Improvements in and relating to the Method of Effecting, by Means of Centrifugal Force, the Reaction of Bodies of Different Densities on One Another.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 16th May, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 16th Feb., 1892-Accepted, 14th May, 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to the Method of Effecting, by Means
of Centrifugal Force, the Reaction of Bodies of Different Densities
on One Another.
A communication from abroad by PAUL MARIX, of 49, Rue le Peletier, l'aris, in
the Republic of France, Manufacturer.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6 Bank Street, Manchester,
both in the County of Lancaster, and 323 High Holborn in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
:--
Mr. Paul Marix, having studied the phenomena presented when cream separators.
are employed for obtaining the emulsion of the skimmed milk with a small pro-
portion of fatty substances in the manufacture of cheese, has noticed the different
character of these emulsions as soon as either the proportions of these two mixtures
are varied, or the conditions of temperature, rapidity or pressure under which the
work is effected.
These observations led him to examine, in a more general way, the conditions
which regulate the intimate mixing of liquids of different densities, and have shown
him that these conditions must be rigorously observed in order to obtain exact
results according to the proportion and nature of the mixture which it is desired
to obtain, whether it be desired to obtain a more or less stable emulsion, a
chemical reaction, or a simple intimate and temporary contact such, for instance, as
in washing.
It would take too long and be inopportune to detail here the various formulas
to be employed according to the results which it is desired to obtain. It will suffice
to state, in a general way, in the first place that the nature of a mixture is always
variable according to :-
1st. The proportion or the state of subdivision in which bodies of different
densities are brought in contact with one another;
2nd. The duration of time, the temperature or the pressure at which the contact
is effected..
In the second place, that the results vary in a very appreciable manner when the
conditions of proportion, of time, of pressure, and of temperature as just described,
vary to even a scarcely appreciable extent. In view of these observations,
Mr. Paul Marix has endeavoured to find a process which allows of liquids of different
densities being submitted industrially in a continuous manner and in mathematical
proportions, to the precise conditions indispensable, as was hereinbefore shown, for
obtaining the results with a view to which the mixtures are made.
The process forming this invention consists in producing, by centrifugal force,
the juxtaposition, by infinitesimal quantities, of the substances to be mixed, in then
effecting their admixture by causing them to run out simultaneously and con-
tinuously in the requisite proportions through the same orifice under the pressure
of centrifugal force, and, finally, in submitting, in a continuous manner, the liquids,
gases or powders, in small quantities at a time, either at the same time as they are
juxtaposed or during or after their amalgamation, to physical, chemical or
mechanical reactions which shall produce on these substances the desired results.
In order to obtain these results, the liquids to be mixed are introduced into
centrifugal apparatus in the proportions of the mixture it is desired to obtain.
By rotation, they are juxtaposed according to their density; as soon as the adjust-
ment is attained, the liquids are run off through a single common orifice situated.in

page_text: the zone of contact, whether their contact surface be formed at the periphery, in
the body of the mass or at the centre; during this discharging, the liquids are
intimately mixed in the passage through the exit orifice and under the action of the
pressure.
As everything that enters the centrifugal apparatus must come out of it, the
result is that the mixture is effected in exactly the same proportions as those of
the feed.
The liquids are submitted, before, during, or after their contact, or their mixture,
to the physical, chemical or mechanical reactions necessary for obtaining the result
desired.
The advantages of this process are easily understood, in fact it is seen that, by
this method of working, the juxtaposition of liquids, and, consequently, their intimate
mixture, may be easily obtained in a continuous manner, and in small, so to speak,
infinitesimal quantities. It is easier, than by any other of the methods hitherto
employed, to regularly raise the liquids to suitable temperatures, to effect their
turbinage in vacuum or at a pressure equal or superior to the pressure of the
atmosphere, (the whole) either in open receptacles or closed ones containing the
special gases necessary for the reactions it is desired to obtain, or by forcing these
gases to pass through the exit orifice conjointly with the liquids which are drawn
off in order to mingle together, or, on the contrary, by simply drawing off these
mixtures, in proportion as they are produced, into suitable and appropriate liquid
or gaseous mediums.
In order to allow of this process being easily understood, the mode of working
of any centrifugal apparatus in a special industrial operation will be described.
By analogy, then, there may be deduced therefrom the method of operating in
order to obtain, by the application of this process, the best results in the other
industries.
As an example of the use of centrifugal machines, the utilisation of cream
separators will be taken, and their method of working will be described in the
application of this process to the manufacture of artificial butter.
In this manufacture, the object of the churning, hitherto made use of, is to mix,
as intimately as possible, the various clements of different nature and density which
enter into the composition of butter.
In place of employing the churns at present in use in this industry, a much more
intimate mixture is obtained by means of centrifugal cream separators, by operating
in the following manner :-
One of the two orifices, serving respectively for the exit of the cream and the
skim milk, is done away with, the centrifugal is then set in action, and is fed in the
requisite proportions and at a suitable temperature with, on the one hand, animal
and vegetable fats, and, on the other hand, with the milk, cream or other liquids
more dense than the fats and necessary for the manufacture of these butters.
If the orifice, which is done away with, is the one corresponding in the cream
separator to that of the skim milk exit, that is to say, of the heaviest liquid, at
the commencement of the operation, the lightest elements alone pass out of the
turbine, whilst the heavier liquids gradually accumulate, taking the place of the
lighter elements which run off. When the denser elements fill the separator
sufficiently to impinge on the orifice which is retained, the operation is then
established and there results an intimate mixture of the heavy and light particles in
a perfect state of emulsion.
