IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR THE CONVERSION OF STARCH AND FECULA INTO GUM, COMPOUNDS OF Gum and Glucose, Glucose, CARAMELIZED GLUCOSE, AND OTHER ANALOGOUS PRODUCTS.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Paul Louis Manbré, of Valenciennes, in the
Republic of France, but temporarily of Penge, in the County of
Surrey, Brewer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS
AND APPARATUS FOR THE CONVERSION OF STARCH AND FECULA INTO GUM,
COMPOUNDS OF Gum and Glucose, Glucose, CARAMELIZED GLUCOSE, AND OTHER
ANALOGOUS PRODUCTS.
"
Sealed the 2nd March 1875, and dated the 22nd October 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Paul Louis Manbré
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd October 1874.
I, PAUL LOUIS MANBRÉ, of Valenciennes, in the Republic of
5 France, but temporarily of Penge, in the County of Surrey, Brewer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR THE CONVERSION OF STARCH AND FECULA

page_text: INTO GUM, COMPOUNDS OF GUM AND GLUCOSE, GLUCOSE, CARAMELIZED GLUCOSE,
AND OTHER ANALOGOUS PRODUCTS," to be as follows, that is to say:—
My improved process relates to the conversion of starch and fecula
produced from cereals and vegetable substances into gum, compounds of
gum and glucose, into pure glucose, and also into caramelized glucose, 5
possessing all the requisite properties for the manufacture of textile
fabrics for use in the manufacture of beer, wines, spirits, vinegar, cider,
perry, liqueurs, preserves, pastry, chocolate, confectionery, in colouring
stout, porter, beer, wines, spirits, brandies, and vinegar, in the making
or confection of which gum, or a compound of gum and glucose, pure 1
glucose, or burnt sugar and roasted malt are usually employed.
According to the present processes of manufacture the gum, known
in the trade by the name of British gum, is produced by moistening the
starch or fecula with nitric, hydrochloric, or sulphuric acid slightly
diluted in water, and afterwards submitting it to a temperature of from 1
212 to 260 degrees Fahrenheit in a stove or other similar apparatus
heated by an open fire or hot air until the starch or fecula is converted
into gum. Gum thus obtained is so defective in quality and colour that
its use is chiefly limited to the manufacture of textile fabrics.
The compound of gum and glucose (known in the trade as sirop de 2
froment or dextrine) is produced by mixing starch or fecula and ground
malt with from three to five times its weight of water, and submitting
the said mixture to a temperature of from 150 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit
until it is converted. The converted mixture is then filtered, passed
through charcoal, and submitted to chullition to evaporate the water 2
until the proper density for making syrup is obtained.
The glucose is produced either by mixing starch or fecula and ground
malt with from three to five times its weight of water, or by using acids
instead of malt and submitting the mixture to ebullition in open or
closed vessels, and to a temperature varying from 212 to 320 degrees 3
Fahrenheit until it is converted into glucose. The converted mixture is
then filtered, passed through charcoal, and submitted to ebullition to
evaporate the water until the proper density for making glucose is
obtained.

page_text: The caramel (which is known in the trade by the name or burnt
sugar) is produced by submitting glucose canc or beetroot sugar to a
high temperature in an open vessel until the sugar has nearly lost its
sweetness.
Roasted malt is produced by submitting malt or germinated barley to
a high temperature in a stove or roasting apparatus until it has lost its
sweetness.
The herein-before described processes of manufacturing gum, com-
pounds of gum and glucose, glucose, caramel, and roasted malt are long,
tedious, defective, and costly, owing to the numerous manipulations they
necessitate in heating, maccrating, boiling, filtering, and evaporating,
which require an extensive plant and costly machinery, much labour,
time, and a large capital.
By my Invention I simplify the process and machinery usually
employed, dispensing with the boiling, filtering, and evaporating
operations, thereby materially reducing the cost of machinery and
manufacture; and my Invention consists in simply moistening the
starch or fecula with acidulated water by the process herein-after
described, by which I convert it directly either into gum or into a
compound of gum containing twenty-five, fifty, or seventy-fivo per cent.
of glucose into pure glucose and caramelized glucose.
By my improved process I take for example one ton of starch or
fecula, to which I add and mix with two tons of water, acidulated with
sulphuric or hydrochloric acid, in an open wooden trough or vessel
provided with an agitator, a false bottom, and a drawing-off cock. I
agitate the whole until these substances are thoroughly mixed; I then
stop the agitator and leave the starch or fecula to settle for about one
hour; I then draw off the water and leave the starch or fecula to drain
for about an hour.
I discharge through the draw-off cock the drained fecula, which falls
into a receptacle in the form of a hopper communicating with a pipe, in
which works an archimedian screw, which conducts the fecula thus
moistened into an apparatus consisting of a rotatory copper cylinder,
which is internally of the form of an archimedean screw. This apparatus
is fixed and enclosed in a stove (heated to the required temperature by

