CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANNER REFINING SUGAR, AND OF FORMING SUGAR LOAVES OF A CERTAIN DESCRIPTION
Year: 1810

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BELL, of Fieldgate Street, Whitechapel, in the County of Middlesex, Sugar
Refiner, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date the Seventeenth day of May, in the fiftieth
year of His reign, give and grant to me, the said James Bell, His special
licence that I, the said James Bell, during the term of years therein men-
tioned, should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within England,.
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, exclusively in manner therein
mentioned, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANNER
REFINING SUGAR, AND OF FORMING SUGAR LOAVES OF A CERTAIN DESCRIPTION," in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that I, the said
James Bell, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's.
High Court of Chancery within two calendar months after the date of the
said Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Bell, do hereby describe my said Invention, as follows:-
My improvements in the manner of refining sugar will be best understood
by first describing the present method, in which certain parts of the process of
refining sugar are carried on, and the objections to which this method is
liable according to the present method, it is the practice of sugar refiners to

page_text: place the moulds upon pots, both made of pottery, into which the syrup drops
from the moulds containing the sugar. The objections to the use of pots for
collecting the syrups may be classed under the following heads :-
1st. The time and labour of the workinen in collecting the syrup from the
numerous pots into large pots, called gathering pots, and conveying the syrup
in these large pots into the pans.
2dly. The difficulty, of. ascertaining the quantity, and quality of the syrup
obtained from each compliment or class of sugars under process, and also the
difficulty of catching the precise time when the moulds and pots, ought to be
reset, in order to keep separate the different qualities of syrup obtainable from
each mould.
3dly. The tendency of the syrup to turn acid by remaining in the pots in the
upper parts of the sugar, house.
4th. The time and labour of the workmen in scraping the pots previously to
taking stock; and the waste of sugar occasioned by what remains* notwith-
standing in parts of the pots where it cannot. bo" scraped off, and also. by the
splashing of the syrup on the outside of the pots, in consequence of their being
frequently emptied, which syrup becomes; in a great measure, useless from its
turning acid, and, being mixed with dirt.
5thly. The expence of new pots to replace the breakage of the old ones, and
the waste and loss of syrup which these new pots absorb.
6th. The loss of the space in the floors occupied by the gathering pots, and
the trouble and inconvenience of. carrying them when full to the place where
they are to be emptied.into the pans...
convey it, into
These trunks
These objections to the use of pots will point-out-the-more-distinctly-my-
improvement in this part of the process of refining sugar, which is to super-
sede the use of pots, by placing trunks or gutters under the moulds in such
manner as to receive the syrup dropping from them, and to
cisterns, from whence it may be again conveyed into the pans.
or gutters may be made of convenient lengths, with holes in the upper side of
them, in which (at particular distances, suitable to the different sizes of the
moulds containing the sugar under process) the tips or points of the moulds
may be inserted or set, and the upper side of these trunks or gutters should be
so made as that it may be taken off for the purpose of cleaning the inside of
them. These trunks or gutters, and also the trunks, gutters, and pipes after-
wards mentioned, may be formed of any substance which will not injure the
sugar, such as wood, pottery, artificial stone, or metal, or they may be
composed partly of one such substance-and partly of another. They should be
placed in an inclining or slanting, direction, with an inclination- sufficient to

page_text: make the syrup run into another gutter placed under their lower extremity, so
as to conduct the syrup into pipes communicating with cisterns appropriated
to different syrups, which may be conveyed, with pleasure, from these cisterns
into the pans, by means of pipes and stop cocks. These main gutters may be
placed above or under the floor, as convenience may require; but if placed
under the floor, the syrup running from the trunks or gutters on which the
moulds are placed must be conducted by pipes or funnels into the lower or main
gutters, from whence it may be conducted into the pipes communicating with
the cisterns. In order that this improvement may be better understood, a.
Drawing of it is annexed, and in describing the parts of this Drawing, the.
above-mentioned trunks or gutters, upon which the moulds are to be placed to
receive the syrups, shall be called the collecting gutters, and the trunks or
gutters into which the syrups pass from the former into the latter shall be..
called the main or conducting gutters, which convey the syrup into the pipes.
by which it is conveyed into the cisterns. In the annexed Drawing, A repre-
sents the collecting trunks; B, the funnels; C, the main or conducting gutters,
which convey the syrup into the pipes by which it is to be conveyed into the
cisterns D. These pipes should be made as the pipes used in sugar houses
are at present, so as to be taken to pieces for the purpose of being cleaned,
and also so that they may be shifted from place to place, and made to pass
through holes in the floors, as situation may require, for conducting the
syrups into the cisterns made to receive them, which cisterns do not require
any particular description, and may be made of any material of which cisterns.
are generally formed. But in order the more easily to keep separate the
different qualities of syrup, cach cistern should be divided into compartments
to receive the different syrups, the bottom or lower part of each of which
compartments should be provided with a pipe and stop cock, to convey the syrup
in it at pleasure into the pans. The cisterns should be placed in a cool
situation, and by inspecting the syrups running into them from the pipes their
quality may be readily ascertained; for which purpose the lower extremity of
the pipes should be so placed as that the syrup may be seen running or
dropping from them into the cistern; and the lower extremity of these pipes
being also so constructed as that the syrup may be conveyed into any com-
partment in the cistern at pleasure; syrups of different qualities may be thus
easily separated, and kept separate. The quantity of syrup thus brought into
each compartment can also, at all times, be accurately ascertained by an
index or scale marked upon it, or by a guage, which may be placed in it.
The above appears to me to exhaust the description of my improvement in the
manner of refining sugar, which supersedes, the use of pots.

