IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND TREATMENT' OP BASTARD SUGAR AND OTHER Low SACCHARINE PRODUCTS, SUCH AS ARE OBTAINED FROM MOLASSES AND SCUMS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bessemer, of Baxter House, Old St.
Pancras Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND TREATMENT'
OP BASTARD SUGAR AND OTHER Low SACCHARINE PRODUCTS, SUCH AS
ARE OBTAINED FROM MOLASSES AND SCUMS."
Sealed the 22nd September 1853, and dated the 15th July 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bessemer
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th July 1853.
I, HENRY BESSEMER, of Baxter House, Old St. Pancras Road, in
the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare that the nature
of my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND TREAT-
MENT OF BASTARD SUGAR AND OTHER Low SACCHARINE PRODUCTS, SUCH AS
ARE OBTAINED FROM MOLASSES AND SCUMS," to be as follows:-
In the process of refining sugar, as at present generally practised,
those syrups which yield bastard or other low qualities of sugar contain so
large a proportion of dark colored glucose matter as to cause the forma-
tion of small and ill-defined crystals, while the mother liquor, or treacle,

page_text: from its viscid condition, does not flow freely from them by the mere
action of gravity; and hence not only is much time wasted in the
process, but a very inferior sugar is obtained. In the production of
sugar from refiners scums, and from West India or other molasses, a
similar inconvenience is felt, according to the presence of a large
quantity of viscid uncrystallizable matter. The entire separation of
these glucose matters from the crystals of sugar by means of the
centrifugal or other curing machines cannot be effected without either
dissolving a portion of the crystals by the use of water, or the admixture
with the treacle of the liquor used in the washing process; in either
case a loss is sustained, for in the separation of the last products in
the refining process, no crystallizable matter should be mixed with the
treaclc.
Now the object of my present Invention is, to lessen the defects
which I have here pointed out in the ordinary process of refining sugar,
for which purpose I proceed as follows:-
Firstly, the syrup intended to be operated upon may be concentrated
by any suitable means to the same degree of density as is now generally
employed in the production of bastard sugar; it is then let down into
the crystallizing vessels, which I prefer should hold about one ton each.
As soon as the crystallization is complete, the mass, without any previous
drainage, and while still in a warm state, is to be put into bags made
of a textile fabric, similar to that used in the process of expressing oil
from seeds; these bags, with suitable plates between them, are to be
piled up in a hydraulic or other suitable press, so that a steady and
continuous pressure may be given to them, in a manner well understood.
By means of the pressure so applied the fluid glucose matters will be
forced through the pores of the bags, while the crystals of sugar will be
retained in the interior of them.
The press plates may be used either hot or cold, but the former will
render the process more perfect, as far as the separation of the glucose
matter is concerned; but if the sugar be allowed to become nearly as
cold as the surrounding atmosphere before putting it into the bags, and
the press plates be also of that temperature, it will be found that the
product in sugar will be somewhat greater. It will readily be understood

page_text: that this process of pressing out the fluid portions of the saccharine
matter will allow the concentration of the syrup to be carried to a
greater density than would be advantageous in those cases where the
separation of the mother liquor is effected by simple drainage from the
crystals; and hence a larger quantity of sugar may be crystallized and
separated from the treacle by this process of pressing than is usually
obtained from syrup of a like quality. And here I would remark, that in
such cases, as the syrups are brought up to a greater density than is
usual, I prefer to pour such concentrated matter into shallow trays, so
as to form a cake of a suitable size for the bag in which it is to bo
pressed; or the concentrated syrup may be put at once into the bags,
and allowed to crystallize therein.
If it is desired to take the sugar into the market without recrystal-
lizing it, the color and purity of it may be further improved by moistening
it with water or "liquor," and then giving it a second pressure, after
which the cakes may be dried in a stove, so as to form a concrete mass;
or, in lieu of this, the cake of pressed sugar may be sliced up by a re-
volving knife, or crushed in a mill, such as is now used to crush loaf sugar.
But all low sugars that exhibit little or no grain, and havo had the
glucose matters separated from them by pressure in the manner herein
described, may be dissolved and crystallized alone, or they may be
mixed with a solution of raw sugar after it leaves the charcoal filter, or
with other saccharine fluids which have not been much injured by the
application of heat in the various operations to which it may have been
subjected.
Both these modes of manufacturing and treating sugar that has been
previously separated from its mother liquor by mechanical means, is
fully described in a Patent for which I obtained Provisional Protection,
bearing even date herewith, and which Patent is entitled "Improvements
n the Manufacture, Refining, and Treating Sugar."
In the manufacture of sugar from West India or other molasses
wo modes may be employed in preparing it for the pressing process: by
one mode, the molasses simply require filtering through a bag filter, or
hey may be "blown up" before filtering; but in either case no water
s to be added after the filtration has taken place; the molasses are to

