IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING AND REFINING CANE JUICE AND OTHER SACCHARINE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1861

page_text: Sealed the 7th March 1862, and dated the 14th September 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Waller at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th September 1861.
I, RICHARD WALLER, of 50. Baker Street, Porunan Square, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING
AND REFINING CANE JUICE AND OTHER SACCHARINE SUBSTANCES,"
follows:
This Invention relates to certain improved arrangements and combinations
of machinery and apparatus whereby the aqueous moisture contained in cane
juice and other liquids containing saccharine matters may be more effectually
evaporated than by the methods previously in use.
In one modification or mode of carrying out this Invention pans or troughs
of any convenient form, and of any convenient or desired length and width, are
arranged singly or in sets of any desired number. the same being divided. if
necessary into compartments or cells. In order to increase the extent of the
[Price Sd.]

page_text: heating surfaces the material of which the pans or troughs are constructed
may be cupped or corrugated. In cases also where shallow troughs are
employed they may be arranged one above another, or otherwise combined;
and, if required, may be made to empty their contents into a trough or
receptacle of sullicient size to contain the same, from whence it can be
returned by means of suitable contrivances to the pan or trough into which it
was first introduced, and then again conducted through the series of pans or
troughs, during which process the liquid or saccharine matter can be subjected
to the action of the contrivances herein-after mentioned for the purpose of
promoting evaporation. The pans or troughs communicate with each other
by means of sunken gutters or tubes, by which the saccharine liquid when
reduced by evaporation to the desired density is carried away by properly con-
structed and arranged taps. In order that the necessary amount of heat may
be imparted to the pans or troughs they are provided with jackets, partitioned
or otherwise, or the pans or troughs may themselves be constructed of tubes
placed side by side, and connected so as to render the pans or troughs so
formed perfectly water-tight; the hot water or other heating media being
caused to flow through such tubes, and thus impart heat to the contents of the
pans or troughs.
Another modification or part of this Invention, and which is or any be used
in combination with the other parts thereof, consists of the employment of
endless belts, webs, or straps made of flexible material, such as wire or wire
gauze, textile or felted fabrics, or matting, or of ductile metal. The flexible
belts may be made of any desired thickness and width. The pans or troughs,
as herein-before mentioned, are combined with the said endless belts, webs, or
straps, as follows: Parallel with the length of the troughs, and above the
saine, are hollow cylinders, over which the bolts, webs, or straps are made to
lap in the known manner of passing warps or fabrics over hot cylinders for the
purpose of drying. These cylinders are to be heated by hot water or other
heating media of any required temperature. Beneath the cylinders and
between them and the troughs are fixed rollers, with rigid or elastic surfaces,
between which the belts, webs, or straps pass, and are tightly compressed
thereby. The belts, webs, or straps being caused to revolve, a thin film of the
saccharine solution is carried up by them in their revolution, and thus sub-
jected to the evaporating influence of the atmosphere or other media; and the
belts, webs, or straps having reached the rollers. are tightly compressed
thereby, and then passing over the heated cylinders, before mentioned, are
entirely and completely dried, and then again pass through the saccharine
solution. When desired a perforated pan or trough, sieve or bag, or other

page_text: suitable receptacle may be placed below the pressing rollers for the reception
of the saccharine matter obtained from the belts. webs, or straps when
compressed: such saccharine matter falling or percolating through the con-
trivances last mentioned, and being returned to the pan or trough from which it
was carried by the revolving belts, webs, or straps. In cases in which per-
forated plates are employed in the last-mentioned arrangement, it may be
desirable that the calibre of the apertures shall vary with the density of the
saccharine matter. This is effected by the use of two or more perforated plates
instead of one, the same sliding over each other by means of suitable contrivances.
and thus enabling the operator to alter or adjust the size or calibre of the aper-
tures in any desired manner as the density of the liquid increases. In some
cases this portion of the Invention may even be used alone. that is to say, the
saccharine matter may be pumped direct from the pan or trough to the per-
forated receptacle, sieve, or bag. and then allowed to percolate and fall in
a divided state back into the pan or trough, thus exposing it to the
evaporating influence of the atmosphere or other evaporating media. If
necessary the process can be accelerated by employing pressure upon the
saccharine matter in the perforated receptacle. sieve, or bag, and thus forcing it
through with greater rapidity. The process may be conducted in close
chambers, or in such a manner as to allow full exposure to the atmosphere.
Another means of providing heated surfaces for the purposes of evaporation,
is to employ hollow compound flanges or discs, which are mounted at con-
venient distances upon a hollow tube or shaft, which passes from one end of
the pan or trough to the other. The flanges or discs are made of metal or
other suitable material. each side of the disc being bevilled to the edge.
Within the hollow flange or disc, and mounted concentrically therewith on the
said hollow shaft is a diaphragm of thin metal. The hollow shaft is so con-
structed that the diaphragm passes through the same, thus dividing it into sepa-
rate chambers. On each side of the diaphragms apertures are provided in the
shaft of sufficient calibre to admit the water, steam, or other heating medium
which flows first on one side of the diaphragm and onward over the edge of
the same to the holes in the shaft on the other side of the diaphragm. and so
on throughout the whole series. One important use of the diaphragm is, that
it affords a stay or support between the two sides of the hollow flange or disc
and prevents their collapsing. thus facilitating the employment of thinner and
lighter materials than it would otherwise be possible to use. The strength of
the flanges or discs may be increased by the use of rings or ribs applied inter-
nally or externally. The hollow flanges or discs can be employed either in
combination with the belts, webs. or straps before mentioned, or without the

