A PROCESS FOR PREPARING AND REFINING SUGARS
Year: 1812

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
CHARLES HOWARD, of Westbourn Green, in the County of Middlesex,
Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS I, the said Edward Charles Howard, did by my petition
humbly represent to His present most Excellent Majesty King George the
Third that I had, after much study and experience, found out and invented
"A PROCESS FOR PREPARING AND REFINING SUGARS," which I conceived would
be of great public utility, that in regard I was the first and sole Inventor
thereof, and that the same had not been practised or used by any other
person or persons whomsoever, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
I humbly prayed His said Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, His Royal Letters Patent, under His Great Seal of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, for the sole use,
benefit, and advantage of my said Invention, within that part of His said
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
His Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, for the term of
fourteen years, pursuant to the Statute in that case made and provided; and
His said Majesty being willing to give encouragement to all arts and inven-
tions that might be for the public good, was graciously pleased to condescend
to my request, and, therefore, by His Royal Letters Patent, bearing date at
Westminster the Thirty-first day of October, One thousand eight hundred and
and twelve, in the fifty-third year of His reign, of His especial grace, certain
knowledge, and meer motion, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Edward Charles Howard, my executors, admi-

page_text: nistrators, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and
authority, that I, the said Edward Charles Howard, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or by mine
and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said
Edward Charles Howard, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend my said Invention within that part of His
Majesty's said United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
His Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner
as to me, the said Edward Charles Howard, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or any of them, should in my or their discretion seem meet; and that
I, the said Edward Charles Howard, my executors, administrators, and assigns
should and lawfully might have and enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity,
and advantage from time to time coming, growing, accruing, and arising, by
reason of the said Invention, for and during the term of years therein men-
tioned; to have, hold, exercise, and enjoy the said licence, powers, privileges,
and advantages therein-before granted or mentioned, to be granted unto me,
the said Edward Charles Howard, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
for and during and unto the full end and term of fourteen years from the date
of the said Presents next and immediately ensuing, and fully to be complete
and ended according to the statute in such case made and provided; in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that if I, the said Edward Charles
Howard, should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said
Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted,
should utterly cease, determine, and become void, any thing therein-before con-
tained to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding, as in and by the
said Letters Patent, relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Edward Charles Howard, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are par-
ticularly described and ascertained as follows, that is to say:-
From the known fact that water dissolves the most uncrystallizable, in pre-
ferrence to that which is most crystallizable, sugar, in preference to that which

page_text: is most crystallizable, and also upon a discovery I have made that no solution
(unless highly concentrate) of sugar in water can without material injury to its
colour and crystallizing power or to both, be exposed to its boiling tempera-
ture during the period required to evaporate such solution to the crystallizing
point, I have established and adopted the following operations:-In the first
instance, I do submit raw or muscovado sugar to a primary operation by well
mixing, as expeditiously as possible, the said sugar with such a quantity of water
as will at the common temperature of the atmosphere bring it to a magma of the
consistency of well worked mortar, and I do leave the samé at rest for the space
of an hour or more, and I then heat the same to a moderate temperature by
preference from 190 to 200 degrees of Farenheit's scale, which is best and most
conveniently to be effected in a vessel' surrounded by boiling water or steam
under the common pressure of the atmosphere, which apparatus is too well
known under the name of a water bath to require a particular description; and
having brought the said mixture of sugar and water by the said means and by
stirring up to a uniform temperature, I do then regulate, if necessary, the con-
sistency thereof by the addition of more sugar, or a thinner magma, as may be
requisite, in order to put the mass into such a state of imperfect fluidity that
the same shall readily close behind the stirrer, and I do fill the moulds there-
with immediately from the water bath by any convenient means; and after
suffering the whole to become cold in the moulds, as is usual when sugar has
been boild and filled in the common method, I do take the stopper out of
the mould, and as is usual, suffer the molasses to drain' therefrom, and so soon,
or somewhat sooner as, or than the drainage has taken place, I do pare down
the larger or upper surface of the lump, or loaf, or mass of sugar remaining
in the mould with any convenient instrument, until I find the sugar pre-
sents a uniform appearance; and I do mix the sugar so pared off from the
said lump, or loaf, or mass, with cold water to a magma of such a consistency
as that the same shall not readily close behind the stirrer, and I do replace
it in that condition upon the uniform and firm surface so prepared, as aforesaid,
and so soon, or immediately as the magma becomes moderately dry, I do care-
fully pour thereon, with the intervention of a float, or similar guard or defence,
a cold saturate solution of fine sugar in cold water, about half an inch deep;
or otherwise, I' do by preference take off the said magma down to the surface
of the lump, or loaf, or mass, left after the first paring, as aforesaid, and I'
do remix the same with water to a thinner consistency than last-mentioned,-
and do again replace it as aforesaid, and do repeat the said operations by thin
magma, or with a cold saturate solution of finer sugar than that which is
intended to be refined, according to its nature or quality. And do further

