IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Claudio Gil, residing at No. 6, Boulevart des
Capucines, in the City of Paris, in the Empire of France, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR."
Sealed the 6th July 1869, and dated the 26th January 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Claudio Gil at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th January
1869.
:
I, GLAUDIO GIL, residing at No. 6, Boulevart des Capucines, in the
City of Paris, in the Empire of France, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR," to be as
follows
This invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of

page_text: I cut the beetroot or cane by means of suitable root cutters or
by other means into thin slices a tenth of an inch thick or thinner and 1
place them in a series of macerators communicating with each other
and filled with water at the ordinary temperature, say from 5 to 25
degrees centigrade. These slices float in the liquid contained in the macerators
which penetrates into them and extracts from them all the sugary juices.
I prefer to employ 10 macerators and I empty and refill one of them every hour,
so that the extraction lasts from 8 to 10 hours including the time taken in filling
and emptying.
To effect the acid treatment, which is the principle object of this
Invention, I employ sulphuric acid and sulphite of lime, which meeting
in the macerators cause a chemical reaction, producing sulphate of lime and
sulphurous acid. These substances being very finely divided and mixed with
the juice dissolve in it, depriving it of color and preventing it from fermenting
without altering it and penetrating into the cellular tissues, and producing
in them a very remarkable clarification by the coagulation while cold of the
albuminous matters. I prefer to introduce the above-mentioned agents into
the middle of the series of macerators, say the 4th or 5th, counting from the
top. In this way these agents act as removers of color, softness, refiners, and
antiseptics.
The macerators that I employ are simple wooden tubs surrounded
by pipes as usual and forming a continuous circulation in which the top
and bottom change places each time that the charge of one of the
macerators is renewed. It is important, on account of the presence
of the acid, not to use iron or other substance which is attackable
by acid. These macerators are furnished with double bottoms pierced
with holes on which the charge of slices is placed. The juice
obtained by the preceeding operations is almost limpid and without color. I
next use one of the following treatments according to the use it
is to be put to; if first a raw syrup is desired I evaporate the
juice directly as it comes from the macerators without clarifying or filtering,
for in boiling it gives scarcely any scum and the acidity is not sufficient
to alter the sugar. The acid juice is evaporated to from 30 to 45 degrees
Beaume, according as it is wished to treat it again or to keep it,
for this syrup can be kept a long time and can supply the manufactory or
refinery for a whole year. Concentrated to 38 or 40 degrees the syrup
deposits when kept large crystals of sugar; from 40 to 42 degrees the
crystals are smaller but the quantity greater and it turbinates very well.

page_text: If a hard and. transparent mass is wanted the syrup is concentrated
to 45 degrees, and even more in the ordinary boilers and apparatus.
This mass when broken can be clarified and turbinated to extract the
raw. sugar. If, als. has been said above, it is wished afterwards directly to
extract the cleaner part of the juice of the raw sugar, the juice
ought to be let to stand or to filter during its evaporation when it has been
concentrated, for example, to about 10 or 15 degrees Beaume. Again,
if good raw sugar be desired animal charcoal is employed either in
powder during evaporation or as a filter (in suitable grains and not
alkaline) for the raw syrup concentrated to 25 or 35 degrees Beaume.
When in place of the extracting of sugar from the raw acid syrup sugar
as pure as possible is desired it is sufficient to concentrate the juice
to between 25 and 30 degrees and to mix it with 4 to 8 volumes of alcohol.
The purification is thus effected in a complete manner, and on the
distillation of the alcohol a syrup and a white acid mass are obtained very
much superior to those produced directly from the beetroot juice, the syrup
can be so treated as to produce at pleasure sugar candy or sugar in grains or

