IMPROVED MEANS TO BE IMPLOYED IN MANUFACTURING BEETROOT AND OTHER VEGETABLE SUB- STANCES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING SACHARINE MATTER THEREFROM;
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
CROSLEY, of Hooper Square, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS, in consequence of a communication made to me by a certain
Foreigner residing abroad, I am in possession of an Invention of "IMPROVED
MEANS TO BE IMPLOYED IN MANUFACTURING BEETROOT AND OTHER VEGETABLE SUB-
STANCES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING SACHARINE MATTER THEREFROM;" and
whereas Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Eleventh day of November, in the first year of Her reign, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry Crosley,
Her especial licence, that I, the said Henry Crosley, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Crosley, my
executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, ase, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all Her
said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, "the said Invention;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Henry
Crosley, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to.
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and

page_text: process before described. A is the furnace. B, a hot-air coiled iron pipe flue,
passing up into the general chimney C; this coiled flue heats the air in the
chamber D; and from this chamber the heated air passes through the air
pipes E, F, into the lower part of the drying chambers G, H, and I, J. In
cach of these drying chambers are sets of drawers M, N, having wire bottoms
to each drawer on which the pieces of cut beetroot are placed, and the hot
air, coming into the lower parts G, I, of the drying chambers, passes up
through the drawers to the upper parts H, J, drying the cut pieces on its way,
and passes off with the vapour which rises from the pieces of root into the
air flues K, L, and thence into the general chimney at C. The heat of the
stove should be from 54° to 188° degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, and
the more rapidly the drying is effected at these temperatures the better. The
great desideratum in drying the cut pieces of the root consists in employing
currents of atmospheric air heated to a proper degree of temperature, and in
quantity sufficient, to carry off the aqueous part of the root; but if the root
after it is cut is exposed to a heat too intense the saccharine part of the said
root would be chemically altered or decomposed; or, if the said pieces of root
were put into a close oven, then, as the aqueous parts would not be carried
off by currents of air, the saccharine parts of the root would be again altered
or decomposed; consequently, it is always needful for drying the cut root to
employ strong currents of atmospheric air heated to a proper temperature,
and for the promotion of these currents the side air flues shewn by the arrows
at P, P, P, P, are introduced. The cut pieces of root having been dried by
the means described and suggested, they should be pounded or broken up.
about as fine as coarse ground malt, and in this state must be mashed (which
operation may be performed in an ordinary brewer's mash tun) with a milk
of lime made in the proportion of about 4 pounds weight of lime when un-
slacked (which must, however, be slacked before used) to five gallons of warm
water, which will be enough (or thereabouts) for one hundred pounds weight
of ground roots. The operation of mashing or admixing the dried and ground
roots with the milk of lime, prepared as herein-after stated, must, however, be
effected in such way that the ground roots and the milk of lime are thoroughly
and properly amalgamated or brought in contact with each other, until the said
substances form together a clammy or glutinous mass from which the saccha-
rine matter is to be extracted. by the means which I will now proceed to
describe:-I put the said clammy or glutinous mass into a series of wooden
or other tubs or vessels of a size suitable for the quantity of the said mass
that is to be operated upon, and arranged as shewn at Figures 2 and 3
(which I will now describe), or in any other convenient manner.

page_text: In Figures 2 and 3, the parts marked a represent a series of tubs as before
mentioned; the parts marked Q represent pipes leading from the bottom of
one tub to about the middle of the next in the series. And the parts marked c
are stopcocks in the said pipes; the parts marked S are discharge and test
cocks; the parts marked T are air pipes, such as are usually fixed in filters;
the dotted lines marked R represent the greatest height to which the tubs
should at any time be charged with the glutinous mass; and the dotted lines
marked W, the height of the water above the mass. In each of the said
tubs or vessels a false bottom marked f, made of wood, or osier, or basket
work, or any other proper material; or a false bottom, constructed in any of
the well-known ways in which the false bottom of filters are made, is placed
at a proper distance above the real bottom. The false bottom must be made
of a sufficiently open material to admit the saccharine matter of the root con-
tained in the previously described mass to pass through it. It is also neces-
sary that the said tubs should have floats made of wood, ozier, or basket work,
or any other suitable material, and, if of wood, must be pierced with holes;
these floats must be of a size and shape to descend easily into their respective
tubs, and are to be placed upon and in contact with the said mass when put
into the tubs. The tubs being thus arranged, the said glutinous mass must
be divided into as many equal parts as there are tubs or vessels for effecting
the operation of extracting the saccharine matter contained in it; and such
mass being put into the said tubs or vessels (which should be charged there-
with to about half their depth), the floats before described must be put
into each tub or vessel upon the clammy and glutinous mass contained therein,
and water added upon the first of the series at and about and between the
temperatures of 166° to 212° degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer. It may also
be advantageous for making the extract to place between the false and real
bottom of each tub or vessel that form the series a coil of pipe 9, 9, and to
connect the said coils to each other for steam to circulate there through, and
thereby to keep the said clammy and glutinous mass contained in the said tubs
or vessels at a proper temperature (say about from 166° to 212° of Fahrenheit)
during the operation of extracting the saccharine matter therefrom. The hot
water must be permitted to run upon the clammy or glutinous mass that has
been put into the first tub or vessel of the series until there is a column of water
of about one foot above the said mass, which column of water may remain
thereon (by using the stopcock in the connecting pipe) for the period of about
ten minutes, after which the stopcocks of all the pipes must be opened, and
the first tub or vessel must then be gradually and from time to time supplied
with hot water in quantity proportionate to the quantity of saccharine matter

