IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND REFINING OF SUGAR
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Beanes, of No. 57, Charlotte Street,
Portland Place, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
Sealed the 26th May 1854, and dated the 14th December 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Beanes at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th December 1858.
I, EDWARD BEANES, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND REFINING OF SUGAR
to be as follows:-
My Invention is applicable to the production of sugar from cane juice
or other substances from which sugar is extracted, as well as to the
refining of sugar, and consists of an improved vacuum pan and filter.
In the vacuum pan, instead of the steam by which the juice or solution
of sugar is heated being passed through a coiled tube as heretofore,

page_text: the steam is made to pass into a steam-tight box or casing, the upper
surface of which forms the bottom of the vacuum pan, and has a series
of vertical tubes, closed at the upper end, screwed to it. Inside the
vertical tubes are smaller tubes extending nearly to their upper ends,
and leaving a space between them and the inside tubes through which
the steam can pass. The bottom of the inner tubes communicate with
a horizontal tube placed within the casing, one end of which horizontal
tube passes through the casing and forms an exit for the steam and
water produced by condensation. Steam can by this means be passed
into the casing, thence upwards into the outer vertical tubes, then
downwards through the inner tubes, and caused to make its exit through
the horizontal tube above mentioned; or the steam can be made to go
in the opposite direction, entering first the horizontal tube and making
its exit through an aperture in the casing.
By this contrivance a greater amount of heating surface and a
greater facility in cleaning the apparatus is obtained; the heat is
more equally distributed, and should a leak occur in any of the tubes,
it can, by unscrewing, be removed at once, and another substituted
for it.
The filter for filtering cane juice or sirops consists of a vessel having
B perforated false bottom; on the top of this is laid coarse sand or
powdered flints (I prefer the washed sweepings of roads which are
mended with flint stones); above this another perforated plate or sieve
is placed, having sand or powdered flint or road sweepings, coarser than
that placed on the false bottom below. At the bottom of the vessel
there is an aperture for the filtered liquid to run off, which can be closed
at pleasure. A pipe which can be closed by a cock also enters the
vessel at the bottom, from which water can be brought from a cistern
placed above the filter for the purpose of washing it, as herein-after
described.
The juice or sirop to be filtered is poured upon the top of the upper
layer of sand or powdered flint, through which it passes and flows
upon the lower layer, through which it passes into the space be-
tween the bottom of the vessel and the lower perforated plate, whence
it escapes by the aperture above mentioned. When it is intended to

page_text: clean the filter this aperture is closed, and the cock of the pipe for
conveying water, described above, opened; the water then passes up
through the sand, and flows out through a gutter communicating with
the top of the filter, carrying with it the dirt that has accumulated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Beanes in the Great Scal Patent Offico
on the 8th June 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
EDWARD BEANES, lato of No. 57, Charlotte Street, Portland Place, in
the County of Middlesex, but now of Havanah, in the Island of
Cuba, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Ier heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Edward Beanes, Her special licence that I,
the said Edward Beanes, ny exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Edward Beanes, 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 terin 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
AND REFINING OF SUGAR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Edward Beanes, by an instrument in writing under band
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.
my
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Beaues, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
My said Invention consists of two parts. The nature of the first part
thereof is an improved vacuum pan, applicable to the production or re-
fining of sugar, and adapted to the evaporation, at a comparatively low
temperature, of sugar cane juice or other liquid containing saccharine
matter in solution. And the improvement which I claim is in the
mode of introducing heat into the vacuum pan, and of applying such
heat to the liquid therein subjected to evaporation. The method of
performing this Invention is as follows:-The Drawing hereunto
annexed marked 1, represents the side section of my improved vacuum
pan, the various parts of which are indicated by the letters placed on
the said Drawing, and herein-after referred to. The said vacuum pan
consists of a cylindrical drum A, D, E, C, terminated at top by a dome
A, B, C. The liquid intended to be subjected to evaporation is intro-
duced into the vacuum pan in any convenient manner; and the said
vacuum pan may be connected with the air pump, and the vapour
generated by the process of evaporation drawn off in the usual way.
Two steam chambers I, E, and F, J, communicating with each other
as after mentioned, are formed one above the other at the bottoni of the
drum. The upper surface of the top steam chamber, and which forms
the bottom of the vacuum pan upon which the liquid intended to be
subjected to evaporation would rest, consists of a horizontal floor F, G,
into which are screwed or otherwise fastened,-I prefer their being
screwed, a number of vertical tubes of equal size and length H, H, H,
H, H, H, &c., cach of which is closed at the upper end H, and open
at the lower end. And the upper surface of the lower steam chamber,
and which forms the bottom of the said top steam chamber, consists
likewise of a horizontal floor I, J, into which floor as many vertical
tubes as those first mentioned are screwed or otherwise fastened; I prefer
their being screwed. Each of these tubes K, K, K, K, K, K, is open
at both ends thereof; its external diameter is less than the internal
diameter of any one of the first mentioned tubes H, H, H, H, H. H,
and it is placed immediately under the centre of one of the first-men-
tioned tubes H, H, H, H, H, H, into which it in part enters, leaving an

