The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1888-03-23
SUGAR MAKING.
The PROCESSES OF MaNUFao.
ioRE IN LOUISIANA.
C.n Which chews up the
Zane Into Pulp -onNxatinr
the juices = The rSSse
Products of the MN

The Magnolia sugar house is pr,sr,,,v
A.o~n IN Louisiana as having ths hrst
aiacninery and all the new processes I,
+ nor much inflated, for two reasons.
fIrst Inc conservatism of the Older cIass
OF planters, which leads them 10 stict 10
Ine Methods they understand. and Sec
ono. the tact that the business of sn,s-
making has not been sufficiently nra;,-
able In recent years to enable planters NJ
moderate capital TO purchase new ~
paratns- They are obliged to hold On
10 their old pans and kettles for want ~
money TO buy new. Let Us now 90 into
the great irregular brick building, with
its three tower-like chimneys and its
general big factory air, which contains
the sugar making plant promising at
the start to go through hastily, and not
to bore the reader with details about
machinery, or with the fine scientific
points of the business.
First the owner Of magnolia" calls at
tention to his bagasse burner, which
makes more than half the steam used to
run the mill. Formerly the bagasse.
which is the cane after it has parted with
as much OF its juice as the mill will ex-
tract, was either burned in furnace 10
get rid of it or thrown out on the levee
to help fight off the river from eating
away the bank Now every econom-
ically managed mill burns it to make
steam by the aid of the draught of an
enormous chimney. The best method is
to burn it on he CRATES, under which air
is forced by blower
The canes, hauled in the big carts from
the fields, are dumped upon an endless
band and carried into the mill, usually
direct to the big iron rollers, but at
Magnolia first to "shredder." There
are only two shredders in the State, the
machine being a new invention. Its re-
volving teeth chew up the cane into pulp.
The pulp and juice fall upon a rubber
apron, which carries them into the mill:
grinding is simply squeezing between
three or four sets of iron rollers. Now
the juice runs in trough to a strainer
where woman gathers up now and then
these shreds OF cane remaining and takes
them back to the mill Next the juice
is pumped into an iron cylinder allied
the "juice heater. and heated with ex-
haust steam 10 1870 degrees. This is q
new p occss not much in use. Next it
runs into the CHARTERS or defecators,
which are large iron watts with rows of
steam pipes at the bottom. Here Stacked
quicklime is added. which brings to the
top all impurities, to be SKINNED off into
division of the pan at the end. The
juice is then boiled and "brushed with
a long paddle until the bubbles become
white, when it is allowed to settle for
fifteen minutes. There is a side oper-
alton for saving the sugar in the skim
mings BY putting them through filter
presses.
IN the advanced process at Magnolia
the nice next goes through bone black
filters instead OF to the ordinary settling
tanks, to settle for six or seven hours. A
filter is big iron drum containing TO-
00D pounds Of an NAL bone black. The
''char" mu t be washed with hot water
every two days and dried in kiln. After
filtering. the juice, still thin as when
first pressed from the cane, goes to the
double effects" This is a new appa-
ratus, resembling two upright boilers of
portable engine. Each cupola like
machine contains 500 tubes, in which
the juice is boiled in vacuum by exhaust
steam. The usual plan is to boil in an
open cylindrical pan, having coils Of
steam pipe at the bottom. Now the
juice goes to fresh filters, and next to
the vacuum pan. which Is not pan, but
big iron cupola shaped cylinder, with
an apparatus for exhausting the air and
multitudinous coils of steam pipe. This
is the process requiring most skill. The
chief sugar maker attends to it himself,
watching his vacuum gauge and Their
mometef carefully, and testing every
few minutes his boiling mass by drawing
out tube viii h does not break the
vacuum.
He seeks to keep the temperature
down to 1870 degrees. If it is too high
some OF the stfcose will 'invertn or
caramel" into glucose and the pro-
portion of sugar will be lessened. First
he fills the pan only in part. Then
when he sees fine granulations of sugar
against the light in his test tube he adj
mits more Juice, and thus builds up the
grains little by little to lager size
When sufficiently boiled the thick syrup
is called the ''massa cutie" The strike
is now done, air is admitted to the pan
and the contents are run of i1to the
mixer huge oblong iron pan in
which steam arms ievolve. Next the
t'masse cutie falls into the ''centrifu-
gals" which are small drums holding
about 100 pounds of sugar. Within the |
drum is wire screen basket revolving /
at the rate Of 1900 turns per minute.
The centrifugal force throws out the
molasses through the wire network and
leaves the sugar. Perfectly clear water
is then spurted into the drum from
d syringe. This water is thrown out
through the sugar. washing out the re-
manning coloring matter. The motion
Of the centrifugal is now stopped and
the sugar let out OF trap in the bottom
into a screw ednveyor, from which
bucket band is carried to big bin; A
man stands in the bin and shovels the
sugar, as if it were wheat, into tube
under which the barrels are placed one
by one to receive ii. "a,
This first product of the sugar mill I;
called ''firsts," and is the whltest ana
best sugar. The molssses IS boileu
again in the vacuum psn, goes again
through the centrifugals. and lghs
brown sugar called SECONDS results
Yet again the remaining molasses goes
the pans, but the ''mas'e cnlte IS now
sticky ard stringv, and will not we'd 4
its sugar to the centrifusais. u y Pu
into iron tanks Unich holds About
"wagons, ca h OF 'wled into the hot
$500 pounds, and WIZ here is from 80
room. The temperature wagons stand !
to 100 degrees Herl for thirty DAYS.
-lasss.y packed ro"iff and wayy. 1t
= - very s'oiler, stirred up ,
.J"n into the 'ltrifugals with }
~ and put into the C Oh. the mo-
cold water, which washer of sugar is )
lasses. The final renal A dark brown L
cal ed thirds ana lS1olasses is of
color. The separated $ for only about
very poor quality and fillers use it to
IL cents a gallon. Rlucose manufac.
make alcohol and thea cane aavor IN ?
turers buy it to giE Y SwaiI,, IN c,
Al. -.