AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODE OF TREATING SACCHARINE JUICES IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR
Year: 1856

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Robert William Sievier at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th November 1856.
I, ROBERT WILLIAM SIEVIER, of Upper Holloway, in the County of Middle-
sex, Gentleman, now residing in Rue de Cerf, Brussels, in the Kingdom of
Belgium, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODE OF TREATING SACCHARINE JUICES IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF SUGAR," to be as follows:-
To clarify the vegetable juices containing sugar, such as beetroot, sugar
cane, and all other vegetable bodies containing saccharine material, I first
express the juice from the vegetable in any of the well-known usual manners,
and at the same time pass into or among it the fumes of sulphurous acid
gas.
the
I will describe my Invention in the manufacture of beetroot sugar, all other
juices being treated in a similar manner. As the beetroot is being ground
or rasped I introduce through a tube amongst it sulphurous acid gas; the juice
will immediately absorb some of the gas. That part of the apparatus where
is introduced among the juice and pulp should be closed, so as to keep
gas from escaping as much as possible. The juice and pulp passes into
the usual receptacle, and should it not have taken up enough of the sulphurous
acid gas so as to prevent its losing its white or natural color, more gas must
be introduced through a tube placed underneath the mass of juice and pulp,
the
gas

page_text: the juico when separated, when more will combine with it and prevent its
changing color.
gas
In cases where the mass of juice and pulp is very thick, I first pass tho
through water, and when the water is saturated with it I water or sprinkle
the pulp and juice with the water so impregnated. It is well known that
water at a low temperature will take up about thirty times its volume. The
juice is then filtered from the pulp through a filter made of linen, wool, cotton,
or any close textile fabric, or sand. A small quantity of chalk or other alkaline
body must be added, to take out any acid the juice may contain, as is now
the practice. The juice is then boiled to concentrate it in the usual way for
crystallization. Blood, eggs, or any other albuminous substance I use, if
necessary, in the usual manner. It is not necessary for me to state any
mode of making the sulphurous acid gas, as that is well known.
My improvement renders the use of animal charcoal unnecessary, and
therefore I do away with a great expense in the manufacturing of beetroot
sugar or other sugars, the sugar being produced of a light color in the first
operation. I am aware that sulphurous acid gas has been employed when
acetate of lead has been used in the clarification of sugar for the purpose of
throwing down the lead in the form of a sulphite, but I claim the use of
sulphurous acid gas alone, in as pure a state as can be obtained, for the
purpose stated in the manufacture of sugar from vegetable juices.
I prefer filtering the juices twice, once before the chalk or alkaline body is
used, and secondly, after it is used; but the manufacturer may make one
filtration do, by first adding the alkaline body and then filtering the whole.