AN IMPROVED METHOD OF EXTRACTING JUICES FROM PLANTS AND OF SEPARATING LIQUID .OR SOLUBLE MATTER FROM SOLIDS
Year: 1870

page_text: .
LETTERS PATENT to Ferdinand Kohn, of 6, Robert Street, Adelphi,
Westminster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF EXTRACTING JUICES FROM PLANTS AND OF SEPARATING LIQUID .OR
SOLUBLE MATTER FROM SOLIDS."-Partly a communication from abroad
by Julius Robert, of Scelowitz, Austria.
Sealed the 5th July 1870, and dated the 24th January 1870.
PROVISIONAL. SPECIFICATION left by the said Ferdinand Kohn at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th January 1870.
'I, FERDINAND KOHN, of 6, Robert Street, Adelphi, Westminster,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF EXTRACTING JUICES FROM PLANTS AND
SEPARATING LIQUID OR SOLUBLE MATTER FROM SOLIDS," to be as follows :-
OF
My improvements refer specially to the method of extracting juices
from plants now generally known by the name of the "diffusion
process."

page_text: The first part of my improvements consists in a modification of the
general arrangement of the apparatus for continuous diffusion, for which
a Patent has been granted to me on the 17th May 1869, No. 1498,
as a communication from Julius Robert, of Scelowitz, Austria.
In my improved apparatus I place the feeding tube into the centre of
the cylindrical diffusion vessel and provide it with gearing so as to give
it a slow rotation, and I attach inclined blades or screws to the outside
of this cylindrical feeding tube. I also provide a reservoir at a higher
level, into which the juice is pumped up from a level situated in the
lower part of the diffusion vessel. In this reservoir the juice is heated
and returned into the diffuser through the central feeding tube along
with the fresh slices of the plant to be extracted.
The second part of my improvements consists in an extended and more
general application of the principle of diffusion to other branches of
manufacture and for other purposes than those hitherto intended and
described. I apply the same or a similar diffusion apparatus for
separating different kinds of liquid or soluble matter from solid sub-
stances with which they are incorporated. The solid substances are suitably
divided and broken up and then introduced into a diffusion vessel at one
end, while the extracting liquid is running in at the opposite end of the
diffuser, and the masses are kept in a constant motion in opposite directions
to each other so that the extracting liquid becomes more and more
saturated with the dissolved matter as it proceeds in one direction while the
solid substances becomes more and more exhausted as it proceeds in the
opposite direction. As an example I name the extraction of sugar from
the charcoal employed for filtration in the process of sugar refining. This
charcoal becomes saturated with sugar after a certain time, and for the
purpose of recovering the sugar and cleaning the charcoal I apply. the
principle of diffusion. I introduce the charcoal into a vessel such as
described in the first part of this Specification and bring it in contact with
water which gradually extracts all the sugar from the charcoal, and finally
runs off as a comparative concentrated sugar solution, while at the opposite
end the charcoal is thrown out completely exhausted by the contact
with the fresh water which enters at that end of the diffuser. The same
principle is applicable to the process of revivifying charcoal for removing
the mineral matter deposited in the pores by means of diluted. acids or
other chemicals. Another instance is the extraction of tartaric acid

