Improvements in Method and Apparatus for Extracting the Liquid or Soluble Constituents from Disintegrated Vegetable Materials.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Nov., 1889-Accepted, 1st Feb., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Method and Apparatus for Extracting the Liquid
or Soluble Constituents from Disintegrated Vegetable Materials.
I, JOHN ENNIS SEARLES Jr., of 810 St. Marks Avenue, Brooklyn, in the county
of Kings, and State of New York, United States of America, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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 relates first, to a method of extracting from disintegrated vegetable
materials their liquid or soluble constituents; and, secondly, to certain forms of
apparatus by which said method can be carried into effect. The new method by which
the desired result is accomplished consists in confining the disintegrated material
which is to be operated upon in a suitable chamber, herein called the compression
chamber, and therein subjecting it to compression between a compressing plunger on
one side and a body of liquid, herein called a liquid anvil, upon the other side of the
material operated upon, the liquid products of such compression being discharged either
through perforatiors in the said plunger or in the portions of said cylinder adjoining
the place where the plunger concludes its compressing stroke. The said body of liquid
being either itself closely confined in a reservoir connected with said chamber, or held
therein under a prescribed degree of pressure, serves as an abutment or anvil which
partially supports the mass of disintegrated material against which the thrust of the
plunger is delivered.
The disintegrated material operated upon, which for the sake of brevity it is con-
venient to call the "fibre," forms a plug which closely fits the bore of the cylinder, or
compression chamber in which the plunger reciprocates. The said "plug" is composed
of bodies of fibre which are successively fed into the path of the plunger, and which
by the working strokes thereof are compressed one upon another in the form of
wads.
At each working stroke of the plunger a wad of fibre is added to the adjacent end
of the plug, and the plug being thereby increased in length is driven bodily forward
into the liquid anvil which partially supports it. Therefore, at each stroke of the
plunger a certain portion of the liquid composing the anvil is displaced, and by reason
of the pressure which the said liquid is under is compelled to exude through the com-
pressed material composing the plug. The exuding liquid drives before it any liquid
which it finds present in the plug, and by being brought into enforced contact with
the soluble constituents of the material operated upon, dissolves and carries those
soluble constituents with it through the plug and through passages formed either in
the plunger or in the part of the cylinder adjoining the plunger, to suitable channels
leading to a receiving tank. The formation of the plug by successive strokes of
the plunger is assisted by the frictional hold of the fibre upon the wall of the
compression chamber.
The degree of density acquired by the plug depends partly upon the said frictional
hold and partly upon the pressure at which the liquid composing the anvil is
maintained.
The liquid against which the plug is compressed thus performs two functions, that
of an anvil against which the fibre is driven by the working strokes of the compressing
plunger, and also that of a solvent or washing fluid which by being compelled to exude
through the plug as an avenue of escape from the pressure which it is under dissolves
or drives before it soluble or liquid matter which it finds therein contained. The
characteristic features of apparatus for carrying out this process embrace a compres
sion chamber in which the plug is formed by the compression of successive bodies of
fibre; a reciprocating plunger preferably provided with perforations to serve as the
outlets for the liquid products of compression; a chamber for containing the liquid

page_text: composing the liquid anvil, which chamber is a laterally enlarged continuation of the
compression chamber, at the end opposite that in which the compressing plunger
reciprocates and which irrespective of its form constitutes the anvil chamber; the said
anvil chamber, in addition to serving as a container for the liquid anvil, is also the
receiver of the refuse composed of the fibre which during its passage through the
compression chamber has had its natural juice and its soluble constituents extracted.
The anvil chamber, if below the level of the compression chamber, is provided with a
tight-fitting removable door, for permitting access to its interior when occasion arises
to remove the refuse material.
The liquid in the anvil chamber can be held therein under any desired degree
of pressure, either by being connected with a service pipe delivering the liquid
under the desired degree of pressure, or by being provided with an adjustable yielding
valve which may be adjusted to yield whenever the pressure of the liquid rises to a
prescribed point in consequence of the projection of the plug into it by the successive
strokes of the plunger; or the anvil chamber may be arranged to extend upward from
the compression chamber to a sufficient height to enable it to contain a column of
water affording hydrostatic pressure upon the plug to the extent required to sustain
the plug against the working strokes of the compressing plunger. This invention is
peculiarly effective for extracting saccharine matter from disintegrated sugar-yielding
plants, such as cane, sorghum or beet roots. For this purpose water is employed as
the liquid anvil, but in making spirituous extracts the liquid employed may be alcohol,
naphtha or any other desired fluid, without departing from the invention.
accompanying drawings, illustrating various forms of apparatus for carrying out the
prescribed process, are as follows :
The
Figs. 1, 2 and 3, are respectively, a top view, a central vertical section, and an end
elevation, showing a form of apparatus in which there is employed a horizontal com-
pression chamber connecting at one end with a downwardly inclined anvil chamber
provided with a tight fitting removable door. Fig. 4 is a central vertical section of
a form of apparatus employing a vertical compression chamber arranged at the top of
a bottle-shaped anvil chamber. Fig. 5 is a central vertical section of a form
of apparatus employing a vertical compression chamber arranged at the bottom of an
anvil chamber which is open at the top, and which is provided with an interiorly
contained elevator, for assisting in the upward movement of the screened fibre to the
chute by which it is discharged from the top of the anvil chamber. Fig. 6 is a
central vertical section of a form of apparatus employing a horizontal compression
chamber connected with the curved lower end of an upright anvil chamber open
at its upper end, and provided with a discharging elevator similar to that shown in
Fig. 5.
Fig. 7 illustrates a modification of the apparatus, in which an impervious plunger
is employed, and the outlets for discharge of the liquid products of compression
consist of perforations in the part of the compression chamber immediately adjacent
to the place where the plunger concludes its working stroke.
Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that Figs. 1, 2 and 3 represent a
compressing apparatus composed of the horizontal cylinder A, to which is connected
the laterally enlarged chamber B, provided at its large end with a removable
water-tight door C, and having connected with it a pipe D, for the introduction
into the chamber B of the liquid which is to serve as the liquid anvil. The pipe D
may be provided with a valve E, and it may be extended vertically upward to such
a height as may enable it to serve as a stand pipe, or it may be connected with a
service pipe supplying liquid under prescribed pressure. In the end of the cylinder A,
opposite that connected with the chamber B, is the plunger F, to which is imparted
a definite range of reciprocating motion by means of a pitman, G, from the crank, H
of the rotating balance wheel I. It is preferred to employ perforations in the
plunger as the outlets for the liquid products of compression, and the longitudinal
perforations are symbolic representations of the meshes in the sieves with which
the face of the plunger is provided and by which it is enabled to perform the function
of a screen as well as that of a compressing device.

