er.

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.

Mr. Forbes' recollections of the early days of roasting and selling
coffee at retail in St. Louis are so illuminating, and paint so
interesting a picture of the period that they are printed here to
illustrate the conditions that prevailed generally at the time when the
commercial roasting machine of the United States was being developed
into the modern type. He says further:

Selling roasted coffee was uphill work, as every one roasted coffee
in the kitchen oven. People were buying, say, at twenty cents. Our
asking twenty-five cents "roasted" called for a lot of explanation
about shrinkage, tight cylinders so the strength and flavor could
not get away, etc.; while, when they roasted a pound in the oven
the flavor scented the whole