As everything which enters the centrifugal, as before remarked, must emerge
therefrom the moment the operation is duly established, it necessarily results that
the mixed emulsion which comes out must be of the same proportions as the
materials run in.
If, in place of doing away with the orifice for the exit of the skim milk, that is, of
the heaviest liquid, the one by which the cream escapes during the creaming operation
be done away with, at the commencement of the operation, during the necessary
initial period before the establishment of the regular operation, it is, on the contrary,

page_text: the heavy part of the mixture which alone escapes, up to the moment when the
lighter clements have sufficiently accumulated to come into the proximity of the
periphery of the centrifugal, and to be drawn off into the exit orifice with
the heavy particles. Once this result is attained, the regular régime is established
and the emulsion is made regularly in the same proportions as the feed.
An interesting fact may be noted here, although the churning obtained by both
these methods is a very intimate one, it appears to be preferable, from the stand-
point of the perfection of the work, to preserve the exit orifice which corresponds
to the one for the heavy liquid.
This result is explained by the following facts :-
That the contact taking place at the periphery and consequently following a
maximum surface, the state of preliminary division is pushed to its greatest extent,
which allows of a more perfect emulsion being obtained.
This new process of churning, which has just been described, can be obtained by
any of the systems of centrifugal cream separators, whether the pipes, by which the
emulsions escape, rotate with the pan, or, on the contrary, are fixed, as in the case
of the Danish diaphragm cream separators.
It should be noted that, when it is desired to avoid the presence of bubbles of air
in the emulsion, the cream separator must have its mixing pipe completely buried
in the mass.
From this point of view, the cream separators, with tubes in one piece
with the rotary part, appear to answer to this requirement, since, in order to
prevent any mixture with the air, it suffices to operate by the exit ordinarily used
for the skim milk, that is to say, by the orifice near the periphery, which will be
covered, if the machine is fed in such way that the lighter liquid fills the centrifugal
above the exit orifice.
The action of the air can also be prevented in churns with fixed pipes, but, in
that case, accessory appliances must be employed. For instance, the operation
must be made with centrifugals either hermetically closed, or placed in a digester
exposed to the action of vacuum or containing inert gases, etcetera, etcetera.
The presence of air in the emulsions can equally well be diminished to a
considerable extent, without modifying the arrangement of the apparatus, by
feeding the liquids above the diaphragm of the so-called Danish cream separators
in such a way as to collect the emulsion below the diaphragm, and as low down as
possible.
An important advantage of this system of centrifugal churning for the manu
facture of artificial butter exists in the possibility of obtaining the stability of the
emulsion by means of cold water in a continuous manner, in proportion to the
amount of the emulsion given off, in small quantities at a time, which has the effect
of affecting more rapidly and more intimately, so to speak, molecule by molecule,
the portions amalgamated.
It would be also possible, by producing the emulsion in the centrifugal at a low
enough temperature, to obtain solidity without the ulterior action of a cooling
agency, or, at least, it would effect a great saving in this agency which is generally
cold water.
By the centrifugal churning, products can be obtained which, in their quality,
challenge comparison with those obtained by the ordinary system of churning.
Another important advantage of the centrifugal churning is that, at the same time
that, on the one hand, a perfect emulsion is produced in exact proportions, on the
other hand, impurities of any kind, in suspension in these liquids, are eliminated,
the latter accumulating on the walls of the apparatus.
In the system of centrifugal and continuous churning above described, only the
new method of intimately mixing the constituent elements of artificial butter has.
been shown.
It will now be shown how this new process of centrifugal and continuous churning
allows of producing, by one and the same operation, simultaneously, on the one hand,
the churning of animal and vegetable fatty elements with cream, and, on the other
hand, the separation of this saine cream, and of the skim milk from natural milk in

page_text: such way that the application of this invention includes also the possibility of
obtaining, in a single operation, the mixture of two or more parts, and, at the same
time, the division of liquids of which it is desired to separate either the whole or a
part. For this purpose, the two exit orifices of the cream separating machine are
utilised: By the orifice provided for the heavy liquids, the skim milk escapes
alone, and, by the other, the emulsion with the cream is effected, thus the emulsion
is separated from the skim milk.
With the so-called Danish diaphragm cream separators, an inverse result is
arrived at, that is to say, the separation of the natural milk into cream and skim
milk, and the emulsion of this skim milk with fatty or other bodies in such a way
as to obtain, on the one hand, cream, and, on the other hand, skim milk emulsioned.
For this purpose, the creaming of the milk is performed as usual, and the elements,
which are to be amalgamated with the skim milk, are caused to flow in above the
diaphragm in the requisite proportions.
For this purpose a tube provided with a tap, and terminated by a fitting turned
in the direction of the rotation, is arranged behind and against the upper tube.
By this tube the elements which it is desired to mingle with the skim milk are
brought above the diaphragm. In this manner the manufacturer of cream obtains
at the same time cream, and a prepared milk, which he can sell to better
advantage, or utilize more easily than the ordinary skim milk.
Where the Danish diaphragm cream separators are employed, the skim milk can
not only be removed and the emulsion of the cream with oleomargarine or any
suitable oils can be produced, or the reverse, as just described, but both the
preceding results can be produced simultaneously, the emulsion of the skim milk and
the emulsion of the cream with fatty elements.
For this purpose a suitable proportion of fatty substances for mingling with the
skim milk is fed in above the diaphragm, and below the diaphragm natural milk,
which is to be separated, and the fatty elements, which are to be amalgamated with
the cream, are inserted. In this manner, by the same operation, with natural milk
and fatty substances, there is obtained on the one hand artificial butter and on the
other hand skim milk reconstituted by fatty or emulsioned particles.
