, 1876-05-03

= " MACHINERY REQUIRED FOR DIFFU-
SION PROCESS mi MODE OF WORKING.
1. ENGISE.
lone horizontal steam engine of As
horse power to drive the cane-cutters and
operate the various cane-carrlors.
so. CANE CUTTERS.
There are four cane cutters, which
consists each of a revolving disc of cast
iron of four feet six inches in diameter, on
which are fastened, in the line of radii, six
knives, which in their rotation pass rapid
ly and in close proximity to another knife
fixed horizontally near the disc. The
canes are cut in slices by being pressed
against the discs or knives by means of a
hopper. Their thickness is regulated by
yths distance between the knives on the
disc and the fixed knife.
The knives can be easily removed for
the purpose of cleaning and sharpening,
aud aa each disc moves independently OF
the other, only one cutter need be stopped
at "a time, and the work of slicing the
cane goes on uninterruptedly. A set Of
knives may run twenty-four hours without
requiring to be Sharpened, fthe cane is not
tough but in any event it takes but q
few minutes to remove the dull knives and
replace them with others keptiu reserve.
Z" The cane slides through the hopper
80 as to strike the plane of the revolving
disc at a suitable angle, in order to produce
such chips as will expose to the action Of
the liquids, in the diffusion vessels, the
largest possible number of the centre cells.
The cane-cutters of this description con-
structed by Franz Rebicek, engineer, Of
Vienna, make about 226 revolutions per
minute. They make a clean sharp cut,
e%)IipticaI in shape, three to four inches
long and from 18th to 1-16th OF an inch
chick. The amount of cane sliced up by
one cutter IS estimated at q minimum
average Of 5000 ibs per hour.
90. DIFFUSION VESSEL.
The diffusion vessels are made of light
boiler iron with cast iron bottoms. They
measure 1870 cubic feet, and contain about
4,200lbs. of cane chips and 3,25Olbs. of wa
ter. Ten diffusion vessels are required to
form a battery. Each vessel is in connection
with five pipes-one for water from the
reservoir above, one to send Juice to the
heater, one to receive Juice from the hea-
ter, one to discharge Juice into the sugar
house to the CHARTERS, and one to pass
Juice from one vessel to another. Besides
this, there is one pipe direct from the
boiler for steaming purposes, and one large
pipe tor discharglng the water from the
vessel before emptying the exhausted
chips. The vessels have one mauhole at
the top for receiving the chips, and anoth-
er four feet square, on the side next to the
bottom for discharging the exhausted chips.
Tho concentrated juice sent into the
sugar-bouse is drawn from the bottom of
the vessel, and, to prevent slices of cane
from passing with the Juice, each diffusion
vessel is provided with q false bottom per-
forated like q sieve.
"a. THE HEATER.
This vessel is made Of standard boiler
iron, and is in direct communication with
the steam boiler. II is used for heating
the juice in it's passage from one diffuser
to another. The juice passes through a
system OF copper pipes fixed vertically in
the heater, and which are completely sur
rounded by steam soming directly from the
boiler. The temperature of the juice is
indicated by a thermometer inserted In the
top.
s. WORKING OF THE DIFFUSION PROCESS.
Hydrostatic pressure alone is used in
passing Juice from one vessel to another,