page_text: latter. In the former case the flanges or dises are arranged alternately with
the belts, webs, or straps, and by their revolution subject those portions of the
liquid which are unaffected by the operation of the belts, webs, or straps to
the evaporating influence of the atmosphere or other evaporating media.
When the flanges or discs are used alone, and not in combination with belts,
webs, or straps, the trough is arranged with tubes crossing from one side
thereof to the other between each disc. The ends of the lubes open into par-
titions in the jacket which surrounds the pan or trough, so that one side of
the pan or trough receives the hot water or other heating medium, which.
passing through these tubes to the other side of the pan or trough from each
partition flows on from each partition into a return pipe, which conveys it to
the hot-water tank or other receptacle or source of the heating media
employed. In cases in which hot water is used, it is supplied from a regu-
lating receiver to any part of the apparatus in which it is required by means
of a force pump, or by means of pressure derived from a column of water
obtained by the agency of a common lift pump. The regulating receiver is
supplied from two fanks, namely, a hot-water tank and a cold-water tank. A
pipe from each of these tanks is joined by flanges or union joints to each side
of a tap, such tap being so contrived as to admit of supplying hot or cold
water alternately in any desired quantity, in order to furnish the regulating
receiver with the quantity the pump is using. By these means the tem-
perature can be regulated in the receiver to any degree from cold water to
boiling water in a few seconds. The hot-water tank may be supplied with
heat from the exhaust steam of the engine employed; but if found insufficient
it may be taken direct from the boiler.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Waller in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th March 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
WALLER, of 50, Baker Street, Portman Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did. for Herself. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Richard Waller, Her special licence that I. the said Richard

page_text: Waller, my executors. administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Richard Waller, 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 "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING AND REFINING CANE
JUICE AND OTHER SACCHARINE SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Richard Waller, my executors or administrators. by an instru-
ment 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Waller, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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, that is to say: -
This Invention consists of certain improved arrangements and combinations
of machinery and apparatus whereby the aqueous particles contained in cane
juice and other saccharine matters in a liquid state may be more effectually
separated and evaporated therefrom than by the methods hitherto employed
for that purpose. In the process of evaporation it is well known that it is
important for the saccharine solution to be exposed to a degree of heat which
shall never be so high as the boiling point; and in order that evaporation shall
take place with sufficient rapidity, it becomes necessary to subject the solution
as extensively as possible to the influence and action of the atmosphere, and to
effect which is the object of my present Invention.
One modification or method of carrying out my Invention is to employ pans
or troughs for the reception of saccharine solution, of any convenient form
and size consistent with the apparatus and operations herein-after described
and referred to (the shape and size thereof not being in themselves essential
to the efficacy of the process), which are arranged either singly or in sets of
any desired number, such pans or troughs being divided, if thought advisable,
into compartments or cells. In order to increase the extent of the heating
surfaces, the material of which the pans or troughs are constructed may be
cupped or corrugated. The pans or troughs may be arranged one above
another or otherwise combined, and, if required, may be placed at an in-
clination, so as to deliver their contents into a trough or receptacle of sufficient

