IMPROVE- MENTS IN TREATING SUGAR
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Speir, of Greenock, in the County of
Renfrew, North Britain, Chemist, for the Invention of " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TREATING SUGAR,"
Sealed the 27th February 1874, and dated the 15th November 1873.
1
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Speir at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th November 1878.
I, ROBERT SPEIR, of Greenock, in the County of Renfrew, North
Britain, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
of “IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING SUGAR," to be as follows, that is to
say :—
This Invention has for its object to remove from crushed sugar the
smell and taste due to treating it with sulphurous acid.
The Invention consists in the employment of an alkaline solution
which is put into the centrifugal machine; after the syrup has drained
off the action of the centrifugal machine is then continued until the
sugar is sufficiently dry.

page_text: The solutions referred to are those of lime, carbonate, bicarbonate,
borate or phosphate of soda, carbonate or bicarbonate of potash, car-
bonate or bicarbonate of ammonia, or the sucrates of lime, magnesia,
soda, potash, or ammonia may be used.
The alkaline substances are used in proportion to the quantity of acid 5
employed in the process, and sufficient to neutralize or nearly neutralize
the free acid remaining in the sugar after the sugar and syrup have
separated, or are in process of separation in the centrifugal machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Speir in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
SPEIR, of Greenock, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Chemist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in
the 37th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Robert Speir, Her special license
that I, the said Robert Speir, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Robert Speir, my executors, admini-
strators, or 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
TREATING SUGAR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Robert Speir, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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.
L

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Speir, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say:-
My said Invention has for its object to remove from crushed sugar
the smell and taste due to treating it (that is to say the saccharine
solutions from which it is made) with sulphurous acid.
The Invention consists in the employment of an alkaline solution
which is put into the centrifugal machine after the syrup has drained off,
the action of the centrifugal machine is then continued until the sugar
is sufficiently dry.
The solutions referred to are those of lime, carbonate or bicarbonate
of soda, carbonate or bicarbonate of potash, carbonate or bicarbonate
of ammonia, or the sucrates of lime, magnesia, soda, potash, or ammonia
may be used.
The neutralizing agent is applied to the sugar itself after the syrup
has parted or nearly parted from it in the centrifugal machine, so that a
very small quantity only is necessary to neutralize the remaining traces
of sulphurous acid, while the excess of sulphurous acid remaining in the
syrup is still active and passes with it into the next or following pans of
sugar or syrup. If the whole acid had been neutralized before separation,
the quantity of sucrate of lime or other neutralizing agent would have
been much greater, and the syrup itself would have gained an accession of
colour in consequence of that neutralization.
It is to be understood that the proportions of the neutralizing agent
vary with the quantity of sulphurous acid which has to be neutralized,
this however is easily determined from an analysis of a sample of the
sugar to be treated, and it is further to be understood that of the
neutralizing agents herein-before mentioned I find sucrate of lime to
give the best results, but the others may be advantageously employed.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention and the system, mode, or manner in or under which
the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, I would
observe in conclusion that 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, treating sugar with the

page_text: neutralizing agents, in the manner herein-before set forth, for the purpose
of removing from sugar the taste and smell due to treating saccharine
solutions with sulphurous acid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Speir, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-four.
POD
DLTD