The least deuse parts of the substanres introduced into the centrifugal churn can
also be removed from the emulsion by maintaining the two exit orifices, and causing
the lighter part to pass away by the corresponding orifice, whilst the intimate
mixture of the other clements is effected by the other orifice. This combination
allows of there being constantly maintained at the centre of the centrifugal a layer
of neutral liquid lighter than the elements of the mixture which is to be obtained
and to have thus a central layer isolating the remainder of the mass from contact
with the air. It suffices to constantly return to the centrifugal the light liquid
which flows therefrom.
It is easily understood that, by placing several exit orifices suitably arranged,
several mixtures and several separations of various liquids of different densities can
be produced simultaneously.
The principal advantages of this process of centrifugal churning for the manu-
facture of artificial butter can be summed up as follows:-
Greater perfection in the mixture of its component elements.
Continuity of working.
The possibility of obtaining by reason of the speed of the operation and the
tenuity of the layers in contact emulsions at a temperature nearer the
point of solidification of the substances employed.
Finally the possibility of solidifying the emulsions as they are continuously
produced.
When in the preceding example alimentary fats are replaced by any sort of oils
and milk by water the same perfect emulsions may be obtained. It suffices to vary
the temperature in order that the emulsions may be more or less stable. Further,
by heating or cooling these emulsions on their exit, their separation or cohesion can
be obtained.

page_text: This operation gives the best result for washing, purifying, etcrtera, in the
industrial treatment of fats or oils of animal, vegetable, or mineral origin for food
or other purposes..
By operating with water at a very high temperature, every saponification of the
fatty substances may be obtained, by replacing the water by acid, acidification
may be caused, either for rectifying, acidifying or saponifying.
The saponification by means of water may be obtained for instance in the following
manner: Melted tallow or any sort of oil or grease and water under pressure at
a high temperature are introduced simultaneously in the requisite proportions into
the centrifugal. Under the action of the rotation, the water is retained at the
periphery and imprisoned behind the layer of tallow at a pressure which prevents
its vaporisation. The emulsion will be obtained at the exit in a continuous manner
and at a high temperature. By discharging this emulsion into a digester, the
caloric necessary
for completing the desired chemical reaction can be supplied to it,
and the separation of the emulsion and of the glycerine-waters can be obtained after
the reaction has been produced.
It is easily understood that a series of digesters connected together can be coupled
with any suitable number of centrifugals for renewing the operation several times
if necessary before producing complete saponification.
Saponification may also be produced by running water and fats at suitable
temperatures into a centrifugal turbine, itself situated inside of the digester and
consequently under pressure. In the case of acidification of fatty substances, at
the same time that the acid is caused to act, oxidising or deoxidising gaseous
reagents may be also mixed therewith according to the results which it is desired
to obtain. These additions can be made either during the juxtaposition in
infinitesimal layers of the fatty substances and the acid, or during or after its
mixture in the tube.
If it be desired in an industrial operation to produce a mixture with a
pulverulent material, this pulverulent material can be caused to act either during
the separation of the mixture as an impalpable layer, or by suction into the exit
orifice of the centrifugal apparatus, or even after its exit by causing the mixture to
pass into a cloud of the pulverulent material. There could thus be produced for
instance case hardened steel by coating melted iron with very tenuous carbon
powder in suitable proportions, the iron and the carbon are amalgamated.
Metallic alloys could also be made by amalgamating, in suitable proportions
when in a melted condition, the metals it is desired to combine.
Finally, the amalgamation or the intimate mixture of liquids with gases may
be accomplished by delivering these liquids and gases into the interior of centri-
fugal machines, or even the liquids alone, these latter in the second case being then
mixed with the gases either in the exit tube or in vessels charged with these
gases.
The above descriptions allow of the method being understood which must be
employed in all industries every time that it is necessary to obtain intimate mixtures,
emulsions, amalgamations, clarifications, continuous washing of all liquid bodies of
different densities and especially of fatty substances of animal, vegetable or mineral
origin with one another or with water, acids, alcohol or any other simple or com-
pound liquids or fluids. It suffices as just shown to obtain by any suitable centri-
fugal machine the delivery under pressure through the same orifice of the bodies
to be mixed, and in certain proportions. As is easily understood these proportions
will be regulated by the proportions in which the liquids are fed in; care should
be taken to maintain these liquids before, during, or on their exit from the centri-
fugal machines at a suitable temperature, and under a suitable pressure, and, finally,
to submit these bodies which are to be mixed to the physical, chemical or mechanical
reactions necessary in proportion to their mixture. These reactions, being exerted
in a continuous manner on, so to speak, infinitesimal portions of the mixture in
proportion to their production, will yield results much more exact than those
obtained by any of the means in use up to the present time.

page_text: .
Further, this method of operating in a continuous manner and on small quantities
at a time allows of eliminating in proportion to the work such parts as are brought
to the required condition. From this there results a great economy in the reacting
agents which are. employed, and at the same time there is a greater rapidity in
the operation.
From the preceding explanation it appears that this process should be employed
in preference to any other in the acidification or purification of oils, and animal,
vegetable, or mineral fats, in their saponification, in the petroleum industry, in
soap and stearine making, in the purification of alcohol by means of petroleum or
other reacting agents, in mixtures with antiseptics, in the manufacture of alloys or
metal transformations, the action of oxygen, or of air or cast metal in the manu-
facture of steel or of iron, the action of carbon or other pulverulent products on
iron or other metals (cementing), the action of gases or other oxidising or
deoxidising or carburetted bodies, and in general in all industries where bodies of
different densities, liquid, liquefiable, gaseous, or pulverulent must be placed in
intimate contact, either in order to react one on the other, or in order to be mixed
temporarily or permanently.
