TYM CovSTALLIZATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bessemer, of Baxter House, Old Saint
Pancras Road, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
TAX TYM CovSTALLIZATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR."
Sealed the 4th May 1853, and dated the 19th November 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bessemer
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 19th November 1852.
I, HENRY BESSEMER, of Baxter House, Old St. Pancras Road, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CRYSTALLIZATION AND MANUFACTURE
OF SUGAR" to be as follows:
These Improvements consist, firstly, in constructing oblong
troughs of large dimensions, in licu of the ordinary sugar moulds;
into these troughs the concentrated syrup is let down from the pan
in a partially crystallized state. The troughs I prefer to make
of wood, as it is a slow conductor of heat, and will allow the
syrup to retain its heat for a much longer period of time than
it does in the metal cones of small dimensions, now generally
used. Each trough may be made to hold from one to three tons of
sugar; and by the slowness of the cooling process, a larger grain will

page_text: be formed. The trough may be made square or rectangular, in cross
section, or with an obtuse-angled bottom of a V shape, or they may be
made of a wedge or V shape from top to bottom, suitable holes being
made along the bottom to allow the drainage of the mother liquor
to take place. When the process of crystallization is completed, one
end of the trough is removed, and the opposite end is made, by a suit-
able screw or rack and pinion, to move slowly along the trough like a
piston, and push before it the mass of sugar through the open end of
the trough; close to this open end is placed a revolving wheel, on the
arms of which knives are fixed in a similar manner to the revolving
knives used to cut chaff. The rapid rotation of this wheel will cut
the sugar, as it advances, into slices, so thin as to fall to pieces, and
allow it to fall on to a pneumatic apparatus, whereby the separation of
the mother liquor will take place, and the sugar will be washed if
required: if, however, the sugar is allowed to remain in the trough
a sufficient time to drain, and be liquored in the usual way, and be
then sliced up, it will be in a proper state for market in the form of
"crushed lump." Any convenient number of troughs may be placed
parallel to each other, and the cutting apparatus may be made to
move on a suitable bed, somewhat like a lathe-bed, so as to be readily
brought opposite to the end of any of the troughs that require it:
or, in lieu of this arrangement, the troughs may be placed as radii
round a vertical cutting drum, and the charge of sugar contained in
any one of them may be brought up to the cutting wheel without
requiring any moving of the whole apparatus. To facilitate the
sliding of the mass of crystallized sugar the sides of the troughs
may be made moveable, and the mass of sugar loosened before moving
it forward: the soft sugar, as it falls from the cutting knives, will be
found to have some few lumps mixed with it, which it is desirable
to crush, in order to give a uniform grain to the whole product. For a
this purpose, the sugar is made to fall in between a pair of metal
rollers, which are prevented from coming in contact, a space of about
one quarter of an inch being left between them, which will prevent
them from crushing the crystals, and yet prevent any lumps passing
through them of larger dimensions than a quarter of an inch, to a

page_text: further reduce the whole to a uniform grain; the sugar falling from
the metal rollers will pass through a second pair of rolls which are
in contact with each other, but which are covered with vulcanized
india-rubber, or other suitable elastic material, so that the crystals
are not crushed in their passage through them, but simply separated
from each other: a pair of revolving brushes are used to keep the
rollers clean, and throw off the sugar that would otherwise adhere
thereto. To prevent the too rapid cooling of the upper surface of
a mould or trough of sugar, I place a piece of wood or other suitable
bad conductor of heat afloat upon the surface of the fluid, and thus
prevent the formation of a dark crust on the top of the sugar.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Bessemer in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 19th May 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
HENRY BESSEMER, of Baxter House, Old Saint Pancras Road, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry Bessemer, Her
special licence that I, the said Henry Bessemer, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
Bessemer, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CRYSTALLIZATION AND MANUFAC-
TURE OF SUGAR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Henry Bessemer, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
scal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said