page_text: equal space sufficient for the passage of steain between its external sides
and upper end and the internal sides and upper end of the tube H, into.
which it so in part enters. A tube L communicates with the lower
steam chamber I, E, through which, as the case may be, steami may be
introduced into, or the steam and water produced by the condensation
of steam withdrawn from, the said chamber. And a tube M commu-
nicates with the upper steam chamber F, J, through. which, as the case
may be, steam may be introduced into, or the steam and water pro-
duced by the condensation of steam withdrawn from, the said last-
mentioned chamber. And a tube N communicates with the inside of
the vacuum pan, through which the sugar cane juice or other liquid
can be drawn off from the vacuum pan. By this means steam at any
temperature may be introduced into the lower steam chamber I, E, by.
the tube L, and made to pass up the tubes K, K, K, K, K, K, into the
tubes H, H, H, H, H, I, and down the last-mentioned tubes into the
upper steam chamber F, J, and withdrawn therefrom, together with
any water of condensation, by the tubo M. Or the direction of the
steam may be reversed, and the steam introduced by the tube M, and
withdrawn, together with any water of condensation, by the tube L,
whichever may be found the most convenient mode of introducing and
withdrawing the steam. In either case the heat thus introduced into
the body of the liquid subjected to evaporation in the vacuum pan will
be more economically, generally, and equally distributed, and the
evaporation better effected than can be done by means of the coiled
steam tube hitherto used for the purpose of introducing heat into the
vacuum pan; and my apparatus has also the advantage of being more
easily cleaned and more easily repaired than the coiled steam 'tube, it
being easy to unscrew and remove any one or more of the vertical tubes
that may be defective, and substitute one or more new ones in its or
their stead. The Drawing hereunto annexed marked 2, represents the
plan of the bottom of the vacuum pan, showing the position of the tubes:
indicated in the plan marked 1, by the letters H, H, H, HI, H, H, &c.,.
and some of which tubes are here likewise indicated by the letters H, H,
H, H, H, H, &c. The aperture N is the orifice of the tube, indicated
on the plan marked 1, by the letter N, and which may be placed as shown

page_text: in the Drawing, or in any other part of the bottom of the vacuum pan that
may be more convenient. The said vacuum pan, floors, and tubes may
be made of either cast iron, wrought iron, copper, or any other suitable
material. I prefer the use of copper for the tubes, as copper tubes are
more durable and conduct heat better than iron ones.
The nature of the second part of my said Invention is a filter for
filtering sugar cane juice or other liquids containing saccharine matter
in solution. The method of performing this Invention is as follows:-
The Drawing hereunto annexed marked 3, represents a side section of
the filter, which consists of a vessel indicated on the Drawing by the
letters A, B, C, D, having at a little distance from its bottom a floor or
false bottom perforated with small holes, and which floor is indicated on
the Drawing by the letters E, F, and at some distance above the floor
E, F, a second floor or false bottom perforated in like manner with
small holes, and which last-mentioned floor is indicated on the Drawing
by the letters G, H. The space between the first-mentioned floor E, F,
and the floor secondly mentioned G, H, is filled with sand or powdered
flints (I prefer the washed sweepings of such roads as are mended with
flint stones), and on the floor secondly above mentioned G, H, and to
within a few inches of the top of the vessel, is placed sand or powdered
flints, or the washed sweepings of such roads as are mended with flint
stones, but which must respectively be coarser in texture than the sand,
powdered flints, or washed road sweepings which are placed on the
floor E, F. The substance laid upon the floor G, II, should be lovelled
at the top, indicated on the Drawing by the letters I, K, and the liquid
intended to be filtered poured upon the aforesaid top I, K, of the sub-
stance. This liquid will, by the force of gravitation, find its way through
both floors, and the substance laid upon them into the space indicated
on the Drawing by the letters E, B, C, F, having become purified by
its passage through the saud, powdered flints, or washed road sweepings
aforesaid, and may be drawn off from this receptacle through an
opening in the bottom B, C, and which opening is indicated on the
Drawing by the letter L. The filter may be cleaned at pleasure by
introducing water into the receptacle E, B, C, F, (tho aperture L
having first been closed) from any cistern or head of water that is

page_text: higher than the top of the vessel A, B, C, D, and suffering it to
percolate upwards through the two floors and substances placed upon
them, and discharge itself with any impurities it may take up over the
top of the vessel A, B, into a gutter provided for its reception. In the
Drawing the position of the cistern or head of water is indicated by
the letter N, the pipe leading from it to the bottom of the vessel by the
letters N, M, and the aperture and valve through which the water is
admitted from the cistern or head into the receptacle E, B, C, F, by the
letter M.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Beanes, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Third day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
5
EDW BLANES. (L.S.)
Taken and declared by the said Edward Beanes,
at Havana, on the Third day of April, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, before me,
Jos. T. CRAWFORD,
Consul General in Cuba.