IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR
Year: 1870

page_text: 66
LETTERS, PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF SUGAR." A communication from abroad by Emile Rousseau, of
Paris, in the Empire of France..
Sealed the 17th June 1870, and dated the 12th January 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 12th January 1870. ..
1...
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery.
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
SUGAR," to be as follows:
nch
.
This Invention consists in first preparing from the impure syrop or
saccharine matter obtained from cane, beetroot, or other vegetable sub-

page_text: stances in any of the well-known manners a sucrate of lime, in which
form unmanufactured sugar or saccharine matter may be prepared for
transport or for keeping any length of time in such a state as will admit
of its being converted into sugar when required. To this end slacked
lime in fine powder is added in small quantities to the syrop or canc
juice, and when the chemical action has taken place the liquid matters
are strained off from the solid to be again submitted with the addition
of more juice to the action of more lime. The sucrate of lime is obtained
in a granular form, and when dry may be packed up for transport to any
.distance. In order to extract from this sucrate of lime the sugar con-
tained therein it must be dissolved in water containing a small quantity
of sugar or syrop, and then submitted to the action of carbonic acid,
which will combine with and throw down the lime, leaving the sugar
in solution, from which it may be obtained by evaporation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
'
Office on the 12th July 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS. SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One- thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
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 Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTUBE OF SUGAR," being a communication
to me from abroad "by. Emile Rousseau, of Paris, in the Empire
T
$

page_text: of France; upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion', 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 William Edward 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 :—
In order to prepare the sucrate from which sugar is obtained the
saccharine juice is extracted from the vegetable substance by any of the
methods usually employed for the purpose, such as rasping and pressing,
or by maceration, or simply by pressure in the mill, as is now the case,
to extract juice from the sugar cane.
The juice in a more or less pure
state is defecated by means of a variable quantity of lime according to its
nature, but the quantity of lime must be sufficient to carry away the
larger portion of those matters which would prevent the evaporation
or injure the sugar. The liquid juice is drawn off clear or is filtered in
order to separate the scum and froth, and according as the juice is more
or less pure it may.
.be submitted to the action of carbonic acid, even to
saturation, in order to facilitate the evaporation. When the saccharine
juice is considered sufficiently pure it is evaporated in the ordinary
manner either in open pans or in any improved apparatus until it.
arrives at the desired density; this density is indicated by the greater
or less richness of the syrup in sugar; it varies when cold from twenty-
five degrees to thirty-five degrees Beaumé. The lime is prepared in the
following manner: -On any convenient quantity of quicklime placed.
in a suitable vessel is poured a sufficient quantity of water to slack it,.
disintegrate it, and dry it. It is advisable to allow the water to thoroughly
act on the lime in order that the hydration of the latter may be com--
pletely effected, and in order to prevent a subsequent rise in temperature,-
which is injurious in the other reactions and to the preservation of the
products. The pulverized lime is then sifted in a bolting, apparatus.
made of fine gauze, such as is used for bolting flour:
The second method is equally simple and requires less power.. It is,

page_text: based upon the insolubility of the sucrate (when cold). in the syrup
itself. The syrup is placed, as before, in a mixing or kneading apparatus,
and lime in small quantities at a time is supplied thereto. When the
sucrate is formed in small grains and in sufficient quantity to thicken
the liquid (but without offering resistance) the supply of the lime is
stopped and a small quantity of syrup is added. All the sucrate then
separates from the liquid in the form of small hard homogeneous grains.
The whole mass is received upon metallic cloth sieves placed upon
suitable vessels, which should be of such dimensions as would admit of
them being managed and moved with facility, even when they are full.
When the sucrate is drained the syrup is poured back into the apparatus
and a fresh quantity of syrup is added to make up for that which has
been converted into sucrate, then the process is recommenced, and so on
until all is used. The product is dried like the first, and it is kept in
a heap in a dry place; it may be exported or carried in casks, sacks,
baskets, or even in bulk. The quantity of lime varies from twenty to
twenty-four per cent. This product represents all the compounds of the
saccharine juice, and it is well known that the lime acts as a preserving
agent on the sugar. The compound (sucrate of lime) may therefore be
preserved without alteration, transported at less expense than the vege-
table substance, and thus form a new first product or article of
commerce, in which the sugar has not undergone any alteration, and
which can be worked throughout the year. By means of the solid
sucrate of lime there may be made (during the ordinary manufacture
of sugar) an intermediate product, which renders the manipulation
more prompt, the duration of the process shorter, and the product of
sugar more abundant. In order to effect this (when the first portion of
crystallized sugar, either in grains in the apparatus or in the sieves, is
separated from the syrup in any convenient manner (by the centrifugal
apparatus for example) the syrup (instead of being operated upon in the
ordinary manner) is brought to the requisite density for the preparation
of the sucrate, not as heretofore with water, but with defecated beetroot
syrup; it is then treated in the manner explained for obtaining the solid
sucrate. It should be understood that I apply the same principle to
refining sugar for separating the inferior syrups from the first product,
and, if desired, very weak syrups may be employed. In order to extract
sugar from this sucrate the following process is adopted :-Carbonic acid
is by preference the agent to be employed. Experience has demonstrated