All these operations can be done in centrifugals open or closed, in order to
obtain a partial vacuum or placed in atmospheres of inert or active gases, the
whole at a pressure lower, equal, or superior, to the pressure of the atmosphere.
In each of the various industries of which mention is made in this Specification,
the novelty of this invention will appear as much from the novelty of the processes
of industrial working which it creates, as of the novelty of the results and some-
times of the products to which it leads.
In the foregoing, operations have only been described in detail obtained by
centrifugal apparatus of the type of cream separating turbines. However, it may,
be noted that any other type of centrifugal apparatus, suitable to the purposes
for which it is intended, may be equally well employed.
In order to show how much the shape and arrangement of the centrifugal
apparatus capable of being practically used for realizing this process may be
varied, there will be briefly described two types of centrifugal apparatus of this
invention capable of being applied equally well either for washing, or for acidi-
fication, or for multiple filtration, or for any of the reactions of several bodies of
different densities.
In the first type, a centrifugal apparatus is formed by two concentric cylindrical
surfaces. The outer cylinder is closed at its base by a bottom piece, the inner
cylinder is open.
These two cylinders have respectively diaphragms which project alternately
between one another, so as to form in their entirety a series of barriers across
which any suitable liquid can circulate in a zigzag manner.
Such a system would work in the following manner to yield a washing.
For washing, by means of water, a body lighter than the water, oil for instance,
the apparatus is set in rotation and first the washing water is caused to descend to
the bottom of the inner cylinder. When all the annular spaces comprised
between the diaphragms of the outer cylinder are full of water, and consequently the
circumferences of the diaphragms of the inner cylinder are covered with this water,
the oil to be washed is run in. The latter under the action of centrifugal force
traverses from the bottom upwards all the zigzags, passing through all the
successive layers of water which owing to their greater density remain imprisoned
between the diaphragms. The oil comes out washed at the upper part of the
apparatus.
To renew the washing water, and replace the emulsionated water which may
have been carried off, it is sufficient to feed the apparatus with a thin stream of
water at the same time as with the oil..
If, in the preceding case, a mineral acid is substituted for the water, the acidifi-
cation of a fatty substance may be produced.
In the second type of apparatus, the apparatus has two parallel plates suitably

page_text: connected. These plates are respectively provided with concentric cylinders which
fit alternately one in the other.
These cylinders on their free end are providel with a rim turned up towards the
axis of the apparatus so as to form a sort of dish. capable of retaining, during the
rotation around the axis of the system, a certain depth of liquid.
If the apparatus be set in rotation and be supplied at its centre with two liquids
of different densities, the heavy liquid by centrifugal force will be driven into the
bottom of the cylindrical dishes, and the lighter will overflow in cascades from.onc
dish into the other.
If the heavier liquid is water, a washing can thus be obtained; if it be a mineral
acid, an acidification will be obtained.
In the two operations just described, the circulation could be conducted in an
inverse direction simply by feeding them at the top in the first apparatus and at the
periphery in the second.
Dated this 15th day of May 1891
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to the Method of Effecting, by Means
of Centrifugal Force, the Reaction of Bodies of Different Densities
on One Another.
A. communication by PAUL MARIX, of 49, Rue le Peletier, Paris, in the Republic
of France, Manufacturer.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street,
Manchester, both in the County of Lancaster, and 323, High Holborn in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Mr. Paul Marix, having studied the phenomena presented when cream separators
are employed for obtaining the emulsion of the skimmed milk with a small pro-
portion of fatty substances in the manufacture of cheese, has noticed the different
character of these emulsions as soon as either the proportions of these two mixtures
are varied, or the conditions of temperature, rapidity or pressure under which the
work is effected.
These observations led him to examine, in a more general way, the conditions
which regulate the intimate mixing of liquids of different densities, and have shown
him that these conditions must be rigorously observed in order to obtain exact
results according to the proportion and nature of the mixture which it is desired to
obtain, whether it be desired to obtain a more or less stable emulsion, a chemical
reaction, or a simple intimate and temporary contact such, for instance, as in
washing.
It would take too long and be inopportune to detail here the various formulas to
be employed according to the results which it is desired to obtain. It will suffice
to state in a general way, in the first place, that the nature of a mixture is always
variable according to :-
1st. The proportion or the state of subdivision in which bodies of different
densities are brought in contact with one another;
2nd. The duration of time, the temperature or the pressure at which the contact
is effected.
In the second place, that the results vary in a very appreciable manner when the
conditions of proportion, of time, of pressure, and of temperature, as just described,
vary to even a scarcely appreciable extent. In view of these observations,
Mr. Paul Marix has endeavoured to find a process which allows of liquids of

page_text: different densities being submitted industrially in a continuous manner and in
mathematical proportions, to the precise conditions indispensable, as was herein-
before shown, for obtaining the results with a view to which the mixtures are
made.
The process forming this invention consists in producing, by centrifugal force,
the juxtaposition, by infinitesimal quantities, of the substances to be mixed, in then
effecting their admixture by causing them to run out simultaneously and con-
tinuously in the requisite proportions through the same orifice under the pressure
of centrifugal force, and, finally, in submitting, in a continuous manner, the liquids,
gases or powders, in small quantities at a time, either at the same time as they are
juxtaposed or during or after their amalgamation, to physical, chemical or
mechanical reactions which shall produce on these substances the desired results.