page_text: declare, that when the sugar proves extremely close grained, and the surface
extremely hard, an unsaturated solution of sugar, or even water itself, may
be poured thereon without running in; but I by no means recommend such,
procedure, because the same does require too much nicety for general practice.
And I do further declare that when the sugar proves open grained, the finer
the sugar made into the magma is ground the better, because the moisture is
thereby prevented from descending too fast or unequally into the loaf. And
farther, that it is by no means necessary that the identical sugar taken from
the surface of the loaf should be used as magma or syrup thereon, but on the
contrary that it is more convenient for saving time, or in any other respects, to
use a sugar of equal or finer colour, in like manner, obtained from some former
operation. And I do ascertain the fit time for terminating the said primary,
operation either by drawing from time to time one of the lumps, loaves, or
masses so prepared, or by observing the greater or less freedom with which new
moisture is admitted, and the colour of the molasses dripping out, which last is in
most cases a sufficient criterion of the degree of purification which has taken
place; and as far as is consistent with convenience and economy of heat, I
declare it to be most beneficial to lower the temperature of the floor or apart-
ment in which the moulds are placed previous to their being heated with the
magma, to about sixty degrees, and again to raise the same to about eighty or
ninety after the surface of the loaf becomes dry for the last time; and that in
all and every case of the percolation of the molasses or syrup, as before or
herein-after described, it will be needful to pierce, perforate, or break the dry
surface of the mass of sugar in the mould whenever the same shall become so.
solid or iced over as to prevent the access or escape of the air into or out of the
sugar, and thereby to impede or prevent the flow of the said molasses or syrup.
The first part of my process being thus terminated, I do in the usual manner
knock or draw out the lumps, loaves, or masses, and separates what is
termed the net or good sugar from that which retains molasses, keeping
the latter to be mixed up with raw sugar for a subsequent preparatory
operation, as before-described, and the former I do proceed to refine by pouring
upon it in any convenient vessel six pounds of water (by preference boiling
hot) to every five pounds of sugar, deducting about six per cent. for the moisture
previously contained therein, (somewhat more or less not being very material,)
and after having insured a perfect dissolution of the sugar by stirring, I do
suffer the dirt and gross impurities to subside, and I then draw off the solution,
by ȧ cock or other convenient means from the said impurities into another cistern.
or suitable clean vessel, and do then effect the clarification and separation of
further impurities and colouring matter by the addition of my ordinary or com

page_text: mon finings, which I prepare as follows:-I do slake well burned lime with
boiling water, and prepare a cream of lime, and when the same has become as
uniform as the nature of the lime will admit I add about an equal bulk of
water thereto, and do then cause the mixture to boil for some minutes until
the lime assumes the appearance of fine curd, and I do separate the extra-
neous matters and lumps which are always contained in lime by washing
over, or as it has been termed by chemists, the process of elutrication; and in
order to insure the more effectual separation of any lumps, I do
pass the
lime and liquor so washed over through as fine a sieve as will give passage
to the finest of the curds; and, in the next place, I do take about two
pounds and a half of alum for every hundredweight of solid sugar intended
to be refined, and I dissolve the alum in sixteen times, or thereabouts its
weight of water, (by preference boiling hot,) and add to such solution about
seventy or eighty grains of whiting for each pound of alum, and after stirring
up the said mixture until effervescence ceases, I allow the suspended substances
to subside, and do draw off the solution from the precipitated matters, and I
then put into it the prepared lime curds shook up with the water. They
retain and do agitate the whole during the affusion in such quantity or propor-
tion of the curds as that paper stained with turmeric shall bearly change its
colour by immersion in the mixture, and shall recover its former yellowness
when dry, and shall by immersion in the clear supernatant liquor thereof, after
subsiding, be scarcely changed at all. By these means the finings are duly
prepared, and I do suffer the same to settle to the bottom of the containing
vessel, and I do, after drawing or decanting off the supernatant liquor, place the
said finings upon a blanket supported in the manner of a filter, and allow the.
moisture to drain off until the mass begins to contract and separate by cracks
therein, and in this last state the said finings are fit for the clarification of the
solution of sugar last drawn off, as above described, and I do add by. degrees
and with stirring such a quantity of that solution, or of any other like solu
tion of sugar as will bring them to a uniform creamy state, and I do then
pour such mixture into the whole quantity of the said solution of sugar
prepared or intended for clarification as aforesaid, with sufficient agitation
to diffuse the finings equally. The refined or clarified sugar is theri
suffered to repose either during the night, or for about six hours, more
or less, and the bright liquor then drawn off or decanted from the finings
according to the well-known methods, and an evaporation is commenced
and carried on at the temperature of about two hundred degrees, more or less,
which, as aforesaid, is best effected by the heat of steam or water under the
common pressure of the atmosphere, until the hot liquor shall have acquired

