AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR, AND IN THE MACHINERY TO BE USED THEREIN
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF SUGAR, AND IN THE MACHINERY TO BE USED THEREIN."-A communication
from abroad by Charles Rostaud, of Rue St. Sebastien, Paris, in the
Empire of France.
Sealed the 28th March 1865, and dated the 22nd November 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd November 1864.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR, AND IN THE MACHINERY TO BE USED THEREIN," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to effect the solidification of granulated or
raw sugar without submitting it to the ordinary operations of clarification,
filtration, and baking. This result is obtained by agglomerating, without the
aid of mechanical pressure, a certain quantity of raw sugar in its natural state
with a certain quantity of syrup partially baked by the ordinary processes.
The proportions in which the sugar and syrup are combined in order to
produce a good result will vary according to the respective qualities of the
Price 8d.1

page_text: sugars and syrups employed, and the degree of boiling to which the s syrup has
been subjected. The duration of the boiling may, however, be stated approxi-
mately to be about two-thirds the usual duration of the operation.
The following is the manner of carrying out the Invention:-The raw
sugar is poured into the partially-boiled syrup and they are mixed together,
but the mixture will be imperfect in consequence of a difference of density,
which causes that portion formed by the raw sugar to float, and which very
frequently contains a quantity of lumps. In order to avoid this and render
the mass homogeneous mechanical means must be employed, the mixture
being at the same time kept at an elevated temperature, say, 66° centigrade,
which has been found by experience to be suitable.
The operation of breaking up the lumps and rendering the mass homo-
geneous may be performed by hand, but it has the disadvantage of being slow
and injurious to the workmen, or any ordinary stirring apparatus worked by
motive power might be employed; but the Inventor prefers to use for this
purpose, and which forms part of this Invention, an arrangement of apparatus
consisting of a circular vessel in which is mounted a vertical beater shaft
carrying horizontal arms. These arms are fitted with vertical beaters working
between stationary beaters set upon transverse bars mounted in the vessel.
The vessel is heated by a serpentine contained within it or by a water or
steam jacket. The raw sugar is fed in by a hopper above, which projects
through the cover of the vessel and the syrup is run in from the boiling pans
by a trough. Rotary motion being given to the beater shaft the sugar and
syrup are thoroughly mixed, and when thus mixed they are discharged below
by the raising of a slide valve into the moulds. By the above mode of pro-
ceeding great economy and a superior product are obtained, the process being
much simplified and several intermediate processes ordinarily practised, such
as liquefaction, clarification, filtration, and boiling being done away with.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd May 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Alfred
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of November, in the
year of our

page_text: Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her leirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special licence that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 Chanuel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR, AND IN THE
MACHINERY TO BE USED THEREIN," being a communication from abroad, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
Hitherto, when it has been required to solidify or convert into loaves sugar,
either in the raw or granulated state, these substances, more or less purified,
have been submitted to the operations of clarification and filtration and after-
wards baked, the sugar was then put into the moulds for forming it into
loaves and passed through the last stages of ordinary refining. Attempts
have been made to employ pressure for the purpose of solidifying raw or
granulated sugar, but without success. The compression, however powerful
it might be, did not produce satisfactory results, as the sugar always remained
friable and incapable of supporting without disintegration the shocks and
atmospheric changes to which it was exposed; this will be understood, as
mechanical pressure cannot impart to it the same organization as if all its
crystals were in a state of cohesion.
The object of the present Invention is to effect the solidification of granular
or raw sugar without submitting it to any of the operations of clarification,
filtration, and baking, as hereafter described, by agglomerating without
mechanical pressure a certain quantity of granular or raw sugar in its natural.

page_text: state with a certain quantity of syrup partially baked by the ordinary pro-
cesses. The result of this mixture is a product identical with the refined
sugar loaves at present produced. It has been found by careful experiment
that by combining a certain quantity of granular or raw sugar more or less
purified with
syrup boiled to a certain degree, the mixture being sufficiently
heated, rendered intimate, and poured into moulds, will, with the help of the
other ordinary processes of clarification and desiccation, produce solid and
compact loaves of sugar.
The respective conditions of the two sugars to be combined are not material;
granular sugar either in its raw state or in a greater or less state of purity,
may be employed, the proportions of the mixture being about equal parts by
weight of the granular sugar and the syrup, but this will depend upon the
quality of the granular sugar. It may, however, be stated that the proportion
of the granular sugar will be within the limits of one-third and two-thirds.
Any syrups usually employed for the production of loaves of sugar may also
be employed in an inverse ratio as regards quantity, the same being but
partially clarified, filtered, and boiled. It will be easily understood that in
consequence of the variety of colors and qualities of syrups and sugars the
best proportions for the mixture become chiefly a matter of practice. It will
be easy to modify the proportions of the mixture according to circumstances,
such, for instance, as the respective qualities of the sugars and syrups employed
and the degree of boiling to which the syrup has been submitted. It may,
however, be stated approximately, that the duration of this boiling should be
about two-thirds of that usually practised.
The following is the method of operating in carrying out this Invention :-
Intothe proper quantity of syrup thus partially boiled the requisite proportion
of granular or raw sugar is thrown, the mixture is then effected, but it remains
imperfect by reason of a difference of density, which causes that part of the
mixture consisting of the raw sugar to float, and in which there frequently
remain lumps which must be broken up by mechanical means, care being
taken at the same time to maintain the mass at a high temperature, which
should be about 70° centigrade.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn an arrangement of apparatus
which the Inventor prefers to employ for effecting the intimate and complete
mixture of the granulated sugar and syrup; this mixing operation may,
however, be effected by other mechanical means, or by hand labor if found
more convenient. The apparatus is intended to work in a boiler which is
substituted for the vat now employed, called the settling vat or reheater. It
consists of a vertical shaft which carries two horizontal beaters formed of