In order to obtain these results, the liquids to be mixed are introduced in a
continuous manner into centrifugal apparatus in the proportions of the mixture it is
desired to obtain. By rotation, they are juxtaposed according to their density; as
soon as the adjustment is attained, the liquids are run off through a single common
orifice situated in the zone of contact, whether their contact surface be formed at
the periphery, in the body of the mass or at the centre; during this discharging,
the liquids are intimately mixed in their passage through the exit orifice and
under the action of the pressure.
As everything that enters the centrifugal apparatus must come out of it, the
result is that the mixture is effected in exactly the same proportions as those of the
feed.
The liquids are submitted, before, during, or after their contact, or their mixture,
to the physical, chemical or mechanical reactions necessary for obtaining the result
desired.
The advantages of this process are easily understood, in fact it is seen that, by
this method of working, the juxtaposition of liquids, and, consequently, their
intimate mixture, may be easily obtained in a continuous manner, and in small, so to
speak, infinitesimal quantities. It is easier, than by any other of the methods
hitherto employed, to regularly raise the liquids to suitable temperatures, to effect
their turbination in vacuum or at a pressure equal or superior to the pressure of the
atmosphere, (the whole) either in open receptacles or closed ones containing the
special gases necessary for the reactions it is desired to obtain, or by forcing these
gases to pass through the exit orifice conjointly with the liquids which are drawn
off in order to mingle together, or, on the contrary, by simply drawing off these
mixtures, in proportion as they are produced, into suitable and appropriate liquid
or gaseous mediums.
In order to allow of this process being easily understood, the mode of working of
any centrifugal apparatus in a special industrial operation will be described.
By analogy, then, there may be deducel therefrom the method of operating in
order to obtain, by the application of this process, the best results in the other
industries.
As an example of the use of centrifugal machines, the utilisation of cream
separators will be taken, and their method of working will be described in the
application of this process to the manufacture of artificial butter.
In this manufacture, the object of the churning, hitherto made use of, is to mix,
as intimately as possible, the various elements of different nature and density which
enter into the composition of butter.
In place of employing the churns at present in use in this industry, a much more
intimate mixture is obtained by means of centrifugal cream separators, by operating
in the following manner :-
One of the two orifices, serving respectively for the exit of the cream and the
skim milk, is done away with, the centrifugal is then set in action, and is fed in the
requisite proportions and at a suitable temperature with, on the one hand, animal
and vegetable fats, and, on the other hand, with the milk, cream or other liquids
more dense than the fats and necessary for the manufacture of these butters.

page_text: If the orifice, which is done away with, is the one corresponding in the cream
separator to that of the skim milk exit, that is to say, of the heaviest liquid, at the
commencement of the operation, the lightest elements alone pass out of the turbine,
whilst the heavier liquids gradually accumulate, taking the place of the lighter
elements which run off. When the denser elements fill the separator sufficiently to
impinge on the orifice which is retained, the operation is then established and there
results an intimate mixture of the heavy and light particles in a perfect state of
emulsion.
As everything which enters the centrifugal, as before remarked, must emerge
therefrom the moment the operation is duly established, it necessarily results that
the mixed emulsion which comes out must be of the same proportions as the
materials run in.
If, in place of doing away with the orifice for the exit of the skim milk, that is,
of the heaviest liquid, the one by which the cream escapes during the creaming
operation be done away with, at the commencement of the operation, during the
necessary initial period before the establishment of the regular operation, it is, on
the contrary, the heavy part of the mixture which alone escapes, up to the moment
when the lighter elements have sufficiently accumulated to come into the proximity
of the periphery of the centrifugal, and to be drawn off into the exit orifice with
the heavy particles. Once this result is attained, the regular régime is established
and the emulsion is made regularly in the same proportions as the feed.
An interesting fact may be noted here, although the churning obtained by both
these methods is a very intimate one, it appears to be preferable, from the stand-
point of the perfection of the work, to preserve the exit orifice which corresponds
to the one for the heavy liquid.
This result is explained by the following facts
That the contact taking place at the periphery and consequently following a
maximum surface, the state of preliminary division is pushed to its greatest extent,
which allows of a more perfect emulsion being obtained.
This new process of churning, which has just been described, may be obtained by
any of the systems of centrifugal cream separators, whether the pipes, by which
the emulsions escape, rotate with the pan, or, on the contrary, are fixed, as in the
case of the Danish diaphragm cream separators.
It should be noted that, when it is desired to avoid the presence of bubbles of air
in the emulsion, the cream separator must have its mixing pipe completely buried
in the mass.
From this point of view, the cream separators, with tubes in one
piece with the rotary part, appear to answer to this requirement, since, in order to
prevent any mixture with the air, it suffices to operate by the exit ordinarily used
for the skim milk, that is to say, by the orifice near the periphery, which will be
covered if the machine is fed in such way that the lighter liquid fills the centrifugal
above the exit orifice.
The action of the air can also be prevented in churns with fixed pipes, but, in
that case, accessory appliances must be employed. For instance, the operation
must be made with centrifugals either hermetically closed or placed in a digester
exposed to the action of vacuum or containing inert gases, etcetera, etcetera.
The presence of air in the emulsions can equally well be diminished to a con-
siderable extent, without modifying the arrangement of the apparatus, by feeding
the liquids above the diaphragm of the so-called Danish cream separators in
such a way as to collect the emulsion below the diaphragm, and as low down as
possible.
An important advantage of this system of centrifugal churning for the manufac-
ture of artificial butter exists in the possibility of obtaining the stability of the
emulsion by means of cold water in a continuous manner, in proportion to the
amount of the emulsion given off, in small quantities at a time, which has the effect
of affecting more rapidly and more intimately, so to speak, molecule by molecule,
the portions amalgamated.
