CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR FROM THE CANE
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighteenth day of January, in the eleventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Newton, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said William Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said William Newton, my executors, administrators,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark,
and Man, an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
SUGAR FROM THE CANE," being a communication from a Foreigner residing
abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me,
the said William Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same
to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited

page_text: Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Newton, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):
:-
This Invention consists in drying and pulverizing cane or other substances
which contain saccharine matters, and then washing the saccharine matter
therefrom, which, when separated from the extraneous substances, may be
manufactured into sugar by evaporation in any ordinary way. The cane, or
other substance containing saccharine matter, is first cut by a cane cutter or
other suitable apparatus into pieces of small size, and then dried in a proper
stove or kiln, and afterwards pulverized. The process of drying the cane or
other substance containing saccharine matter, after it has been cut up into
slices or small pieces, may be conducted in any convenient and suitable
manner; but it has been found adviseable to place the sliced cane or other
substance in a carrying apparatus of peculiar construction, such as that shewn
in Fig. 6, which consists of a rectangular metal frame, with a series of shelves
v, v, v, placed one above another, and made of wirework or perforated metal,
as shewn in Fig. 7. This apparatus is called a carrying panier, and is
suspended by chains from a carriage which is made to run on a railway, so
that the panier may, when loaded, be moved in or out of the kiln, or stove, or
chamber, through which a current of hot air is made constantly to pass.
After the cane or other substance has been dried it is to be pulverized in a
suitable mill, and then submitted to the process about to be described.
The apparatus to be employed in this improved process of manufacturing
sugar is shewn in the accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1 represents a
longitudinal elevation of the apparatus; Fig. 2, a plan view of the same, as
seen from above; and Fig. 3, a view of the under side, as it would appear from
below. The apparatus consists of a series of any convenient number of tubs
or vats f, f, ff, placed in line together, eleven of which are shewn in the
Drawing. Above these tubs there is placed a reservoir of water a, from
which a pipe 6 descends to the bottom of the tub f, and thence runs along
horizontally the length of the series. This pipe b is connected with each of
the tubs by short branch pipes d, d, d, d. These are furnished with stopcocks,
which, when open, connect [the tubs with the pipe b, as seen best in Fig. 3.
The pipes are also furnished with stopcocks c for closing all communication
i

page_text: with the tubs f, f. A small metal box i (see Figs. 1 and 2) is placed on the
top of the first tub f, and opens into it. From this box ia bent pipe k
descends to the bottom of the second tub f, as seen in the plan view, Fig. 3,
and connects the two tubs together. The second tub is connected with the
third in a similar way, as are also all the others each with the next succeeding,
thus connecting the whole in a continued series. To each of the pipes k there
is a stopcock 1, occasionally to cut off either of the tubs from the series. From
the last tub, No. 11 in the Drawing, an inclined pipe n leads from the box i, at
the top of the tub, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, in place of the bent pipes k, k,
before mentioned; and as there are no other tubs, the pipe n conveys back the
liquor to the bottom of the first tub, with which it is connected. This pipe n
is furnished with a stopcock o, as seen in the plan view, Fig. 2. Another
pipe m (see Figs. 1 and 2) runs horizontally along the tops of the tubs, and
communicates with them by short lateral pipes furnished with stopcocks j, by
which either of the tubs can be connected or disconnected to or from the
pipe m. This pipe m leads by branches u, u, to the filters a, x, when they
are used; but if these filterers are dispensed with, then the pipe m may lead to
the reservoir z direct. Beside the above-described pipes, each of the tubs
is furnished with a trap door or manhole p at the top (see Fig. 2), with a
fastening y, and another similar one near the bottom of p³, through which
apertures respectively the pulverized cane or other matter is received and dis-
charged. A railway R is situated over the tubs, and on it a small car p¹, as
shewn in the sectional views, Figs. 4 and 5, traverses over the tubs, and from
below it there is a funnel or spout S that serves to direct the pulverized cane
from the car p into the tubs. Another car t¹ runs along on a railway just
below the level of the bottom of the tubs, and in a position to receive the con-
tents of the tubs when they are to be emptied through the opening p². The
operation of this apparatus is as follows:-The car p', on the railway R above
the tubs, is filled with the fresh pulverized sugar cane or other saccharine
matter, and brought over the tub to be filled; and the bottom of the car
is drawn out, causing the contents to pass down through the hopper S, and
through the manhole p, into the tub below. When the tub is filled with the
pulverized cane, the door q, in the top of the tub, is to be closed. When the
whole series of tubs have been charged in like manner the water in the reser-
voir a is let into the first tub, through the pipe b, by opening the cocks c and d.
The water which is thus let into the bottom of this first tub rises until the tub
is filled; it then escapes at top through the box i into the pipe k, which
conveys it, partially saturated with the saccharine matter contained in the cane

page_text: through which it has passed, to the bottom of the second tub; it then rises
and runs through the second tub in the same way, and after having passed
through several tubs, and acquired the degree of saturation desired (say
20 degrees or 25 degrees of the areometer of Beaumé), and which generally
reaches 20 degrees at the fifth tub, the stopcock of this tub is then opened,
and the cock of its pipe k, which permits the water thus saturated with
sugar to pass through the pipe m into one of the two filterers x, or into the
reservoir direct. The liquor is then taken to the kettles or battery, and
boiled, in order to evaporate the aqueous parts, as is well understood. A tube
of glass y may be inserted into the box i at the top of each tub, and the areo-
meter can be placed in the said glass tube y, when, by opening a stopcock,
the saturated water will be admitted into this tube. The cock is then stopped,
and the degree of saturation ascertained, after which the liquor may be drawn
off through a small cock y'. When the saccharine matter is all drawn from
the cane in the first tub the areometer will descend to zero, and it is no longer
necessary to let the water pass through it. The cocks d and 1 of the first tub
are then closed above and below, so as to cut off this tub from the series, and
the corresponding cocks of the second tub are opened, a new tube being added
at the opposite end of series. After the second tub is exhausted, that is to be,
in like manner, cut off, and so on through the whole series, and as each tub
is exhausted the water is conducted to another tub. After each tub is
exhausted it is cut off, as before stated, without suspending the operation of
saturating the water that continues to pass through the apparatus; and the
exhausted cane, or other material contained in the tub, is removed therefrom
by opening a door p, and drawing it out into the car t', which is on the railway
below. The tub is then again filled from the car above with fresh pulverized
cane or other material. When the last tub of the series has been operated
upon the stopcock 0 (see Fig. 3) is opened, and a communication established
through the pipe m between it and the first tub, which has been filled with
fresh cane, and the operation is thus continued.
The tubs, pipes, and other parts of the apparatus are made of any suitable
material, and of any dimensions and proportions found most convenient.
Their number also is immaterial, provided there is enough to give the
requisite saturation to the water.
Having thus fully described this improved process of manufacturing sugar,
the features I claim therein as new, and desire to secure under the above-
recited Letters Patent, are, extracting the sugar from the sugar cane, or other
substance containing saccharine matter, by first drying and pulverizing the cane

page_text: or other substance, and afterwards extracting the sugar therefrom by passing
water through it, essentially in the manner and for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Newton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Fifteenth day of July, in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Newton came before our Lady
the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also the
Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute in
that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Eighteenth day of July, in the year above written.