IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY, APPARATUS, OR MEANS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION OF SUGAR
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I JAMES
BUCHANAN MIRRLEES, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer, send greeting.
Her
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of July;
in the fifteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Buchanan Mirrlees, my exors, adiñors, and
assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said James Buchanan Mirrlees, my exors, adññors, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said James Buchanan Mirrlees, my exors, admors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney,
Sark, and Man, and in all Her Majesty's Colonics and Plantations abroad,
my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY, APPARATUS, OR MEANS FOR
THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION OF SUGAR;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso requiring that I, the said James Buchanan Mirrlees,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, shall particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: same is to be performed, and shall cause the same to be inrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Buchanan Mirrlees, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and i
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by this present Instrument in writing as follows,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto attached, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to that branch of the sugar manufacture which
comprehends the obtainment of the juice from the cane or other vegetable
from which saccharine matter may be extracted, and consists,-
First, of an improved construction and arrangement of sugar mills wherein
the steam engine or actuating power is combined with the mill in such a
manner that the same framing shall answer both for engine and mill, and thus
add stability and firmness to the whole machine.
Second, of the beating of the cane juice as expressed from the rollers.
Third, of the constructing of sugar mills with framing of malleable iron.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
attached.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a front elevation of the mill and steam
engine complete. Figure 2 is a corresponding side elevation of the same at
right angles to Figure 1. Figure 3 is a detached side elevation of one of the
main standards or side frames of the mill, shewing the ends of the crushing
rollers, the steam engine being removed; and Figure 4 is a detached vertical
.section of the hollow base plate of the mill, which is dished to receive the
cane juice; and Figure 5 is another section of the same at right angles to
Figure 4, shewing the arrangement of the steam cylinder and valves, which
are also in vertical scction. A is the hollow base plate of the mill, to which is
bolted or otherwise attached the ordinary steam cylinder B, fitted with a slide
valve C. Two standards D are bolted to the base plate, and are further
secured by the two tie rods D¹ secured to the base plate by keys. The lower
portions of these standards carry the bearings of the three crushing rollers E,
which are geared together in the ordinary manner. The two side rollers are
adjusted horizontally by means of the screws F, and the upper central one is
regulated by the cutter G. On the top of these standards are cast the two
plummer blocks H, fitted with brasses to receive the journals of the main
driving shaft of the engine. This shaft carries a pinion J outside the

page_text: framing, which pinion gears with the large spur wheel K keyed on to the
shaft of the central crushing roller of the mill. By this arrangement the
power is communicated from the driving shaft directly to the crushing roller;
but it is obvious that in other modifications of steam engines a train of wheels-
may be required in place of the single large spur wheel used as described. A.
heavy fly wheel L is keyed on to the opposite extremity of the driving shaft,
and immediately in front of the driving wheel is the crank M and eccentric N.
A bevil wheel O is keyed on to the driving shaft, and gives motion to the
governor P, which regulates the throttle valve Q. The governor works in the
light brackets R bolted to the side standards of the framing. A forked con-
necting rod S is attached in the ordinary manner to the crank M by a strap
and cutters, and the extremities of the forks are similarly connected to the two.
sides of the slide T, which is attached to the end of the piston rod U, and
works in the vertical guides V bolted to the cylinder. Two short upright
pillars W are bolted to the top of the valve chest, and they are connected at
their upper extremities by a cross bar, through the centre of which works the
valve spindle X. The slide valve receives its movement directly from the.
eccentric by the rod Y, and the weight of the slide is counterpoised by the
small. weighted lever Z, which works in a fixed bearing in one of the pillars W.
The ordinary stop valve a is placed close to the cylinder, thereby affording.
greater facility to the attendant in stopping the engine when required. On.
reference to Figures 4 and 5 it will be seen that the base plate is cast hollow,
and its upper surface is of concave section, to receive the juice of the cane.
The waste steam of the cylinder is made to pass into the interior of the base.
plate, the cylinder. being formed with a side branch for that purpose. By
this arrangement the juice is kept hot in its way to the boiling apparatus. It.
will be evident to the practical man that the same general arrangement may
be carried out by placing the crank shaft beneath the mill instead of over
head, and that various forms of engine may be employed as the driving power.
By the herein-before described arrangement of sugar mill, or by modifications
thereof, the standards themselves will answer as the elevated support for
raising and adjusting the rollers and heavy details without the use of triangles
or other supports. By the herein-before described arrangements of engines
and sugar mills the whole machinery is made extremely compact, with a
great reduction in the number of working parts, whilst the entire movements
are under the immediate control of the attendant. The framing of the mill
being also the framing of the entire engine and gearing, the combined arrange-
ment is less liable to derangement from strains or the subsidence of the
building or foundation than existing plans.

page_text: Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of my Invention. But what I
consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured:
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the system or mode of constructing or arranging sugar mills by
combining the engine with the mill in such a manner that the same framing
shall answer both for the engine and mill, or, in other terms, that the
standards for the rollers shall also carry the engine shaft.
Second, the system or mode of constructing or arranging sugar mills:
whereby the standards themselves shall serve as the elevated support for raising
the rollers or other heavy details of the mill.
Third, the system or mode of constructing or arranging sugar mills so that
the weight of the mill may add stability to the engine, as herein-before
described.
Fourth, the system or mode of heating the cane juice by passing the waste
steam of the engine or other steam or heated air through a hollow base plate
formed to receive the expressed juice, as herein-before described and illustrated
by the Drawings.
Fifth, the application and use of malleable iron in the construction of the
framing of sugar mills.
Sixth, the general arrangement of the various parts of sugar mills and
engines combined as delineated in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, the Third
day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-two.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of January, in the
year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid James Buchanan Mirrlees came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.