IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR GRANULATING OR REDUCING TO SMALL FRAGMENTS GLUCOSE
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Macdonald Cameron of Lime Street in the City
of London, and Hugh John Anderson of N° 101 Leadenhall Street, in the City
of London for an invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND
APPARATUS FOR GRANULATING OR REDUCING TO SMALL FRAGMENTS GLUCOSE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Macdonald Cameron
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 9th June 1882.
JOHN MACDONALD CAMERON of Lime Street in the City of London, and HUGH
JOHN ANDERSON of No 101 Leadenhall Street in the City of London IMPROVE-
1
MENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR GRANULATING OR REDUCING TO
SMALL FRAGMENTS GLUCOSE OR GRAPE SUGAR AND OTHER SUBSTANCES OF SIMILAR
CONSISTENCY
"
Our invention has for its object to granulate or reduce to small fragments
glucose or grape sugar and other substances of similar consistency that become
pasty when pressure or friction to any extent is applied to them.
It has been found impracticable to reduce such substances to granules or small
fragments by forcing comparatively large masses thereof through screens or plates
having small meshes or holes, because the screens become clogged with the
material, which becomes pasty when pressure is applied thereto.
Now according to our invention we obviate this difficulty by causing the
glucose to pass successively through a series of screens or plates having meshes or
holes of gradually diminishing size so that the pressure required for forcing the
particles of glucose, that have previously passed through meshes of a certain size,
through meshes of a slightly. smaller size will not be sufficient to cause the
substance to become pasty.
"
In applying our invention to glucose or grape sugar we prefer to proceed as
follows: When dealing with what is known as chips" we reduce the larger
pieces to a size of about gths of an inch and spread them in` thin layers on the

page_text: floors of a drying chamber where the glucose is exposed to a current of dry air, by
preference somewhat below the ordinary temperature, until as much moisture as
possible is driven off. Or when dealing with large masses, we cut the glucose into
pieces of a size varying from 14 inches downwards and then pass these between
rollers revolving at a slow speed, thereby destroying the cohesion of the particles.
The glucose is then placed in drying chambers in thin layers as before described.
After the glucose has become sufficiently dry it is placed in small quantities in
a hopper having a netting fixed in it with meshes /ths inch in size and from
which the pieces of glucose that pass through these meshes descend into a
circular wire sieve having meshes about from to of an inch less in size than
those of the netting in the hopper. Within this sieve are revolving hair brushes
which in pressing the particles of glucose against the sieve, force them through the
meshes thereby reducing them th inch, or has the case may be, in size. From
this sieve the glucose falls into a second hopper which conducts it into a sieve
having meshes about from 1th to 18th inch smaller than those of the first sieve,
through which the glucose is again forced by revolving brushes. In like manner
the glucose is caused to pass successively through other sieves having meshes
gradually decreasing in size, thereby gradually reducing the size of the particles of
glucose until the desired degree of fineness is reached.
While the glucose is being reduced to the granular form as above described it is
subjected to the action of currents of dry air in order to carry off as much moisture
as possible, while at the same time a low temperature is maintained as otherwise
the friction of the brushes against the sieves would cause such an increase in
temperature that the glucose would become pasty and thus frustrate any attempt
at granulation. For this purpose the above described apparatus is enclosed in a
casing communicating by one or more pipes with a chamber or cylinder lined with
porcelain and containing a dehydrating substance such as calcic chloride or oil of
vitriol. When oil of vitriol is used the chamber or cylinder is filled with pieces of
broken glass pummice stone or other suitable material in order to expose as large a
surface as possible of the drying agent to the action of the air. Air is blown into
this chamber by a fan or other apparatus and after being deprived of its moisture
by the drying agent it passes thence into the casing containing the granulating
apparatus where by a suitable arrangement it is directed over the upper surface of
the top or first sieve and in its passage downwards it takes up any moisture which
may have remained in the glucose from the previous drying and then escapes. At
the same time the evaporation of the moisture has the effect of maintaining the
glucose at a low temperature during the process of granulation.
As the absence of inoisture is an essential factor in the granulation of glucose, it
is obvious that substances which act as dehydrating agents and that can be again
entirely or partially abstracted from the glucose and are in themselves innocuous
could be combined with the glucose during the process of granulation. As such
dehydrating substances may be used the various kinds of flour and starch and loaf
sugar in a perfectly dry and finely powdered condition. For this purpose the
glucose after being cut and dried as before, is mixed with dry flour, starch or loaf
sugar and is pressed between rollers revolving at a slow speed, the mixture being
caused to fall into a hopper into a hopper having a wire netting as before described
and froin which it passes into the successive sieves of gradually decreasing meshes.
After being reduced by this means to granules of the desired size, the glucose is
caused to pass into a chamber containing revolving fans which blow off the starch
or sugar into a separate receptacle where it is collected in order, after drying to be
used over again.
According to another modification of the above described process, we introduce
the glucose after reduction to fragments and drying as before described, into
cylindrical sieves, nounted on trunions that are placed obliquely to the longi-
tudinal axis of the sieve, so that when rotated upon its trunnions the sieve has an
eccentric motion. The one trunnion is hollow, and the glucose is introduced into it
from the hopper, whereupon owing to the peculiar motion of the sieve the glucose