page_text: an open fire or by hot air or otherwise) in such a manner that the starch
or fecula, which enters at one end of the apparatus, is gradually
conducted to the other end, being continuously turned over in all direc-.
tions, and completely exposed to the action of the heat, thus leaving the
apparatus entirely converted, and falling into another tube also provided
internally with an archimedean screw, which conducts the converted-
starch or fecula on to a cooler or wooden floor, and thence to the store-
house. The starch or fecula thus converted is in a pulverized state, and
fit to be used in commerce for all the purposes herein-before described.
.
Instead of an archimedian screw I can employ a spherical copper
boiler with a double rotating movement, so as to obtain a rotation like
that of the earth. This boiler is placed over an open fire and enclosed
in a stove, when it is put in motion, and the fecula by this double
rotation is continuously turned over in all directions, and is at the same
time submitted to the action of the fire, which converts it very quickly
at first into gum, afterwards into glucose, and lastly into burnt sugar.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Pat
filed by the said Paul Louis Manbré in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st April 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PAUL
LOUIS MANBRÉ; of Valenciennes, in the Republic of France, but
temporarily of Penge, in the County of Surrey, Brewer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Paul Louis Maubré, Her
special licence that I, the said Paul Louis Manbré, my executors,
administrators,. and assigns, or such others as I, the said Paul Louis
Manbré, 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

page_text: "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR THE CONVERSION OF STARCH
AND FECULA INTO GUM, COMPOUNDS OF GUM AND GLUCOSE, GLUCOSE, CARAMELIZED
GLUCOSE, AND OTHER ANALOGOUS PRODUCTS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Paul Louis Manbré, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, 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 Paul Louis Manbré, 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, reference being had to the Drawing
hereto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is
3 to say:-
'
My improvements relate to the conversion of starch and fecula
contained in cercals and other vegetable substances into gum, a com-
pound of gum and glucose, pure glucose, and caramelized glucose,
possessing all the requisite properties for use in the manufacture of
textile fabrics, in the production of beer, wines, spirits, vinegar, cider,
perry, liquors, preserves, pastry, chocolate, and confectionery, in colouring
stout, porter, beer, wines, spirits, brandies, and vinegar, in the making
or confection of which gum, or a compound of gum and glucose, pure
glucose, burnt sugar or roasted malt are usually employed.
According to the ordinary processes of manufacture now in use the
gum, known in the trade by the name of British gum, is produced by
moistening the starch or fecula with nitric, hydrochloric, or sulphuric
acid slightly diluted with water, and afterwards submitting it to a
temperature of from two hundred and twelve to two hundred and sixty
degrees Fahrenheit in a stove or other similar apparatus heated by an
open fire or hot air until the starch or fecula is converted into gum.
Gum thus obtained is so defective in quality and colour that its use is
chiefly limited to the manufacture of textile fabrics.
The compound of gum and glucose (known in the trade as sirop de
froment or dextrine) is produced by mixing starch or fecula and ground

page_text: malt with from three to five times its weight of water and submitting
the mixture to a temperature of from one hundred and fifty to two
hundred degrees Fahrenheit until it is converted. The converted
mixture is then filtered, passed through charcoal, and submitted to
ebullition to evaporate the water until the proper density for making
syrup is obtained.
Glucose is produced either by mixing starch or fecula and ground
malt with from three to five times its weight of water, or by using acids
instead of malt, and submitting the mixture to ebullition in open or
closed vessels, and raising it to a temperature varying from two hundred 1
and twelve to three hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit until it is
converted into glucose. The converted mixture is then filtered, passed
through charcoal, and submitted to ebullition to evaporate the water
until the proper density for making glucose is obtained.
Caramel (which is known in the trade by the name of burnt sugar) is ]
produced by submitting glucose, or cane, or beetroot sugar to a high
temperature in an open vessel until the sugar has nearly lost its
sweetness.
Roasted malt, which is now used for colouring stout and porter, is
produced by submitting malt or germinated barley to a high tempe- a
rature in a stove or roasting apparatus until it has completely lost its
sweetness.
The herein-before described processes of manufacturing gum, the
compound of gum and glucose, glucose, caramel, and roasted malt are
long, tedious, defective, and costly, owing to the numerous manipulations
they necessitate in heating, macerating, boiling, filtering, and evaporating,
which operations require extensive plant and costly machinery, much
labour, time, and a large capital.
By my improvements I simplify the process and machinery usually
employed, dispensing with the boiling, filtering, and evaporating
operations, thereby materially reducing the cost of machinery and
manufacture; and my Invention consists in simply moistening the
starch or fecula with acidulated water and treating it by the process
herein-after described, by which I convert it directly either into gum or
a compound of gum containing about twenty-five, fifty, or seventy-five
per cent. of glucose, and into pure glucose and caramelized glucosc.