page_text: 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Bessemer, 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 thereof, (that is to say,)
In the ordinary process of refining sugar, the same description of
conical moulds are used for producing superior kind of moist
sugar or "crushed lump" as are employed for the production of loaf
sugar. When the drainage of the syrups from the moulds has taken
place, the soft conical masses of sugar are removed from them, and
held against a series of revolving knives, by which they are sliced
up, a process which involves a large amount of manual labor; while
at the same time the slicing operation is very imperfect, owing to
the want of proper support at all parts of the mass of sugar, which
has little cohesive force, and hence both large and small pieces are
broken off from it in the process of slicing, and are mixed with the
rest of the sugar.
Now the object of this my Invention is to substitute steam or
other motive power for much of the manual labor consequent on
the use and removal from place to place of the vast number of small
conical moulds which are now employed in the production of
"crushed lump; " also to slice the sugar more perfectly without its
previous removal from the vessel in which it is crystallized, and to
ensure the formation of a bold coarse crystal by causing the process
of crystallization to be carried on in large deep vessels, which will
retain the heat of the syrup, and thus cause the process of crystal-
lization to be carried on more gradually and perfectly than in the
small cones now in general use.
The apparatus with which I carry this Invention into effect is
represented on the annexed Drawing, where Figure 1, is a longi-
tudinal section on the line A, B, of Figure 3. Figure 2, is an end
elevation. Figure 3, a plan, and Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7, details on a

page_text: larger scale; a, is a rectangular trough or chamber, which I prefer
to make of such dimensions as will admit of its holding from one to
two tons of sugar; the sides of this trough are vertical, but the bottom
is sloped to an angle of about forty-five degrees, as shown in cross
section in Figure 4; each side is connected to or forms part of the
inclined bottom a¹; at a², is formed a hinged joint, which extends the
whole length of the trough, so that each side of it may be moved
down into the position represented at a³, Figure 5. This moving of
the sides of the trough is for the purpose of detaching the crystal-
lized mass of sugar from them, and thereby facilitating its movement
along the trough, when required, at the part where the double incline
of the bottom meets; in the centre there is a row of holes, which pass
vertically downwards through the central piece b, of the trough; this
picce, b, has two flanges at its lower side, by which it is bolted to the
frame-work c, c, on which the trough rests; while the upper part
forms the hinge joint which supports the sides of the trough; c', are
upright posts forming part of the general frame-work, between which
the troughs are fixed; d, d, are set screws, which pass through the
posts c', and pressing against the sides of the trough, retain them in
their required position. Any convenient number of these troughs may
be placed parallel to each other, and along each end of them are
fixed the beds e, and f, which are similar to the beds of a large lathe,
and are for the purpose of supporting certain apparatus, and allowing
it to be removed from one trough to another throughout the whole
which
series. The bed f, has placed upon it a sliding headstock 9.
may
be moved along and fastened in front of either of the troughs in the
same manner as is usually practised in moving and securing the head-
stocks of lathes; the parts g', are bored out large enough to admit
the screw h, to pass freely through them without the revolution of
the screw, there being no thread cut in the parts g¹, of the head-
stock; i, is a spur-wheel, the nave of which projects on both sides, so
as to fill the space between the parts gl: this elongated nave is bored
out, and a screw thread is formed in it so as to fit accurately the
screw h; k, is a small shaft resting in bearings I, formed on one side
of the head-stock f, and carrying a spur pinion n, which gears with

