IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles George Kleberg, of Martin's Lane, Cannón
Street, in the City of London, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR AND IN THE APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN." -A communication from abroad by Nicolas
Tsherikovsky, of Smela, in the Empire of Russia.
Scaled the 1st October 1872, and dated the 24th April 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles George Kleberg
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th April 1872:
I, CHARLES GEORGE KLEBERG, of Martin's Lane, Cannon Street, in
the City of London, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for “IMPROVEMENTS IN THE Manufacture of Sugar AND IN THE
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,” to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the removal of the treacle,
molasses, or uncrystallizable matters from the crystallized sugar, and
thereby to economize the manufacture of loaf sugar, and reduce the time

page_text: usually employed for draining out the uncrystallizable impurities, and
to dispense with the use of the ordinary sugar loaf moulds. To this end
the syrup is poured into a long trough, which is narrower at bottom than
at top, and is divided transversely by means of moveable partitions, so
that the mass of sugar when solidified will be divided into a number of
separate blocks of a wedge form.
When the mass is sufficiently solidified to admit of being handled,
these wedge-shaped blocks of sugar are placed in a perforated frame or
basket, in which they are arranged in the form of a ring or circle.
When thus charged the basket is placed in a centrifugal machino, con-
sisting of a table or frame mounted on a vertical shaft, which is capable
by means of suitable gearing of being rotated with considerable speed.
This rapid rotary motion will have the effect of driving all the liquid
matters in the sugar to the outer ends of the blocks, from which they
will run into channels provided for the purpose. The baskets are then
to be removed from the centrifugal machine, and the blocks of sugar
dipped into an aqueous or spirituous solution of refined sugar. The
baskets with the saturated sugar blocks may then be replaced in the
centrifugal machine, which may then be again set in rapid motion in
order to drive out the moisture and with it any molasses or colouring &
matter that may remain in the sugar.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles George Kleberg, Her special
licence that I, the said Charles George Kleberg, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles George
Kleberg, 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 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR AND IN THE
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," being a communication to me from abroad
by Nicolas Tsherikowsky, of Smela, in the Empire of Russia, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles George Kleberg,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
:.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles George Kleberg, do hereby.
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):-
The principal features of the new method of refining sugar, which
forms the subject of the present Invention, are the following:-
The syrup instead of being poured into moulds of a conical shape as
usual is poured into moulds which are of a trapezoidal or wedge form,
and much smaller in size than the usual conical moulds. The syrup
cools and sets very quickly in these moulds, and can be taken out after
two or three hours, and submitted to subsequent treatment.
The wedge-shaped cakes of refined sugar when removed from the
moulds are placed in a centrifugal machine or apparatus, in which the

page_text: dark-colored treacle is separated from them by being driven out by
centrifugal force. If considered desirable or necessary the sugar may
also be bleached when in the form of these cakes. For the purpose of
driving off the coloring matter the cakes are placed in metal baskets,
which are put into the centrifugal apparatus driven by overhead gear, or t
the blocks of sugar may be placed in portable drums, which are placed
directly in turbines of new construction closed with a lid, and driven by
bottom gearing.
When this apparatus is set in rapid motion the treacle is driven out
between the crystallized particles of sugar. To assist this action of the 1
centrifugal force hot air is blown into the apparatus either by a separate
fan or it may be drawn in by the action of the floats of the turbine itself
if the new construction be adopted. The sugar obtained by this process
will consist of a white half dried mass, which requires only to be
dried; but in addition it may be bleached if the quality of the raw sugar 1
was bad.
As a modification the moulds for cooling down may be of rectangular
shape in cross section, in which case the centrifugal drum and basket
will have to be modified so far that it must be of corresponding
polygonal form, and with inside divisions.
This bleaching operation is performed as follows:-The baskets or
drums containing the cakes are dipped into spirits, or into clarified
syrup, and remain in it till the air ceases to rise in small bubbles; that
is, until the sugar is saturated. The drums are then taken out, and
after allowing the superfluous spirits or syrup to run off from the sugar,
the drums with the sugar in them are placed in another turbine or cen-
trifugal apparatus in which the cakes are dried by rapid rotary motion.
This operation is repeated once or twice till all traces of yellow spots or
coloring matter disappear from the cakes. With the very worst qualities
of raw sugar this immersion is to be repeated three times, and the drying
is to be effected in different centrifugal apparatus, so that each will give
a different quality of clarified syrup. The clarified syrup that is dis-
charged from the second and third turbine may be used for the first.
Two preparatory centrifugal apparatus are required for each finishing
apparatus. The first apparatus (which drives off the treacle) works for
as long a time as the last, while the second works only half the length of
time, and is able to work the same quantity twice before delivering it to

