An Improved Apparatus for Producing White Sugar.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 24th May, 1889-Accepted, 13th July, 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Apparatus for Producing White Sugar.
I, CARL STEFFEN, of No. 40 Heugasse, Vienna, in the Empire of Austria,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
My invention relates to the construction of an improved apparatus for producing
white sugar from sugar mass by purifying the sugar crystals in the said mass from
the syrup adhering to the said crystals.
The process of refining the sugar crystals is effected by means of a saturated
aqueous solution of pure sugar, which is fed over the sugar mass to be lixiviated so
as to take up and carry off the syrup adhering to the crystals and produce a perfectly
white sugar entirely free from syrup. The lixiviating fluid, which has become
impure by the admixture of syrup washed off the sugar crystals, is driven off by a
fresh quantity of lixiviating fluid, which is either forced or sucked through the
sugar mass to be refined.
In order to carry out my aforenamed process for producing white sugar I employ
the apparatus represented in the accompanying drawing.
Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in section.
Figures 2 and 3 are sections of details of the apparatus.
The apparatus which, in the following description is termed the lixiviating battery,
consists of a series of sets or groups of vessels of like form, the accompanying
drawing representing the same as sugar loaf moulds a¹ to a¹, a² to a² or a" to an
The single molds are in connection with a common tube 6' or 62 to 6ª, which said
tube is connected to the main supply pipe c for the lixiviating fluid by means of the
pipes d'or d² to dª. The separate vessels or molds a are brought into connection
with the pipes 6 by means of the hollow spindle connected to the air tight closing
cover e of each vessel or mold, which carries a hand wheel or its equivalent
provided with screw threads and guided in an appropriate stuffing box.
and is
The arrangement is such, that when the lid or cover e is perfectly closed communi-
cation is established between the pipe b and the vessel a, or the free space in the same
above the mass of sugar to be treated by means of the orifice g¹ of the piece of
tubing g and the boring f¹ of the hollow spindle f.
The lower ends of the molds a fit into sockets of the tube or to a, Fig. 3, said
pipes or tubes being provided with cocks or valves and outlet nozzles j¹ or j² to jº for
drawing off the lixiviating fluid into vessels k¹ or k² to kº.
The connection of the pipes or tubes for attaining a systematic lixiviating, as
represented in Fig. 1, is so arranged that the pipe of the first group of molds is, by
means of the pipe l, connected to the supply pipe 62 of the second group or set of
moulds, the drain pipe of this second set or group of molds with the supply pipe to
the third set or group of molds and so further until the lixiviating fluid passes into
the drain pipe of the last set or group of molds, which in its turn is in communi-
cation with the pipe 61 of the first set or group of molds through the pipe or
tube lº.
Each of the supply pipes 61, 62 to 6ª are, through the branch pipes m', m² to m" in
communication with a supply pipe for compressed air which is admitted as soon as
the supply of lixiviating fluid is cut off in order to press the fluid remaining in the
molds out of the same and thus permit the refined sugar to be removed from the
set or group of molds placed out of operation in comparatively dry condition.
The pipes d and m for the supply of lixiviating or refining fluid or compressed air
and also the outlet pipes; and drain pipes and the tubes or pipes for connecting
the supply pipes 6 are provided with cocks or valves or other equivalent devices

page_text: marked in numbers or figures, and are opened or closed according to the requirements
of the operation.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-
If an apparatus of substantially the construction as represented in the accompanying
drawing is to be set in operation and all the molds are filled with sugar to be
refined (if pulpy granular sugar mass is used, the sieves having been, previous to
charging the molds, inserted in the same) only the cock or valve I to the tube d¹ and
leading to the supply pipe 6' of the first set or group of molds in the series and the
cocks or valves 6, 7 and 8 are opened whereas all the others remain closed.
The lixiviating or refining fluid flows uniformly above the sugar in all the molds
or vessels of the first group or set a¹ to a", then through the pipes and into the
supply pipe 62 for the second set or group of molds or vessels through all such said
vessels and so onwards until the said fluid has passed through all the molds of the
last set or group when the lixiviating fluid highly impurified by the syrup separated
from the crystals of the sugar under treatment is allowed to flow off through the
outlet into the vessel k".
As soon as the sugar in the molds of the first group or set has been refined to
the grade of purity desired the cock I leading from the main c to the supply pipe b¹
is closed and the cock 10 opened, so that the compressed air can press the fluid still
remaining in the sugar out of the molds, whereupon the cock 10 is closed. The
molds containing the refined sugar can now be removed and molds or vessels
containing a fresh charge of sugar to be refined by lixiviation inserted so that this
set, which, on commencing work was the primary set, now becomes the last set in
the series of sets or groups forming the battery. For this purpose the cocks 2 and 9
of the same and the cock 4 to the outlet pipe are opened. The lixiviating fluid flows
through the connection d² into the supply pipe 62 through the. molds in this set a²
and, as aforedescribed, through the remaining sets or groups of molds in the battery,
the impure fluid passing off through the outlet pipe into the vessel or receiver k².
As soon as the refining process is completed in the second group or set of molds or
vessels in the battery the same are, as aforedescribed with reference to the first group-
or set, removed and replaced by another set containing impure sugar so that this
second set or group of molds now forms the last, whilst the third series or group of
molds represents the first set or group and so on through the entire number of sets or
groups of molds in the battery.
The process is thus carried out in continuous systematic manner, the first set or
group of molds or those longest under treatment in the one operation being exchanged
for a new set of freshly charged molds or vessels so that the same forms the last set
or group for the circulating fluid in the next operation, from whence the same fluid
is allowed to escape in very impure state into the vessel or receiver located beneath
the said group or set of molds.
The form and number of the vessels or molds in a set or group or the numbers of
sets or groups in the series forming the battery can be chosen according to require-
ments, the most importance being attached to the arrangement of the vessels or
molds in sets or groups, because in this manner an advantageous operation of the
lixiviating or refining fluid on the sugar under treatment is attained.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, what I claim is :-
An apparatus for producing white sugar by systematically lixiviating the impure
mass of sugar in hard crystalline or granular pulpy condition (in the latter case
sieves being employed in the lixiviating vessels) by means of a saturated aqueous
solution of pure sugar characterized by the application of interchangeable and
simultaneously operating sets, or groups of molds or vessels a connected with each
other by the supply and drain service pipes 6' i and 1, 'so that all the sets or groups
of vessels or molds are so subjected to the lixiviating process that the lixiviating
fluid will first pass through the molds of the one group or set and then successively
through all the sets or groups in the entire series forming the battery'so that the

page_text: syrup separated off the sugar crystals under treatment will by the continuous
circulation of the said fluid pass off from the last set or group of molds in the
battery whilst the first group or set of molds will, when the first operation is
completed, contain perfectly pure white refined sugar and can then be exchanged for
molds or vessels containing a fresh charge of sugar to be treated, substantially as and
for the purpose set forth.