Apparatus for Refining Loaf Sugar in the Molds.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 14th May, 1889-Accepted, 15th June, 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Apparatus for Refining Loaf Sugar in the Molds.
I, CARL STEFFEN of No. 40 Heugasse in the City of Vienna and Austro-Hungarian
Empire, Engineer, 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:-
My invention relates to the construction of an apparatus for refining loaf or luimp
sugar in the molds in which the sugar can be refined either as a congealed
crystalline mass or in granular pulpy form.
The refining process is carried out by employing a saturated solution of pure
sugar; the so-called lixiviating fluid or cleare, and is effected in a systematic manner,
that is, in such manner that the molds for the loaves or sugar to be refined are
connected so as to form à battery in the form of a column in which the single loaf
forms are superposed or placed one above the other and snugly fitted together, the
supply pipe for the lixiviating or refining fluid being connected to the uppermost
loaf mold, whilst the lowermost mold is arranged above a reservoir for receiving the
spent fluid or is connected to a suitable trough or tube for leading off the same.
The lixiviating or refining fluid becomes more and more impure the further it
descends down the battery of loaf molds in consequence of the syrup which it
washes off the sugar crystals, whilst the sugar in the upper mold will be perfectly
refined or freed from syrup when a given quantity of the lixiviating fluid or cleare
has been passed through the same.
"As soon as the operation has reached this stage the uppermost mold is removed and
the battery again completed by inserting a freshly charged mold in the lower part of
the battery. In order to produce a snug contact between the loaf molds forming the
column like battery and to be able to remove the finished loaf with its form and
insert a fresh-charged loaf mold in the battery I employ a hydraulic press or other
suitable raising device and also a retaining device for the upper molds for facilitating
the insertion of a fresh charged mold at the lower end of the battery.
As soon as the requisite quantity of lixiviating fluid has passed through the
uppermost mold of the battery, the remaining fluid is pressed forward or downward
in the battery so that the crystalline mass in the uppermost mold is comparatively.
dry before its removal therefrom. If a hard crystalline mass is treated it is simply
charged into the mold, but if granular pulpy mass is used the tips of the loaf molds
may be provided with a sieve as represented in the accompanying drawing.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of the column like battery of loaf molds for treating
sugar, the lower part being shown in elevation.
Figures 2 and 3 are sections of the tips of the loaf molds with sieves of varied
construction on an enlarged scale.
The loaf, molds a are provided with hermetically closed lids or covers b which are
pressed onto the molds by clutch bolts c or in other suitable manner.
An opening is bored through the centre of each of the covers and this opening
surrounded with an annular flanged for receiving an india-rubber or other suitable
packing so as to produce an airtight joint between the perforated tip of the upper
mold and the cover to the mold immediately beneath the same, whereas the cover of
the uppermost mold is packed in like manner to receive the nozzle of the supply
pipe f for the lixiviating fluid, the tip of the lowermost mold being fitted into a cup-
like extension of the receiver g which is in connection with a trough hor tube for
leading off the lixiviating fluid from the last mold which said fluid has become
impure from the syrup washed from the sugar crystals in the molds.
very

page_text: This trough his formed in or mounted on the head plate i of an hydraulic piston k
which, when raised, will press the various molds into close, airtight contact with
each other.
In order to exchange the molds as is requisite in the process of systematic
lixiviation or, in other words, to be able to remove the upper mold and insert a freshly
charged mold at the lower end of the battery, the molds are provided near their
apex with annular flanges which, in order to prevent the lateral movement of the
molds forming the battery are connected by bolts to the lid of the next lower
mold.
These annular flanges & rest on the pawls or an equivalent device when the upper
part of the battery requires to be held up so as to enable a freshly charged mold to
be inserted at the lower end of the said battery. The annular flanges / may be fixed to
the molds or the molds may be simply placed in the same before the said molds are
employed for forming the battery.
().
If granular pulpy sugar mass is to be lixiviated a sieve is placed in each of the
molds, the said sieve being flat (Figure 2) annular or cylindrical (Figure 3), or of
other suitable form. The compressed air for pressing or forcing the lixiviating fluid
through the molds after the supply of fluid has been cut off, is fed in through the
tube or pipe p. The supply pipe fruns preferably through the massive upper plate s
of the framework to the battery, of which are the columns or standards which also
serve as guides for the head or plate i of the hydraulic piston.
As already mentioned, it is by no means compulsory that hydraulic devices be used
as any other appropriate raising and lowering device may be employed, and it will
also be evident that the form and details of my improved apparatus may be modified
in various ways without departing from the nature of my invention.
The operation of the improved apparatus is as follows:-
As soon as the battery has been formed by placing a number of molds one above
the other so as to form a column like battery and the same have been pressed into
snug contact with each other by the hydraulic piston or other raising device, the
cock or valve of the supply pipe for the lixiviating fluid is opened and the said fluid
pressed through the mass of sugar in the molds forming the battery.
As soon as a sufficient quantity of the lixiviating fluid, which, in passing through
the battery, has become very impure and which corresponds with the quantity of
pure fluid required for perfectly refining the sugar in the uppermost mold, has
passed off from the lowest mold, the supply of lixiviating fluid is cut off and the
valve of the compressed air pipe opened so that the compressed air will press the
fluid in the molds downwards and out of the battery whereupon the molds forming
the battery are lowered.
The upper mold, which contains perfectly refined sugar, is now removed, the molds
forming the battery again raised so that the second mold of the first operation will
be the first mold in the second operation, and so on, the lower mold being held up by
means of its annular flange and the pawls or arms, a freshly charged mold with
unrefined sugar inserted and the piston of the hydraulic or other device raised until
snug, airtight contact is obtained between the various molds of the battery.
The operation of systematic lixiviation can now be repeated as before described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, what claim is
An apparatus for refining loaf or lump sugar in the mold, consisting of a series of
molds, with or without sieves at their apex according to the kind of sugar used, that
is, sugar in hard crystallised form or in the form of granular pulpy mass, arranged
one above the other so as to form an airtight fitting column like battery, into the
upper mold of which, the lixiviating fluid consisting of a saturated solution of pure
sugar, is led, from whence the said fluid descends through all the molds in the
battery and leaves the last mold as an impure syrupy fluid, the molds in the said

page_text: battery being exchanged by removing the uppermost mold containing perfectlyrefined
sugar, and inserting a fresh mold, charged with sugar to be treated, at the lowermost
end of the battery, substantially as and for the purpose set forth and shown.
3
c
1000
CARL
STEFFEN.
By his Agents, Horn & Son.