A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT IN THE FILTRES EMPLOYED IN SUGAR REFINING
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JULIUS
OLIVER, late of Castle Street, Falcon Square, in the City of London, since of
Queen Street, Golden Square, in the County of Middlesex, and at present
residing at Marseilles, in the Kingdom of France, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-sixth day of March, in the first year of Her reign, did, for Her-
self, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Julius Oliver,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Julius Oliver, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Julius Oliver, my oxecutors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expresscal, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within all Her Colonies
and Plantations abroad, the Invention of "A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
FILTRES EMPLOYED IN SUGAR REFINING," communicated to me by a certain
Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a pro-
viso that I, the said Julius Oliver, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Julius Oliver, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
The said filtre employed in sugar refining is of that description of filtre
wherein animal or vegetable charcoal, or mixtures thereof, is employed as the
filtering medium, and the said improvement consists in causing the charcoal
to be capable of being employed many times in succession, without the neces-
sity of replacing it in part or wholly with fresh charcoal, or of calcining or
heating it in close vessels, to destroy the vegetable or animal matters it has
imbibed during its employment as a filtre in sugar refining. And I hereby
claim every method or mode by which the said charcoal can be restored to its
proper state for filtering, without calcining or heating it as usual.
As, however, it is necessary to afford an example of a method of carrying
the said Invention into complete effect, I shall proceed to do so by referring
to the Drawing which, as above mentioned, is annexed to this Specification.
In which said Drawing, Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Figure 2 a plan, of
of an apparatus or filtre for sugar refining. A, A, A, are three cylindrical
vessels made of sheet copper, or any other fit and proper metal or mixtures
of metals, of about the thickness of one tenth of an inch; they aro oight feet
high and sixteen inches in diameter. B, B, B, are their covers, of an equal
thickness with the cylinders, and, as well as their bottoms, firmly secured by
flat circular rings of iron perforated with holes, through which, as well as also
through the flanches or the borders of the cylinders, iron screws are passed,
furnished with screwed nuts. Their bottoms C, C, C, are also made of metal
of an equal thickness with the cylinders, and are secured to them in a similar
manner with their covers by flat circular iron rings, screws, and nuts. D is
a vat or vessel to contain the syrup to be filtered, and E is a pipe or tube
leading from the bottom of it. F is another vat or vessel holding hot or
warm water for occasionally washing or cleansing the charcoal contained in
the three vessels A, A, A, and as will be more particularly described there-
after; this vat or vessel has also a tube or pipe G, descending from its bottom,
and communicating with the pipe E at H. I is a third vat or vessel contain-
ing cold water, and having a pipe or tube J descending from it, with an
horizontal branch K, from whence the smaller tubes or pipes L, L, L, pass
through the covers of the cylinders A, A, A. These pipes or tubes are all
furnished with cocks, for the purpose of letting the different fluids pass
through them when opened or shutting them off when the cocks are closed.
The vat or vessel containing the syrup to be filtered should be placed about
four feet above the covers of the cylinders, and for holding hot or warm

page_text: water about ten feet above them; and the cold-water vat or cistern should
be elevated at the height of about thirty-six feet. M is a horizontal pipe or
tube leading from the pipes E and G, and having small vertical descending
pipes N, N, N, furnished with cocks, and also passing through the covers of the
cylinders A, A, A. In the bottom of each cylinder a woven wire cloth is placed,
underneath which is a metal plate perforated all over with holes or apertures,
and also having upright props or feet underneath them resting upon the bottoms
of the cylinders. Holes are likewise made through the edges or borders of these
woven-wire cloths for the screw bolts to pass through, by which they are stretched
or kept in place; there are likewise flat circular rings, made of felt, millboard,
pasteboard, or any other similar and suitable packing, and also having holes
therein, for the screwed bolts to pass through, placed between the flanches, the
wire cloth, and the perforated plates, to preserve a water-tight joining between
them. The upper parts of the cylinders are likewise furnished with similar
wire-wove cloths and perforated plates, but without feet and felts, millboards,
or pasteboards between them. Between the upper and lower woven-wire
cloths animal or vegetablo charcoal, or mixtures thereof in grains of about
the size of cannon powder, is interposed, so as completely to fill the whole
interior of each cylinder. Discharge pipes, furnished with cocks 0, 0, 0,
are placed at the bottom of each cylinder, and which all communicate with
the horizontal pipe or tube P, leading to an exhausting pump Q. There are
also air pipes R, R, R, with cocks to each, fitted into the covers of the
cylinders, and likewise vertical pipes S, S, S, also furnished with cocks, de-
scending from the horizontal tube or pipo K, and entering the bottom of each
cylinder. There likewise pass from the bottoms of two of the three cylinders
two other pipes or tubes T, T, which enter the upper parts of two cylinders
in the manner shewn.
•
The operation of this apparatus is as follows:-The charcoal, being new,
is placed by a little at a time, and strongly and uniformly pressed within
the cylinders until they become filled therewith, when the upper wire-
wove cloths are placed thereon, and over them a perforated metal plate, and
the whole, together with their covers, are firmly secured by means of the
screwed bolts and screwed nuts. The syrup or saccharine fluid to be
filtered is supplied from the vat D (and which said vat is to be con-
tinually replenished with other syrup or saccharine fluid from time to time
during the operation), through the cock and pipe E, whence it passes into the
horizontal pipe or tube M, and is delivered into the upper part of each cylinder
through the vertical pipes fitted with cocks as aforesaid N, N, N. The filtered
fluid escapes below through the pipes and cocks X; X, X, and is delivered

