IMPROVEMENT IN THE PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING SACCHARINE AND OTHER JUICES FROM BEET ROOT OR OTHER ROOTS AND PLANTS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Collins Banfield, of No. 18, Queen's
Square, in the City of Westminster, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENT IN THE PROCESS
OF AND APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING SACCHARINE AND OTHER JUICES
FROM BEET ROOT OR OTHER ROOTS AND PLANTS."-A communication.
Sealed the 26th February 1853, and dated the 3rd December 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Collins
Banfield at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 3rd December 1852.
I, THOMAS COLLINS BANFIELD, of No. 18, Queen's Square, in the
City of Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENT
IN THE PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING SACCHARINE AND OTHER
JUICES FROM BEET ROOT OR OTHER ROOTS AND PLANTS" to be as
follows:-
The method I employ for extracting the juice or saccharine
matter from beet root, or other root or plant to be operated upon, is
by applying line-water, heated fluid, and exhaustion. I employ

page_text: one or more cylindrical vases or receivers, into which is placed the
root, plant, or substance to be operated upon. I prefer the cylin-
drical form; but any other convenient form will do. I recommend
that the root or plant should be scliced up into small portions of
about an inch cube cach, this being the most advantageous size; but
the effect is likewise good on whole substances. If beet root or
other similar root or plant is to be operated upon, it may be either
dried and prepared, or fresh. I recommend twenty of such cylin-
drical vases or receivers, but there may be one or more, according
to requirement. The substance is introduced into these receivers
at the mouth or opening at the top. When charged, the opening is
closed by any convenient covering moving on a hinge, and which
should be luted and further secured by a screw or other convenient
method, so as to render it air-tight, at the same time so as to be
easily removed. There must be another opening in each receiver
at the base or near the bottom, for the discharge of the refuse
material when the juice or saccharine matter has been extracted.
This opening should also be secured in a similar manner as the
opening last explained. A pipe through which steam or heated
fluid can be conducted to supply the receivers from the upper part
is made to communicate with each receiver from above. There
must be a similar pipe connecting the receivers with an ordinary
air pump; there must be valves which respectively regulate the
steam or heated fluid from the first named pipe with each receiver,
as also the pipe connected with the air pump. Where more than
one receiver is employed, there must be another pipe or pipes, to
connect one receiver with another, in order to enable the fluid to
pass from one receiver to its adjoining one, so that there may be a
regular passage throughout; this pipe must pass from the lower
part of one receiver to the upper part of the other, to be supplied
with a valve so as to regulate the quantity and times of the passage
of the fluid conducted from one receiver to the other. There must
again be another pipe along the base or close to the bottom of the
receivers communicating with each receiver, also supplied with
similar valves so as to carry off the fluid or juices into suitable
cisterns or filters.

page_text: Having thus described the several parts of the apparatus, I now
proceed to describe the process of extracting the juice or saccharine
matter.
Having filled the first receiver with the root or plant or other
substance to be operated upon, lime water must be added, the
quantity to be regulated according to the material operated upon.
The lid and outlet are then fixed down as before described. Steam
or heated fluid is then introduced by opening the valve connected
with the supply pipe. The second receiver must then be charged
in a similar manner, and a communication between this receiver
and the first receiver must now be made by opening the valve of
the pipe connecting the two receivers, at the same time the valve in
connection with the pipe of the air pump and the second receiver
must be opened. The steam or heated fluid in conjunction with
the lime water, which has been placed and passed into the first re-
ceiver, macerates the substance, and extracts the juice or saccharine
matter from the same; the superabundant liquid will flow into the
second receiver through the connecting pipe, an operation which is
aided by the pressure from the air pump in communication with
the second receiver. When the second receiver is charged with
liquid, the valve of the pipe connecting the first and second receiver
must be closed, and the liquid allowed to remain in the receivers for
some time, whist the third receiver is being filled and prepared as
first before described. The third receiver is then charged with
steam or heated fluid in manner also described. The operation is
then repeated with the fourth receiver. When the last receiver is
filled with liquid, the discharge valve must be opened and a portion
drawn off to pass into a cistern or filter; when this valve is closed
again, the succeeding receiver is charged as before described, and
the operation repeated with each succeeding receiver; but carc
must be taken that each time a portion of the liquid be drawn off
into the cistern supplying the filters by opening the valves in suc-
cession. When the fourteenth receiver has been prepared and
charged, the refuse contained in the first receiver will have been
exhausted; this receiver may now be employed, and then the second
receiver put in communication the steam or heated fluid; then the

