IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND REFINING OF SUGAR, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Wright, of Grosvenor Street, Camberwell, in
the County of Surrey, Sugar Refiner, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND REFINING OF SUGAR, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 1st March 1861, and dated the 6th September 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Wright at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
September 1860.
I, RICHARD WRIGHT, of Grosvenor Street, Camberwell, in the County of
Surrey, Sugar Refiner, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND REFINING OF SUGAR, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
Heretofore in evaporating cane juice and saccharine solutions when manu-
facturing and refining sugar, it has been usual in some cases to employ fire
heat-directly to the pans or vessels used, in other cases to employ steam, and
in other cases to employ hot-water baths, in which the vessels containing the
juice or solution have been immersed. In most, but not in all cases the
heating medium in contact with the pan or vessel containing the juice or
solution of sugar has been at the least 212° of Fahrenheit; and in some cases

page_text: it has been the practice to employ discs to move or rotate when partly
immersed in the saccharine fluid, so that the parts of such discs have when in
use moved into and out of the saccharine fluid, so as to cause the fluid
adhering to the surfaces to be raised out of the vessel and into contact with
the atmosphere. In all such cases when using revolving discs the medium
employed to heat the evaporating vessel has been above 212° Fahrenheit. Now
I have discovered that the juice of the sugar cane and saccharine solutions
generally are when using revolving discs prejudicially acted on by being
evaporated by a heating medium if it be above 212° of Fahrenheit.
And my Invention consists in so arranging apparatus when using rotating
discs in the process of evaporating cane juice and other saccharine solutions in
the manufacture and refining of sugar, that the vapour of water may be used
as the heating medium in contact with the evaporating vessel employed in
such manner that the vapour so in contact with the vessel shall at all times be
below 212° of Fahrenheit. I would state that separately I make no claim to
the employment of revolving discs partly immersed in the fluid, their use being
well known and understood, when using a heating medium at temperatures at
and above 212° Fahrenheit. Neither do I claim separately the employment of
the vapour of water maintained at a temperature below 212°, such vapour
having before been used for evaporating saccharine solutions. The peculiarity
of my Invention consists in the combined use in apparatus of revolving discs
and the vapour of water below 212° Fahrenheit.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Wright in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th March 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
WRIGHT, of Grosvenor Street, Camberwell, in the County of Surrey, Sugar
Refiner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Richard Wright, Her special licence that I, the said Richard Wright,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Richard Wright, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any

page_text: time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND REFINING OF SUGAR, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Richard Wright, 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 immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Wright, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:
Heretofore in evaporating cane juice and saccharine solutions, when manu-
facturing and refining sugar, it has been usual in some cases to employ fire
heat directly to the pans or vessels used, in other cases to employ steam, and
in other cases to employ hot-water baths in which the vessels containing the
juice or solution have been immersed. In most, but not in all cases the
heating medium in contact with the pan or vessel containing the juice or
solution of sugar has been at the least 212° of Fahrenheit, and in some cases
it has been the practice to employ discs to move or rotate when partly
immersed in the saccharine fluid, so that the parts of such discs have when in
use moved into and out of the saccharine fluid, so as to cause the fluid
adhering to the surface to be raised out of the vessel and into contact with the
atmosphere. In all such cases when using revolving discs the medium em-
ployed to heat the evaporating vessel has been above 212° Fahrenheit. Now
I have discovered that the juice of the sugar cane and saccharine solutions
generally are when using revolving discs prejudicially acted on by being
evaporated by a heating medium if it be above 212° of Fahrenheit.
And my Invention consists in so arranging apparatus when using rotating
discs in the process of evaporating cane juice and other saccharine solutions in
the manufacture and refining of sugar, that the vapour of water may be used
as the heating medium in contact with the evaporating vessel employed in
such manner that the vapour so in contact with the vessel shall at all times
be below 212°. I would state that separately I make no claim to the

page_text: well known and understood, when using a heating medium at temperatures at
and above 212° Fahrenheit. Neither do I claim separately the employment
of the vapour of water maintained at a temperature below 212°, such vapour
having before been used for evaporating saccharine solutions. The peculiarity
of my Invention consists in the combined use in apparatus of revolving discs
and the vapour of water below 212° Fahrenheit.
In carrying out my Invention I employ the following construction and
arrangement of apparatus, though the forms thereof may be modified without
departing from my Invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING,
which represents a transverse section of the appararus used by me. a is
the open evaporating vessel in which the cane juice or other solution of sugar
to be evaporated is placed. In this vessel several dises or moving surfaces are.
caused to dip, as shown in the Drawing; these discs are by preference of
copper, but they may be of any suitable material. b, b, is an external vessel
of such dimensions as to admit of its containing a quantity of water below the
bottom of the vessel a, and in such manner as to prevent the water level
rising to such a height as to come in contact with the bottom of the vessel a,
or any part of it; c is an overflow pipe below the level of the bottom of the
vessel a.
The vessel 6 is open to the outer atmosphere by means of one or
more open pipes d.
By these arrangements the water in the vessel 6 can never be raised to a
higher degree of temperature than that of boiling water, or 212° Fahrenheit;
the vapour above the water, which alone is the heating medium, in contact with
the vessel, being thus constantly below that temperature, which I find of very
great importance in practice when using in combination therewith revolving
discs.
The water in the vessel 6 may be heated in any convenient manner, but I
prefer that it should be heated by means of free steam generated in a separate
vessel, and introduced near the bottom of the vessel 6 and below the surface
of the water therein, by which the temperature of the incoming steam will be
at once reduced, and the level of the water in the vessel 6 will be maintained
by the condensation of such steam, and any excess of water thereby produced
will be carried off by the overflow pipe.
I wish it to be understood that I do not claim the employment of rotating
discs in open vessels separately, neither do I claim the employment of the

page_text: vapour of water kept below 212°; but what I claim is, the combination of
rotating discs with a vessel a and vessel 6 so arranged that the water in the
vessel 6 cannot rise up to the vessel a, or the water in the vessel 6 be raised to
a higher heat than boiling water (212° Fahrenheit), substantially as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Wright, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
RICHARD WRIGHT. (L.S.)