page_text: into the outer channel U of a triple gutter U, V, W, by means of moveable
.triple spouts, the construction of which will be described hereafter. When
the filtering process has been continued for about fifteen hours, more or less,
according to the pature and quality of the syrup or saccharine fluids to be
operated upon, and when the filtering action is no longer perfectly per-
formed, then that process must be stopped by shutting the cock of the pipe E
leading from the vat D containing the syrup, and another process commenced,
which has for its object the removal of the syrup with which the pores of the
charcoal are filled, and the passage of the syrup through it obstructed. In
order to this, the cock in the pipe G, descending from the vat F, which con-
tains hot or warm water, must be opened, and the hot water will descend
through the cock in the pipe N, into the left-hand cylinder below it, driving
before it the syrup or saccharine fluid which the charcoal has retained in its
pores, and which escapes below at the discharge cock X, which delivers it
into the channel U of the triple gutter, through the lower one of the three
passages formed in the adjutage Y; when, however, upon trial, it is found
that the fluid no longer marks the proper degree upon the saccharometer of
Beaumè, or upon the hydrometer in use in this country, so as to be too weak,
then that branch from the discharge cock X which delivered the saccharine
fluid into the channel U must be closed. The cock Z upon the tube T lead-
ing from the bottom of this first cylinder to the top of the second cylinder
must be opened, and the weaker syrup entering this second cylinder drives
before it the stronger syrup retained in the charcoal of that filtre, it escaping
through the discharge cock X, and its adjutage Y, into the same channel U
of the triple gutter, so long as it marks the proper degree when it also ceases
to be of the proper strength; then the discharge cock X at the bottom of the
second cylinder must be shut, and the cock Z in the pipe T leading from the
bottom of the second cylinder to the top of the third must be opened, and
the same effect will also take place in that third cylinder. When, however,
no saccharine fluid can be extracted from the charcoal in the first cylinder
it is needless to pass the hot water any longer through that cylinder, and
therefore the cock N at the upper end of that cylinder must be closed,
and the cock Nat the top of the second cylinder be opened, when the
warm or hot water will enter directly into that cylinder, instead of taking the
circuitous course of previously passing down the first cylinder, and so on for
the next or any succeeding number of cylinders. As, however, the fluid which
escapes from the third cylinder contains but little saccharine matter, so. it
should be passed, off through the channel V of the triple gutter, by turning
its adjutage downwards, and the water which passes last is to be conveyed

page_text: away through the channel W of the triple gutter. The draining of the
saccharine fluids being effected, the apparatus is now to be left at rest from
twenty-four to thirty-six hours, depending upon the temperature at the time
of operating, and in order that a fermentation may take place in the char-
coal; but the cocks R, R, R, at the tops of the cylinders must be previously
opened, and also those at their bottoms X, X, X. The effect of this fermen-
tation is to loosen and render soluble the particles still remaining in the
charcoal, and to facilitate the restoration of its filtering quality by re-opening
its pores; for this purpose the cock in the tube J, leading from the cold-water
vat I, is to be opened, and the water entering the horizontal tube K is con-
veyed into the three cylinders by the vertical pipes and cocks L, L, L, and
escapes below through the discharge cocks X, X, X, and their adjutages, which
deliver it into the channel W of the triple gutter. The effect of this water
passing through the charcoal in the filtres, under the powerful pressure of a
column thirty-six feet in height, is to free it of all the impurities lodged in its
pores, and which were the cause of it no longer acting as a filtering medinm.
Should it, however, be thought advisable to cleanse the charcoal by an ascend-
ing current of water, instead of a descending one, that effect may be produced
in the following manner :-Upon each of the air cocks R, R, R, a bent tube a
is to be placed in succession, and the cocks S, S, S, must be opened succes-
sively, when the water will enter at the bottom of each cylinder, and escapo
at the upper cocks R, R, R, and down the bent tube a. This cleansing of
the charcoal must be continued for about five lours, and until the escaping
water no longer has any ill taste, but is become clear or limped; the charcoal
will then have its filtering properties perfectly renewed, and thus be rendered
capable of serving its office of filtering any number of times, as it is in its
nature indestructible, and only requires to be cleansed from time to time from
its impurities in the above manner. Finally, and in order to extract the water
remaining in the pores of the charcoal as quickly and effectually as may be,
the sucking or exhausting pump Q is employed, which is connected with the
lower parts of each cylinder by means of the vertical pipes and cocks 0, 0, 0,
which enter the horizontal pipe P, P, P, and thus conveys that water to the
pump Q, the cocks R, R, R, at the tops of each cylinder remaining open to
allow of the entrance of air during the operation. When the pump is first
set to work a large quantity of water passes from all the cylinders; but when
no more can be extracted in this way, then the pump must be employed upon
each cylinder separately in succession, and afterwards the drying is to be
finished by exhausting from all the cylinders at the same time. This opera-

