IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING SACCHARINE FLUIDS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Armand Gilbee, of No. 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN TREATING SACCHARINE FLUIDS."-A communication from abroad by
Sealed the 24th July 1860, and dated the 9th February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Armand Gilbee
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 9th February 1860.
I, WILLIAM ARMAND GILBEE, of No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TREATING SACCHARINE FLUIDS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
The Invention communicated to me consists in the employment of alcohol
alone for treating syrups already epurated in part and in a certain manner,
and thereby obtaining in the manufacture of sugar greater facility in the
working and better products. The process is as follows:-
Vegetable saccharine fluids, extracted either by maceration or by pressure,
are first desiccated by the usual lime process, and then saturated with carbonic
or other suitable acid simply concentrated, thick, or in presence of animal
carbon in fine powder at from 18° to 25° Beaume; the syrups are then mixed
with alcohol in such proportion as to cause the precipitation of the impurities
therein, viz., about 3 volumes of alcohol at 93° to 1 volume of syrup marking

page_text: 20° Beaume at boiling heat; this deposit when formed is separated by
decantation, and the alcoholic saccharine liquor is sufficiently pure to be
conducted directly to the baking oven after the volatilization of the alcohol
in an evaporating and distilling apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Armand Gilbee in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 3rd August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ARMAND GILBEE, of No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Armand Gilbee, Her special licence that I, the said
William Armand Gilbee, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Armand Gilbee, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thercafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING SACCHARINE FLUIDS," a com-
munication from abroad by Edmond Pesier, of Valenciennes, France, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Armand Gilbee, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 per-
formed, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Armand Gilbee, 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, that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me relates to improvements on a former
Patent, dated 27th March 1858, and consists in the employment of alcohol

page_text: alone for treating syrups already purified in part and in a certain manner, and
thereby obtaining in the manufacture of sugar greater facility in the working
and better products.
Alcohol is introduced into syrups marking at boiling point from 20° to 25°
Beaumè, in such proportion that the mixture will mark from 60° to 70° by
Gay Lussac's alcoholometer, and produces an instantaneous and abundant
precipitate of mineral and organic matters, and retains in solution the sugar
disengaged from the greater part of the impurities united with it. The
alcoholic liquor is then transferred to a distilling apparatus, when it deposits
in the still a syrup which can be boiled direct, and the alcohol. being volatilized
and condensed, it is poured into a receiver, whence it can be drawn. out for
another operation.
.
The renovation of the alcohol being continuous during the treatment of the
syrups, it will be understood that the quantity necessary for the requirements
of an establishment will be comparatively small. This renovation, which
should be produced at a certain degree of alcoholic richness, does not
necessitate the employment of expensive rectifying apparatus, as the syrup
introduced at a fixed degree of concentration passes out at least at the same
degree from the evaporating apparatus, and cannot under these conditions give
out water to the alcohol, and thereby perceptibly diminish its strength. To
purify the syrups concentrated to 20° Beaumè, it is necessary to use three
times its volume of alcohol at 93°. As the production of alcohol at such a
high degree is difficult, it is preferable to employ syrup concentrated to 25°
Beaumè, and alcohol at 88°, in the proportion of four volumes, by which the
saine result is obtained; thus by modifying the degree of concentration of the
syrups, the quantity as well as the strength of the alcohol may be varied.
By this mode of operating, and with care in the details, the loss of alcohol.
may be reduced so as to become almost insignificant. The syrups and alcohol
are introduced and are mixed together in well-closed vessels, furnished with
agitators. The evaporating and distilling apparatus is constructed so as to
prevent leakage; the air displaced from the apparatus before escaping is made
to pass through water in sufficient quantity to retain the alcohol which it
carries with it; this water is rendered slightly alcoholic, and serves at intervals
to dissolve the deposits which are freed from alcohol by a jet of steam before
sending them to the distillery to furnish like ordinary molasses, alcohol, and
alkaline salts.
Syrups of any kind, or whatever be the mode by which they may have
been treated, are susceptible of being improved by alcohol, whether heat alone
has been employed to modify their eliminable principles, whether their

page_text: defecation has been effected in the cold or hot state, by the action of acids or
bases, whether the juices defecated by lime have or not been subjected to
ebullition before filtering, whether saturated or not, whether filtered or not
with animal black, or whether clarified or chemical agents been employed or
not. In all cases alcohol acts efficiently; it may therefore be usefully
employed in the manufacture and refining of sugar, whatever may be the
ordinary practice in such factories. Syrups produced direct, and crude syrups
of the second or third crystallization, low solid products and molasses after
being brought to the required density, are treated by alcohol as before
described, and furnish more abundant and finer products than bitherto
obtained.
In a manufactury adopting exclusively this improved mode of working, the
following method is the safest and most economical by which to obtain
advantageous results:-The saccharine juice is first suitably defecated by lime,
the clear part is drawn off and boiled for half an hour; it is afterwards
saturated with carbonic acid or other suitable acid, such as sulphuric acid; it.
is then concentrated to 18° Beaumè at the lowest, and as high as 25° Beaumè,
in the presence of animal black in fine powder, or without any addition. The
syrup thus obtained is completely purified upon being placed in contact with
alcohol, as before stated, and leaves, after evaporation of the alcohol and
undergoing the boiling process, sugar of a fine colour and good quality.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention communicated to
me, and the manner of carrying the same into effect, what I claim is,-
First, the employment of alcohol for purifying or refining saccharine syrups,
as herein-before described.
Secondly, the process for treating saccharine juices for producing and
purifying syrups, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Armand Gilbee, have hereto
set my hand and seal, this First day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
417
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