page_text: the purpose to separate the last traces of alcohol. The solution of salts
and organic matter is then employed in the manufacture of salted goods and
manure.
To avoid the inconvenience of iron vessels the sugary juices after
having been extracted by the macerating process above described, or by
any other method, as, for example, by Roberts' diffusion method, may
be refined with sulphate or carbonate of lime, and may thus be
maintained in an alkaline or neutral condition during the refining, the
carbonation (if it be necessary to eliminate the excess of lime),
the filtration, and the other manipulations. The filtered juice is then very
decidedly acidulated by means of sulphurous or an acid bi-sulphite, or any
other acid compound, as sulphuric acid, with the addition of neutral
sulphite of lime, or any other sulphite in quantity equivalent to the acid
employed, and containing in general 1 to 2 millieme of sulphurous
acid to the weight of juice. The juice being thus refined, deprived of its
color, and acidulated is evaporated to between 20 and 40 degrees Beaume,
if the acidulation is too great a few millieme of chalk may be added
during the operation. This syrup is treated or not with alcohol
according as raw acid or purified products are desired, as has been described
above.
With the help of the lime and carbonic acid the greater part of the sugar may
be obtained without alcohol, and the residue only need be treated with
alcohol. Whatever be the process I have used I always introduce acid into
the purified syrup which is ready to be cooked, or even into the cooked, the
quantity of acid being such as to produce acid manufactured masses. . Any acid
will produce this result, but I prefer to employ either sulphurous, lactic, formic,
boric, or stearic acid.
If the syrups contain any considerable trace of metal they ought before drying
to be submitted to the action of a clarifier sufficiently charged with albumen
to precipitate these traces of metal. The action of the albumen may be aided
by means of a very small quantity of alkaline carbonates, and above all of
ferricyanides or of ferrocyanides, but without excess of these last salts. I may
however add that the copper generally leaves no trace if the operation is not
checked.
Returning to the treatment of the beetroot pulp by maceration carried far
enough to extract all the useful juice, I mix it as it comes out of the macerators
with a portion of the treacle equivalent to the proportion of sugar ordinarily
left in it. Thus in exchange for the crystallizable sugar which I extract I

page_text: leave uncrystallizable sugar, and
and besides salts and organic matters
good for animals and the soil, and also principles excellent for preserving the
pȧlp.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Claudio Gil in the Geat-Seal Patent Office on the 21st July
1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CLAUDIO
GIL, residing at No. 6, Boulevart des Capucines, in the City of Paris, in the
Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by. Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of. January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and. suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Claudio Gil, Hér special
licence that I, the said Claudio Gil, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Claudio Gil, 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," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Claudio Gil, 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 Clauio Gil, 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 thereof,
that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of

page_text: Up to this time in the various methods of working sugar juices,
and particularly beetroot juice, it has been considered essential and I may
say peremptory to keep the juices and syrups in an alkaline state,
and to obtain manufactured or dry masses in an alkaline condition. It
has scarcely ever been ventured on to neutralize a part of the
alkali from the fear of passing the finely marked line of neutrality, and of
falling into the fault of acidity. for it is known that strict neutrality
is very difficult if not impossible to obtain, above all in the manufacture
of sugar. A neutral and still more an acid state has always been
avoided with beetroot juice, since in the processes at present used rapid
and prejudicial changes inevitably take place, the juice and syrup begin
to ferment, and the sugar thus partly changed crystallizes badly and
less completely. I do not at all mean to say that the objection of sugar
manufacturers to acidity in their ordinary processes is illfounded, but I
only maintain that by special means I can obtain, contrary to the
present belief, new results by an acid process, and it is for this Invention,
and the application of this principle with all its variations, and all
accessories tending to its successful application, which I have to
describe, and for which, being new and original, I claim the present
Patent
Up to this time whenever acid has been used in the manufacture of
sugar, as, for example, in certain methods of defecation, great care has
been taken to neutralize and even to make the sugar alkaline as soon
as the acid reaction has produced the desired effect, so as to guard against
as quickly as possible the ulterior action of the acid, above all
during the heating, evaporating, and curing processes, for fear of change taking
place in the juice. I have observed that when limiting the acid to small quantities,
instead of its being prejudicial it produces great advantages in the color,
taste, and easy draining of the syrup, and even by changing it into crystallizable
sugar.
This observation has led me to employ an acid process, a method of
proceeding entirely different from those used in the manufacture of
sugar, and permitting me to obtain new and very advantageous results, viz.,
to produce directly from the beetroot juice white manufactured masses having
an excellent flavour, and above all giving loaves which drain easily and are
perfect and regular, results which cannot be obtained by an alkaline or neutral
process.

