CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF BOILING AND REFINING SUGAR
Year: 1817

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DANIEL
WILSON, of Dublin, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain and Ireland,
bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of January, in the fifty-
seventh year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Daniel Wilson,
my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Elis especial licence, full power, solo privilege
and authority, that I, the said Daniel Wilson, my exors, alññiors, and assigns,
should and lawfully might, during the term of years therein mentioned, makė,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
niy Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF BOILING AND
REFINING SUGAR;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
that if I, the said Daniel Wilson, shall not particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said
Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted,
shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same,
relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
Daniel Wilson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly

page_text: described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof (that is
to say):-
In the common process of boiling and refining sugar, the fire is applied
directly at the bottom of the pan in which it is evaporated, and from the
viscidity of the syrup, and the strong fire which is essential to the operation,
the heat is conveyed through the bottom of the pan more rapidly than it
can be communicated upwards by the carrying power of the fluid, and a
portion of the sugar becomes burned or converted into molasses, and the
quality and quantity of the whole is thereby injured and decreased. Now, to
prevent the possibility of any part of the sugar being burned, decomposed,
or converted into molasses, my improvement consists in applying the heat
necessary for its boiling or evaporation by means of a current of heated fluid
which passes under and round the sides of the pan containing the sugar to be
so boiled or evaporated, and the fluids which are thus used as the conveyers of
heat are of such a nature that their boiling points are above the heat of
boiling sugar but below the degree of heat necessary for burning or decom-
posing it, so that it can never be injured from an excess of heat. The pans in
which the sugar is boiled consist of two metalic vessels, one within the other,
with a small space between cach, and connected by a flanch at the top; they
are placed without any fire under them, and the outer pan communicates
by means of pipes or tubes with a boiler or vessel in which the medium or
fluid for conveying the heat is heated. These pipes of communication are at
different levels, for which reason, if the current be excited in the upper one
by means of a pump, fan engine, or any other well-known mechanical con-
trivance worked by the usual powers, so as to make the liquid medium flow
from the boiler in which it is heated towards the vessels in which the sugar is
to be boiled, this current will pass into the space between the two vessels, give
out a portion of heat to the sugar in the interior one, and return to the boiler
by the lower pipe in order to be again suplide with heat. In this manner,
by means of one boiler for heating the medium, several vessels for the evapoura-
tion of sugar may be boiled and the rapidety of evaporation may be increased
or diminished by regulating the current of medium to cach, which can readily
be done by means of valves as will be hereafter described. The substances
which I employ as the medium for conveying the heat are whale, spermaceti,
cod, seal, herring, pilchard, or any other fish oil, linseed, rape, hemp, olive,
nut, palm, sunflower sced, poppy sced, and castor oils, tallow, lard, butter,
grease, animal fat, and wax. This is a general description of the apparatus,
but, in order that it may be more readily understood, it is represented in the
Drawing hereunto annexed.

page_text: Fig. 1 is a section of the apparatus. A is the vessel in which the medium is
heated; it is covered at the top, and similar to the boiler of a steam engine;
the fire is applied to it underneath, and by flues in the same manner as any
common boiler; it may be made of cast iron, wrought iron, or copper, but I
prefer wrought iron. B is one of the evaporating vessels. C, C, is the
interior pan in which the sugar is boiled. D, D, the exterior pan which
communicates with the boiler A. E, E, E, is the space between the two
vessels in which the medium circulates. F, F, is the upper pipe of com-
munication between the boiler and evaporater; the dotted line represents the
height of oil or fatty matter in the boiler, which should always be kept a few
inches higher than the top of F, F. At the interuption G, or other convenient
part of the pipe F, F, a fan engine, in order to produce a current into the
evaporator but as these are well-known mechanical contrivances, and to be
worked by the usual powers, I do not consider it necessary particularly to
describe them. His a slide valve to regulate the current. of medium, and in
order to disperse it equally on all sides of the interior pan, it is conveyed
round the upper part of the space E, E, by a circular pipe perforated with
holes. I, I, is the pipe by which the medium is returned to the boiler A to
be again heated. K is a safety valve opening outwards. L, a tube open at
both ends and immersed in the fluid through which a thermometer may be
introduced. In the section there is only one evaporater attached to the
boiler A, but several others may be heated by it at the same time, by con-
necting them with the pipe F, F, on the outside of the pump or fan engine.
The evaparators may be made of cast iron, wrought iron, or copper, but I
prefer using cast iron for the outer vessel and copper for the interior one.
The best manner of setting them is to hang them by the flaunch, and to build
all round with brickwork, at the distance of two inches from the outer vessel.
In cases where the power requisite for the working of the fan engine or pump
cannot conveniently be obtained, I apply the heat by means of a fire under
the exterior vessel of the evaparator, and it is transmitted to the sugar in the
interior one by the oil or fatty matter contained in the space between the
two pans. For this purpose I employ two vessels, one a little larger than
the other; the larger one is set in brickwork, with a fireplace under it, in the
usual manner. A portion of oil or fatty matter is then put into it, to such a
height that when the smaller pan is immersed in it, the oil or fatty matter
shall rise to within a few inches of the top. The interior pan is moveable in
the exterior one, so that the boiling may be lowered or entirely stopped, by
raising it partly or entirely out of the oil or fatty matter by means of chains
attached to it, and connected with a lever, or by a wheel and rackwork, or
other well-known mechanical.contrivance.

page_text: Figure 2 is a section of this apparatus. A is the interior pan in which the
sugar is boiled. B, the exterior pan; C, the space between the two, in which
the oil or fatty matter is contained; D, a pipe for conveying away any vapour
that may be generated; E, E, E, the chains attached to the inner pan, and
connected with the lever F, F, by which it may be raised out of the heated
oil or fatty matter. The fire is applied to the bottom of the outer pan in
the usual manner, but the sugar in the interior vessel is limited in the degree
of heat to which it can be raised by the intervention of the oil or fatty
medium..
I prefer the use of copper for the whole of this apparatus; and I do not
claim the Invention of the several parts of it taken separately, but
my
In-
vention consists in the manner of applying the heat by means of a current
or through the medium of certain oils and fatty matters, by which means the
sugar is prevented from being burned or decomposed. And I claim the
application of the said improvement solely to the boiling and refining of 1
sugar.
In witness whereof, I, the said Daniel Wilson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventeen.