The roaster man had to be a husky in those days to pick up a sack of Rio weighing about one hundred, sixty to one hundred, seventy-five pounds (not a hundred, thirty-two pounds, as now) and to empty it in the cylinder. We had no overhead hoppers.
EARLY ENGLISH AND AMERICAN COFFEE ROASTERS
1, 2—English charcoal machines. 3, 5, 8—American coal-stove roasters. 4—Remington's wheel-of-buckets (American) roaster, 1841. 6—Wood's roaster. 7—Hyde's stove roaster. 9—Reversible stove roaster. 10—Abel Stillman's stove roaster
Later we built in the rear and put in two cylinders of the Chris Abele type, having stationary fronts and filling and emptying from the front end. We still used soft coal, with the fire sixteen to eighteen inches under the cylinder.
We had other machines made locally from the Carter pattern. The idea of the tight cylinder was to keep out smoke, as well as to keep in the aroma. I think we were the first to use perforations, because I remember old Jabez Burns coming along after we put in one of his machines and remarking on it.... We had a kind of mechanical genius for engineer at that time (he also did the roasting) and he conceived the idea that we ought to get rid of the moisture in the roasting coffee because it would cook quicker. When the holes clogged up, he put in loose pieces of wire bent at the ends which shook as the cylinder revolved and kept the holes open. Another thing, he put a hole in the cylinder head and a stopper with a string on it so he could get out a few grains at a time to note the progress of the roasting—but he judged mostly by the smoke.
The cooling box was as I have described it, but later we put in a perforated false bottom which let out some chaff and small stones.
On our first watering, we pulled out the slide and dashed in a bucket of water, then closed the slide and let it revolve outside the furnace. This was hard on the cylinder, so later we used the sprinkling can and put on water sparingly.
Once we had a party that wanted to put in a soapstone lined roaster, and another near us named Salzgerber patented a superheated-steam roaster which was shaped like our modern milk bottle. This was covered with asbestos and worked on a central bearing so it could be depressed for emptying and elevated for filling. It did good work.