page_text: be highly concentrated, put into crystallizing vessels or shallow trays,
as before described, and after crystallization has taken place, the fluid
and solid saccharine matters are to be separated by pressure, as before
described in the treatment of bastard sugar; the crystallized matter may
also be treated. in like manner..
The other mode of treating molasses differs only in first reducing
their density to about 27° or 30° Beaumé, passing the liquor through
animal charcoal, after which it is to be concentrated and then pressed
and treated by either of the methods before described in reference to
the manufacture of bastard sugar. So likewise in the manufactures of
sugar from scum liquor. or other low saccharine products a similar
treatment is to be observed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Bessemer in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 14th January 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE: PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
HENRY BESSEMER, of Baxter House, Old St. Pancras Road, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent; bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me; the said Henry Bessemer, Her special licence
that I, the said Henry Bessemer, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others' as I, the said Henry Bessemer, 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 THE
MANUFACTURE AND TREATMENT OF BASTARD SUGAR AND, OTHER LOW SAC-
CHARINE PRODUCTS, SUCH AS ARE OBTAINED FROM MOLASSES AND SCUMS,"

page_text: upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Bessemer,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should parti-
cularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the sanie
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 Henry Bessemer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
In the process of refining sugar as at present practised, those syrups
which yield bastard or other low qualities of sugar contain so large a
proportion of dark colored glucose matter as to cause the formation of
small and ill defined crystals, while the mother liquor, or treacle, from its
viscid condition, does not flow freely from them by the mere action of
gravity; and hence not only is much time wasted in the process, but a
very inferior sugar is obtained. In the production of sugars from
refiners scums, and from West India or other molasses, a similar
inconvenience is felt, owing to the presence of a large quantity of viscid
uncrystallizable matter. The entire separation of these glucose (atters
from the crystals of sugar by means of the centrifugal or other
curing machines cannot be effected without either dissolving a portion
of the crystals by the use of water, or the admixture with the treacle of
the liquor" used in the washing process; in either casc a loss is
sustained, for in the separation of the last products of the refining
process no crystallizable matter should be mixed with the treacle.
Now, the object of my present Invention is, to lessen or remove the
defects which I have here pointed out in the ordinary process of refining
sugar, for which purpose 1 proceed as follows:-
Firstly, the syrup intended to be operated upon may be concentrated
by any suitable means to the same degree of density as is now generally
employed in the production of bastard sugar; but a larger product of
crystallized sugar will be obtained if the concentration of the syrup is
carried to three or four degrees Beaumé beyond the usual density, after
which it may be let down into large crystallizing vessels, which should

page_text: hold about one ton each, because vessels of this size retain the heat of
the matters sufficiently long to cause the formation of larger crystal
than is produced from such syrups when allowed to cool rapidly. As
soon as the syrup is cooled down to about 120 or 110 degrees Fahrenheit,
the mass, without any previous drainage, and while still in a warm state,
is to be put into bags made of a textile fabric, similar to that used in
the process of expressing oil from seeds. These bags are piled up in a
hydrostatic or other press capable of exerting a great degree of pressure
upon them. Between cach bag I place a galvanized iron plate, both
sides of which is covered with a piece of coarse wire gauze, which is
soldered to the iron plate at each edge, in consequence of the pervious
nature of the wire gauze. A communication from every part of the surface
of the plate is established with the exterior edges of it which project
beyond the bags; and thus the fluid matters that exude from the central
part of the bags finds a passage between the wire gauze and the iron
plate to the exterior edges, where it escapes, and falling from plate to
plate in the press is finally received in a gutter which runs round the
base of the press, and from which a pipe may be male to convey it to
any convenient receptacle. In those cases where a large quantity of fluid
matter is present, it will be found preferable to subject the bags to a
preliminary operation in presses of small power, acting with a screw or
weight, so as to force out a portion of the fluid, and render the bags
thinner and more flat before subjecting them to the more powerful press,
by means of which so large a proportion of the glucose matters will be
expelled as to leave a cake of sugar in the bags, of good quality. I have
before stated that the sugar to be operated upon as above may be put
into the bags at a temperature of 110 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, at
which heat the treacle is so fluid as to leave the sugar more completely
than would be the case if the syrups were lowered down to about 60
degrees. But it is well known that the quantity of sugar held in
solution in all saccharine fluids depends on the temperature of them,
and is greater as the temperature is higher; hence it follows, that to get
the greatest quantity of crystallized matter deposited, the temperature
should be lowered as much as possible in the ordinary mode of manu-
facturing bastard sugar; this lowering of the temperature to 60 degrees

