinery has been going on apace. At the beginning of the 

 1921-1922 crop an estimate of the electrical machinery installed or available for installa- 

 tion and of the extent of electrification is as follows: 



Centrals active or potential producers 192 



Centrals completely or partially electrified. 80 



Turbine generator 185 units 



Turbine generator capacity 143,372 KW. 



Engine generators 50 units. 



Engine generators capacity 9,691 KW. 



Motors for fabrication 109,585 HP. 



Motors for crushers and rolls 20,815 HP. 



Crushers with motors 27 



Mills with motors 82 



Production of electrified centrals 2,610,000 tons. 



Production total of 1922 4,000,000 tons. 



Proportion of electrified centrals 65% 



This tabulation cannot be considered complete because the data has been gathered 

 from many sources. The number and capacity of the turbine generators and the data on 

 motor-driven crushers and rolls have been compiled from closely kept records, but the 

 motors for fabrication and other data have been estimated. The figures give, however, 

 a conservative statement of the extent of the application of electric power. 



It is thus seen that over 65 per cent of the Cuban output of sugar is produced in 

 centrals which have electric motor-driven machinery. The application of motors to the 

 grinding rolls has not progressed with that of the fabrication. This is due to the later 

 date at which the introduction of the rolls took place and to the opinions held by many 

 mill owners and engineers that the steam engine is better suited to his part of the factory. 

 With the improvement in the speed control of the rolls, and paricularly in the controlling 

 equipment, this prejudice is gradually being overcome. 



In checking over the data, it was found that the capacities of the generating equip- 

 ment and of the motors were higher than would be considered as representing good 

 practice for an individual mill. For instance, there is now installed .65 KW. in generating 

 capacity per ton of cane ground per day of 24 hours, exclusive of the grinding rolls. 

 Factories recently built or remodelled require from .17 KW. to .32 KW. per ton of cane 