page_text: materials, whether they be sugary liquids more or less pure, such as
the remeltings of raw sugar, low products of manufacturing and refining
sugar or sugary liquids, resulting from carbonizing and decomposing
of sucrates of lime, baryta, &c. By the aid of carbonic or other
acid the process can also be applied to all kinds of sugary juices, whether
they are obtained from the cane or from beetroot and in whatever way
they have been extrakted, but I prefer to operate on the juice
obtained by a new process of maceration, which I proceed to
describe.
I cut the beetroot or cane by means of suitable root cutters or by other
means into thin slices a tenth of an inch thick or better still thinner, and I
place them in a series of macerators communicating with each other, and filled
with water at the ordinary temperature, say from 6 to 25 degrees centigrade.
These slices float in the liquid contained in the macerators, which penetrates
into them and extracts from them all the sugary juices. I prefer to employ
10 macerators, and I empty and refill one of them every hour, so that
the extraction lasts from 8 to 10 hours including the time taken in filling and
emptying.
To effect the acid treatment, which is the principle object of this
Invention, I employ sulphuric acid and sulphite of lime, which meet-
ing in the macerators cause, a chemical reaction producing sulphate of lime
and sulphurous acid, both in an ascent state. These substances being
very finely divided and mixed with the juice dissolve in it, depriving it
of color, and preventing it from fermenting without injuring it, and
penetrating into the cellular tissues and producing in them
a very
remarkable defecation by the coagulation while cold of the albuminous
matters. With very thin slices the 3 thousandths of sulphuric acid
(the monohydrate) is sufficient, and a quantity of neutral sulphite of
lime giving from 1 to 4 thousandths of sulphurous acid in relation to the
weight of beetroot employed. The sulphate of lime produces a great
coagulating action on the feculent principles of the beetroot, with
which it forms insoluble compounds. The juice obtained contains traces
of sulphurous acid and certain organic acids of the beetroot, set
free by the sulphuric acid. In order that the chemical
proceed more completely through the entire mass in the macerators, I
prefer to introduce the above-mentioned agents into the middle of the
In this
series of macerators, say the 4th or 5th, counting from the top.
way these agents act as removers of color, defecators, and anteseptics;
reaction may

page_text: they may be put, according to circumstances, either together or
separately into the same macerator or into different macerators.
The
sulphuric acid diluted with 10 times its weight of water, when intro-
duced at the selected points of the operation, soon meets with the
sulphite and produces the desired reaction. It will be easy to under-
stand that if the pulp is not sufficiently deprived of its sugary
juice the number of macerators can be increased to 12 or 16, as
also when the slices are thicker the maceration must be prolonged and a
larger quantity of the chemical agents be employed to render the action more
energetic. By this system the degree of acidity can be modified without
without altering the charges by introducing the acid into a macerator nearer
or farther away from the top of the series. This renders the system very
convenient.
The macerators that I employ are simple wooden tubs connected together
by pipes as usual, and forming a continuous circulation in which the top and
bottom change places each time that the charge of one of the macerators is re-
newed. It is important on account of the presence of the acid not to use iron
or other substance which is attackable by acid. These macerators are
furnished with double bottoms, pierced with holes on which the charges of slices
are placed.
It will be observed that one of the remarkable characteristics of the
arrangement above described is the case with which the degree of acidity and
the condition of the juice may be regulated. I do not confine myself to the
use of the above agents, but I can also employ sulphurous acid either in a
gaseous state or in solution in water or other acid or neutral sulphite, or I
can first mix the sulphate, the sulphites, and the acids employed. I claim
the use then of sulphurous acid and of sulphites, with or without other
chemical agents, in the maceration of beetroot and can with or without heat,
and in the former case particularly the use of neutral or slightly acid sulphite of
lime.
:
Again the maceration may be effected in various ways with my acid process.
I give the following two examples :-
1. The sliced beetroot or cane is macerated with hot water or hot juice at
a temperature of 60 to 100 degrees centigrade, which is poured over the fresh
or dried vegetable to soften the beetroot, the heat taking the place of the
sulphuric acid, and in order to prevent spontaneous alterations I introduce
into the middle of the series of macerators sulphite of lime, by choice slightly
acid, diluted with water or juice; the juice resulting from this operation is

