IMPROVEMENTS IN REFINING SUGAR
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
WRIGHT, of Hermitage Terrace, in the Parish of Bow, in the County of
Middlesex, Sugar Refiner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixth day of July, in
the tenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successo15, give
and grant unto me, the Richard Wright, my exors, adññors, and assigns,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Richard Wiight, my exors, adiñois, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Richard Wright, my exors, adiñois, or assigns, should at any time agice
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFINING SUGAR;" in which said I.etters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Richard Wright, shall 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 Her said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Wright, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say-
The Invention is for refining and improving the quality of raw sugars
The building or sugar house to be employed should not be less than forty
feet in height, with three or four floors. A sheet-iron cylinder of about thirty
inches diameter and twenty-five feet in length is to be fixed from the upper
floor and downwards through the next, leaving about one foot above the
upper floor, to which is to be fitted a funnel of about two feet long, the upper
diameter being about three feet. On different sides of the cylinder, about
five feet distant from each other, are to be inserted small steam pipes (half
inch bore), connected with the main pipe from a steam boiler having the ends
inside the cylinder turned downwards A large box for receiving the sugar
is to be placed on the floor beneath the lower end of the cylinder. The sugar
being first roughly broken or ground through a mill, high-pressure steam, at
from forty to fifty pounds the square inch, is to be turned on from the boiler,
and the sugar to be operated on is to be passed through a coarse sieve (with
wires half an inch apart suspended over the funnel of the cylinder), and when
large quantities are to be worked it would be better to have a sieve actuated
by a crank and worked by a steam engine. The sugar in falling through the
cylinder into the box placed to receive it becomes warm and slightly moistened,
in which state it is to be placed in a powerful press, which I do by making
the sugar into cakes of about eighteen inches square and three or four inches
thick, for which purpose I use coarse linen cloth or other material laid upon
an ion press plate, using a wooden frame of the above dimensions to forin it,
which I remove on putting the cake into the press. When several of these
cakes have been placed in the press the power is to be applied, when the
coloring matter in the sugar will be rapidly expelled. After the sugar has
been gradually and fully pressed for three or four hours, it may be taken out
and passed through a mill, when it will be in good marketable condition and
of a fine color. The drainage from the press will contain a considerable
portion of sugar of a gummy adhesive matter, of what is termed unchrystal-
lizable sugar, and of coloring matter, and the same is to be treated as follows
_ It is first to be dissolved in boiling water until the density marks twenty
degrees on Beaumé's saccharometer, and to every one hundred gallons is to
be added from one pound to one pound and a half of sulphuric acid, of specific
gravity 1845°, previously mixed with one gallon of water. After allowing
the mixture to boil for five minutes, the acid is to be saturated with carbonate

page_text: of lime or chalk, and the solution of sugar is to be boiled with animal chai-
coal in the usual way, or filtered. The mode of filtration which I adopt is
the following:-A, A, A, A, (see Drawing) represent four cylinders open at
top and closed at the bottom, where cocks are inserted, the cylinders may be
of any size, according to the quantity of sugar to be discolored. B, B, B, B,
are four cisterns with cocks to supply the filters. C, C, C, C, are four cisteins
to receive the filtered syrup Immersed in the cisterns C, C, C, C, aio four
pipes with cocks D, D, D, D, communicating with the main pipe, which is
worked by the pump E. The sing main I of the pump supplies each of
the four cisterns B, the supply being regulated by the cocks G. II, II, II, H,
are steam pipes immersed in the cisterns both above and below the filters, to
keep the syrup at an elevated temperature. The following is the method of
using this apparatus.-The syrup is allowed to percolate from the first cis-
tein B through the filter A into the cistern beneath marked C. If not
sufficiently "discolored," it is pumped into the cistern 2 B by pump E, and
passed through filter 2 A, and so on through the four filters. When the first
filter is exhausted it is recharged, and this then becomes the last filter through
which the syrup is made to pass. By the above mode of filtration a greater
degree of "discoloration" is effected, and a more regular method of producing
that "discoloration" is obtained, at the same time much less charcoal is used
than by other plans hitherto adopted. After filtration the solution of sugar is
to be evaporated to a suitable density and immediately transferied to non pans,
varying in size from fifty to two hundred gallons, each having conical bottoms,
which may be ranged on the floor beneath the boiling floor. I adopt these
pans in preference to the moulds or forms ordinarily used by sugar refiners,
because, owing to the syrup being in a mass, the process of crystallization goes
on in manner far better than it does when the space is confined, the resulting
crystals being larger, more sparkling, and their facets more truly defined; and
if the sugar has orginally been of good quality crystallization will take place
in a few days. The sugar thus obtained may, if required, be made into cakes
as in the former instance, and placed in the press for four or five hours, when
it will be finished, and may then be ground and packed for sale. Should
sufficient power not have been applied, an airing or drying room fitted with
suitable apparatus is to be used; the apparatus may be varied and the mode
of heating may be by steam, water, or by flues, but I prefer a room heated by
steam and fitted with trays of convenient size, having canvas bottoms, upon
which the sugar is to be strewed for a few hours previous to being ware-
housed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in