The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1880-11-30
MAKING GLUCOSE.

Redfeld read an essay on the Fire
Hazard of Glucose Factories" The pa
per commenced by saying that there is
general interest in glucose. Even the
child smacks its lips when told that the
number of factories of this commodity
is constantly increasing; that one of
them at Buffalo is lSOx2l0 feet in dimen-
sions, eight stories high, and makes $50
tons of sweetness per day that the cost
of the product is less than half of cane
sugar, and that it is largely used in
making candy. The general public, sur
prised by the fact that there has been
made in the United States during the
last year or two about 300 100000 pounds
annually, being about 500 tons per day,
and that we have eaten nearly all Of it
without knowing it, are getting inter-
ested in it. OF the nine or ten factories
that were in existence in 1879, two burn
ed, which makes the proportion of burn
ings enormous.
Glucose is the sugar or sweet product
that comes from fruits, grain peas, beans
or potatoes. 1t differs from the product
of sugar cane or the maple tree, which
are called by the chemists sucrose, in
the fact that glucose will not crystalline,
at least not readily. Chemically speak
ing, it is grape sugar in liquid form.
The paper then discussed the history
of the discovery and manufacture of the
substance. 1t was discovered in 1912 by
a German chemist named Kirchoff, and
in after years was imported extensively
into America. In 1888 there were about
twenty factories in France and Germany
which increased to eighty-five in 1873,
while there were more than one hun
dred in the Austrian empire, though
they were not established there until
1885 or 1s40. Most of the glucose of
Europe, except that of Hungary, is
made from potatoes, on account of their
cheapness.
In 1867 the manufacture of glucose in
America was commenced. Since that
time numbers of manufactures have
been established in the United States,
until now there are fifteen, and others
are being built, so that it is estimated
that within few years the annual pro-
duct will be about forty pounds per head
of population. Each bushel of corn
makes twenty-six to thirty pounds of
glucose, which brings two and half
cents per pound, the profit upon which
in some cases is as high as forty to fifty
cents per bushel, but the interest on the
investment and incidental expenses re-
duce the profit SO that it is not greater
than that of most enterprises requiring
the same capital investment. Besides
the great care, experience and skill re-
| quired in the business, one item of ex-
pence is generally overlooked, namely,
the great waste and wear upon the
building and machinery. A competent
witness says that he put solid oak tim
bers into the construction of glucose
mandatory, and that they had to be
replaced in eighteen months, having rot
ted away, the cause being the peculiar
| processes and the materials used. An
other manufacturer told the writer that
the costs of repairing per annum was
something like 20 per cent. of the first
cost of the business.
In making glucose the shelled corn is
soaked in large tubs of hot water for 36
hours or longer, until fermentation be-
gins. 1t is ground while wet and run
on vibratory sieves. The finer, starchy
part of the corn is washed through the
sieves into tanks and settled. The wa
ter is then drawn off and the sediment
mixed with clean water and treated
with alBali, about one pound of caustic
soda being used for each bushel of corn
to separate every trace of gluten from it.
1t is then poured into metal-lined
troughs, descending slightly, most of
the water running away, leaving the
starch in the bottom, which is left to
dry. Up to this point the process is
similar to starch making. For glucose
this green starch" is washed again
and then treated with acids, sulphuric
being mostly used although hydrochloric
nitric and oxalic acids are also used
to some extent. During this process
which converts the starch into glucose
it is brought to boiling point by steam
pipes. The mixture is then treated
with some alkaline or lime substance to
neutralize the acid. The syrup is then
treated with different chemicals to
further purify it, boiled down and filter
ed through charcoal.
The paper also discussed the uses to
which glucose is put, it being used in