page_text: And
a specific gravity of about 1.37, more or less (water being considered as 100),
and in this state I transfer the same to any convenient vessel, and stir it
frequently until it has assumed the proper granular consistence to fill the
moulds, and at the same consistence I do fill my moulds therewith; I do then
take out the stoppers from the moulds as soon as they become cold, and allow
the syrup naturally contained in the lump, loaf, or mass, to run therefrom in
the usual manner, and during the said operation, or when the syrup has left
the upper surface of the lump, loaf, or mass, I do examine the same and
pare it down as before described. And if the sugar appears sufficiently fine
for the intended consumption or market, I do, after it ceases to drip, take it
out of the mould in the usual manner, and cut off the smaller end of the loaf.
not clear of syrup, and I do then dry it in the accustomed manner; but in
case the lump or loaf be not sufficiently white I do then, as before described,
mix up that sugar which I before pared off the surface to a magma with water, as.
therein-before described in my primary operation. And farther, supposing the
loaf as above prepared not to be sufficiently dense or close in its grain to meet
the eye of the consumer, I do, previous to drying, remould the loaf in a
manner well-known and in common practice by stamping the grains into a
metallic or other mould, which will immediately redeliver the same.
further, supposing it to be required to keep or retain the point of the lump,
loaf, or mass, without returning the syrup contained in that point upon the
body thereof, I do effect this desideratum by the appendage of a pipe of
sufficient size or continuation of the bottom of the mould to be applied and
fixed to moulds of the usual construction, having the aperture enlarged to one
inch at the least, or to form part of a new mould to be fabricated on purpose,
and I do take off the lower portion of the sugar which will be contained in
the said pipe along with the redundant syrup instead of taking off the point
as usual. I now return to the liquors left in the two cisterns or other vessels,
the one containing the gross dirt and impurities, and the other containing the
finings, as above described (the solution of sugar contained in both being
necessarily to be worked up in the next or some subsequent operation). To the
first of the said liquors I add about its bulk of boiling water, and do then make
it pass through a cloth sufficiently close in its texture to retain the gross impu-
rities, and I do add the other liquor containing the finings, and do then abstract
therefrom, by washing and subsidence, all the sweet they contain, which sweet
liquor I use for magmas, or allowing for the sugar it contains instead of
beginning the purifying process with water, as above described. And as to the
syrup which drain from sugars which have been subjected to the action of my
finings, the same may be evaporated without any addition, provided care be