page_text: With regard to that part of my improvement which relates to the manner
of forming sugar loaves of a particular description, it also will be best under-
stood by first describing the manner of forming sugar loaves at present, so far
as relates to my improvement; these are at present formed of a conic shape.
Very considerable attention has been paid to please the eye in the form given to
the loaves, and the most taper form has been preferred. But sugar loaves have
hitherto been formed only with plain or smooth coats or sides, that is, plain or
smooth on the outside. Now, my Invention in this respect consists in making
the loaves, whatever may be their size, fluted on the outside, or with such
stripes, figures, ornaments, or devices as fancy may suggest. In order to
understand how this is to be done, it is necessary to distinguish between
different sorts of sugar loaves; in regard to such loaves, the largest of which
are called lumps, all of them being formed in pottery moulds, the loaves may be
made of any fluted or striped appearance on the outside by the manufacturer
giving to the mould, in the inside, the form meant to be impressed upon the
outside of the loaves, and the loaves, so fluted or striped, may be taken, when
duly refined or manufactured, out of the moulds in the same manner that the
plain ones are at present. This is one way in which a fluted or striped form
may be given to sugar loaves while under process; but this may be done in
another manner, as follows:-Supposing the loaves to be formed in a plain
pottery mould, as at present, when they are taken out of the mould in a soft
state, before being put into the stove, let them be forced or pressed into a
metal mould, nearly of the same size and shape, fluted or striped in the inside,
or having described upon its inside such figures, ornaments, or devices as are
meant to be represented or impressed on the outside of the sugar loaf; if the
outside of the sugar loaf is meant only to be fluted or striped, or to have
devices running in straight lines from the top to the bottom of the cone, the
metal mould may be used whole and entire, as metal moulds for forming
powdered sugar, afterwards mentioned, are at present, and the sugar loaf, after
having received the impression meant to be given to it, can be taken out of
the mould as plain loaves are taken out of the plain metal moulds already in
use. But if it is meant to have figures or devices running transversely, or
otherwise than from top to bottom of the cone upon the sugar loaf, the metal
mould must be made in two pieces, with douls, that is, corresponding pivots
and holes, or with clasps and hinges, so that it may be kept together or shut,
until the sugar loaf shall have received the impression meant to be given to it,
and afterwards taken asunder or opened, so that the sugar loaf may be taken
out. Sugar loaves have already received a plain form by means of a metal
mould, and the practice has generally been to take refined sugar loaves or

page_text: lumps, after having been formed in pottery moulds, and while yet in a soft or
damp state, and before they are stove dried, to shave, cut, or bruise them
down into a powder, which is compressed in metal moulds, and being therein
forced down by means of a heavy hammer, it receives the form of the mould,
from whence it is afterwards taken out in a hardish state, and afterwards
dried. The chief difference, therefore, in this case between my method and
that now followed consists in the difference of the mould; mine is fluted or
striped, or has figures, orniments, or devices in the inside of it, whereas the
mould used at present is plain. No particular directions are necessary for
making the moulds, as they can be made fluted or striped, or with any such
figures, ornaments, or devices as the sugar refiner may desire, by a workman
who can make them plain, assisted by an artificer accustomed to cut and carve
figures, devices, and ornaments on metal. But in order, have the fluting or
stripes of the figures, ornaments, or devices cut, engraved, or otherwise made
and polished in the inside, the mould should be made in two pieces, which can
afterwards be soldered together, or the two pieces may be joined together
by douls, or by hinges and clasps, so as to be taken asunder, or opened or
shut at pleasure. The bottom of the sugar loaf has also been made plain, but
by my method any mark, letter, name, ornament, figure, or device which the
sugar refiner may choose may be impressed upon it, either by means of a dye,
or plate, or piece of metal having designed, engraved, or cut thereon the
particular letter, name, ornament, figure, or device meant to be represented
on the bottom of the sugar loaf.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Bell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of July, in the year One thousand