page_text: the finisher. If, for instance, the first drum requires forty minutes the
second will require only twenty, and this will allow of two immersions
being made before the cakes are delivered into the third and finishing
centrifugal apparatus. In all of the three apparatus the effect is
increased by a blast of hot air, which at the end of the last operation
reaches a heat of one hundred and thirty-three degrees Fahrenheit.
When the sugar is bleached the drums are taken out from the centri-
fugal apparatus, and turned over. The sugar cakes will then fall out,
and are sorted and wrapped in paper in pairs; they are placed in small
waggons, and taken on a railway to the drying oven, which is heated by
steam and ventilated. In three or four days they may be returned on
the waggons into the store room, and packed in cases or sawn into bars.
Bars are as convenient as small pieces, and have the advantage of being
liable to less loss by friction during transport.
In order to obtain from good raw sugar such a quality of crystalline
sugar as to be able to use the centrifugal apparatus only once (which
gives of course a quantity of sugar three times larger with the same
machinery), I propose the following method instead of the one now
in use:-
The raw sugar is mixed with cold water till it forms a pretty stiff mass.
This is done in copper kettles provided with a wire bottom and a re-
volving apparatus, or it may be placed in a mixing pan on Klusemann's
system. The saturated solution flows through a fine wire netting into
another kettle, where it is heated to one hundred and eleven degrees in
order to clear it from the finest crystals. It is then let very slowly
through the carbon filter in order that the carbon may well act on every
particle of the juice. Through a filter containing four tons of carbon no
more than five hundredweight of juice ought to pass during one hour.
The syrup ought never to stand unused for any length of time, and
should not be kept in store but be worked off immediately. The filtered
solution is boiled down in a pan, which should have a larger heating
surface in proportion to its volume than the usual pans. For a quantity
of four tons of juice, the heating surface of the steam pipes ought not to
be less than three hundred square feet. The exhausting pump ought to
have sufficient power to create a vacuum of twenty-seven inches in the
beginning of the boil. In the head of the apparatus, in the condenser,
and in the pipe leading to it, there ought to be devices for catching the.
•

page_text: juice that is occasionally thrown up during a strong boil. The whole
time of boiling the solution, from the time of entering the apparatus till
letting it out, should not exceed fifty minutes. The product thus
obtained is perfectly white, and on being dried on the centrifugal
apparatus with the assistance of warm damp air, gives an excellent white
refiued sugar which does not attract moisture from the air after it has
been dried in the oven.
This method of bleaching cakes can be applied to all sorts of syrup,
and will give a sugar sufficiently solid as not to fall into pieces when
taken from the moulds; but for this purpose it is necessary to increase
the temperature of the boil just before the end to one hundred and ninety
degrees.
The several Figures in the accompanying Drawings represent different
views of the several parts of the apparatus abɔve referred to.
Fig. 1 represents a sectional view of the valve by which the sugar juice
is let out from the boiling pan. The cast-iron piece A which contains
the valve closes the opening at the bottom of the pan, and is bolted
thereto in any convenient manner. The valve rod f is attached to the
cross head H which slides on the guide bar S, and has a horizontal slit
in which the pin of the crank K works. This crank is turned by the
shaft E, geared by bevil wheels to the vertical shaft M. A weighted
lever may be mounted on the shaft E to counterbalance the crank, and
there is a set screw on the shaft M to prevent it from turning when the
valve is shut. B is a copper pipe which leads to the distributor O which
consists of a horizontal pipe, closed at both ends with lids o held on by
the clamp p. In the copper bottom of the pipe are six openings 9, 9,
closed by slides f', which are usually moved simultaneously by small
racks f* worked by pinions f*,*, on the shaft s; but each slide f¹ may
be moved separately if the rack f belonging to it be lifted from its
pinion by means of the handle at the end of the rack f. The openings g
are covered inside with wire netting, which will keep back the lumps of
sugar which are formed sometimes within the tube.
Six funnels are placed under the slides or openings g, Fig. 1ª, by
which the syrup is directed into the moulds A, A', one of which is
represented in sectional elevation at Fig. 2, and in cross section at Fig. 2ª. ‹
The sides A, A', Fig. 2, are made of sheet iron one-eighth of an inch
thick, and consist of two parts joined at the bottom with hinges. The

