The Placer herald., 1870-12-31
California Beet Sugar.


We have received from the California
Beet Sugar Company, whose works are To-
Gated near Alvarado, box of first grade
beet sugar, clear, white, sweet and sparkling.
Superior in beauty, chrystal, taste and the
percentage of saccharine matter to the best
quality of granulated sugar of foreign ex trac-
ton. We have furnished samples to a num-
Der Of merchants and families, all Of whom
.,orrolor..t- the above statement. This is
the successful inauguration OF new ana I'M
portant productive industry, and desc-''e'
the good will and patronage Of every citizen
and friend of the State. There is no good
reason, considering the amount Of suitable
beet land in the State, and the adaptability Of
the climate, why this beet sugar should not
dieplace the foreign article almost entirely on
this coast and thus save three or four MILL on
of dollars in the State which is annually sent
abroad
Perkins, Flint & Co., San Francisco, are
the agents of the company, to whom orders
may be sent. The company are now M anu
featuring some two hundred barrels Of this
sugar per week, and feeding about two hun
dred head of cattle on the refuse. AS the
introduction of this beet sugar to our people
is likely to eict some inquiry as to the mode
of manufacturing it, we append very fair
description of the machinery, ingredients and
process by which the sugar is extracted
from the beet, taken from the San Jose
Mercury:
The beets are first thoroughly washed by
means Of revolving hollow cylinder, sup
piled with water The cylinder is two feet
or more in diameter, and ten or twelve feet
in length. The roots are put in one end, and
by the revolutions Of the cylinder are carried
to the other end, where they are thrown out
entirely freed from all earthly matter They
are then raised in crates, by steam power. to
the third story where they are run through a
crater and reduced to pulp. The pulp con-
Quoted by shute into the centrifugals below.
There are ten of these arranged in a row.
The centrifugal is machine of German IN an
ufacture, although we can see no reason why
it cannot be made as we'll by any good Amer
lean mschinist. 1t resembles, somewhat, an
old fashioned mill stone in shape, except that
the aperture in the center is about two feet in
diameter. 1t is charged while revolving at
great speed, with about fifty pounds of pulp
which instantly flies off from the center, and
adheres evenly to the sides Of the machine,
which are lined with wire cloth, and through
which the juice is forced by centrifugal pres
sure alone. The juice, is then collected into
tanks where it is heated by steam coils. 1t
is .hen by means of a monteJus-a machine
resen. bling, an upright boiler, into which
steam is admitted forced through iron pipes
into the s>;urating tanks, h;ch are in the
upper story. Here the juice is saturated
with carbonic ac',' for the purpose of precip-
tating the fine rs'p which escapes the
.trainers. 1t then filtered through bone coal
and conveyed to the cvspot'tcrs, where it is
boiled for several hours. Its next sent back
again to the saturatng room for skmming,
and i. conveyed a second time through the
filterers Thence it is conveyed to the vacuuum
globe-a hollow iron sphere with capacity
for five tons of syrup-where'it is boiled to
the right thickness for granulatng. The
syrup is then drawn off into square shaped
buckets holding ten or twelve gallons where
it is left to cool but not to harden -Four
centrifugals, like those we have above de-
scribed, are used in the finishing process.
From these the sugar is taken, white and
sparkling, ready for market. Fifty per
cent. of the entire product is first grade su-
gar, twenty-five per cent. second grade:
about twelve and one-half per cent. third
grade and there is still remainder of infe-
rior syrup suitable for distilling purposes.