page_text: a fact hitherto unknown, which is of great importance in this manu-
facture, and is a peculiar feature of the process; it is that a very
considerable portion of this sucrate of lime after a short time (but of
variable duration) becomes entirely insoluble in hot water, and is
unattackable by carbonic acid, the result of which would be loss of
even as much as the half of the sugar, or at least of the sucrate cm-
ployed; but in operating in the following manner all loss will be
avoided and the process is more simple and advantageous: This sucrate
(which is insoluble in pure water) possesses the remarkable property of
being easily dissolved in a comparatively weak solution of sugar in
water, in which it may moreover be casily operated upon by carbonic
acid, which (under the circumstances) decomposes it more casily than
when it is dissolved in water alone.
.
The following is the mode of operating-An ordinary steeping boiler.
is filled about one quarter full of water, which is heated to the boiling
point. The steam is then stopped. To this water from two. to five
per cent. of sugar is added, or an equivalent of good syrup. The car-
bonic acid is then allowed to pass through, and while the gas is passing
through the liquid the sucrate reduced to fine powder is thrown in in
small quantities at a time; the free sugar immediately lays hold of the
excess of lime which the sucrate contains and reduces it to a morc
simple compound, which is easily attacked by water and carbonic acid.
By successive additions of the sucrate the density of the saccharine
solution may be raised as much as may.be desired, even to the state of
concentrated syrup. This is a perfectly novel feature and is of great
importance. Saturation under these conditions takes place casily and
almost without effervescence or froth, and when the operation is finished
the rest of the process is carried on in the ordinary manner. This
principle may be very advantageously applied in the refining of sugars.
Relying on this principle (that the sucrate of lime, although perfectly
insoluble, may yet be easily decomposed when it is subjected to the
action of carbonic acid in small quantities at a time fed successively
into a liquid containing more free sugar than there is in the sucrate
which is added) I can apply the process with great advantage to the
treatment of syrups intended for refining sugars by an excess of lime
(as great as may be necessary) without being liable to the inconveniences
above mentioned.

page_text: The operation can be carried on in various ways.
First. By injecting (in small quantities at a time) pulverized sucrate
of lime into the syrup; through which is passed (at the same time) a
current of carbonic acid. The syrup may be of any density required,
and it may be cold or only heated to a temperature of from one hundred
degrees to one hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit. The successive
additions of sucrate are always made in small quantities at a time, and
after that portion (which has been previously added) has been decomposed
by the carbonic acid.
Second. The sucrate of lime may be produced in the body of the
syrup that is to be purified. To this end let a portion (a tenth part for
example) be taken, and into this is to be poured the desired quantity of
lime to effect the decolorization. This lime is employed in the state of
thick milk of lime, and when it is poured into the syrup the latter must.
be kept in agitation until it refuses to dissolve or take up any more
lime. When this time arrives, and even a little later, the carbonic
acid is injected, and at the same time the whole of the syrup contained
in the boiler is allowed to run out slowly. This running out of the
syrup should be so arranged that the whole quantity should be poured
out before all the lime is saturated. The quantity of lime varies with
the nature of the substance to be purified, but in general it does not
exceed five or six per cent., as before mentioned.
Third. It may be found advantageous and convenient to feed in or
supply the lime, the syrup, and the carbonic acid simultaneously, but
then the supply of lime and syrup should be calculated in such a
manner that these two elements of the reaction should be in the
proportions indicated above.
In all these reactions the chemical action of the lime upon the impure
matters in the sugar is the same and is well known, and the action of
the carbonate of lime in a nascent state produces with the coloring
matter a lake which is precipitated with it.
Having now described the Invention of "Improvements in the Manu-
facture of Sugar," which has been communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, and having explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as
aforesaid, the mode or process herein set forth for producing sucrate of
lime from which sugar may be obtained by any suitable subsequent

page_text: process, and also the mode or modes herein set forth for decomposing
the sucrate and obtaining the sugar therefrom.
.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have here.
unto set my hand and seal, the Twelfth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.