A METHOD OF TREATING CANE SUGAR IN ORDER TO FIT IT TO BE EMPLOYED IN BREWING AND DISTILLING."
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Garton, of the City of Bristol, Brewer,
and James St John Gage Parsons, of the same City, Member of the
Royal College of Surgeons, for the Invention of "A METHOD OF
TREATING CANE SUGAR IN ORDER TO FIT IT TO BE EMPLOYED IN BREWING AND
DISTILLING."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Garton and James
St John Gage Parsons at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 21st November 1856.
WE, CHARLES GARTON, of the City of Bristol, Brewer, and JAMES ST JOHN
GAGE PARSONS, of the same City, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A METHOD OF
TREATING CANE SUGAR IN ORDER TO FIT IT TO BE EMPLOYED IN BREWING AND
DISTILLING," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in increasing the fermentable properties of cane
sugar, prior to its being employed in brewing or distilling, by treating it in the
following manner-We mix water with the sugar to liquify it, and add acid
thereto, preferring to use sulphuric acid. We expose the solution for about
five days, more or less, to a temperature of about 150° Fahrenheit, then

page_text: neutralize the acid by chalk or other suitable agent. We separato the
sulphate of lime from the saccharine solution thus obtained by allowing it to
precipitate, or by filtration, when it will be ready for use, or it may be evapo-
rated and granulated, as found desirable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Chrales Garton and James S' John Gago Parsons in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th May 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, CHARLES
GARTON, of the City of Bristol, Brewar, and JAMES ST. JOHN GAGE PARSONS,
of the same City, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, send greeting.
WHEREAS IIer most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of November, in the year of our Lord
Quo thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Charles Garton and James S' John Gage Parsons, Her special licence that
we, the said Charles Garton Garton and James St. John Gage Parsons, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Charles
Garton and James St John Gage Parsons, our 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 "A METHOD OF TREATING CANE SUGAR IN ORDER TO FIT IT TO BE EMPLOYED
IN BREWING AND DISTILLING," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Charles Garton and James S' John Gage Parsons, or one of us, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their,
or one of our, 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 we, the said Charles Garton and James S' John
Gage Parsons, do hereby declare the nature of our 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:

page_text: Our Invention consists in increasing the fermentable properties of cane
sugar, prior to its being employed in brewing or distilling, by treating it in the
following manner :-
We mix water with the sugar to liquify it, add acid thereto, and expose the
solution for about five days, more or less, to a temperature of about 150
Fahrenheit, then neutralize the acid by chalk or other suitable agent. We
separate the sulphate of lime from the saccharine solution thus obtained by
allowing it to precipitate, or by filtration, when it will be ready for use, or it
may be evaporated and granulated, as found desirable.
The manner in which we carry our Invention into effect is as follows:-
To each hundredweight of cane sugar dissolved in water, so as to form a
syrup of the gravity of from 30° to 33° Beaumé, we add from one to two
pounds of sulphuric acid, 184 gravity, and maintain the solution at a tem-
perature of from 130° to 180° Fahrenheit for a period varying from 48 to 96
hours, at the expiration of which time the desired change in the composition
and properties of the sugar are effected.
=
We do not limit ourselves to the above-named proportions, periods, or
temperatures, as a smaller quantity of acid will effect the change at a higher
temperature, or if the action be protracted for a longer period. By using a
larger quantity of acid with a lower temperature, or exposing it for a shorter
period to the action of heat, we obtain the same results; but should it be
desirable to effect the change in a shorter period than the time above specified,
a larger quantity of acid must be used, or the mixture must be exposed to a
bigher temperature, or both means should be combined; care, however, must
be taken in the last case not to char the sugar.
We prefer sulphuric acid, but other acids will effect the same change, such
as tartaric, citric, oxalic, and most of the mineral acids, but none appear so
well adapted for the purpose of our Invention as the acid we prefer to
employ.
The change will be known to have been perfected by the use of the polari-
scope, the primitive rotation from left to right being changed from right to left.
The change, however, should never be carried so far as to show a higher
rotating power than from 12 to 15 by the index of the polariscope.
We next neutralize the acid by the aid of chalk or lime, or both combined,
or other suitable agent, and separate the precipitate, which is formed either by
subsidence or filtration.
When it is desired to decolorise, the syrup is passed in the usual way
through animal charcoal or other suitable decolorising agent. Should any
excess of line remain after neutralizing the sulphuric acid, it can be separated

page_text: from the syrup by the aid of any acid which forms an insoluble compound
with lime; we, however, prefer tartaric acid.
If tho syrup is intended to be used in the brewing of wines, or of vinegar,
we add either citric or tartaric acids, or the bitartrate of potash, in considerable
excess.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim the treatment
of cane sugar in order to fit it to be employed in brewing and distilling by the
means and in manner heréin-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Charles Garton and James Saint John
Gago Parsons, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighteenth
day of May, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
CHARLES GARTON.
(L.B.)
JAMES SAINT JOHN GAGE PARSONS. (L.S.)