page_text: in plan they form a quarter of a circle; their size will be in proportion
to that of the centrifugal apparatus. The external diameter of the circle
may be taken at twenty-nine inches, and the internal diameter at
seventeen and a half inches. Each basket holds ten cakes, or blocks of
sugar, or forty in the four sections, and each cake of sugar weighs about
three pounds five ounces, therefore each apparatus will take about one
hundred and thirty-three pounds weight of sugar. The baskets or
perforated vessels containing the blocks of sugar are put into the centri-
fugal apparatus and taken out by hand, the overhead gearing not
allowing of the use of a mechanical contrivance.
Fig. 5 is a vertical section of a centrifugal apparatus specially arranged
and constructed for the purposes of the present Invention, and Fig. 5ª is
a plan view of the drum with four baskets or perforated vessels therein.
It will be seen that in Fig. 5 the driving gear is placed below the
rotating drum, as this arrangement will be found the most convenient.
A is the vertical axle supported in an adjustable step bearing, and
revolving in two collars. At the top is mounted the cylindrical drum B
made of sheet iron. The upper edge of this drum is formed by a turned
metal ring, and the removable interior drum holds on to it by another
ring and projections c', which sink into indentations of the outer ring.
On the axle A is a driving pulley g and a brake by which the rotation of
the apparatus may be stopped. The upper collar M is fixed to the cast-
iron casing D, and the lower bearing to the bed plate E. The casing D
and the bed plate E are connected by cast-iron columns F. A
cylinder c, c, of sheet iron is fixed to the cast-iron bottom. The treacle à
and colored syrup when forced out through the perforated sides of
the rotating drum falls into the casing D, and is conducted therefrom by
the opening o. The apparatus is covered in at top by a lid p provided
with a short pipe r, to which an india-rubber hose is attached when
necessary, which leads from the heating apparatus.
In order to cause a draught of hot air through the centrifugal
apparatus wings of sheet iron N, N, are fixed to the exterior drum B.
When the collars of the axle A begin to wear, and the axle begins to run
unsteadily, the step bearing k is lowered by means of the screw, and the
journals sink deeper into the supporting collars M. At the side of the 3
apparatus is a pulley S, from which rotary motion is transmitted by a
belt to the axle A. Fig. 7 represents in side and end elevation the
mechanical device by which the inside drum containing the blocks of