page_text: from the solid matter with which it is mixed during the earlier stages
of its manufacture. There are numerous branches of chemical and
other manufactures to which the same process is applicable whenever
the object to be obtained is the extraction of soluble or liquid matter
from solid substances. The extracting liquids may be water, alcohol,
mercury, diluted acids; or other liquids, and accordingly the substances
to be extracted will be such as are soluble in these respective liquids
or capable to form a liquid, or semi-liquid, chemical combination, or
amalgam with them.
[
.
The third part of my improvements consists in the application of the
principle of continuous diffusion to the process of filtration. The purpose
of filtration is the separation of solid substances from liquid masses in
which they are contained. At present filtration is usually effected by
passing the liquids over one or several layers or beds of the filtering
material, which latter remains stationery and must be changed, cleaned,
or refilled after a certain time of action. I construct filters in which
the filtering materials are kept in constant motion in opposite direction.
to the motion of the liquid which is passed through the filter. The
filtering material is introduced continuously at one end of the filter, and
passed on slowly and gradually through the entire length of the filtering
vessel until it is finally discharged at the opposite end. At that end
the liquid is passed into the filter, and it discharges its coarsest im-
purities upon those layers of the filtering material which have been
longest in use and are consequently more charged with impurites than'.
the strata which follows behind and with which the liquid comes in
contact further on as it becomes more and more purified in its gradual
progress through the filter. The principle of continuous diffusion is
applicable to different kinds of filters and to all the filtering material
which are or can be applied in a disintegrated state, such as animal or
vegetable charcoal, coke, sand, asbestos, and other similar substances...
But the same principle can also be made applicable to, mechanical or
pressure filters by forming the filtering medium into the shape of an
endless band, which is made to pass continuously through the filter and
through an adjoining cleaning chamber.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Ferdinand Kohn in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th July 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FERDINAND
KOHN, of 6, Robert Street, Adelphi, Westminster, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the 24th day of January, in the year
of our Lord. One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Ferdinard Kohn, Her special licence
that I, the said Ferdinand Kohn, my exccutors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Ferdinand Kohn, my executors,
administrators, and 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 IMPROVED METHOD
OF EXTRACTING JUICES FROM PLANTS AND OF SEPARATING LIQUID OR SOLUBLE MATTER
FROM SOLIDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Ferdinand Kohn, 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 performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Ferdinand Kohn, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement:-
My improvements refer specially to the method of extracting juices
from plants now generally known by the name of the "diffusion process."
The first part of my improvements consists in a modification of the
general arrangement of the apparatus for continuous diffusion for which

page_text: a Patent has been granted to me on the 17th May 1869, No. 1498,
as a communication from Julius Robert, of Scelowitz, Austria.
In my improved apparatus I place the feeding tube into the centre of
the cylindrical diffusion vessel and provide it with gearing so as to give it
a slow rotation, and I attach inclined blades or screws to the outside of
the central feeding tube. I also provide a reservoir at a higher level,
into which the juice is pumped up from a level situated in the lower
part of the diffusion vessel. In this reservoir the juice is heated and
returned into the diffuser through the central tube along with the fresh
slices of cane to be extracted.
The second part of my improvements consists in an extended and
more general application of the principle of diffusion to other branches
of manufacture, and for other purposes than those hitherto intended and
described. I apply the same or a similar diffusion apparatus for
seperating different kinds of liquids. or soluble matter from solid sub-
stances with which they are incorporated. The solid substances arc
suitably divided and broken up and then introduced into a diffusion
vessel at one end, while the extracting liquid is running in at the
opposite end of the diffuser, and the masses are kept in a constant
motion in opposite direction to each other, so that the extracting liquid
becomes more and more saturated with the dissolved matter as it
proceeds in one direction while the solid substance becomes more and
more exhausted as it proceeds in the opposite direction. As an example
I name the extraction of sugar from the charcoal employed for filtration
in the process of sugar refining. This charcoal becomes saturated with
sugar after a certain time, and for the purpose of recovering the sugar
and cleaning the charcoal I apply the principle of diffusion. I introduce
the charcoal into a vessel, such as described in the first part of this
Specification, and bring it in contact with water, which gradually
extracts all the sugar from the charcoal and finally runs off as a com-
*paratively concentrated sugar solution, while at the opposite end the
charcoal is thrown out completely exhausted by the contact with
the fresh water which enters at that end of the diffuser. The same
principle is applicable to the process of revivifying charcoal for removing
5 the mineral matter deposited in the pores by means of diluted acids
or other chemicals. Another instance is the extraction of tartaric acid
from the solid with which it is mixed during the earlier stages of its

