IMPROVE- MENTS IN SUGAR-CANE MILLS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SUGAR-CANE MILLS." A communication from abroad by Theophile
Rousselot, of the Lamentin Works, Martinique, West Indies.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th June 1878.
CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SUGAR-CANE MILLS." [A com-
munication from abroad by Theophile Rousselot, of the Lamentin Works, Martinique,
West Indies.]
This Invention relates to roller mills for crushing sugar canes, and particularly to
the arrangement and operation of successive sets of rollers and apparatus more for
the complete extraction of the juice.
The canes having been crushed in the first place in a triple or multiple roll mill
of known construction the megasse therefrom is raised by a travelling chain or
Jacob's ladder to sufficient height to be delivered to the first pair of pressing rolls,
arranged in a manner which will be presently described. The megasse delivered
from these is moistened with boiling water or steam, and again raised by a chain to
be fed to another pair of pressing rolls, and so on successively till the juice is com-
pletely extracted.
Generally two pairs of pressing rolls will be found sufficient in practice, but there
may be a greater number arranged in succession in a line, each pair in its own
framing at a convenient distance apart from the next, the lower roll of each pair
being driven by gearing from a single prime notor shaft. In each set there are the
two main pressing rolls, the one mounted vertically above the other and driven
Price dl

page_text: from it by gearing, and in front of these there is a feed roller of smaller diameter
mounted in bearings free to slide, and pressed by strong springs against the lower
part of the upper roll.
The framing on which the feed roller is mounted consists of two side frames,
which have slotted holes embracing the shaft of the upper pressing roll, so that the
frames can oscillate thereon, and these frames extend backwards and are tied across
beyond the upper roll by a heavy bar, which also acts as a counterbalance to the
feed roller and as a stop against the main framing, to prevent the swing of the
frames and feed roller.
Under the feed roller is a curved guide plate pivotted to the bearings of the feed
roller, and extending from the surface of that roller nearly to the surface of the
lower pressing roll. Above the feed roller is an inclined shelf which receives the
megasse delivered from the chain or ladder, and guides it down to the space between
the feed roller and the upper pressing roll. If the megasse should enter this space
in too great quantity the springs of the feed roller yield, allowing it to move farther
away from the pressing roller.
The megasse after passing between the feed roller and the upper pressing roll is
guided by the curved plate, so as to pass between the two pressing rollers, from
which it is delivered on to an inclined shelf. While it is passing over this shelf it
is moistened by hot water or steam delivered on it from a perforated pipe extending
across the mill at a convenient height above the shelf.
From the shelf the moistened megasse falls into a lower receptacle, from which
it is raised by the travelling chain to be similarly operated on by the next set of
pressing rolls.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th
December 1878.
CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SUGAR-CANE MILLS."
A com-
munication from abroad by Theophile Rousselot, of the Lamentin Works, Martinique,
West Indies.
This Invention relates to roller mills for crushing sugar canes, and particularly to
the arrangement and operation of successive sets of rollers and apparatus for the
more complete extraction of the juice.
The canes having been crushed in the first place in a triple or multiple roll mill
of known construction the megasse therefrom is raised by a travelling chain or
Jacob's ladder to sufficient height to be delivered to the first pair of pressing rolls,
arranged in a manner which will be presently described. The megasse delivered
from these is moistened with boiling water or steam, and again raised by a chain to
be fed to another pair of pressing rolls, and so on successively till the juice is com-
pletely extracted.
Generally two pairs of pressing rolls will be found sufficient in practice, but there
may be a greater number arranged in succession in a line, each pair in its own
framing at a convenient distance apart from the next, the lower roll of each pair
being driven by gearing from a single prime motor shaft. In each set there are the
two main pressing rolls, the one mounted vertically above the other and driven
from it by gearing, and in front of these there is a feed roller of smaller diameter
mounted in bearings free to slide, and pressed by strong springs against the lower
part of the upper roll.
The framing on which the feed roller is mounted consists of two side frames,
which have slotted holes embracing the shaft of the upper pressing roll, so that the
frames can oscillate therein, and these frames extend backwards and are tied across
beyond the upper roll by a heavy bar, which also acts as a counterbalance to the
feed roller and as a stop against the main framing, to prevent the swing of the
frames and feed roller.
