Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Nov., 1888
Specification Accepted, 8th Jan., 1889
I, ALFREDO LEBLANC, of Havana, Cuba, 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 :-
My invention is an improvement in that class of sugar mills in which the cane or
bagass from which the juice is to be expressed is passed through successive pairs of
rollers.
The principle of construction usually followed in mills of this description is to
mount the two or more pairs or sets of crushing rollers in a suitable frame-work and
to provide proper guides or channels between them for the passage of the cane or
bagass from one pair to the next. The pairs or sets of rollers have been in some
instances geared together and driven by one common source of power, the power
required to drive one set being transmitted through the other or others, while in other
instances, independent driving mechanism has been employed for each set or pair of
rollers.
In the former kind of mill, boxes or covered guide-ways have in some cases been
employed as the means of conducting the bagass from one pair of rollers to the other.
But these arrangements do not properly fulfil the requirements of economical working.
It will be understood that the working conditions in crushing the cane are very different
from those required of the pressure rollers through which the crushed cane or bagass
passes, and that in consequence, the provisions made for feeding the cane to the first
crushing mills are not suited to the feed of the bagass to the other rollers, which being
geared positively to the first, move faster or slower according to the pressure upon the
cane. It has therefore been a fault in all former mills, so far as my information extends,
that the bagass is either fed to the pressure rollers inversely, or that the speed of the
pressure rollers was largely independent of the pressure; the result that the pressure
of one or the other pairs of rollers is likely to be in advance, causes shocks, breakdowns,
or loss of juice on account of bad crushing.
The object of my present invention is to feed one pair of cylinders or rollers from the
other, by means of a confining guide or box, or chamber, and at the same time to drive
each pair of rollers independently with the purpose that each pair of rollers may be

page_text: operated by a force or source of motive power independent of the other, in such
manner that the feed of one pair of rollers may be effected automatically by the
conjoint action of the other rollers and the effect of the said box.
The object of the invention is also to subject the sugar cane to a special treatment
in its passage through the mill by constructing the said guide or box in a manner to
disintegrate or tear the bagass as it passes through it.
These improvements are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which :
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of a simple form of cane mill embodying the
invention.
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same.
Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating a modified form of mill.
Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of another apparatus embodying the invention.
Fig. 5 is a top and plan view of the saine.
Figs. 6 and 7 are diagrams illustrating different forms of mill to which the invention
is applicable.
In figs. 1 and 2, A B represent a pair of crushing and juice expressing rollers of
any ordinary cane inill, X being the inclined guide by which the cane is fed to the
said rollers. CD are a second pair of rollers which give the second pressure to the
crushed cane; Z being the shoot through which the bagass leaves the mill. These two
pairs of rollers are driven in any convenient manner, by sources of power independent
of one another to the extent that a variation in the speed of one pair of rollers will
not sensibly affect that of the other pair. The rollers are connected by an intermediate
feed box or passage H. This device, which for convenience I call a box, is an
enclosed or confining guide or passage through which the bagass as it issues from
the rollers AB, passes to the second pair of rollers CD. It may be constructed
in many different ways, with top and bottom and sides when necessary as desired.
The action is as follows: the rollers A B by their pressure, reduce to bagass the
cane fed to them, expressing the greater part of the juice therefrom, and distributing
evenly the accumulating bagass in the box or passage H. The bagass being more and
more packed into this passage H, moves forward, reaching the rollers CD only after
having completely filled the passage H, or in other words after having formed as in a
mould, a compact and homogeneous mass which is presented with even thickness along
the whole length of the second pair of rollers CD. But whilst this action is going
on, there is established at the same time by the instrumentality of the box or passage H,
a pressure from the rollers AB against the rollers CD, which causes a certain
resistance to the rotation of the feeding rollers A B.
It is especially with the object of turning to advantage the effects of this interme-
diate pressure, that I have driven the two sets of rollers from independent sources of
power, in order that the feeding rollers A B may not turn faster than the others can
dispose of the material supplied to them. In this manner the feeding of the bagass to
the rollers CD is effected evenly, uniformly continuous, without choking, and auto-
matically, and the treatment of the cane, and expressing of the juice effected moro
perfectly and economically.
This feature of my invention is applicable generally to mills without regard to the
number or special arrangement of the crushing or squeezing rollers. For example in
fig. 3 there are shown three pairs of rollers A B³, A¹ B' and C¹ D¹. In this case, to
obtain the advantages of my invention, I insert an intermediate box or passage H
between the rollers A B and A¹ B', and a second and similar box H between A¹ B'
and CD¹. Each pair of rollers in this apparatus is to be driven by an independent
motor or source of power.
It is also obvious that my invention is applicable to mills having sets of three or
more rollers, as in figs. 4 and 5, and in diagram in figs. 6 and 7. In these figures RST
form a set of three rollers. The rollers R and S are geared to the roller T, forming
two crushers or squeezers, and are driven by the same motive power. The pair of
rollers CD is driven by an independent source of power, and is connected with the
rollers RST by the box or passage H.
The cane is fed into the mill by the shoot ✗, is seized by the rollers R S

page_text: which crush it. It is then conducted along the guide plate P to be seized by the
rollers S and T which pack it in the box or passage H, whence it is finally withdrawn
by the rollers CD as above explained. In this apparatus the rollers RST may be
regarded as the feeding mill, and the rollers CD, the receiving mill, the action of the
former being automatically regulated by that of the latter.
A feature of my invention, applicable generally to mills having an intermediate box
or passage as herein described, is shown in figure 4. On the inner surfaces of the box
or passage of whatever kind used to convey the bagass from one set of rollers to the
next, secure or form teeth or projections M of suitable form to divide and tear the
fibres of the bagass, thus opening the cellular structures of the material and preventing
the reabsorption of the juice at the time when the bagass issues from its last compression.
The teeth or projections M may be formed on the plate P as shown in figure 6, or they
may be similarly set in any channel or passage through which the bagass is forced
to pass.
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 :
1. In a cane mill the combination with two or more independently-driven sets of
pressure rollers, of intermediate boxes or passage chambers for conducting the bagass
from one set of rollers to the next, as herein set forth.
2. In a cane mill, the combination with independently driven sets of pressure
rollers, of intermediate passages having teeth or projections on their inner surfaces, for
tearing and dividing the bagass forced through said passages from one set of rollers to
the next.
3. In a cane mill, the combination with two or more sets of pressure rollers, of
guides or passages for conveying the bagass to and from said rollers, and having teeth
or projections on their faces for dividing and tearing the bagass forced through them
as herein set forth.
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