page_text: tion ordinarily requires about half an hour to effect it in. A similar effect
might also be produced by blowing in streams of air. When the charcoal is
thus purified, and its filtering property renewed, the syrup must be passed
from one cylinder to another in a similar manner. to the hot water above
described, and in order that it may acquire the due degree required in the
refining process, the first or weaker portions being carried off by the channel V
of the triple gutter; but when the syrup has attained its due degree, it may
flow off from each cylinder by the channel U of that gutter. Figure 3 is a
section of the various parts composing the bottom of each cylinder, A being
part of the cylinder, and C its bottom; b, b, are upper and lower flat rings of
iron or other proper metal perforated with holes for screwed bolts to pass
through, and one of which is shewn separately in Plan at Figure 4; c is the
woven web of wire cloth, which is also shewn in Plan, with a packing or ring
of millboard or pasteboard around and upon it in Figure 5; d is a metal
plate perforated all over with holes to support the webb of wire cloth, and
itself having feet to rest upon the bottom C of the cylinder. This is also
shewn separately in Plan at Figure 6, with its ring of millboard or paste-
board, and edgeways in Figure 7; and Figure 8 is a front view of the triple
adjutage Y. Figure 9 is a rammer with a long handle, the use of which is
to afford a due pressure to the charcoal whilst packing it in the cylinders.
It is not intended to limit or confine myself to the use or employment of
any particular material or materials in the construction of this apparatus; but
I can employ any which are fit and proper for the purpose. Neither is
it intended hereby to claim the use or employment of charcoal as the
Invention, whether animal or vegetable, or mixtures thereof, the Invention
being solely confined to the freeing charcoal, whether vegetable or animal,
from the saccharine, mucilaginous, or other matters which have filled its pores
in the filtration of syrup through it, and without the necessity of again heating
it in close vessels as is usually the case, but simply by the passing either of
hot or cold water, as above indicated, through it, and fermenting it after the
use of hot water, and the latter, namely, cold water, employed under a high
column of pressure, and thereby washing out or removing from its pores the
remaining saccharine and other matters which had clogged them up, and ren-
dered it incapable of duly performing its office of filtration, and thus rendering
it again porous and equally as fit for use as at first. And although I have
described an apparatus such as I have found fully effective and convenient for
the purpose, yet I do not mean or intend thereby to limit or confine myself to
that particular construction only. But, on the contrary, I do hereby claim the

page_text: use of any other form of apparatus whereby animal or vegetable charcoal may
be cleared of the saccharine and other matters which had closed its pores, by
the passing of hot or cold water through it with or without the aid of a high
column of pressure, or the use of a forcing or an exhausting pump.
In witness whereof, I, the said Julius Oliver, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of July, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-eight.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by. the.
within-named Julius Oliver, in the
JULS (L.S.)
OLIVER.
I, William Barker Patrick, of No. 2, Wellington Place, Commercial Road,
Limehouse, in the Parish of Saint Anne, in the County of Middlesex, Gentle-
man, do solemnly and sincerely declare, that I was present on the Twelfth
day of this instant month of July, and did see Julius Oliver, late of Castle
Street, Falcon Square, in the City of London, since of Queen Street, Golden
Square, in the County of Middlesex, and at the time above mentioned residing
at Marseilles, in the Kingdom of France, Gentleman, duly sign, seal, and as
his act and deed deliver, the Deed Poll or Instrument in writing hereunto
annexed marked A. And I do further declare, that the name or signature
"Jul" Oliver" subscribed to the said Deed Poll or Instrument in writing is of
the proper handwriting of the said Julius Oliver, and that the name "William
Barker Patrick" signed to the attestation indorsed on the said Deed Poll as the
witness to the execution thereof by the said Julius Oliver is of the proper
handwriting of me, the said William Barker Patrick. And I do make this
solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true, and by virtue
of the provisions of an Act made and passed in the sixth year of the reign of
His late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled "An Act to repeal an

page_text: Act of the present Session of Parliament, intituled An Act for the more
effectual Abolition of Oaths and Affirmations taken and made in various
Departments of the State, and to substitute Declarations in lieu thereof, and
for the more entire Suppression of Voluntary and Extra-judicial Oaths and
Affidavits, and to make other Provisions for the Abolition of unnecessary
Oaths."
WILLIAM DARKER
CA.
Declared at the Public Office, in Southampton Buildings, in the County of
Middlesex, this Sixteenth day of July, 1838, before me,
HENLEY.