IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Cameron, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR."
Sealed the 20th May 1859, in pursuance of an Order of the Lord Chancellor,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Cameron at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th
December 1858.
I, JOHN CAMERON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR," to be as follows:-
I construct a battery for boiling or evaporating cane juice or other
saccharine liquids of a series of open pans, which are fitted and supported by
their conical edges or flanges in cast-iron plates, which form the top of the
building or furnace; these cast-iron plates are bolted together, and formed with
a gutter along each side to receive and convey the cane juice to the grand or
large pan, and also to carry off the skimmings. The cast-iron plates may be
inclined or conical, so as to conduct back into the pans any liquid which may
boil over.
The evaporated or granulated sugar is cleansed from molasses which
accompanies it by submitting it to the action of a vacuum in a pan, or in a
series of pans or boxes with false bottoms formed of thin bars of galvanized
iron or copper, or other suitable material fitted or placed very close together.
The space under the false bottom communicates with a close vessel or monte-
juice, which is exhausted by an air-pump worked by a steam engine. The
molasses is thus drawn through into the monte-juice. When the sugar is

page_text: sufficiently cleansed, the pipes leading to the bottoms of the pans are closed by
valves or cocks, and air from the pump or steam from a boiler is admitted into
the monte-juice, forcing the molasses up a pipe into a cistern. The molasses
is conducted from the cistern to a "wetzel pan," having a revolving cylinder
or assemblage of tubes traversed and heated by the waste steam of the engine
which drives the air-pump. Any crystallizable sugar contained in the molasses
may thus be granulated and again cleansed in the vacuum boxes or pans.
The cane juice or other saccharine liquid evaporated or concentrated in the
battery may be further, concentrated and granulated in the wetzel pan, and
run into the vacuum boxes and cleansed as above mentioned.
The sugar is emptied from these boxes into hogsheads placed on carriages
on a tramway and carried away. A steam pipe is connected to the under part
of each box for blowing in steam to cleanse it.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by Samuel Cameron, of Glasgow,
in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Executor dative qua next of
kin (or administrator of the personal estate) of John Cameron, deceased,
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th June 1859.
TO ALL TO. WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
CAMERON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Executor
dative qua next of kin (or administrator of the personal estate) of the late
John Cameron, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engincer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto the
said John Cameron, Her special licence that lie, the said John Cameron, his
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as he, the said John
Cameron, his 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
APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR," upon the condition (amongst
others) that he; the said John Cameron, his executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under his, or their, or one of their bands and

page_text: 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 Samuel Cameron, 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 state-
ment thereof, that is to say:-
The Invention relates to improvements in apparatus for curing or cleansing
sugar from molasses or adhering impurities by means of a vacuum. For this
purpose, a box divided into two compartments by a horizontal partition of wire
gauze has been used, the granulated sugar being placed on the wire gauze,
and the air exhausted or partially exhausted from the chamber beneath the
wire gauze; the molasses and liquid adhering to the grains or crystals of sugar
are thus driven through into the lower chamber or compartment by the
pressure of the atmosphere. The wire gauze, however, is apt to beconie
clogged by the grains of sugar being forced into it, and it also requires to be
supported at short intervals to enable it to resist the pressure of the
atmosphere; and these supports render it more difficult to clean; these
defects are obviated by the present Invention.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing is a plan, and Figure 2 is a longi-
tudinal section of a vacuum box, constructed according to the Invention;
Figure 3 is an end view of the same. The same letters refer to similar parts
in each Figure. A is the upper and open compartment, which receives the
sugar to be cleansed; B is the lower or vacuum compartment, which is
separated from the compartment A by the false bottom C, which is formed of
thin bars of copper, or brass, or other suitable metal or material, packed very
close together; these bars may be about three-sixteenths or one-quarter of an
inch thick, and one and a quarter inch deep, but these dimensions admit of
being greatly varied. The bars are supported by a ledge or shoulder a at the
sides of the apparatus, and, if necessary, by one or more intermediate ribs.
The space B communicates by a pipe D and valve E with a close vessel or
monte-juice, which is partially exhausted of air by an air pump worked by a
steam engine or otherwise. The molasses or liquid adhering to the grains of
sugar in the compartment A is thus drawn through the thin spaces between
the aforesaid bars, and passes into the compartment B, and thence into the
monte-juice. By constructing the false bottom of the aforesaid bars in lieu of
employing wire gauze in the ordinary manner, several important advantages
are obtained.
The bars lie so close together that they prevent the grains of

page_text: sugar from passing through, but at the same time they do not fit so exactly as
to be air-tight, and therefore the liquid is driven through them by the pressure
of the atmosphere. The depth of the bars render them strong, and their level
surface facilitates the removal or shovelling out of the cleansed sugar, and the
subsequent cleaning of the apparatus.
When it is required to keep the sugar warm during the operation, the upper
compartment or the whole of the apparatus is surrounded with a steam
chamber or jacket, into which steam is admitted in proper quantity by a pipe
and valve. To facilitate the cleaning of the apparatus after the removal of
the cleaned sugar, steam is introduced into the compartment B, through a
pipe F and valve G. Any remaining molasses or sugar is thus quickly
dissolved and drained out, and the apparatus may be thoroughly washed with
water, if required. The bars C can also be removed and cleaned whenever it
may be necessary. The bars C may be straight or curved, or they may form
complete rings or concentric circles one within the other, leaving narrow
circular interstices between them.
A shower of water or syrup may, if desired, be allowed to fall upon the
sugar during the operation, or during one portion of the operation, so as the
more effectually to wash off the molasses adhering to the grains or crystals
of sugar.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I claim is,
constructing apparatus for curing or cleaning sugar by vacuum with a false
bottom or surface for supporting the sugar, constructed of a series of separate
flat topped bars arranged in close proximity over a chamber which is capable
of being exhausted of air by a pump or otherwise, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Cameron, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
SAMUEL CAMERON. (L.S.)
Witness,
WILLIAM YORK, jr.,
of No. 151, West George St. Glasgow,
Clerk at Law.

page_text: D
B
A
A