page_text: size to contain the same, from whence the solution can be returned by means
of pumps or any other suitable and known contrivances to the pan or trough
into which it was first introduced, and then again conducted through the
series of pans or troughs. During these processes the saccharine solution can
be subjected to the action of the contrivances. herein-after mentioned, for the
purpose of promoting evaporation. The pans or troughs before mentioned
communicate with each other by means of sunken gutters or tubes, by which
the saccharine solution, when reduced by evaporation to the desired density, is
carried away through taps or outlets properly constructed and arranged for
that purpose. In order that the necessary amount of heat may be imparted
to the pans or troughs they are provided with jackets, partitioned or otherwise
for the circulation of hot water or other heating media; or the pans or troughs
may themselves be constructed of tubes placed side by side, and connected
together so as to render the pans or troughs so formed perfectly water-tight, the
hot water or other heating media being caused to flow through such tubes and
thus impart heat to the contents of the pans or troughs. The arrangement of
pans or troughs, as herein-before mentioned and described, may, in some cases, be
employed alone and without the addition of any other apparatus; but I obtain
the more rapid evaporation from the saccharine solution under treatment by
the employment, in combination with the said pans or troughs, of endless belts,
webs. or straps, made of flexible materials, such as wire or wire gauze, textile
of felted fabrics, or matting, or of ductile metal. The flexible belts may be
made of any desired thickness and width, and are arranged as follows: -
Parallel with the length of the pans or troughs and above the same are hollow
cylinders, over which the belts, webs, or straps are made to lap in the well-
known manner of passing warps or fabrics over hot cylinders for the purpose
of drying. These cylinders are heated by means of hot water or other heating
media of any required temperature. Beneath the cylinders and between them
and the pans or troughs are fixed rollers with rigid or elastic surfaces, between
which the belts, webs. or straps pass, and are tightly compressed thereby.
The belts, webs, or straps being caused to revolve, a thin film of the saccharine
solution is carried up thereby in their revolution, and thus subjected to the
evaporating influence of the atmosphere, and the belts, webs, or straps having
reached the rollers are tightly compressed thereby, and then passing over the
heated cylinders before mentioned are entirely and completely dried, and then
again pass through the saccharine solution. It may sometimes be desirable to
place a perforated pan or trough, sieve, or filtering bag, or other suitable
receptacle below the pressing rollers for the reception of the saccharine matter
obtained from the belts, webs, or straps when compressed, such saccharine

page_text: c
matter falling or percolating through the straining or filtering contrivances
last mentioned, and being returned to the pan or trough whence it was first
carried by the revolving webs, belts, or straps. In cases in which perforated
pans or plates are employed in the last-mentioned arrangement, it may be
desirable that the calibre of the apertures shall vary, with the density of the
saccharine solution. This is effected by the use of two or more perforated
plates instead of one, the same sliding over each other by means of suitable con-
trivances, and thus enabling the operator to alter or adjust the size or calibre
of the apertures in any desired manner as the density of the saccharine
solution is increased or diminished. In some cases this portion of my Inven-
tion may be used alone and without the combination therewith of the said
endless webs, belts, or straps. The saccharine solution may be pumped or
conveyed direct from the before-mentioned pans or troughs to the perforated
receptacle, sieve, or bag, and thus allowed to percolate and fall in a divided
state back into the pans or troughs, thus exposing it to the evaporating influence
of the atmosphere or other evaporating media. If necessary the process can
be accelerated by employing pressure by any known means upon the saccharine
solution in the perforated receptacle, sieve, or bag, and thus forcing it through
with greater rapidity; and the process may be conducted in close chambers, or
in such a manner as to allow full exposure to the atmosphere. In this last-
described process the solution falls in divided particles or spray, thus greatly
facilitating the evaporation of the moisture contained in the solution.
I will now proceed to explain another portion of my Invention, and which
consists in the employment of hollow compound discs, each disc being com-
posed of two portions of a large sphere or spheroid united at their peripheries
or edges. The discs are mounted at convenient distances upon a hollow tube
or shaft, the latter being so placed with reference to the pans or troughs con-
taining the saccharine solution that the discs dip into the same. Within each
hollow disc, and mounted concentrically therewith on the said hollow shaft, is
a diaphragm of thin metal. The hollow shaft is so constructed that the dia-
phragms pass through the same, thus dividing the interior thereof into separate
chambers. On each side of the diaphragms, but within the sides of the discs,
apertures are provided in the shaft of sufficient calibre to admit the water,
steam, or other heating medium employed, which flows first on one side of the
diaphragm and onward over the edge of the same to the holes in the shaft on
the other side of the diaphragm, and so on throughout the whole series. One
important use of the diaphragm is, that it affords a stay or support between
the two sides of the hollow disc, and prevents their collapsing, thus facilitating
the employment of thinner and lighter materials than it would otherwise be

