, 1891-09-30
CANE MILL IMPROVEMENT.

Every student of Juice extraction by the
mill process will admit that under ordinary
conditions the average cane mill, or even
the cane mill far above the average, does
not d~evelope its entire strength. In the
past it was necessary to have "a large reserve
of strength in all of the mill, the mill gear
ing and the engine, in order to withstand
the sudden strain arising from any Obstruc-
ton, the choking ofthe mill or other cause.
With a rigid mill it's sudden stoppage or
slowing down by the introduction of an ex-
ceptiOnally large feed would double the
strain upon the mill if the engines fy-
wheels were heavy enough to store up the
required momentum, and hence careful pre-
paratlOn was requisite to prevent such
stoppageS and the incidental bre4kages.
The invention and application of the
Mcdonald hydraulic regulator to cane mills
has entirely remedied this difficulty. and
it has now become possible to apply tn
cane juice extraction the entire strength of
the cane mill, Of its gearing and Of the en-
CINE, thus applying double or more pressure
than was applied before its introduction.
II is owing to the application of this admi-
rable device that so many Of our. Louisiana
cane mills, constructed years ago to work.
ander very different conditions, now lind
themselves able to obtain an extraction
above 10 per cent, sometimes reaching rs
per cent, and quite equal to the gigantic
and expensive cane mills now constructed
for the same purpose.
There IS certainly no better way TO utilize.
the entire strength of Il care mill han to,
apply to it a Mcdonald hydraulic pressure
regulator, and to then load it to the highest
point consistent with safety, and hundreds
of old fashioned cane mills in this state
would have their capacity for juice extrac-
ton increased more than 10 per cent. by
the application of this device.
With Onr large modern mills the limit of
their work seems to have been the point of
pressure atwhich they will not receive cane,
the second mill powdering the ends off the
incoming bagasse, but not receiving it.
This necessitates the roughening OF the roll
lers, and the diminutiOn of the strain sufi-
cient to permit the bagasSe TO enter. For
such cane mills the Mcdonald hydraulic is
Ofimmense value from the fact that they
can be loaded to just the point at which the
mill will take the cane, and beyond which
it would refuse it.
In this connection we should refer also
to another device invented and brought
out by one of our young engineers, Mr.. John
c. Riley, his forced feed for double mills,
The fact that the large improved mills
refuse to receive bagasSe under ordinary
conditions led to the use of men to push the
bagasse directly into the jaws of the mill,
and thus increase the work done. Nj. Riley
invented his forced feed for the purpose
of doing the same work automatically, and
doing it better than it would be done by
hand. As a labour saving device it is of
large value, and apart from this, its uniform
automatic action largely increases the work
done per day, and we believe it safe to say
that a MILL capable of grinding 800 tons per
day under ordinary conditions would han
die 10 per cent. additional, or $50 tons, CIV
ing equally good extraction, although doing
a largerquantity of work, the 10 per centin-
crease being attributable solely to the uni
formity of the work done.
These twin inventions of our leading cane
mill engineers are of immense value to the
Louisiana sugar industry, and in fact to the
tropical cane industry throughout the world,
and so long as the cane mill retains it's posi-
ton as a device for extracting cane, juice,
the mill is incomplete that has not these
Inventions applied to it.-Jbid.