page_text: fifteenth receiver must be filled in the same manner as the preced-
ing ones, and a portion of the juice must be drawn off from this
receiver. In continuing the operation from this receiver we proceed
to the following receivers in succession, in a similar manner as before
described. The refuse is from time to time taken out of the re-
ceivers in a like regular succession, and these can be charged again
to be in readiness to repeat the operation. As I have named twenty
receivers only, fourteen of these will be in operation at one time;
opportunity is thus afforded to the workman to clean out or repair
cach receiver as it comes in turn to be cleared out or emptied, before
its turn comes round to be put in operation again.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Collins Banfield in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 2nd June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
THOMAS COLLINS BANFIELD, of No. 18, Queen Square, in the City
of Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,
by Her Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in
the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Collins Banfield, Her
special licence that I, the said Thomas Collins Banfield, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Collins Banfield, 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 law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF AND AP-
PARATUS FOR EXTRACTING SACCHARINE AND OTHER JUICES FROM BEET ROOT
OR OTHER ROOTS AND PLANTS," communicated to me by a foreigner

page_text: residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Thomas Collins Banfield, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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 Thomas Collins Banfield, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being
had to the several Drawings hereunto annexed, and in which said
several Drawings similar parts are marked and referred to by
similar letters or figures of reference (that is to say):
My said Invention consists of an improved mode or process for
extracting saccharine and other juices from beet and other roots
and plants, and also of an improved apparatus for extracting such
juices.
My said improved mode or process for extracting saccharine and
other juices froin beet root and other roots and plants, consists in
subjecting several portions or quantities of such roots or plants
successively to the action of the same water or other solvent (in a
vessel or vessels from which the air is excluded), so that the water
or other solvent may be ultimately converted into a concentrated or
strong solution of such saccharine or other juices.
And my
said improved apparatus consists of a combination and
arrangement of several vessels, pipes, and other parts applicable to
the purpose of carrying into effect ny said improved mode or
process.
My said improved process may be carried into effect either in my
improved apparatus or in any other convenient and efficient appa-
ratus, but I prefer to carry on my said process in my improved
apparatus; and therefore I will proceed to describe my said apparatus,
and the node of carrying out any process in connection with it,
which will sufficiently explain the mode of carrying into effect my

page_text: process by means of any other convenient apparatus. My said ap-
paratus is shewn in the Drawings accompanying this Specification.
Figure I, represents a plan, and Figure II, a vertical sectional
elevation, of the house and apparatus employed, taken through the
line Y, Z, in Figure 1. C, is the house or building. A1, A2, A3,
&c., are several vases or receivers, of cylindrical or other convenient
shape, into which is placed the root, plant, or substance to be
operated upon. It is recommended that the substance to be ope-
rated upon should be sliced or chopped up into small portions of
about an inch cube each, this being the most convenient size, but
the effect is likewise good on whole substances. If beet root is the
substance, it may be either dried and prepared, or fresh. Twenty
of such vases or receivers are recommended, but they may be more
or less, according to requirement or capabilities of the factory. The
substance is introduced into these receivers at the mouth or opening
at R. When charged, this opening is closed by any convenient
covering which may move on a hinge, which should be luted, and
further secured by a screw or other convenient method, so as to
render it both air-tight and secure, and at the same time easily to
be removed, when required. There must be another opening in
each receiver at the base or near the bottom, as at Q, for the dis-
charge of the inaterial, when the saccharine matter has been ex-
tracted; which should also be secured in a similar manner as the
opening last explained. t, t, is a pipe through which hot water,
steam, or other solvent is conducted to supply the receiver, which
is made to communicate with the receiver and the reservoir of
water or generator of steam, or other solvent from above; t¹, t¹, is
another pipe, connecting the receiver with an air pump; s, and s¹
are valves which regulate the connexion between the receivers with
the pipe t, for the supply of the hot water, steam, or other solvent,
and with the pipe t', connecting the receiver with the air pump; t11
is another pipe with a valve s11, which connects one receiver with
another, in order to enable the fluid to pass from one receiver to the
other, so that there may be a regular passage from A¹, to A²; A³,
to A³, and so on throughout. These several communicating pipes