page_text: which filters through into the second and other tubs or vessels of the series;
and such, supply or pouring of water into the first tub or vessel upon the said
clammy and glutinous mass contained therein must be continued from time
to time, until, by the indication of Beaume's aerometer standing at zero, in.
the liquid or extract which may be drawn off by the test cock placed between
the false and the real bottom from the said first tub or vessel, it is ascertained
that the whole of the saccharine matter has been extracted from the clammy
and glutinous mass in the said first tub or vessel.. The extract of saccharine
matter, thus obtained from the clammy. and glutinous mass under operation:
in the first tub or vessel having, by means of the pipe before described, passed
onward therefrom into and upon the mass in the second and other tubs or.
vessels of the series, the supply of water in the first tub or vessel must then:
cease, and be given to the second tub of the series, and this arrangement of
course causes the saccharine matter extracted from the mass in the second
tub or vessel to be in a more concentrated state than the extract obtained
from the first tub or vessel, and, as it passes onward to the third and other-
tubs or vessels of the series, the degree of concentration, increases, and thus.
by the operation of pouring water upon the said clammy and glutinous mass,
in the first tub or vessel, until the saccharine matter contained in that mass.
is completely extracted; and afterwards, by the operation of pouring water.
upon the mass in the second tub or vessel, until the saccharine matter
contained in that mass is completely extracted; and so continuing the operation
of pouring water in succession on, the masses in all the remaining tubs or
vessels of the series, until the whole of the saccharine matter contained in the
said several masses in the said tubs or vessels is extracted, (and this can be
ascertained by the aerometer of Beaumé, in the way before described,) a
complete extract of the saccharine matter in the root is obtained in a concen-.
trated state in the last tub or vessel, of the series, whence it may be drawn
off from time to time as required, according as the operations have been more
or less judiciously managed: the said extract will vary from the specific
gravity of 16° to 20° degrees by the aerometer of Beaumé. The extract of
the saccharine matter contained in the root, having been obtained by the.
improved means herein before described, must, then be filtered once, twice,
or oftener (according to the purity and decoloured state required for syrup), in
the ordinary manner, or through coarse-grained animal charcoal, in any of
the filters known or in use; and such filtered extract may forthwith, be
evaporated to the consistence of syrup, or to the consistence or proof of
crystallization for the production of sugar in the ordinary manner. Now, it
is evident, though I have taken the vegetable called beetroot for the purposes

page_text: of explaining the said Invention, yet, that the improved means which I have
herein-before described as employed in manufacturing beetroot may, with
suitable modifications be equally well applied to and for extracting the
saccharine matter contained in other vegetable substances, such as the sugar
canc, the stalks of Indian corn, potatoes, and other roots; nevertheless,
according to the experience gained by the trials and experiments made upon
various vegetable substances of the growth and production of Europe, it
appears that preference is to be given to the employment of beetroot when
the production of sugar is the object in view. It may be as well here to
remark, that the said Invention has peculiar and important advantages, inas-
much as the aqueous part of the beetroot, by the drying process, is separated
from the saccharine and other parts, and thereby the crude material or root
is reduced to about one fifth of the weight of the beetroot in its natural state,
when taken out of the earth in which it has been cultivated, which, with a
view to exportation or importation, is a great object; and also because a much
larger portion of the saccharine matter contained in the beetroot may, by
the means before described, be extracted therefrom; while by the said
improved means, as far as regards the drying process, the saccharine matter
in the beetroot may be preserved for a considerable period of time without
deterioration, thus enabling the manufacturer to work all the year round,
which important advantage cannot be obtained by any method hitherto
employed and used for preserving the beetroot in its natural state, for the
purpose of subsequently extracting the saccharine matter contained in the
root.
Now whereas I do hereby claim as the said Invention, first, the cutting,
drying, and bruising and breaking up of vegetable substances in manner
aforesaid, preparatory to obtaining a saccharine extract therefrom; and
secondly, the mode herein-before described of treating suitable vegetable sub-
stances, when so prepared, with milk of lime, and thus obtaining therefrom the
clammy or glutinous mass aforesaid without the use of sulphuric acid; and
lastly, the mode of treating the said mass so obtained as aforesaid in a
series of vessels, and obtaining therefrom the saccharine extract required in a
concentrated state, by the simple process of percolation in manner herein-
before described. And the said Invention being, to the best of my knowledge
and belief, entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her said
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
Her Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, nor in any of
Her said Majesty's Colonies or Plantations abroad, I do hereby declare this
to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my

page_text: said Specification doth comply, in all respects, fully and without reserve or
disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent contained. Wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive right
and privilege to the said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Crosley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of May, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-eight