page_text: sugar is lifted out of the apparatus, and can be carried horizontally with
its contents of sugar cakes to any desired locality. A, A, are two axles.
on which run the loose wheels B, B. A bent frame O is provided at the
top with a collar D, through which passes the lifting screw E. A loose
cross arm E' at the lower end of the lifting screw catches hold of and
supports the removable drum of the centrifugal apparatus. The screw E
is raised by turning the arms F attached to the nut. This lifting jack
runs on rails fixed above the centrifugal apparatus.
Fig. 8 represents in elevation à cylindrical tank supplied with clarified
syrup, and into which the drums containing the blocks or cakes of sugar
are dipped. It contains in its annular shaped space as much syrup as
will be sufficient to cover the cakes of sugar when submerged. The
syrup can be drawn off when required by the tap B. These tanks are
for convenience placed between the several centrifugal apparatus.
The cakes are dried when they have been removed from the last centri-
fugal apparatus. These chambers are placed one beside the other and
each contains sufficient space for a whole day's manufacture. Tho
chambers are divided by brick walls and covered by arches. The
waggons containing the blocks of sugar are run into them on rails. In
the direction of their length the chambers are subdivided by cast-iron
slides running in cast-iron grooves and hung on chains. By this means
the stream of hot air is so directed as to pass through all the layers of
the sugar cakes. The slides are lifted while the waggons are being run
into the drying chamber and are afterwards lowered into their proper
places, so that they will leave an opening alternately at the top and at
the bottom. Both ends of the chamber are closed by doors. The
draught is produced in the chambers by a high chimney which is
common to all, and to which the draught is regulated by the slide or
damper.
The air is heated in a separate chamber placed above the row of drying
chambers at one end. Channels provided with slides lead from the hot
air chamber to the drying chambers, in which the temperature is regu-
lated
The speed of the current of hot air must not be above two foot

page_text: The operations in a sugar refinery arranged upon the improved plan
are conducted as follows:-If ordinary and bad sorts of raw sugar be
used, when the sugar solution in the boiling pan is ready the opening
into the condenser is closed and an air tap is opened at the bottom
of the pan, and at the same time the distributing valve e in Fig. 1 is t
opened. While the sugar solution flows out of the vacuum pan tho air
passes through it from the bottom air tap, and by bubbling up keeps
the syrup in motion and prevents the treacle from being formed at the
surface.
The waggon containing the moulds A is placed under the distributor C, 1
Fig. 1, and the syrup is run into the moulds in a thin layer about half
an inch thick, while the waggon is moved slowly forward. A row of
pipes blow cold air into the moulds at the same time. A uniform thick-
ness of the layers in all the moulds is easily obtained by regulating the
outflow by the slides of the distributor C.
When the syrup has been delivered into all the moulds the nozzles >
of the distributor are directed into another series of moulds and the
motion of the waggon is reversed. This action is repeated several times
till the moulds are filled by half-inch layers to the top.
1
When the moulds are full and the vacuum pan is empty a nozzle is 2
adapted to the distributor, and the syrup which sticks to the inner surface
is blown out by means of a jet of steam into a separate tank. The full
moulds are placed on tables and fresh ones put on the waggon. After
two or three hours, when the sugar has cooled down to one hundred
degrees, the moulds are laid down on that side to which the calico is 2
fastened, the hooks or catches are unfastened, the upper sides of the
moulds are opened by turning up the sides on the hinges. The brass
slides are removed and the calico is lifted from the sugar cakes or blocks.
The cakes are piled up on the table and the moulds removed to another
inclined table, where they are washed. The water is collected in a tank. 3
The cakes are then placed in the baskets or drums, Fig. 4. The men do
this with cotton gloves in order to avoid staining the cakes. While the
cakes are being introduced the drums are laid on their sides and are
turned slowly. When full they are placed on their bottom and put on
waggons, and taken to the centrifugal apparatus, in which they are 3
placed by means of the lifting apparatus shewn at Figures 7. The
P of the centrifugal apparatus is lifted by means of a rope going over
lid

