IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF REFINED SUGAR, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS RELATE TO THE PRODUCTION OF CURRENTS OF HEATED AIR FOR THE SAME AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF REFINED
SUGAR, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS RELATE TO THE PRODUCTION OF
CURRENTS OF HEATED AIR FOR THE SAME AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES."-
A communication from abroad by James Augustine Morrell, of
the City and State of New York, United States of America.
-
Sealed the 4th June 1872, and dated the 5th March 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th March 1872.
•
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
REFINED SUGAR, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS RELATE TO THE PRODUCTION OF
CURRENTS OF HEATED AIR FOR THE SAME AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," a com-
munication, to be as follows:-
:-
This Invention has for its primary object the manufacture of refined

page_text: the apparatus heat is developed, which may be applied to various calorific
purposes.
The nature of this Invention consists, first, in passing currents of
rarefied air surcharged with electricity through the liquid from which
sugar is to be made while undergoing evaporation.
The apparatus employed may be variously modified, but the following
is a convenient method of carrying the said Invention into practice :-
A pump, fan, bellows, or other ordinary apparatus for creating a pressure
blast may be employed, by which a current of air can be driven through
a pipe or system of pipes or an air chamber in which are placed a series
of wires, plates, or pieces of metals of dense oxidizable properties, so
arranged in relation to one another as to form a battery. For this pur-
pose it will be found convenient to use wires of copper and of zinc,
which may be wound or twisted together to form coils, along which the
current of air, in passing through the pipe or chamber, will be forced to
pass. These coiled wires may be extended into the fluid subjected to
evaporation, but it is not necessary that the wires should extend into
such liquid. The passage of the currents of air through, along, or
between the wires will develop heat sufficient to evaporate the water
contained in the syrup, and the electricity evolved will so affect the
operation of crystallization that the sugar will be separated from the
glucose, which in ordinary processes holds an equivalent of sugar equal
or about equal to its own weight in suspension, and such quantity of
sugar will be added to the valuable product.
Instead of electrifying the syrup by electricity carried into the liquid
mass with a current of air, electrical machines may be connected by
wires with the liquid and currents of frictional electricity caused to
circulate through such liquid; or wires connected with the poles of a
galvanic battery may be coiled in the vessel containing the sirup, and
the electrical current thereby be brought into action during the process
of crystallization with similar effects.
•
It will be readily seen that a current of air heated by passing it
through a pipe or chamber containing a voltaic battery, such as above
described, may be employed for other purposes than evaporating saccha-

page_text: rine liquids, as, for instance, in evaporating saline solutions, for heating
buildings, railway carriages, or for any other calorific uses for which its
temperature will be sufficient.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 4th September 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special licence
that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise; and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF REFINED SUGAR, PART OF WHICH
IMPROVEMENTS RELATE TO THE PRODUCTION OF CURRENTS OF HEATED AIR FOR
THE SAME AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," a communication to me from abroad
by James Augustine Morrell, of the City and State of New York,
United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.

page_text: declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
-
This Invention has for its primary object the manufacture of refined
sugar from cane juice liquor, syrup, molasses, melada, or other saccharine
substances from which sugar can be produced. In working a portion of
the apparatus heat is developed, which may be applied to various calorific
purposes.
The nature of this Invention consists, first, in passing currents of
rarefied air surcharged with electricity through the liquid from which
sugar is to be made while undergoing evaporation.
The apparatus employed may be variously modified; I do not limit
myself to any particular construction, but the following is a convenient
method of carrying the said Invention into practice:-A pump, fan,
bellows, or other ordinary apparatus for creating a pressure blast may
be employed, by which a current of air can be driven through a pipe or
system of pipes or an air chamber in which are placed a series of wires,
plates, or pieces of metal of diverse oxidizable properties, so arranged in
relation to one another as to form a battery. For this purpose it will be
found convenient to use wires of copper and of zinc, which may be wound
or twisted together to form coils, along which the current of air in pass-
ing through the pipe or chamber will be forced to pass. These coiled
wires may be extended into the fluid subject to evaporation, but it is not
necessary that the wires should extend into such liquid. The passage of
the currents of air through, along, or between the wires will develop
heat sufficient to evaporate the water contained in the syrup, and the
electricity evolved will so affect the operation of crystallization that the
sugar will be separated from the glucose, which in ordinary processes
holds an equivalent of sugar equal or about equal to its own weight
in suspension, and such quantity of sugar will be added to the valuable
product.
Instead of electrizing the syrup by electricity carried into the liquid
mass with a current of air, electrical machines may be connected by
wires with the liquid, and currents of frictional electricity caused to
circulate through such liquid; or wires connected with the poles of a
galvanic battery may be coiled in the vessel containing the syrup, and

page_text: the electrical current thereby be brought into action during the process
of crystallization with similar effects.
It will be found that under ordinary conditions a coil of wires of a
length of one hundred feet acted upon by a pressure blast, of a force
equal to one pound pressure to the square inch, will generate heat
sufficient for all purposes of evaporation. Should, however, for any
reason a higher temperature than can be produced by the means
aforesaid be required, it may readily be obtained by passing the pipes
conveying the air blast through a furnace of sufficient extent to super-
heat the air.
It will be readily seen that a current of air heated by passing it
through a pipe or chamber containing a voltaic battery, such as above
described, may be employed for other purposes than evaporating saccha-
rine liquids, as, for instance, in evaporating saline solutions, for heating
buildings, railway carriages, or for any other calorific uses for which its
temperature will be sufficient.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim,-
First. The mode of promoting the crystallization of sugar by passing
through the syrup a current or currents of electrized air, substantially as
set forth.
Second. The mode of promoting the crystallization of sugar by passing
electrical currents through the syrup subjected to treatment.
Third. The mode of heating a current of air by forcing it through a
pipe or closed chamber containing diverse metals such as are capable of
inducing voltaic action, substantially in the manner set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Second day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
Witness,
CHAS. J. GoOCH.
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)