page_text: possible to use. The strength of the dises may be increased by the use of
rings or ribs applied internally or externally, and the material of which they
are composed may be corrugated. The hollow dises can be employed either
in combination with the belts, webs, or straps before mentioned, or without the
same. In the former case the hollow discs are arranged alternately with the
bells, webs, og straps, and by their revolution subject those portions of the
saccharine solution which are unaffected by the operation of the bells, webs, or
straps, to the evaporating influence of the atmosphere, thin films of the solu-
tion being taken up by the surfaces of the hollow discs in their revolution, and
such surfaces being heated by the means herein-before described, the aqueous
particles contained in the solution are rapidly evaporated and carried off.
When the hollow discs are used alone, and not in combination with belts,
webs, or straps, the troughs are arranged with tubes crossing from one side
thereof to the other between each disc. The ends of the tubes open into
partitions in the jackets which surround the pans or troughs, so that one side
of each pan or trough receives the hot water or other heating media, which,
passing through the tubes to the other side of the pan or trough from each
partition, flows on from each partition into a return pipe, which conveys
it to a hot-water tank or other receptacle or source of the heating media
employed. In cases in which hot water is used, it is supplied from a regu
lating receiver to any part of the apparatus in which it is required by means
of a force pump, or by means of pressure derived from a column of water
obtained by the agency of a common lift pump, or by syphons or other known
means of effecting the desired result. The regulating receiver is supplied from
two tanks, namely, a hot water tank and a cold water tank. A pipe from
each of these tanks is joined by flanges or union joints to each side of a tap,
such tap being so contrived as to admit of supplying hot or cold water alter-
nately in any desired quantity, in order to furnish the regulating receiver with
the quantity the pump is using. By these means the temperature can be
regulated in the receiver to any degree in a few seconds. The hot water tank
may be supplied with heat from the exhaust or waste steam of the engine
employed; but if found insuflicient it may be taken direct from the boiler, or
heat may be obtained by the direct action of a separate furnace.
The hollow discs, the use and arrangement of which have herein-before
described, are of large size; but I will now mention another modification of
my Invention in which hollow discs of small diameter may be employed in
combination with a system of shallow pans or troughs. The discs are made of
the same shape as those before described, but without the internal diaphragm
and are mounted in any desired number and at any desired distance from each

page_text: other, upon a shaft or spindle working in suitable bearings provided for that
purpose, and connected with the necessary motive power. The shaft or spindle
may be hollow or solid, but if hollow, it may be used for the transmission of
hot water or other heating media to the small hollow discs. The pans or
troughs, which are of small depth, instead of being formed with simply corru-
gated or cupped surfaces, as mentioned with reference to the arrangement
firstly herein-before described, are made so as to contain alternate channels
and hollow partitions of nearly the same depth as the pan or trough, the
hollow partitions opening into, and in fact forming a part of, the jacket
which encloses the pan or trough, the jacket and hollow partitions being filled
with hot water or other heating media, as herein-before described with relation
to the other modifications of my Invention. The saccharine solution is con-
tained in the pans or troughs, the small hollow discs being so placed as to
revolve in the channels therein, and so continually to expose thin films of the
solution to the evaporating influence of the atmosphere and the heated surfaces
employed. 1 should here mention, that the hollow discs, whether large or
small, may be made of metal, but they will be much improved if the external
surfaces are covered with enamel, which is peculiarly adapted, by its non-
corrosive properties, to prevent the discolouration of the solution or syrup under
treatment. In all cases in which saccharine solutions are evaporated by the
processes included in this Invention such solutions may advantageously have
their temperature raised while passing from the charcoal filters to the appa-
ratus herein described, the effect thereof being to facilitate the rapid flowing
of the solution and the evaporation thereof.
Having thus fully described the nature of my said Invention and the manner
in which it is to be performed, I would observe that (with the exception of
the heated cylinders employed in combination with the belts, webs, or straps,
as herein-before mentioned, and the large hollow discs with internal diaphragms,
and the hollow shaft and contrivances in connection therewith for the admis-
sion of the heating media to the interior of the hollow discs), I do not claim
the exclusive use of the several parts of the apparatus and arrangements
herein-before mentioned and described separately and apart from each other;
neither do I restrict or limit myself to the precise details herein-before stated,
as variations may be made therefrom without departing from the principles of
my Invention, but what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore
claim as my Invention, are,--
Firstly, the use of heated cylinders in combination with belts, webs, or
straps, as- herein-before mentioned.

page_text: Secondly, the hollow dises constructed with internal diaphragms. and heated
as herein-before mentioned.
And, thirdly, the several arrangements and combinations of machinery and
apparatus, as herein substantially described and set forth, or any mere modi-
fications thereof.
In witness whereof, 1, the said Richard Waller. have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
E. P. II. VAUGHAN,
15, Southampton Buildings,
Agent for the Patentee.
RICHARD WALLER. (L.S.)