page_text: a roller, and the drum is put in; the lifting jack, Fig. 7, is then removed
and the lid is put on again, and the apparatus set in motion.
The treacle flows off freely at first, but as soon as it begins to flow
more slowly the end of the india-rubber blast hose is fixed to the nozzle »
of the lid p, and hot air is drawn into the casing D by the wings N
attached to the outside drum B. The air finds its exit by the same
outlet o through which flows the treacle. The temperature of the hot air is
from one hundred degrees to one hundred and ten degrees, and the speed
of the centrifugal apparatus is from one thousand to one thousand two
hundred revolutions per minute.
After from thirty to forty minutes, when the treacle ceases to flow,
the centrifugal apparatus is stopped, the lid p is lifted, and the drum
taken out, and a fresh one charged with new blocks is placed in its stead.
The fresh drum is then submerged in the tank, Fig..8, which is supplied
with clarified syrup. A ring-shaped perforated lid is put on the drum
before it is immersed in the syrup so as to prevent the cakes of sugar
from being forced upwards when the drum is immersed.
After from
ten to fifteen minutes the drum is lifted out of the tank and a flat copper
pan placed under it to receive the drippings from the syrup during the
shifting. It is then placed in the next centrifugal apparatus, which is
then set in motion. Shortly afterwards the hot air hose is attached to it,
and in from fifteen to twenty minutes the drum may be taken out and.
dipped into the next tank, while another drum from the first tank is
placed in the centrifugal machine. The drum from tank No. 3 is then
placed a second time in the centrifugal machine, and after being dried
goes into another tank; and lastly, after another fifteen minutes it is
placed in the finishing centrifugal machine. The operation is performed
in exactly the same manner, but the temperature is raised to one
hundred and thirty-three degrees.
On the other centrifugal machine the same operations follow system-
atically. The duration of the immersion and the drying slightly vary
with the quality of the sugar.
If the quality of the sugar is such that only one or two immersions
are required the labour is of course less in proportion.
From the finishing centrifugal machine the drums are taken to the

page_text: fully taken out, sorted, wrapped in paper in pairs, and piled up on the
drying waggon. This waggon is then placed on the moving platform,
and brought to the drying chamber. When it is full the doors are
closed, and the slides and regulators properly set. The temperature is
slowly raised to one hundred and forty degrees for twenty-four hours.
On the second or third day the sugar ought to be dry. A sample is
taken out and tested by fracture and by sound. When it is quite dry,
the temperature is slowly lowered to eighty-eight degrees, and the
waggons are then taken out. The cakes of sugar are then tied up with
strings and finally packed or brought to the room where they are sawn
into bars. Of course this system is liable to slight modifications in
different places, but the material points are enumerated and described
here above.
Figs. 9 represent in section another and cheaper mode of forming the
sugar moulds, several being combined together. A long sheet of iron:
or copper, as wide as a cake is long, is bent into the zig-zag shape shewn
in the Figure, and the bottom of each mould thus formed is rivetted to
the bottom brace c, c. A number of these moulds are placed on the
waggons, so that one groove forms the continuation of another. Vertical
india-rubber plates are placed between them. The end of the first mould
abuts against a vertical plate lined with india-rubber, and firmly attached
to the waggon; the end of the last abuts against a moveable plate of
the same description, which can be pressed against the first with screws,
compressing at the same time the intermediate plates. Thus a row of
moulds is formed just the same as those formerly described. The cakes
or blocks of sugar do not separate from these moulds quite so well as
from the first moulds, which are lined with varnished calico, but still
sufficiently easy.
These moulds can be made from sheets of iron, brass, copper, or cast
iron, but must be varnished; they possess the great advantage of
consisting of fewer parts, and are less complicated than those first
described.
Having now described the Invention which has been communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent, and having explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to 3
me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, the mode herein set forth of boiling
and concentrating the syrup, so as to produce a hard crystallized
substance suitable for being submitted to the subsequent process.

page_text: I also claim the mode of and apparatus above described or any mere
modification thereof for clarifying sugar or removing therefrom the
uncrystallizable coloring matters contained therein, as herein set forth.
I claim also forming the crystallizable sugar into cakes of any con-
venient size and shape, as herein set forth, so that it may be submitted
to the subsequent processes of decolorizing and bleaching without the
necessity of employing moulds in such processes.
I also claim decolorizing and bleaching the crystallized sugar without
the use of moulds, by first dipping the cakes into a solution of clarified
syrup and then driving off the liquid portion thereof, together with any
dissolved coloring matter contained in the crystallized sugar by means
of centrifugal motion, as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles George Kleberg, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Ninth day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.