page_text: 2. If in the course of the preceding maceration I put in sulphate of lime,
say from 2 to 6 thousandths, introduced during the heating of the juice which
I pour over the new matter, then I effect a defecation of the free
juice and that which is still retained in the cellular tissues, partly by the
sulphate of lime dissolved in the juice during the heating partly by the sulphite
introduced into the macerators. This juice, which is still better than the last,
and is similarly a little acid, so that the apparatus must not be able to be
touched by acid, and must also be made so as to be kept open or shut at
pleasure.
The juice obtained by the preceding operations is almost limpid and
without color. I next use one of the following treatments according to
the use it is to be put to; if first a raw syrup is desired "I
evaporate the juice directly as it comes from the macerators without defecating
or filtering, for in boiling it gives scarcely any scum, and the acidity is
not sufficient to injure the sugar. The acid juice is evaporated to
from 30 to 45 degrees Beaume, according as it is wished to treat it imme-
diately, or to keep it, for this syrup can be kept a long time and
Concen-
can supply the manufactory or refinery for a whole year.
trated to 38 or 40 degrees the syrup deposits when kept large crystals of sugar;
from 40 to 42 degrees the crystals are smaller but the quantity greater,
and it turbinates very well. If a hard and transportable mass is wanted
the syrup is concentrated to 45 degrees, and even more in the ordinary
boilers and apparatus. This mass when broken can be decolored and
turbinated to separate raw sugar. If, as has been said above, it is wished
at once to extract from the juice a cleaner crude sugar the juice
ought to be let to stand or be filtered during its evaporation, and
when it has been concentrated, for example, to about 10 or 15 degrees
Beaume. Again, if good raw sugar be desired, animal charcoal is
ог as 1 filter
employed either in powder during the evaporation,
(in suitable grains, and not alkaline), in which case
concentrated to 25 or 35 degrees Beaume before filtering.
place of extracting sugar from the raw acid syrup sugar as pure as
possible is desired, it is sufficient to concentrate the juice to between
25 and 30 degrees, and to mix it with 4 to 8 volumes of alcohol.
on the
The purification is thus effected in a complete manner, and
distillation of the alcohol a syrup and a white acid mass are obtained
the syrup is
When in

page_text: nocery from the beetroot juice. Ime
syrup can be so treated as to produce at pleasure sugar candy or sugar in grains
or loaves.
If the alcoholic treatment is applied only to the residues after having
extracted one ог more crystillizations of sugar
without the help
of the alcohol in place of selling the sugar it may be put back
into the syrup obtained from the residue after the purification by
alcohol; this considerably diminishes the alcoholic manipulations.
I ought here to observe that alcohol has already been employed to
obtain alkaline or neutral manufactured masses by the method of
dissolving the sugar in weak alcohol, i.e., under 95 degrees, but that
its employment in the purification of concentrated juices, and the
residue resulting from the acid maceration above described, is entirely
new, as also in all acid processes in the manufacture of sugar. For this
alcoholic purification I use iron vessels in presence of the alcohol,
but only then. The syrup to be purified is introduced with the alcohol
into iron vessels perfectly tight and furnished with stirrers shaped like
a helix or in some other form. This syrup is mixed by means of strong
mechanical agitation with 4 to 8 times its volume of alcohol, varying
from 60 to 94 degrees (hundredths) according to the density of the
syrup and the effect to be produced. I generally use for one volume
of syrup at 28° Beaume 6 volumes of alcohol at 87 degrees. After 10 to 20
minutes of stirring, the mixture being complete, it is left to stand
for 20 to 30 minutes, then the limpid sugary alcohol is decanted, it is fil-
tered in a close vessel through charcoal or otherwise to ensure its being
clear before distillation. The precipitate of salt and organic substances
resulting from the purification which is impregnated with sugar, or at
least sugary alcohol, is washed with alcohol destined for a succeeding
operation. This precipitate being soluble in water is easily got rid of;
it is put into a boiler constructed for the purpose to separate the
last traces of alcohol. The solution of salts and organic matter is then
employed for the separation of the salt or for manure. I prefer to
use four to six mixers so as to use them alternately without interrupting
the work; they carry decanting and emptying cocks, as also air
tubes, so arranged that the same air circulates from one vessel to another; the
air can only escape by passing through a column of water which
deprives it of its alcoholic vapours. In this way the loss of alcohol is exces-
sively small, all the processes being conducted in closed vessels. When

