Improvements in Apparatus for Extracting Juice from Canes, Roots, and the like.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Mar., 1895-Accepted, 22nd June, 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Extracting Juice from Canes, Roots,
and the like.
I, ALFRED GEORGE BERRY, of 328, Renfrew Street, in the County of
Glasgow, North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say :-
This invention has for its object in an improved and economical manner to very
completely extract juice from caues, roots, and the like; and in carrying out the
invention the materials to be operated on, if not of small size, are first cut or
divided, sugar canes for example, being cut into pieces of three to four inches in
length, and are then subjected to a first crushing pressure effected by hydraulic
apparatus, whilst at the same time the expressed juice is drawn off by pumps.
The pressure is next relieved, and the materials are treated with steam or hot
water; after which pressure is again applied.
The apparatus to be employed for effecting the operatious which have been
indicated is represented on two sheets of explanatory drawings which are hereunto
appended, Figure 1, on Sheet, 1, being a side elevation, and Figure, 2, a vertical
section. On Sheet, 2, Figure, 3, is a plan and Figure, 4, is a horizontal section.
In these drawings the same reference letters and numerals are used to mark the
same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
The
The improved apparatus comprises an open-topped cylinder, A, into which the
materials are charged by means of a hopper, B, having an inclined delivery shoot.
Within the cylinder, A, there is a lower piston, C, fixed to a ram, C¹, working in
an hydraulic cylinder, C², this piston, C, being at the bottom of its stroke when
the cylinder is being filled. An upper piston, D, fixed to the lower end of a
ram, D', in an overhead inverted hydraulic cylinder, D2, fixed to the head or
entablature, D³, connected as usual by rods, D', to the base, A', of the press.
head or piston of the upper ram, D₁, is made a little larger than the ram to allow
of water acting on the annular part for the purpose of raising the ram, the upper
piston, D. being raised to a position just above the mouth of the hopper, B, when
the materials are being charged into the cylinder, A. At the bottom of the
cylinder, A, passages, E, are formed in the base, A', communicating by pipes, F,
with suction pumps (not shown) and in communication with the same pipes there
is an annular chamber, G, enclosed by an outer casing, G', encircling the cylinder, A.
Small perforations are made through the lower piston, C, and also through the
sides of the cylinder, A, in order that the juice expressed from the materials
operated on may pass partly to the bottom of the cylinder and thence by the
passage, E, to the pump-suction pipes, F, and partly to the annular chamber, G,
and thence to the pipes, F. In addition, a number of vertical pipes, H, are fixed
at the bottom of the cylinder, A, and extend up through holes in the pistons, C,
and D, and these pipes are perforated from their bottoms up to a certain height;
and when the materials are being compressed between the pistons, some of the
juice enters the parts of the pipes, H, above the lower piston, C, and passes out of
them at the parts below that piston, then mixing with the juice which has passed
through the piston.
In operating with the apparatus the procedure is as follows. A charge of cut
sugar canes or other materials having been put into the cylinder, A, the upper
piston, D, is lowered and .crushes the materials to some extent.
The upper

page_text: piston, D, is then locked in its lowest position by placing the valve or valves so as
to completely prevent egress from the upper end of the cylinder, D2, and the
lower cylinder, C, is raised, its ram, C', and cylinder, C2, being considerably
larger than the upper ram, D', and cylinder, D2, so that the maximum pressure
for which the press is constructed may be exerted by the lower piston. A first
maximum compression having been thus applied the lower piston, C, is held in the
position it has reached, and the upper piston, D, is raised to the upper end of the
cylinder, A. Steam or hot water is then admitted into the space between the two
pistons, C, D, by means of an encircling pipe, J, communicating with inlet orifices
into the cylinder, for the purpose of moistening the materials and of dissolving
remaining saccharine matter. Afterwards the upper piston, D, is again lowered
and locked and a second maximum compression is applied by means of the lower
piston, C. The movements of either or both pistons, C, D, may be repeated if
found advantageous.
The compressing operations having been finished, the upper piston, D, is raised
to its highest position, and when the lower piston, C, is raised to the top of the
cylinder, A, carrying with it the megass or exhausted residue of the materials
which is moved off the piston and over the side of the cylinder by means of a
sickle-shaped scraper, K. This scraper, K, is centered on one of the rods, D*, at
one side of the cylinder, A, and is moved by the rod, K', of a small oscillating
hydraulic, cylinder, K2, centered on another of the rods, D.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said, inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :
The improved apparatus for extracting juice from canes, roots, and the like, and
comprising in combination a fixed open-topped cylinder, a lower perforated piston
working in the cylinder and moved by means of a powerful hydraulic rain below
the cylinder, an upper piston movable in the upper part of the cylinder and in the
space above, and worked by means of a comparatively small overhead inverted
hydraulic cylinder, perforations in the sides of the cylinder and an encircling
annular chamber, vertical perforated pipes fixed at the bottom of the cylinder and
extending up through holes in the pistons, pipe connections to suction pumps, and
inlets in the upper part of the cylinder for steam or hot water, the several parts
being arranged and operating substantially as and for the purposes bereinbefore
described.
Dated this Twentieth day of March 1895.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.