It would be also possible, by producing the emulsion in the centrifugal at a low
ד

page_text: enough temperature, to obtain solidity without the ulterior action of a cooling
agency, or, at least, it would effect a great saving in this agency which is generally
cold water.
By the centrifugal churning, products can be obtained which, in their quality,
challenge comparison with those obtained by the ordinary system of churning.
Another important advantage of the centrifugal churning is that, at the same
time that, on the one hand, a perfect emulsion is produced in exact proportions, on
the other hand, impurities of any kind, in suspension in these liquids, are eliminated,
the latter accumulating on the walls of the apparatus.
In the system of centrifugal and continuous churning above described, only the
new method of intimately mixing the constituent elements of artificial butter has
been shown.
It will now be shown how this new process of centrifugal and continuous
churning allows of producing, by one and the same operation simultaneously, on
the one hand, the churning of animal and vegetable fatty elements with cream, and,
on the other hand, the separation of this same cream and of the skim milk from
natural milk in such way that the application of this invention includes also the
possibility of obtaining, in a single operation, the mixture of two or more parts,
and, at the same time, the division of liquids of which it is desired to separate
either the whole or a part. For this purpose, the two exit orifices of the cream
separating machine are utilised. By the orifice provided for the heavy liquids,
the skim milk escapes alone, and, by the other, the emulsion with the cream is
effected, thus the emulsion is separated from the skim milk.
With the so-called Danish diaphragm cream separators, an inverse result is
arrived at, that is to say, the separation of the natural milk into cream and skim
milk, and the emulsion of this skim milk with fatty or other bodies in such a way
as to obtain, on the one hand, cream, and, on the other hand, skim milk emulsioned.
For this purpose, the creaming of the milk is performed as usual, and the elements,
which are to be amalgamated with the skim milk, are caused to flow in above the
diaphragm in the requisite proportions.
For this purpose a tube provided with a tap, and terminated by a fitting turned
in the direction of the rotation, is arranged behind and against the upper tube.
By this tube the elements which it is desired to mingle with the skim milk are
brought above the diaphragm. In this manner the manufacturer of cream obtains
at the same time cream and a prepared milk, which he can sell to better advantage,
or utilise more easily than the ordinary skim milk.
Where the Danish diaphragm cream separators are employed, the skim milk can
not only be removed and the emulsion of the cream with oleomargarine or any suitable
oils can be produced, or the reverse, as just described, but both the preceding
results can be produced simultaneously, the emulsion of the skim milk and the.
emulsion of the cream with fatty elements.
For this purpose a suitable proportion of fatty substances for mingling with the
skim milk is fed in above the diaphragm, and below the diaphragm natural milk,
which is to be separated, and the fatty elements which are to be amalgamated
with the cream, are inserted. In this manner, by the same operation, with natural
milk and fatty substances, there is obtained on the one hand artificial butter and
on the other hand skim milk reconstituted by fatty or emulsioned particles.
The least dense parts of the substances introduced into the centrifugal churn can
also be removed from the emulsion by maintaining the two exit orifices, and causing
the lighter part to pass away by the corresponding orifice, whilst the intimate
mixture of the other elements is effected by the other orifice. This combination
allows of there being constantly maintained at the centre of the centrifugal a
layer of neutral liquid lighter than the elements of the mixture which is to be
obtained and to have thus, a central layer isolating the remainder of the mass from
contact with the air. It suffices to constantly return to the centrifugal the light
liquid, which flows therefrom.
It is easily understood that, by placing several exit orifices suitably arranged,

page_text: can be produced simultaneously.
The principal advantages of this process of centrifugal churning for the manu-
facture of artificial butter may be summed up as follows:-
―
Greater perfection in the mixture of its component elements.
Continuity of working.
The possibility of obtaining, by reason of the speed of the operation and the
tenuity of the layers in contact, emulsions at a temperature nearer the point of
solidification of the substances employed.
Finally, the possibility of solidifying the emulsions as they are continuously
produced.
This invention may be equally well applied to the manufacture of natural butter
in order to increase the yield and improve the quality.
For this purpose, the various fatty substances, such as oleo-margarine, lard, oils
and the like, employed for the manufacture of artificial butter, are replaced in the
operations above described by butter melted and previously freed from foreign
matters.
The emulsioned product is treated as in the manufacture of margarine, by being
solidified with iced water or other refrigerant, by being worked smooth, etcetera,
and thus a butter of a special quality is obtained capable of taking an important
place among food products, between natural and artificial butter. In fact, this
butter approaches very nearly, by its quality, to ordinary butter, and, by the low
cost of its production, to artificial butter by reason of the greater proportion of
milk absorbed.
The operation may also be performed, of mingling melted butter with milk, or
skim milk, in the necessary proportions to convert such milk or skim milk into
cream containing the correct proportion of butter to yield the best return, when
churned in the ordinary manner.
The cream thus obtained is churned in the ordinary manner.
Further, by replacing the fatty substances of animal or vegetable origin, usually
employed with skim milk, by melted butter, cheese of a much superior quality may
be obtained.
This substitution of melted butter for the other fatty substances of divers origin,
in the emulsions, has the great advantage of allowing such butter, or such cheese,
to be manufactured with their natural elements.
This new method of operating yields entirely novel results, the product obtained
being different from those hitherto made, and the return of milk utilised, and of
its sub-products being greater.
When, in the preceding example, alimentary fats are replaced by any sort of
oils, and milk by water, the same perfect emulsions may be obtained. It suffices
to vary the temperature in order that the emulsions may be more or less stable.
Further, by heating or cooling these emulsions on their exit, their separation or
cohesion may be obtained.