page_text: radial arms which are fitted with vertical teeth. Between these is a fixed bar
similarly fitted with teeth. The mass to be broken up being obliged to pass
between the fixed and moveable teeth is thus reduced to a perfectly homo-
geneous mass without its crystals being destroyed. This result may be
compared to a kind of mastication which takes place and thus blends the
parts together. The boiler in which the beaters are mounted is made by
preference of sheet iron of a cylindrical form. It is heated by a steam pipe
inside or a steam jacket, and has an opening below through which the mixture
is run off. By these means two difficulties attending the operation are over-
come; a perfect mixture is obtained by purely mechanical means of the two
kinds of sugar which were separated by their difference in condition and
density, and the required degree of heat is ensured for the operation without
the attendant's being exposed to inconvenience or injury.
Fig. 1 represents the mixing apparatus in sectional elevation, and Fig. 2 is
a plan view of the same; these Figures are drawn to a scale of about one-
tenth the real size.
The ordinary vacuum pan A, which forms no part of this Invention, is only
shewn here in order the more clearly to describe the operation. It is brought
into communication by means of a trough with the vat or boiler C which
receives the syrup and sugar to be agglomerated. Y is the vertical beater
shaft mounted in the centre of the vat. The beaters each consist of radial
arms V cast with or attached to a central boss and armed with vertical blades
or teeth v. These teeth are so arranged that they will work between and
clear of the teeth with which the transverse fixed bar V1 is armed. T is a
hopper mounted above the vat C, into which is fed a quantity of sugar pro-
portioned to the quantity of syrup supplied from the boiling apparatus. Sis
a serpentine or steam pipe set in the lower part of the vat C for the purpose
of keeping it at the required temperature. On rotary motion being imparted
to the beater shaft Y the sugar will be broken up and mixed with the syrup
as it descends. The mixture, after having been operated upon in the appa-
ratus a sufficient time to ensure the perfect admixture of the two sugars, is
discharged by the spout below into the moulds, the position of which to
receive the liquor is indicated by red lines in Fig. 1, after which the is
submitted to the ordinary processes of clarifying and baking, which operations
will now be greatly expedited. It is important here to observe that the
mechanism for effecting the mixing is, according to the present description,
mounted in the vat or boiler which is substituted for the "settling vat
"re-heater," this arrangement appearing preferable; it might, however, be
set in the boiling apparatus, so as to operate in a single vessel.
sugar
or

page_text: In conclusion I would state that the following results are obtained by
operating according to this Invention, viz.,-
1stly, raw or granular sugar, more or less purified, may be converted
directly into loaves without undergoing either clarification, filtration, or boiling,
and which has never been hitherto effected. This solidification of raw and
granular sugar into refined loaves thus converts a product which is relatively
inferior, notwithstanding its greater or less degree of purity, into a superior
product, since it is transformed from a pulverulent into a concrete form.
The sugar loaf thus formed is therefore a novel product.
2ndly, as the portion of the mixture composed of granular or raw sugar is
not required to be submitted to melting, clarification, filtration, and boiling,
an economy both of the time spent in these operations and of their cost is
effected.
3rdly, the product obtained is superior to the ordinary refined products,
and it is obtained so for the reason that this new refined product is formed
without any previous alteration of part of its elements. In this latter respect
also the product is novel, either because it is obtained under better condi-
tions than ever or because by this mode of operation the inferior products
which run from the loaves are improved and their quantity reduced.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of an improved in
the manufacture of sugar, and in the machinery to be used therein, and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be under-
stood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the
process above described for solidifying granular or raw sugar, and the
apparatus above described for facilitating the carrying out the said process.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty second day of May, in the year
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
of
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)