page_text: will be caused to pass through the meshes into the casing surrounding the sieve
without the aid of the brushes used in the first arrangement.
The fragments of glucose which pass through the first sieve into its casing are
conducted by a tube to the hollow oblique trunnion of a second revolving sieve of
5 somewhat smaller mesh and in like manner the glucose is caused to pass successively
through other such revolving sieves with meshes of gradually reduced size until
the granules of the desired size are obtained, the glucose being subjected to the
action of dry air during the process as first described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Macdonald Cameron in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th December 1882.
JOHN MACDONALD CAMERON of Lime Street in the City of London and HUGH
JOHN ANDERSON of No 101 Leadenhall Street in the City of London "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CRANULATING OR REDUCING TO
SMALL FRAGMENTS GLUCOSE OR GRAPE SUGAR AND OTHER SUBSTANCES OF SIMILAR
CONSISTENCY
"
Our invention has for its object to granulate or reduce to small fragments
glucose or grape sugar, and other substarices of similar consistency that are of a
hygroscopic or pasty nature. It has been found impracticable to reduce such
substances to granules or small fragments by the ordinary means of crushing and
passing through screens, having small meshes or holes because the screens become
clogged with the material which becomes pasty when subject to any degree of
friction.
Now according to our present invention we obviate this difficulty by, first
mixing the glucose or other substance with pulverulent dehydrating substances
such as white starch, or corn flour, that are in. themselves innocuous and that take
up moisture from the glucose so as to counteract its pasty nature, and after then
subjecting the glucose with such admixture to the granulating operation we finally
separate the dehydrating substance in great part from the glucose again, the said
substance being used again for the same purpose, after drying, if necessary.
In carrying out the abovo process the glucose when sufficiently deprived of
moisture to assume a more or less solid consistency is mixed with the starch or
other dehydrating substance, and is then passed through revolving crushing rollers
of iron, wood or other suitable material, provided with scrapers for removing any
glucose that may adhere thereto.
From the crushing rollers the glucose is delivered on to screens having meshes
or openings of a size corresponding to the size of glucose granules which it is
desired to obtain. The portion of glucose that does not pass through the screens
is caused to fall through a shoot on to a travelling band which carries it back to

page_text: the crushing rollers to be again crushed and sorted by the screen, and so on, until
the whole of the glucose has been reduced to granules of the desired size. These
granules are caused to pass over sieves with very fine meshes which sift the greater
part of the starch or other dehydrating substance out of them, or such separation
of the dehydrating flour or powder may be effected by blowing a current of air
through the glucose granules after passing through the granulating screens, the air
charged with the flour being caused to pass through a chamber with porous sides
where the flour is separated therefrom and deposited.
According to another arrangement instead of reducing the glucose by alternate
screenings and crushings as described, the whole of the glucose is caused to pass from
the crushing rollers consecutively through a series of screens, each of which has holes
or meshes of a size somewhat smaller than the preceding one so that the particles
being forced consecutively through the meshes of each screen by the gentle pressure
of travelling brushes are slightly reduced in size at each stage until, in passing
through the last screen granules of the desired size are obtained.
If necessary, the glucose may be subjected during either of the above described
granulating operations to the action of dehydrated air or it may be conveyed
between the operations of crushing and granulating to separate drying rooms
through which currents of dry air are made to pass so as to assist the dehydrating
powder or flour in depriving the glucose of moisture. The dehydration of the air
may be effected by any known means, such as by passing it over or through layers
of chloride of calcium or in contact with surfaces moistened with sulphuric acid.
The glucose might also be treated with dry air alone without admixture of the
dehydrating powder, but such a process would not be found to be sufficiently rapid
in its action to be practicably useful.
The screens employed in the above processes may be of any suitable known
construction; thus they may be flat and have a quick shaking motion imparted to
them, or they may be semicylindrical and have a reciprocating rotary or
rocking motion or they may be cylindrical revolving screens.
As one of the dehydrating substances applicable to some extent for the above
process may be mentioned pulverised cane or beet sugar, but we do not claim the
admixture of sugar with glucose as part of our present invention, partly because
we are aware that compounds of glucose and sugar have been prepared and sold
in this Country already in the year 1881 and partly because it could not be
subsequently separated from the glucose again to any extent after granulation.
Having thus described the nature of our invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, we claim :-
:-
The process of first mixing with glucose and other substances of similar con-
sistency a dehydrating substance, such as starch or corn flour then crushing the
mixture and passing it through granulating sieves and lastly separating the said
dehydrating substance in great part from the granules by sifting or by blowing
currents of air through the same substantially as herein described.
In Witness whereof I the said John Macdonald Cameron have hereunto set
my hand and seal this sixth day of December in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty-two.
JOHN MACDONALD CAMERON (L.S.)