IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PURIFICATION OF SUGAR SOLUTIONS. ́
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Haughton Gill and George Martineau,
both of 6, Christian Street, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PURIFICATION OF SUGAR SOLUTIONS.´
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Haughton
Gill and George Martineau at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 29th September 1874.
WC, CHARLES HAUGHTON GILL and GEORGE MARTINEAU, both of
6, Christian Street, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVIMENTS IN THE PURIFICATION OF
SUGAR SOLUTIONS," to be as follows :-
This Invention has for its object the separation from sugar solutions of
iron and other bodies precipitated by tannin. For this purpose wo
add to the sugar solutions an excess of tannin, and subsequently
remove this excess of tannin from the solutions by the addition of
alumina.

page_text: The alumina may either be precipitated in the solution or may have
been previously precipitated.
We are aware that tannin has previously been used for the precipitation
of sugar solutions, but the peculiarity of this Invention consists in the
removal of the excess of tannin from the sugar solutions by means of i
alumina, as above described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Haughton Gill and George Martincau in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHARLES
HAUGHTON GILL and GEORGE MARTINEAU, both of 6, Christian Street,
in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Charles Haughton Gill and George
Martineau, Her special licence that we, the said Charles Haughton
Gill and George Martineau, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said Charles Haughton Gill and George Martineau,
our 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 PURIFICATION OF SUGAR SOLUTIONS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that we, the said Charles Haughton Gill and
George Martineau, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Haughton Gill, on behalf
of myself and the said George Martineau, 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:-
This Invention has for its object the separation from sugar solutions
of iron and other bodies, such as albumen, which are precipitated by
tannin. For this purpose we add to the sugar solutions an excess of
tannin, and subsequently remove this excess of tannin from the solutions
by the addition of alumina.
The alumina may either be precipitated in the solution or may have
been previously precipitated. The sugar solution subjected to this
process may be the crude cane, or other juice, or a solution of raw sugar,
or the syrups which drain or are separated by the centrifugal machinery
or otherwise, from sugar crystals.
By preference we boil the sugar solution with the tannin, and then
add alumina which has been precipitated from a solution of sulphate of
alumina by means of whiting or carbonate of lime. After boiling the
solution is passed through bag filters, and is then treated in the usual
way by filtration through animal charcoal; afterwards it is evaporated
and crystallised.
We are aware that tannin has previously been used for the purification
of sugar solutions, but the peculiarity of this Invention consists in the
removal of the excess of tannin from the sugar solutions by means of
alumina, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Haughton Gill, have here-
11.