This operation gives the best result for washing, purifying, etcetera, in the
industrial treatment of fats or oils of animal, vegetable or mineral origin for food
or other purposes.
By operating with water at a very high temperature, the saponification of the
fatty substances may be obtained; by replacing the water by acid, acidification
may be caused, either for rectifying, acidifying or saponifying.
The saponification by means of water may be obtained, for instance, in the
following manner :-
Melted tallow or any sort of oil or grease and water under pressure at a high
temperature are introduced simultaneously in the requisite proportions into the
centrifugal. Under the action of the rotation, the water is retained at the periphery
and imprisoned behind the layer of tallow at a pressure which prevents its
vaporisation. The emulsion will be obtained at the exit in a continuous manner
and at a high temperature. By discharging this emulsion into a digester, the

page_text: caloric necessary for completing the desired chemical reaction can be supplied to it,
and the separation of the emulsion and of the glycerine-waters can be obtained
after the reaction has been produced.
It is easily understood that a series of digesters connected together can be
coupled with any suitable number of centrifugals for renewing the operation several
times, if necessary, before producing complete saponification.
Saponification may also be produced by running water and fats at suitable tem-
peratures into a centrifugal turbine, itself situated inside of the digester and,
consequently, under pressure. In the case of acidification of fatty substances, at
the same time that the acid is caused to act, oxidising or deoxidising gaseous
reagents may be also mixed therewith according to the results which it is desired
to obtain. These additions may be made either during the juxtaposition in
infinitesimal layers of the fatty substances and the acid, or during or after its
mixture in the tube.
If it be desired in an industrial operation to produce a mixture with a pulverulent
material, this pulverulent material may be caused to act, either during the separation
of the mixture as an impalpable layer, or by suction into the exit orifice of the
centrifugal apparatus, or even after its exit by causing the mixture to pass into a
cloud of the pulverulent material. There could thus be produced, for instance, case
hardened steel by coating melted iron with very tenuous carbon powder in suitable
proportions, the iron and the carbon are amalgamated.
Metallic alloys could also be made by amalgamating, in suitable proportions when
in a melted condition, the metals it is desired to combine.
Finally, the amalgamation or the intimate mixture of liquids with gases may be
accomplished by delivering these liquids and gases into the interior of centrifugal
machines, or even the liquids alone, these latter, in the second case, being then
mixed with the gases either in the exit tube or in vessels charged with these
gases.
The above descriptions allow of the method being understood which must be
employed in all industries every time that it is necessary to obtain intimate mixtures,
emulsions, amalgamations, clarifications, continuous washing of all liquid bodies of
different densities and especially of fatty substances of animal, vegetable or mineral
origin with one another or, with water, acids, alcohol or any other simple or com-
pound liquids or fluids. It suffices, as just shown, to obtain, by any suitable
centrifugal machine, the delivery, under pressure, through the same orifice of the
bodies to be mixed and in certain proportions. As is easily understood, these
proportions will be regulated by the proportions in which the liquids are fed in;
care should be taken to maintain these liquids before, during, or on their exit from
the centrifugal machines at a suitable temperature, and under a suitable pressure,
and, finally, to submit these bodies which are to be mixed to the physical, chemical
or mechanical reactions necessary in propertion to their mixture. These reactions,
being exerted in a continuous manner on, so to speak, infinitesimal portions of the
mixture in proportion to their production, will yield results much more exact than
those obtained by any of the means in use up to the present time.
Further, this method of operating in a continuous manner and on small quantities
at a time allows of eliminating, in proportion to the work, such parts as are brought
to the required condition. From this, there results a great economy in the reacting
agents which are employed, and, at the same time, there is a greater rapidity in the
operation.
From the preceding explanation it appears that this process should be employed
in preference to any other in the acidification or purification of oils, and animal,
vegetable or mineral fats, in their saponification, in the petroleum industry, in soap
and stearine making, in the purification of alcohol by means of petroleum or other
reacting agents, in mixtures with antiseptics, in the manufacture of alloys or metal-
lurgical transformations, the action of oxygen, or of air on cast metal in the
manufacture of steel or of iron, the action of carbon or other pulverulent products
on iron or other metals (cementing), the action of gases or other oxidising or deoxi-

page_text: dising or carburetting bodies, and in general in all industries where bodies of different
densities, liquid, liquefiable, gaseous or pulverulent must be brought in intimate
contact, either in order to react one on the other, or in order to be mixed temporarily
or permanently.
All these operations can be done in centrifugals open or closed, in order to obtain
a partial vacuum or placed in atmospheres of inert or active gases, the whole at a
pressure lower, equal or superior to the pressure of the atmosphere.
In each of the various industries of which mention is made in this Specification,
the novelty of this invention will appear as much from the novelty of the processes
of industrial working which it creates as from the novelty of the results and some-
times of the products to which it leads.
In the foregoing, operations have only been described in detail obtained by
centrifugal apparatus of the type of cream separating turbines. However, it may
be noted that any other type of centrifugal apparatus, suitable to the purposes for
which it is intended, may be equally well employed.
In order to show how much the shape and arrangement of the centrifugal
apparatus, capable of being practically used for realising this process, may be varied,
there will be briefly described two types of centrifugal apparatus of this invention
capable of being applied equally well either for washing, or for acidification, or for
any of the reactions of several bodies of different densities.
On the accompanying drawing :-
:-
Figure 1, representing the first type, shows a sketch of a centrifugal apparatus
formed by two concentric cylindrical surfaces A. and B. The outer cylinder A. is
closed at its base by a bottom piece C, the inner cylinder B is open.
These two cylinders have respectively diaphragins D and E, which project alter-
nately between one another, so as to form in their entirety a series of barriers
across which any suitable liquid can circulate in a zigzag manner.