page_text: taken to avoid the boiling temperature thereof, which is best effected by the
steam or water bath as aforesaid, and such syrups will, by such treatment
afford strong crystals a second, or third, or even a fourth time, or otherwise
sugar remaining from top parings, cut off points, or any other remnants, may
be melted in them upon the water bath to bring the same up to their
crystallizing density or granular consistency. And the inferior syrups may be
advantageously mixed with muscovado sugar instead of water, as directed in
my primary operation. And I do further declare, that the lumps, loaves, or
masses of sugar which have been refined by the use and application of my
ordinary or common finings, or any other sugars in a forward state of refine-
ment, may be still farther refined by the use and application of other finings
and that the said last-named finings are made as follows:-I take about three
pounds and half of alum for every hundredweight of solid sugar intended to
be refined, and I dissolve the alum in sixteen times, or thereabouts, its weight
of water (by preference boiling hot) and add to such solution about seventy or
eighty grains of whiting for each pound of alum, and after stirring up such
mixture until effervescence ceases, I allow the suspended substances to subside
and do draw off the solution from the precipitated matters, and I then pour
into it (as and instead of the lime curds in my ordinary or common finings) a
consentrated solution or ley of caustic soda until the agitated mixture shall
produce a very slight stain upon turmeric paper, and I then add thereto the
fairest water and proceed to wash the precipitate by alternate diffusion and
subsidence until the water come off tasteless, and I then sufficiently draw off,
decant, and drain the remaining water from the finings, as herein-before
described, and with regard to fair water I do often find it convenient to purify
my water by the well known process of boiling it with a small quantity of alum
and a little lime or chalk, taking care to leave no excess of caustic lime in
solution.
And I do farther declare, that in directing the use of alum, it is not
because it is preferable to mere sulphate of alumine, but because alum, being
already an article of commerce, can be more readily obtained, and I do declare
that a compound of lime and of alumine similar to that herein-before described
would; howsoever obtained, answer the purpose of my fast finings, and that
pure alumine, howsoever obtained, would answer the purpose of my second
finings. And as to the use of caustic soda I do prefer its use to that of pot-
ash, because the salt resulting is most easily washed away, and to that of
ammonia, because this last is an article of considerable price. And farther,
that I do produce a still superior degree of refinement in solid sugar (already
refined to a forward state) by dissolving the sugar so intended to be refined in

page_text: the fairest water (by preference boiling hot) in the manner and proportion
herein-before described, subsequent to my preparatory operation; and imme-
diately upon the solution being effected I do mix and diffuse my second finings
as the finings were herein before directed to be mixed and diffused, and, after
due clarification by repose, I proceed to the evaporation and subsequent com-
pletion of the sugar in loaves, as herein-before in the like cases directed and
prescribed.
And I do farther declare, that although in the application of heat to the
refining of sugars in my said Invention or process, I have stated and mentioned
the temperature of about two hundred degrees of Fahrenheit's scale as the heat
most proper to be used and applied in order to secure and preserve the colour
and crystallizability of the sugars, and most easily to be obtained with precision
and uniformity by means of the water bath or steam bath by me first used in
refining sugars as aforesaid; yet that, nevertheless, when circumstances or
choice may render the same desirable, I do make use of higher temperatures
(although less beneficial), taking care to preserve an uniformity in the applica-
tion of the heats to the surface of the boiler. And further, that for operations
upon the water bath or steam bath, I do construct my apparatus according to
the principles or methods of practice which are known and approved in chemical
and other works, and that for temperatures above the boiling point of water, I
do make my steam bath strong and capable of being properly closed, and do
provide the same with a feeder under due pressure, or a forcing pump for
feeding, and a safety valve and pipes of communication, cocks, gages, and all
or any of the needful fittings up which are commonly used with steam boilers.
And farther, that although I do greatly prefer the water or steam bath to any
of the means of heating my vessels, yet I can and do also, when required,
carry my said process into effect by a common fire, taking care, in the
management thereof, to apply the heat regularly and equally to the boiler, and
at the proper degrees as aforesaid, which will necessarily require more attention
in the operation than would have been demanded in the operation by water or
steam. And farther, that in case it should be required to apply and use my
ordinary or common finings first herein described, to very coarse, moist, or deli-
quescent sugars, it will be necessary to add a greater proportion of the lime
curds than has been described and directed with regard to sugars partly refined
by percolation or otherwise, and in making the said addition, the judgment of
the operator must be directed by the quality of the said coarse, moist, or
deliquescent sugars.
And, lastly, I do declare, that my said Invention, and the several parts;
manipulations, or proceedings thereof, may be carried into effect and practice;

page_text: either wholly or separately, without conjunction or in conjunction with the
methods of refining sugars already in common use, and that the management
thereof, the several proportions of materials or ingredients, the furnaces,
vessels, or apparatus to be used, and the needful attentions to local and other
circumstances, are all susceptible of variation, according to the exigencies of
the respective works or operations; but that the same are either well known
or may with facility be made or adopted from the instructions contained in
these Presents by any competent workman. or other person or persons ac-
quainted with the general caurse and nature of chemical operations.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, the Thirtieth
day of April, One thousand eight hundred and thirteen.
EDWD CHAS (L.S.) HOWARD.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named Edward Charles Howard (being
first duly stamped) in the presence of
ROBERT LANNING,
JOSEPH GROOM,
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Thirtieth day of April, in
O the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Edward Charles Howard came before
our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and everything therein contained, in form above written.
And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Thirtieth day of April, in the year above written.