page_text: once the alcohol has been completely got rid of I can at pleasure
clarify the syrup with powdered charcoal, blood, or milk, as in the
ordinary process, or I can filter and concentrate it to the usual degree
according as the sugar is to be made in grains, loaves, or other form.
The acid products thus obtained give very fine loaf sugar, and syrups
which drain freely and are very fluid, of a fine color, and excellent
taste. The iron is never allowed to be in contact with the syrup during
according as the
The acid products thus obtained give very fine loaf sugar, and syrups
which drain freely and are very fluid, of a fine color, and excellent
taste. The iron is never allowed to be in contact with the syrup during
Levaporation.
sugar is to be made in grains, loaves, or other form.
To avoid the inconvenience of iron vessels the sugary juices, after
having been extracted by the macerating process above described or by any
other method, as, for example, by Roberts' diffusion method, may be defecated
with sulphate or carbonate of lime, and may thus be maintained in an alkaline
or neutral condition during the defecation, the carbonation (if it be necessary
to eliminate the excess of lime), the filtration, and the other usual manipulations.
Thus, for example, 1,000 litres of juice extracted by Roberts' diffusion
method will take according to its quality from 2 to 6 kilos. of
sulphate of lime dissolved in milk, and about the same quantity of carbonate
of lime similarly diluted; the liquid is then raised to the boiling point, and a
quantity of lime sufficient to render it strongly alkaline is added,
so as to precipitate the iron taken from the apparatus and utensils. If it is
worth the trouble the excess of lime may be carbonated and afterwards the
liquid decanted and filtered by means of press filters or otherwise.
The filtered juice is then very decidedly acidulated by means of
suphurous or an acid bi-sulphite, or any other acid, as sulphuric acid, with
the addition of neutral sulphite of lime, or any other sulphite, in quantity equiva-
lent to the acid employed, and containing in general 1 to 2 thousandths
of sulphurous acid to the weight of juice. The juice being thus defecated
deprived of its color, and acidulated, is evaporated to between 20 and 40
degrees Beaume; if the acidulation is too great a few thousandths of chalk
may be added during the operation. This syrup is treated or not with alcohol
according as raw acid or purified products are desired, as has been described
above.
With the help of the lime and carbonic acid the greater part of the
sugar may be obtained without alcohol, and the residue only need be
treated with alcohol. Whatever be the process I have used I always
introduce acid into the purified syrup which is ready to be evaporated, or
even after the evaporation, the quantity of acid being such as to produce
cured masses which are acid. Any acid will produce this result, but I

page_text: process substantially as above described consisting of treating with acid the
juices and syrups, whether they are obtained from the cane or from beetroot
or from any other source, replacing by this process the alkaline one in use up to
this time.
Also the mode of extracting the juice by maceration described.
Also the application of alcohol in the production of pure acid products whether
made from acid, alkaline, or neutral syrups.
Also the mode of producing syrups and acid products without the use of
alcohol.
Also the mode of eliminating metallic traces from acid syrups produced by
working in the manner described.
Also the mode of treatment of the pulp to restore the principles necessary to
preserve it and to utilize it for the feeding of beasts and the fertilization of the
soil. The whole substantially as above described.
In witness whereof, I the said Claudio Gil, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-nine.
CLAUDIO GIL. (L.S.)