AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Blair and John Aitken Turnbull, both of
Greenock, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, for the Inven-
Sealed the 1st February 1876, and dated the 9th December 1875..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Blair and John
Aitken Turnbull at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 9th December 1875.
We, ROBERT BLAIR and JOHN AITKEN TURNBULL, both of Greenock,
in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR,"
to be as follows, that is to say :-
>
This Invention which relates to an improvement in the manufacture
of sugar has for its object to accelerate and facilitate the crystallizing.
of sugar from saccharine liquors, and at the same time to produce larger
crystals at less expense than under existing methods.
The Invention consists in avoiding the time occupied in the first
formation from saccharine liquors of nuclei or points of deposit in the

page_text: vacuum pan, and in lieu thereof first placing a portion of the liquor into
the vaccuum pan, to which portion of the liquor is then added a quantity
of sugar in the crystalline state, after the crystalline sugar is thus added
to the liquor the boiling is proceeded with in the usual manner, with
the advantage that by adding crystalline sugar to the solution in the
manner described a lower temperature is employed, the sugar being
thus less injured and the largest crystals are rapidly formed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Blair and John Aitken Turnbull in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
BLAIR and JOHN AITKEN TURNBULL, both of Greenock, in the County
of Renfrew, North Britain, send greeting.
J 2013
WHEREAS. Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in
the 39th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Robert Blair and John
Aitken Turnbull, Her special license, that we, the said Robert Blair
and John Aitken Turnbull, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Robert Blair and John Aitken Turnbull,
our executors, administrators, or 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 "An
IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Robert Blair and John Aitken Turnbull, by
an instrument in writing under our 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 we, the said Robert Blair and John Aitken
Turnbull, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say
Our said Invention relates to improvements in the crystallization of:
sugar:
"
The Invention consists in charging saccharine liquor at or about a
certain density into the vacuum pan, and in then adding a certain
quantity of sugar in the crystalline state to the liquor in the pan before
commencing to boil or concentrate it. By this means a known or
definite quantity of nuclei or points of deposit are at once obtained in
the liquor, whilst the liquor is at a lighter density than that which will
produce nuclei or points of deposit by the ordinary process of con-
centration by boiling.
'
By this Invention the ordinary process of forming and disseminating"
nuclei or points of deposit by concentration or boiling is avoided, and as
the concentration of the liquor to which the crystalline sugar has been
added proceeds the sugar thereby separated from the liquor becomes
built up on the grains which have been mechanically introduced into
the liquid, and thereby large and uniform crystals are formed, the boiling:
or concentration being conducted at a lower temperature and more
rapidly than under the existing practice.
According to a modified method of working our improvement a
quantity of sugar in the crystalline state is added to the saccharine
liquor before the latter is charged into the vacuum pan. This mixed
portion of liquor and crystalline sugar is afterwards charged into the
vacuum pan, after which the boiling or concentration is proceeded with
in the same manner as above described.
In conducting our improvement in either manner herein-before
described we use the liquor at the normal density of 28° Beaumé, and to
75 gallons or 12 cubic feet of saccharine liquor at that density we
add 1 ton of crystalline sugar. These are the proportions which we
find to give the best results, but results nearly as good may be obtained
by using a quantity of saccharine liquor varying between the limits of
70 and 82 gallons. If the liquor is above or below the density we have
found to be best, namely 28° Beaumé, then the proportion of crystalline

page_text: sugar will be accordingly varied. If below that density the proportions
of sugar will be more; if above, less.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our
said Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which the
same is or may be used or carried into practical effect, we would
observe in conclusion that we are aware it has been previously.
proposed to facilitate and accelerate the deposit of sugar from saccharine
solutions by adding a quantity of crystalline sugar to a concentrated
solution. The essence then of our Invention consists in having
discovered that by adding crystalline sugar to a saccharine solution of a
certain density before being boiled or concentrated, and afterwards
concentrating it by boiling rapidly or at a low temperature, the
crystalline sugar and saccharine solution being in certain proportions,
we on the one hand prevent the formation of small grains of sugar, and
on the other hand produce the large and uniform crystals; what then
we consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Inven-
tion secured to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,
the adding of crystalline sugar to saccharine solutions before being
concentrated in or about the proportions set forth, and then by boiling
the saccharine solution, thus mechanically charged with crystalline
sugar developing therein the largest crystals, substantially as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said. Robert Blair and John Aitken
Turnbull have hereunto set our hands and seals. this Second