page_text: Fahrenheit or thereabouts must not be allowed, because the syrups
would become too viscous to drain off by the mere action of gravity;
and, for the same reason, the concentration of the syrup cannot be
carried so high as to insure the formation of all the crystallizable matter
into crystals; but, with the great amount of pressure that can be brought
to bear upon the bags of sugar by the means herein-before described,
this difficulty is removed; therefore prefer in the first instance to
concentrate the fluid to about three or four degrees Beaumé above the
density commonly employed, and to allow the matters to cool down as
low as the temperature of the season will readily admit of, whereby a
large quantity of sugar may be crystallized and separated from the
treacle by this process of pressing than is usually obtained from syrups
of a like quality. And here I would remark, that in such cases, as the
syrups are brought up to a greater density than usual, and are intended
to be cooled as much as possible, I prefer to pour such concentrated
matters into shallow trays, so as to form a cake of a suitable size for
the bag in which it is to be pressed. The saccharine matters thus con-
centrated and cooled down are to be subjected both to cold and hot
pressure, which I prefer to effect in the following manner :—
The press plates are composed of two parts, in one of which a number
of channels are formed, which are distributed as evenly as possible over
the surface of the plate, and which communicates at one end of the
plate with an inlet pipe, and at the other end with an outlet pipe; the
other part of the plate is made without grooves, and is firmly rivetted to
the first named one in such a manner as to cover over the channels and
convert them into a series of internal passages, which traverse the
compound plate in such a manner as to form a passage for steam or
water to circulate in. The whole of the rivet heads are to be counter-
sunk, and the plate galvanized, which will prevent its rusting, and
render the joints and rivets secure from leakage. Each side is then to
be covered with wire gauze, as before described. These press plates are
supported in the press upon bars or pins, and cach end of them are to
be connected by a jointed or flexible pipe to an inlet and outlet pipe.
The mode of operating with them is as follows:-the matters are first
put into the bags, which are then placed between the plates, which are

page_text: cold; the press is gradually brought up during a period of about two
hours, at the end of which time it should be about equal to half a ton
on each superficial inch of the bag. Hot water or steam of low pressure
may then be made to pass through the passages formed in the plates.
The heat thus communicated to the sugar will render the small remaining
portion of treacle sufficiently fluid to run out. After continuing the
pressure for half or one hour the press may be let down, and the bags
removed; meanwhile cold water is to be passed through the plates to
render them sufficiently cool to operate on a fresh set of bags. It will
be observed in this mode of treating the matters first in the cold state,
that nearly all the fluid portions are removed previous to the application
of heat, and consequently, when heat is applied to finish the process, that
only a very small quantity of crystallized sugar will be dissolved, owing
to the sunal quantity of: fluid matter still retained among the crystals.
If it be desired to take the pressed sugar into the market without
crystallizing it, the color and purity of it may be further improved by
moistening it with water or liquor, and then giving it a second pressure,
which will add much to the whiteness of the product. When the cakes
are removed from the bags they should be passed through a roller mill,
so constructed that one of the rollers moves at a greater speed than the
other, whereby the whole mass will be reduced to a state of powder, and
will be fit for market. The treacle running from the press will require no
further process to render it fit for sale. But all low sugars that exhibit
little or no grain from having had the glucose matters separated from
them by pressure in the manner herein described, may be dissolved and
re-crystallized alone; or they may be mixed with a solution of raw sugar
after it leaves the charcoal filter, or with other saccharine fluids as have
not been much injured by the application of heat in the various opera-
tions to which they may have been subjected. The latter mode of
manufacturing and treating sugar that has been previously separated
from its mother liquor by mechanical means is fully described in a
Patent which I have obtained, and which bears even date herewith.
.
In the manufacture of sugar from West India or other molasses, two
modes may be employed in preparing it for the pressing process. By one
mode the molasses simply require filtering through bags, or they may

page_text: "
be blown up
before filtering, but no water is to be added. After the
filtration has taken place the molasses are to be highly concentrated, put
into crystallizing vessels or shallow trays, as before described, and after
crystallization has taken place the fluid and solid saccharine matters are
to be separated by pressure, as before described in the treatment of
bastard sugar; the crystallized matter may also be treated in like man-
ner. The other mode of treating molasses differ only in first reducing
their density to about 27 or 30 degrees Beaumé, passing the liquor
through animal charcoal, after which it is to be concentrated, and then
pressed and treated by either of the methods before described in
reference to the manufacture of bastard sugar. So likewise in the
manufacture of sugar from scum liquor or other low saccharine pro-
ducts obtained by washing or cleansing raw sugars a similar treatment
is to be observed.
I am aware that the application of the hydrostatic press to remove
part of the glucose coloring matter from raw sugar is not new, its use
for such purpose having been described in the Specification of a Patent
several years ago. I therefore desire to have it understood that I do
not lay any claim to the use of the hydrostatic press for the purpose of
treating or pressing raw sugar. But what I claim is, -
First, the mode herein described of treating bastard sugar and low
saccharine products obtained in processes of refining sugar herein
mentioned.
Second, claim the combined agency of heat and pressure for the
purpose of separating the solid from the fluid parts of bastard sugar
and other low products obtained in the manufacture and refining of
sugar.
Third, I claim the increasing the density of sugar solutions in the
process of evaporation beyond the point which will admit of the
drainage of the syrup from them by the action of gravity, and also
cooling the saune below the temperature which would admit of a like
drainage by the same means when such cooled and concentrated matters
are to be subjected to pressure and heat for the purpose of separating
the glucose matter therefrom.
Fourth, I claim, the use of shallow trays for crystallizing cakes of

page_text: sugar that are afterwards to be pressed for the purpose of separating
the glucose matters therefrom.
Fifth, I claim dissolving pressed cakes of bastard sugar in a filtered
solution of raw sugar, in order that such bastard sugar may form part of
the refined product.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bessemer, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
HENRY BESSEMER. (L.S.)