Under the feed roller is a curved guide plate pivotted to the bearings of the feed
roller, and extending from the surface of that roller nearly to the surface of the
lower pressing roll. Above the feed roller is an inclined shelf which receives the
megasse delivered from the chain or ladder, and guides it down to the space between
the feed roller and the upper pressing roll. If the megasse should enter this space
in too great quantity the springs of the feed roller yield, allowing it to move farther
away from the pressing roller.
The megasse after passing between the feed roller and the upper pressing roll is
guided by the curved plate, so as to pass between the two pressing rollers, from
which it is delivered on to an inclined shelf. While it is passing over this shelf it
is moistened by hot water or steam delivered on it from a perforated pipe extending
across the mill at a convenient height above the shelf.
From the shelf the moistened megasse falls into a lower receptacle, from which
it is raised by the travelling chain, to be similarly operated on by the next set of
pressing rolls.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 shews a longitudinal section of the before-described improved construction
of sugar-cane mill; Fig. 2 shews a plan of the same.
The mill consists of a series of successive pairs of rolls A and B, the rolls of each
pair being placed vertically one above the other. These rolls are arranged in front
of a set of three rolls M arranged according to an Invention previously patented
by my foreign correspondent, the rolls A, B, serving to repress the megasse after it

page_text: has been subjected to the action of the rolls M. In front of each upper roll A is a
feed roller a which regulates the quantity of megasse delivered to the re-pressing
rolls. The trunnions of the roller are carried in bearings b in inclined guides C
which embrace the saddle piece D fixed to the framing, and serve to press the roller
against the roll A by means of springs R acting on the bearings b. Such springs
may also be arranged as shewn at Fig. 3, or in any other known manner, their
strength being such as only to yield to a pressure of from 16,000 to 20,000 lbs.
A curved grating c conducts the megasse between the cylinders; it is carried by
a fixed pivotting support at d, and is connected at g to a small rod h attached to
the bearing b; by this means the roller and the grating are made to move simul-
taneously. If the roller a moves away from the cylinder A. it also causes the back
part of the grating c to recede by means of the connecting rod h.
The sugar cane being first passed into the crushing rolls M the megasse issuing
therefrom slides down the inclined table E and falls into the buckets of an endless
chain F, which raise it to the top and deliver it between the feed roller a and the
roller A of the first set of re-pressing rollers. If too great a bulk of the megasse
is delivered between these rollers the roller a and the grating c are pressed back
thereby against the action of the springs R.
On issuing from the first set of re-pressing rollers the megasse receives a shower
of warm water from a perforated tube K, or it is steamed, and it is then conducted
by the inclined shoot G into the buckets of a second endless chain H, which raises
it to the second pair of re-pressing rollers.
Generally two pairs of re-pressing rollers combined with one set of crushing
rollers M will be found sufficient for extracting from the cane the whole of the
saccharine matter it contains; a greater number may however be employed, par-
ticularly if the three-roller mill M be omitted.
The mill is driven by a motor engine of any suitable description, imparting
motion to the shaft O, on which is fixed the pinion I gearing with the intermediate
pinion J which is in gear with the wheel K on the shaft L. This shaft carries a
pinion N which gears with the wheels P on the shafts O of the lower rollers B of
the mill. The shafts of these rollers in their turn impart motion to the shafts of
the upper rollers by gearing S, and these impart motion to the feed rollers a by
means of gearing T and U.
The motion of the endless chain buckets is effected by means of gearing receiving
motion from the shaft of either the roller A or of B.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
I claim,-
First. Arranging each pair of re-pressing rollers of sugar-cane mills vertically
above each other on a separate framing, and driving the same by independent
gearing, so that each pair of rollers operates independently of the others, sub-
stantially as herein described.
Second. The use in sugar-cane mills of one or more regulating feed rollers with
hinged gratings for guiding the megasse between the re-pressing rollers, substantially
as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Denton Abel, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
4
CHA. D. ABEL. (L.S.)