page_text: In carrying out my improvements I take for example one ton of
starch or fecula and immerse it in, say, two tons of water, acidulated
with from one to ten per cent. of sulphuric, hydrochloric, or other
suitable acid in an open wooden trough or vessel provided with an
agitator, a false bottom, and a drawing-off cock. I agitate the whole.
until the starch is thoroughly impregnated with the acidulated water;
when this is effected I stop the agitator and leave the starch or fecula to
settle for about one hour. I then draw off the water and leave the
starch or fecula to drain for about an hour. This done, I discharge
through the draw-off cock the drained starch or fecula, which is con-
veyed into a receptacle in the form of a hopper communicating with a
pipe, in which works an archimedean screw, which conducts the said
drained starch or fecula into an apparatus consisting of a rotatory copper
cylinder, which is internally of the form of an archimedean screw.
This apparatus is fixed and enclosed in a chamber heated to the required
temperature by an open fire or by hot air or otherwise in such a manner
that the starch or fecula, which enters at one end of the apparatus, is
gradually conveyed in its rotation from chamber to chamber to the other
end, being continuously tossed and turned over in all directions, and
completely exposed to the action of the heat; thus when it leaves the
apparatus it is entirely converted, and falls into another tube also
provided internally with an archimedian screw, which conveys the
converted starch or fecula on to a cooler or wooden floor, and thence to
the storehouse
a is the hopper opening into the fixed copper pipe b, in which works
the archimedian screw c driven by the pulley d or otherwise. e, e, e, is
the copper cylinder, and ƒ, f, f, the archimedean screw therein. This
archimedean screw f is constructed of plates of sheet copper, and the
outer edges of the threads of the screw or spiral are connected together
by strips of sheet copper e, e, formed with flanges at each side, and
bolted to the threads of the screw, as shewn, and thereby forming a
cylinder. The inner edges of the threads f, f, of the screw are connected
together and strengthened by gun metal T pieces 9, g, bolted thereto,
and the ends of the cylinder are also formed of sheet copper rivetted to

page_text: strengthening iron or gun metal cross bars k. This construction allows
of any part of the cylinder or screw being easily got at for repairs or
otherwise. h is the copper pipe at the discharge end of the cylinder,
similar to the pipe b, and also provided with an archimedean screw i
driven by the pulley ; or otherwise; is the opening in the pipe a,
through which the starch is discharged into the cylinder; and m is the
opening, through which the starch is discharged into the pipe h, the
cylinder e being provided with copper scoops or plates n for raising up
and discharging the starch into the opening m. Over the pipes 6 and h
are fixed metal tubes or sleeves o, o, between which and the hollow
bearings p, p, the journals q, q, of the cylinder revolve. The cylinder is
driven by the spur wheels r, r, gearing with the pinions s, s, driven
from the main shaft.
. A, A, is the chamber, in which the cylinder is placed and revolves;
B, the furnace, which has two openings B¹, B¹, and a double set of fire-
bars C, C; D is the fire-bridge; and E the chimney with a damper F.
The chamber A is also provided with a suitably placed pyrometer for
ascertaining the degree of heat. One side of the heating chamber A is
provided with a door to allow of the introduction of the cylinder, and to
allow of access to the cylinder when required.
The starch or fecula converted in the herein-before described apparatus.
is in a pulverized state and fit to be used in commerce for all the
purposes herein-before stated.
Instead of the apparatus herein-before described I can employ a
spherical copper boiler similar to those used in paper mills for boiling
rags with a rotating movement. This boiler is heated by an open fire or
otherwise and is put in motion in the usual manner, when the starch or
fecula will be continuously tossed and turned over in all directions, and
at the same time exposed to the action of the heat, which will convert
it very quickly either into gum, a compound of gum and glucose, pure
glucose, or caramelized glucose as required.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the best
means with which I am acquainted for carrying the same into effect,
what I claim is, the improved process and apparatus for treating starch
and fecula, whereby the same are converted into gum, a compound of

page_text: gum and glucose, pure glucose, and caramelized glucose of better quality
in a continuous rapid and inexpensive manner, as herein-before described
and represented in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Paul Louis Manbré, have hereto set
-
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of April, One thousand,
eight hundred and seventy-five.
•