page_text: the spur-wheel i; on one end of the shaft k, there is a fast and loose
drum
P₁ and 2. which are to receive motion from a drum in connec-
tion with the first mover; the shaft k, also carries a pair of smaller
drums r, and s, by which a backward motion may be given to the
screw, at a quicker speed than the forward motion transmitted
through the larger drums P, and q; one end of the screw is bolted
to a boss t*, on the pushing plate or piston t, which is made to fit
accurately the interior of the trough, and has a packing of leather,
or other suitable material, to prevent the leakage of any syrup from
it; to prevent the rising up of the piston t, the sides of the trough
have internal flanges at their upper edge, beneath which the piston
moves.
On the bed e, there is another head-stock u, in which an axle
V₁ is
fitted in suitable bearings formed at u'; on this axle is a fast and
loose driving drum w, by which motion is communicated to the ap-
paratus; y, is a wheel, the face of which is truly turned, and on which
is fixed a blade or cutter, which revolves nearly in contact with
the end of the trough this wheel is shown in elevation at Figure 7.
The action of the apparatus is as follows: the piston having been
brought back to the end of the trough by putting the strap on to
the fast reversing drum 7, the opposite end of the trough is to be
closed by a moveable piece made in a similar manner to the piston t;
a soft piece of rope or other flexible material is drawn through the
hole x; which will stop up all the small cross passages, and prevent
the outflow of the syrup. In this state the apparatus may be filled
with hot and partially crystallized syrup from the concentrating pan,
which may repose quietly for twenty-four or thirty-six hours; at the
end of which time the rope is to be withdrawn from the hole x, when
the uncrystallized syrups will run off by the small vertical passages,
and be received by a gutter formed beneath the holes for that p purpose.
If it be intended to complete the process by "liquoring," it may be
done in the usual way; but when it is intended to cleanse the sugar
by machinery, it is preferable only to drain off the greater bulk of
the mother liquor: even the amount of drainage may in some cases
be dispensed with. The end stopping plate is then to be removed,

page_text: the screws d, d, withdrawn, so as to allow the sides of the trough to
be separated from the crystallized mass of sugar, when the screws
are again to be tightened up nearly into their original position.
The cutting wheel is then put in motion, and the strap shifted from
the loose pulley p, to the tight one q, which will give notion to the
spur-wheel i, and cause the piston to be moved steadily forward by
the screw h, carrying before it the mass of sugar in the trough, and
forcing it against the rapidly revolving cutter z, by which the crys-
talline mass will be divided with great uniformity, in consequence of.
the regular inotion of the screw; while the support afforded to the.
general mass by still remaining in the trough during the slicing
operation will to a great extent prevent the breaking off the numer-
ous lumps so generally found in sugar sliced by hand. The troughs
used for this purpose, instead of having the shape herein-before de-
scribed, may be made wedge-shaped from top to bottom, as represented
in Figure 6 of the annexed Drawings; and when inade of less:
dimensions than will enable them to contain one ton of sugar, I
prefer to make the troughs of wood, slate, or other bad conductor of
heat; but when made of a much larger size, I prefer to make them of
cast iron, the interior of them being coated with enamel or glass; to
prevent an undue cooling at the upper surface, I place a piece of
wood, or other slow conducting material, on the surface of the hot
syrup. This mode of retaining the heat may also be applied to the ordi-
nary sugar inould; and I wish it to be understood that, although I have
herein described the troughs as placed in a row, parallel to each other,
that in some situations it may be found preferable to place them around
a central point, so that a line passing through either of them in the
direction of their greatest length will be a radial line proceeding,
from such centre; the cutting of the sugar and the apparatus for
pushing it forward in the trough being modified to suit this differ-
ence in the position of the troughs with reference to each other.
When sugar thus crystallized and sliced up is intended to be cleansed
or washed by machinery, in order to remove the external coating
of mother liquor from the crystals, it is most important that there
should not be any concrete masses of crystals left in the sugar, but