page_text: .
manufacture. There are numerous branches of chemical and other manu
factures to which the same principle is applicable whenever the object to
be obtained is the extraction of soluble or liquid matter from solid sub-
stances. The extracting liquid, may be water, alcoliol, mercury, diluted
acids, or other liquids, and accordingly the substances to be extracted
will be such as are soluble in these respective liquids, or capable
to form a liquid or semi-liquid chemical combination or amalgam with
them.
The third part of my improvements consists in the application of the
principle of continuous diffusion to the process of filtration. The
purpose of filtration is the separation of solid substances from liquid
masses in which they are contained. At present filtration is usually
affected by passing the liquids over one or several layers or beds of
the filtering material, which latter remains stationary and must be
changed, cleaned, or refilled, after a certain time of action. I construct
filters in which the filtering materials arc kept in constant motion in
opposite direction to the motion of the liquid which is passed through
the filters. The filtering material is introduced continuously at onc
end of the filter and passed on slowly and gradually through the entire
length of the filtering vessel until it is finally discharged at the opposite
end: At that end the liquid is passed into the filter, and it discharges
its coarsest impurities upon those layers of the filtering. material which
have been longest in use and are consequently more charged with
impurities than the strata which follow behind, and with which the
liquid comes into contact farther on as it becomes more and more
purified in its gradual progress through the filter. The principle of
continuous diffusion is applicable to different kinds of filters, and to all
the filtering materials which are or can be applied in a disintegrated
state, such as animal or vegetable charcoal, coke, sand, asbestos, and
other similar substances; but the same principle can also be made a
applicable to mechanical or pressure filters by forming the filtering
medium into the shape of an endless band, which is made to pass con-
continuously through the filter and through an adjoining cleaning
'chamber.
. In order to make these improvements more readily understood, I have a
appended Drawings shewing an apparatus for the extraction of canc
or beetroot (Sheet 1) and an annaratus for the extraction of soluble

page_text: matter from animal charcoal or from substances of a similar character
(Sheet 2).
(Fig. 1) (Sheet 1) is à sectional elevation, and Fig. 2 a plan of the.
apparatus. The diffusion vessel (A) is fitted with a feeding tube (E) in its'
centre. This tube revolves slowly.by means of the gearing (D), and the
centre shaft (F) is fitted concentrically with this tube and provided witli
screw blades. The cane is introduced through the tube (E) at the bottom
(G) of the diffuser, and it ascends gradually to the top of the diffuser,
where it is discharged by the revolving rake (T). The water is
introduced through the main pipe P, which forks out into the two
branch pipes (p, p). The thin juices can be pumped out of the vessel
through the side openings M, M, and raised to a cistern or tank over-
head for being heated and then returned upon the cane through the
central feeding tube (E). The concentrated juice is drawn off through
the stand pipe (R) from the perforated bottom (II) of the diffuser.
(Fig. 1) (Sheet 2) is a sectional elevation, and Figure 2 is a plan of
apparatus for extracting or washing charcoal or other materials which
are reduced to a powder or small grained mass, and which will move
freely within the feeding tube and diffuser by the simple action of their
own weight. The feeding tube (E) is provided with a hopper of sufficient
height to give the necessary head. The feeding tube is fitted with
gearing (G), and is made to revolve slowly carrying with it. the arms
(C, C,) at the top and at the bottom of the diffuser (A.). The revolving
scraper (T) discharges the extracted materials while the concentrated
liquid passes off through the stand pipe. The pipe (P) leads the water
or extracting liquor into the diffuser.
This apparatus can also be employed as a continuous and self-cleaning
filter by passing the liquor which requires filtration into the tube (E)
and passing a proportionate quantity of clean water into the vessel (A)
through the pipe (P). The filtered liquor, together with the con-
centrated solution which comes from the washing of the materials in the
outer vessel (A), are drawn off together through the stand pipe (R).
Having now described the nature of my improvements, and the
manner in which the same are to be put into practical operation, I
desire it to be distinctly understood that I do not confine or restrict
myself to any precise details or parts of the apparatus; but I claim,―

page_text: . 1st. The general arrangement of an apparatus for the purpose of
diffusion, substantially as herein-before described.
"
2nd. The application of the principle of continuous diffusion to
substances of organic or inorganic origin..
3rd. The application of the same principle for the purpose of
filtration.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ferdinand Kohn, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this 15th day of July, in the year of
our Lord 1870.