IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING FARINACEOUS PRODUCTS FROM POTATOES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Otto William Wahl, of 27, Leadenhall Street, in the
City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING
FARINACEOUS PRODUCTS FROM POTATOES,"-A communication.
Sealed the 7th May 1858, and dated the 11th November 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Otto William Wahl at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th
November 1857.
I, OTTO WILLIAM WAHL, of 27, Leadenhall Street, in the City of London,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANU-
FACTURING FARINACEOUS PRODUCTS FROM POTATOES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in manufacturing farinaceous
products from potatoes. For these purposes the potatoes are first grated or
rasped as heretofore, and the pulp thus obtained, together with a quantity of
water; is continuously carried up by buckets of gutta percha or endless bands,
in order constantly to supply a cylindrical sieve of wire cloth, which it is
preferred should be fixed in an inclined position. Within this sieve an axle
with brushes constantly revolves. Below the sieve above mentioned is a
second flat fine sieve of silk which is kept constantly shaken, and below this
sieve there are separate vessels, by preference four; the products having passed
in succession through the sieves fall into these vessels, and with the exception
of the last vessel, that is, the one at the lowest or farthest end of the sieves,
Price I

page_text: the products received by them are pumped back into the upper sieve, whilst
the products received into the farthest sieve are considered completed, so far
as the sifting process is concerned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Otto William Wahl in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th May, 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, OTTO
WILLIAM WAHL, of 27, Leadenhall Street, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Otto William Wahl, Her special licence that I, the said
Otto William Wahl, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Otto William Wahl, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING FARINACEOUS PRODUCTS FROM POTATOES
a communication," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Otto
William Wahl, my executors or administrators, 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 Otto William Wahl, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in manufacturing farinaceous
products from potatoes. For these purposes the potatoes are first grated or
rasped as heretofore, and the pulp thus obtained, together with a quantity of
water, is continuously carried up by buckets of gutta percha or endless bands,

page_text: in order constantly to supply a cylindrical sieve of wire cloth, which it is
preferred should be fixed in an inclined position. Within this sieve an axle
with brushes constantly revolves. Below the sieve above mentioned is a
second flat fine sieve of silk, which is kept constantly .shaken, and below this
sieve there are separate vessels; the products having passed in succession
through the sieves, fall into these vessels and are considered completed, so far
as the sieving process is concerned.
And in order that the said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed, by reference to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, to describe more fully the manner in which it is preferred to conduct
the manufacture.
The potatoes to be employed are completely cleansed by washing, and they.
are fed uniformly by the shoot a to the rasping drum b, which is about
eighteen inches in diameter. On the periphery of the drum b are mounted
radially plates of steel b¹, having teeth like a hand saw on their exterior edges.
About eighty of these plates b' are mounted on the drum b; they are kept at
equal distances apart by pieces of wood introduced between them, and' are
held firmly together by iron wedges driven between them at six or other
number of points round the drum. The potatoes as they are fed down the
shoot, and this is done usually at a speed of about six tons per hour, are
rasped up by the drum b, which is driven at twelve or fifteen hundred revo-
lutions per minute; and the pulp falls into the cistern c corresponding in
width to the drum b. The potatoes are prevented from escaping from the
rasping drum by the plate d, turning on axes on the upper edge of the
cistern c, and kept up to the drum by the counterpoise d'. Into the shoot a,
together with the potatoes a quantity of water is introduced, sufficient to give
to the potato pulp just sufficient fluidity to run freely; e is a roller mounted
in the cistern c, and over this roller a band f passes, as also over an upper
roller g; h, h, are buckets fixed on the band f, which hold about one pint each,
and the band f is driven at such a speed as to empty two of these vessels per
second into the cylindrical sieve i; the lower part of this, sieve is made of twill
woven brass wire cloth, and at the upper end of the sieve it is of the quality
known as E extra first, at the lower end of the quality known as F extra,
No. 12. The sieve is placed at an inclination of about one in six, and the
potato pulp is introduced at the upper end by the buckets h, h, through an
opening left for the purpose. The upper part of the sieve is formed of zinc,
and is cased exteriorly with wood on the two sides but not at the top, and
here the zinc is perforated to allow of the passage of water, which is intro-
duced amongst the pulp in the interior of the sieve; i is an axis passing

page_text: through the sieve from end to end, driven at about 100 to 120 revolutions
per minute, and having mounted on it brushes k, which wash the product
which it is desired to obtain out of the pulp through the meshes of this sieve
on to the lower sieve 1, which receives a shaking motion by the crank m; the
bottom of this sieve is formed of silk of the quality known as No. 6 sieve
cloth. The refuse is discharged at the end of the sieve i, and is shaken off at
the end of the sieve 1; n, n¹, are troughs placed under the sieve to receive
that which passes through it, and in order that the finer products may pass
freely through the sieves, water is introduced into the upper sieve i amongst
the pulp at three points in its length, at equal distances apart, in sufficient
quantity to produce the desired result. The products which pass into the
trough.n are run into a vat to allow the liquid to separate; the liquid which
passes into the trough n' is pumped back into the sieve i, as it contains too
small a proportion of solid product to be worth running into the depositing vat.
The product deposited by the liquid from the trough n may be at once dried
and is ready for use for the purposes for which similar products are usually
employed, viz., as a food for stiffening in the manufacture of paper, and for
other purposes, but if it is desired to obtain as pure a product as possible after
the product has been deposited by the liquid from the trough n, the upper
serface of the deposited matter is again stirred up with the liquid by means of
a revolving brush, introduced so as just to touch the upper part of the deposit,
and to pass over every part of it, and when the upper surface is completely
removed the liquid is drawn off, and the pure product remains in the vat;
fresh water is run into the vat and stirred up with the product, the whole is
run on to a second silk sieve, which like the first receives a shaking motion;
the bottom of this sieve is formed of No. 8 silk sieve cloth, and the product as
it runs through is received into a trough, from whence it runs to a depositing
vat, is separated from the water, and dried.
In witness whereof, I, the said Otto William Wahl, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of May, in the year of Our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
O. W. WAHL. (L.S.)