page_text: The liquid products of compression escape through the perforations finto the
transverse channel f¹, and the longitudinal channel 2, formed in the plunger and
along the bottom of the extended lower half of the cylinder A, which constitutes the
trough J, from the end of which the liqnid products of compression fall into a tank
suitably placed to receive them. Outlets for the liquid products of compression may
also be provided by forming the holes f³, as shown in Fig. 2, in the part of the
cylinder adjacent to the place where the plunger ends its working stroke. Such
holes, however, are not necessary if the pervious plunger is employed.
If an
impervious plunger is employed, as illustrated in Fig. 7, it will be necessary to
provide the similar holes for the outlet of the liquid products of compression
through the wall of the compression chamber. A feed opening K is formed in the
upper side of the cylinder A, through which the masses of fibre to be compressed are
successively fed into the cylinder in front of the perforated head of the plunger.
To assist in the formation of the plug by holding back the fibre, the end of the
cylinder adjoining the chamber B may be tapering. This may be conveniently
effected by inserting in that end of the cylinder the tapering nozzle L.
In the form of apparatus represented in Fig. 4, the cylinder A¹ is erected upon
the top of the anvil chamber B', which is provided at the bottom with a removable
water-tight door C. At its upper end the cylinder A' is provided with a flaring
mouth K¹, which constitutes the hopper for feeding in the fibre which is to be
compressed. In this case the vertically reciprocating plunger F is wholly withdrawn
from the cylinder A¹ at every upward stroke, and during its downward or working
stroke the perforated head fl of the plunger drives into the upper end of the
cylinder the charge of fibre which may have been fed into the hopper K'. The
convergent walls of the hopper K₁ are perforated, as shown, and the perforated
portion of the hopper is provided with a jacket J', to which is attached a discharge
pipe j. The liquid products of compression compelled to exude through the mass of
compressed fibre and through the perforations of the plunger at each downward or
working stroke thereof, flow into the jacket J¹, from which they are conducted by the
pipe to the receiving tank, j.
In the modification illustrated in Fig. 5, hydrostatic pressure is employed to enable
the liquid anvil to oppose the necessary resistance to the upward movement of the
plug of fibre which in this case is subjected to compression by the upward stroke of
the plunger.
It will be seen that the plunger F' reciprocates in the lower end of the cylinder A³,
alternately opening and closing the lateral feed opening, K2. The upper end of the
cylinder A is made convergent, and may be provided with an adjustable valve, a,
which by means of a set screw, a', can be held in position to more or less obstruct the
upward movement of the fibre during the initial formation of the plug, after the
formation of which the valve can be opened to permit the free upward movement of
the refuse material into the chamber B2, provided preferably with an elevator, b, for
loosening and assisting in the elevation of the refuse material to the top of the
chamber B, where it is discharged into the chute (³.
In starting this apparatus the chamber B2 is not filled with liquid until the plunger
has made a sufficient number of strokes to collect and form a plug of such density
that its frictional hold upon the wall of the cylinder will enable it to sustain the
weight of the column of liquid above it. In the modification shewn in Fig. 6 hydro-
static pressure is also employed, the compression being caused by a reciprocating
plunger.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1st. The herein described method of extracting from disintegrated vegetable
materials their liquid and soluble constituents; which consists in progessively com-
pacting the material operated upon into a plug closely fitting the bore of a suitable
chamber and therein progressively subjecting said material to compression between a

page_text: compressing plunger and a liquid anvil in proximity to suitable outlets for the
discharge of the liquid products of such compression.
2nd. In an apparatus for extracting from disintegrated vegetable materials their
liquid or soluble constituents, the combination, as herein set forth, of a reservoir
for containing a liquid which is to serve as a liquid anvil, a compression chamber
forming a continuation of said reservoir, and receiving the liquid therefrom at suit-
able pressure, a compressing plunger and means for reciprocating said plunger
in a portion of said compression chamber, a feed opening for feeding masses of
disintegrated vegetable materials successively into the path of said plunger and
suitable outlets for the discharge of the liquid products of compression from said
compression chamber.
Dated this 26th day of November 1889.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.