Coir.
The fiber of the cocoanut husk, or coir, as it is commercially known, has never yet been utilized in this Archipelago, excepting occasionally for local consumption.
Fig. 1.—Cocoanut husk-crushing mill.
Second in value only to the copra, this product has been allowed to go to waste. The rejected husks are thrown together in immense heaps, which are finally burned and the ashes, exceedingly rich in potash and phosphoric acid, are left to blow away.
As the commercial value of the fiber is greater than the manurial value of the salts therein, it is economy to utilize the fiber and purchase potash and phosphoric acid when needed to enrich the soil.
Highly improved and inexpensive power machinery for the complete and easy extraction of the fibers of the husk, either wet or dry, is now rapidly superseding the tedious hand process once in such general use. Good patterns of machinery are shown in the “husk-crushing mill” ([fig. 1]) and in the “fiber extractor” ([fig. 2]). The first breaks, crushes, and flattens out the husks by means of powerful, fluted metal rollers and, in the second the broken husks are fed over a revolving drum set with teeth especially devised for tearing out the fiber from the entire mass. Finally, it is fed into one of the many forms of “willowing” machines, which reduces the mass to clean fiber, which is now ready for grading, baling, and shipment. The residual dust and waste from this operation may be used as an absorbent for liquid manures, and ultimately returned to the plantation. The yield of fiber varies from 12 to 25 quintals of coir and 4 to 7 quintals of brush fiber per 10,000 average husks. In the Philippines the nuts yield a large amount of fiber and a relatively small percentage of chaff and dust. With improved machinery and careful handling, 18 quintals of spinning coir and 5 quintals of bristle fiber from every 10,000 husks is a fair estimate of the product.
Fig. 2.—Cocoanut fiber-extracting machine.