page_text: that the crystals shall, as far as possible, be separated, so as to be acted
on by the cleansing machine as separate crystals. For this purpose I
pass the sugar (after it has been sliced up) between a pair of hori
zontal metal rollers placed near to, but not allowed to touch, each
other; the space between the rollers I prefer to be about one-sixth of
an inch, so that no large lumps can pass through without the crystals
becoming divided; but at the same time the destruction or crushing
of the individual crystals is prevented by the space between the me-
tallic surfaces being much wider than is sufficient to allow any single
crystal to pass between them entire. After the sugar has passed
between the metallic rollers, it is allowed to fall between a second
pair of rollers placed immediately below them; the exterior surfaces
of these second rollers are to be covered with vulcanized india-rubber
or other yielding material; these rollers are to be screwed up until
they are in close contact with each other, so that the sugar passing
between them will receive from the yielding surface of these rollers
such an amount of pressure as will separate any small concrete lumps
that may have passed through the upper rollers, but which pressure
will not destroy or crush the single crystals of sugar, owing to the
yielding nature of the surfaces between which the pressure takes
place. An apparatus arranged for carrying into effect this part of
my Invention is represented in the annexed Drawings, where Figure
8, is a side clevation; Figure 9, a vertical cross section; and Figure
10 an end elevation. A, is a frame-work or box of cast iron, having
inclined plates A¹, extending across its interior so as to form a
hopper to receive the sugar; B, B, are a pair of metal rollers, the
axles of which work in suitable brasses C, in the frame-plates, and
are prevented from approaching each other by springs D, acting on
the brasses C, and forcing them as far apart as the regulating screws
E, will admit of; the axes of the rollers pass through the brasses at
one end, and carry a pair of pinions F, by which the motion of both
rollers are insured. At the opposite end of the axis of one of the rollers
B a spur-wheel G is fixed, which is in gear with the spur pinion H,
on the main-driving shaft I: this shaft also carries the fast and loose
drums J, J, which receive motion from any first mover; the shaft I,

page_text: passes through the box A, and carries upon it a drum K, by means
of which motion is transmitted to a pair of revolving brushes, which
cone lightly in contact with the lower rolls L, and remove from
their surfaces any crystals that may adhere thereto; the lower rollers
L, are covered with vulcanized india-rubber, or other -yielding ma-
terial, which is not hard enough to crush the crystals of sugar; their
axes revolve in brasses M, fitted into the frame A, and are tightened
up to the requisite amount by set screws N; the axis of one of the
rollers L, is elongated, and carries upon it a spur-wheel P, which is
in gear with the pinion H, by which they are put in motion; the
axis of both rollers pass through the frame A, on one side, and carry
on them the pinions Q, Q, which gear with each other, and insure an
uniform motion of both the rollers L. In the upper part of the
frame A, there are inclined slots R, into which the flat iron bars S,
are fitted; their lower edges are sharpened, and by pressing against
the rollers B, B, they scrape off any sugar that night accumulate
thereon; A2, are inclined plates for conducting the sugar into the
lower rollers, and A³, similar plates to conduct the sugar into any
receptacle placed beneath to receive it.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not confine myself to the precise details so long as the peculiar cha-
racter of each part of my Invention be retained; but what I claim as.
iny Invention is -
Firstly. I claim the apparatus herein described for crystallizing
and slicing sugar.
Secondly. I claim cutting up or slicing of crystallized masses of
sugar, while a part of such mass is returned in the trough or mould
in which it was crystallized.
Thirdly. I claim the construction of troughs or moulds for the
crystallization of sugar, having moveable sides for the purpose of
facilitating the removal of the sugar therefrom.
Fourthly. I claim the use of a screw or other equivalent in ap-
paratus for slicing sugar, whereby a concrete mass of sugar may be
advanced with a regular motion up to the cutter, such motion having
a fixed or definite proportion in speed with the cutter.

page_text: Fifthly. I claim the so placing the crystallizing troughs or vessels
herein described about a central point, that lines drawn horizontally
through the centres of them shall be radii of a circle.
Sixthly. I claim the use of a floating piece of wood, or other slow
conductor of heat, when placed on the surface of saccharine fluid
during their crystallization.
Seventhly. I claim the apparatus herein described for breaking
down concrete lumps of sugar.
Lastly. I claim the use of vulcanized india-rubber, or other
yielding material, as a covering to rollers in the manner and for the
purposes herein described.
In witness whereof, I; the said Henry Bessemer, have hereunto
set my hand and seal this Nineteenth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and fifty-
three.
Witness,
FRANCIS HARRIS.
HENRY BESSEMER. (L.S.)