Such a system would work in the following manner to yield a washing.
For washing, by means of water, a body lighter than the water, oil for instance, the
apparatus is set in rotation and first the washing water is caused to descend to the
bottom of the inner cylinder B. When all the annular spaces comprised between
the diaphragms E of the outer cylinder are full of water, and, consequently, the
circumferences of the diaphragms D of the inner cylinder are covered with this
water, the oil to be washed is run in. The latter, under the action of centrifugal
force, traverses, from the bottom upwards, all the zigzags, passing through all the
successive layers of water, which, owing to their greater density, remain imprisoned
between the diaphragms. The oil comes out washed at the upper part of the
apparatus.
To renew the washing water and replace the emulsionated water which may have
been carried off, it is sufficient to feed the apparatus with a thin stream of water at
the same time as with the oil.
During this operation, the liquids (water and oil) assume the positions shown in
the drawing. The vertical shadings represent the layers of water and the horizontal
ones the layers of oil.
If, in the preceding case, a mineral acid is substituted for the water, the acidifi-
cation of a fatty substance may be produced.
In the second type of apparatus, shown in Figure 2 of the accompanying
drawing, the apparatus has two parallel plates A and B suitably connected by
means of a cylinder C. These plates are respectively provided with concentric
cylinders E and D, which fit alternately one in the other.
These cylinders on their free end are provided with a rim turned up towards the
axis of the apparatus so as to form a sort of dish capable of retaining, during the
rotation around the axis of the system, a certain depth of liquid.
If the apparatus be set in rotation and be supplied at its centre with two liquids
of different densities, the heavier liquid will be driven, by centrifugal force, into the
bottom of the cylindrical compartiments, and the lighter will overflow in cascades
from one compartment into the other.

page_text: If the heavier liquid is water, a washing can thus be obtained; if it be a mineral
id, an acidification will be obtained.
In the two operations just described, the circulation could be conducted in an
verse direction simply by feeding them at the top in the first apparatus and at the
riphery in the second.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
n, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The improvements in the method of effecting, by means of centrifugal force,
e reaction of liquid, liquefiable, gaseous or pulverulent bodies of different
nsities one upon another, physically, chemically or mechanically in a continuous
anner, and by small quantities at a time, which consist in producing, by centri-
gal force, the juxtaposition, by infinitesimal quantities, of the substances to be
xed, in then effecting their amalgamation by causing them to pass simultaneously
d continuously, in exact proportions, through a common orifice under the pressure
centrifugal force, and finally in submitting, in a continuous manner, the liquids,
ses or powders in small quantities at a time, either at the same time as they are
xtaposed or during or after their mixture, to such physical, chemical or mechanical
agents, as shall produce the desired result on these substances.
2. The application of the process described in Claim 1 in the manufacture of
tificial butter, generally known under the name of margarine, and consisting more
rticularly in producing:
Either merely the continuous churning of animal or vegetable fats with milk,
cream or other suitable product, by means of cream separators or other
centrifugal apparatus :
Or the simultaneous production of the centrifugal churning above named and
the elimination of the heavier or the lighter elements introduced into the
separator, whilst retaining the two exit orifices of the separator in question, or
even in realising, at the same time, the creaming of the natural milk, and the
centrifugal churning of the resulting cream with animal or vegetable fats, or
even in producing a central layer of light and neutral liquid isolating the
elements of butter, which are to be churned, from the action of the air:
Or in combination with the elimination of the skim milk simultaneously with
the emulsion of the cream as has just been described, the emulsion of the
skim milk with fatty or other substances simultaneously with the emulsion
of the cream by means of so called "Danish "diaphragm cream separators:
The emulsion of the cream and that of the skim milk being effected simul-
taneously and respectively below and above the diaphragm :
Or in combination with centrifugal churning, combined, or not, itself with the
creaming of the milk, and the emulsion of the skim milk, the application of
the process in vacuum, or even in the midst of an atmosphere of inert gases.
3. The application, in the manufacture of cream, of the improvements herein-
fore set forth for the simultaneous reconstitution of skimmed milk or any other
eparation by its emulsion with a suitable proportion of fatty or other substances,
feeding during the operation of creaming above the diaphragm of the so called
anish cream separators, the suitable proportion of substances to be mixed.
4. The application of the process described in Claim 1 for emulsioning melted
tter with cream, milk, or skim milk, simultaneously, or otherwise, with the
eration of creaming, and that by means of centrifugal force, and more parti-
larly by means of centrifugal cream separators, with a view to obtaining butter
d cheese of best quality.
5. The application of the process described in Claim 1 for purifying alcohols by
eans of petroleum, or other purifying agent.
6. The application of the process described in Claim 1 for the manufacture of
etallic alloys by producing, by means of centrifugal force, the mixture of metals
a state of fusion in suitable proportions.

page_text: 7. The application of the process described in Claim 1 for the various operations
of metallurgy and especially for cementation, by mixing, by means of centrifugal force,
metal, (iron particularly) with the pulverulent reagent, especially powdered charcoal,
or even for producing oxidisations and deoxidisations of metals by means of gases
or other bodies, during various metallurgical operations, such as the decarburising
of cast iron by air or oxygen for manufacturing steel or wrought iron.
8. The application of the process described in Claim 1, for obtaining any
mixtures, or intimate and, so to speak, atomic, reactions in the manufacture of
chemical products.
9. The arrangements of centrifugal apparatus having multiple and diagonal
diaphragms or concentric cylindrical compartments substantially as above described,
and shown as an example on the annexed drawings.
Dated this 15th day of February 1892.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.