page_text: pass from the lower part of one receiver to the upper part of the
adjoining one, and each of these pipes should also have a valve, so
as to regulate the quantity and times of passage of the fluid to be
conducted from one receiver to the other. T, T, is another pipe
running along the base or lower part of the receivers to carry off*
the juice into filters or otherwise. The pipes S, S¹, S², &c., are
connecting pipes, with regulating valves connecting the receivers
with the pipe T.
Having thus described the different parts of the apparatus con-
nected with these receivers, it will be seen, by reference to the Draw-
ings and Figures, that a similar arrangement of parts is carried
throughout the different receivers.
I will now proceed to describe the process of extracting the juice
or saccharine matter: Having charged the receiver A', with the
substance to be operated upon, the lid R, and outlet Q, must be
fixed down as before described; hot water or other solvent is then
introduced by opening the valve s¹ of the pipe t; and if water be
used I at the same time introduce a current of steam. The second
receiver A2, must then be charged, and a communication between
receiver A², and the receiver A', must now be made by opening the
valve s 1, at the same time the valve s¹ 2, must be opened, which
will put the receiver A2, in connexion with the force of the air
pump through the pipe t¹, t¹, in the manner before described, the
valve s 1, which puts the receiver A', in communication with the
pipe t, for the fluid or solvent, remaining open. The hot water or
solvent falling from a cistern or reservoir placed on a higher level
than the receivers, and falling into the first receiver A', macerates the
root or substance operated upon, and extracts the saccharine matter.
The superabundant liquid flows into the second receiver A², through
the connecting pipe t 111; an operation which is aided by the pressure
from the air pump in communication with the second receiver A².
When the second receiver A², is charged with liquid, the valves s 1,
and s¹ 2 connecting the first and second receivers with the hot water,
steam, or other solvent pipe t, as well with the air or exhausting
tube, which must be closed; the valves", connecting the first and

page_text: second receivers, must be also closed, and the liquid must be allowed
to remain in the first and second receivers for some time, to be
regulated according to the nature of the root or plant operated upon,
while the third receiver A³, is being filled and prepared as first before
described. When the third receiver A³ is charged, the openings
closed and luted and fixed down as before described, and supplied
with hot water, steam, or other solvent as before described, namely,
by opening the valve s¹¹ 2 by which a communication is made be-
tween the receivers A2, A3, as also a communication with the hot
water pipe by means of valves 83, and s¹ 3, the operation is repeated
with the fourth receiver A+. When this last receiver is filled with
cuttings and liquid, the valve S, must be opened, and a portion of
the liquid drawn off to pass into the filter or other cistern as before
described. When this valve is closed again, the succeeding receiver
is charged as before described, and the operation repeated with cach
succeeding receiver; but care must be taken that at proper times a
portion of the liquid be drawn off into the filters or cisterns by
opening the valves S5, S6, &c., in succession.
When the fourteenth receiver A4, has been prepared and
charged, the refuse cuttings contained in the first receiver A¹, will
have been exhausted, that is to say, the juice or saccharine matter
sufficiently extracted; this receiver may now be emptied, and then
the receiver A², put in communication with the steam, hot water,
or other solvent; then the fifteenth receiver A15, must be filled and
prepared in the same manner as the preceding ones, a portion of
the juice being drawn off as before described. In continuing the
operation from this receiver, we proceed to the successive receivers,
in regular succession, in a similar manner as before described. The
refuse cuttings are from time to time taken out of the receivers in
regular succession, and then these can be charged again to be in
readiness to repeat the operation.
There are twenty receivers shewn in the Plan laid down in the
Drawings; but only fourteen of these will be in operation at one time;
opportunity is thus afforded to the workmen to clear out or repair
cach receiver as it comes in turn to be cleared out or emptied, before

page_text: its turn comes round again to be charged and put again into
operation.
With some slight modifications, any number of receivers can be
employed, and one vessel may be used (although not advanta-
geously), by having recourse to adequate means for taking the
material out of the water or other solvent after it has been suffi-
ciently macerated.
When fresh or green cuttings are used, lime should be added with
the cuttings; when these are placed in the receiver, the proportion
of lime recommended is a little more than two per cent. of the weight
of cuttings, and when dried or preserved cuttings are used, the
quantity of lime should be from about five to seven per cent. of the
weight of cuttings. The concentrated solution of juice obtained as
above described may be boiled or otherwise treated in any ordinary
manner, for the purpose of obtaining saccharine or other matters
therefrom.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I
lay no claim to the several parts of the apparatus above described,
detached or in detail, separate for apart rom the combination thereof
above described; but what I claim is,-
Firstly, the mode or process for extracting saccharine and other
juices from roots and plants, by subjecting several portions thereof
successively to the action of the same water or other solvent in a
vessel or vessels from which the air is excluded, for the purpose of
obtaining concentrated solutions of such juices in manner above
described.
And, secondly, the combination of two or more vessels furnished
with tubes and other apparatus as above described, for the purpose
of causing portions of water or other solvent to be applied succes-
sively to the maceration of several portions of material in several
vessels, so as to extract saccharine and other juices therefrom, and!
make concentrated solutions of such juices, and also for the purpose
of causing such portions of water or solvent to be transferred from

page_text: one vessel to another without being exposed to the action of the
atmosphere.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Collins Banfield, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Thirtieth day of May, Onc
thousand cight hundred and fifty-three.
THOS. C. BANFIELD. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of
CHS. H. COLLETTE,
57, Lincoln's Inn Fields, Solicitor.