IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE METHODS OF EXTRACTING SACCHARINE JUICES FROM THE SUGAR CANE, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR, AS ALSO IN THE MACHINERY OR APPA- RATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BESSEMER, of Baxter House, Old Saint Pancras Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventeenth day of
April, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the twelfth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Henry Bessemer, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Henry Bessemer, my exors, adññors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Henry Bessemer, my exors, adñiors, 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, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all
Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE METHODS OF EXTRACTING SACCHARINE JUICES FROM THE SUGAR
CANE, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR, AS ALSO IN THE MACHINERY OR APPA-
RATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso that I, the said Henry Bessemer, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters

page_text: Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Bessemer, hereby declare that 'the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed; that is to say :-
Firstly, my improvements have relation to the methods and machinery in
use for extracting the saccharine juices from the cane.
The cane mills now generally employed for extracting the saccharine
juices from the sugar cane consist of an arrangement of rollers, the number
and position of which are varied, but most commonly three rollers are used,
and arranged so that the canes are pressed a second 'time in passing
through the spaces between them, which spaces are increased or diminished
by regulating wedges or screws, motion being communicated to the rollers by
suitable gearing in connection with any first mover; the canes are fed endwise
in between them by hand, several passing through at one time, crossing each
other occasionally in all directions. The expressed juice runs into a receptacle
below, and the refuse.cane or megass passes out on the opposite side of the
machine.
Cane mills of this description are subject to various defects, which I will
here briefly point out in order to shew more clearly the nature of the present
Invention, which has for its object to lessen, or entirely remove, these defects..
In order to extract the juice from a cane by means of a rolling mill it is.obvious
that the rollers must be set sufficiently close to give a very tight pinch; but
the rollers must not be too close, otherwise the cane trash is so lacerated and
broken as greatly to lessen the value of the waste or megass for fuel; besides
which, the too hard pressing of the cane extracts certain other matters therein
contained, which are found to be highly prejudicial to the saccharine juice. It
is therefore clear, that to produce the best effect, the rollers should be set at a
*certain ascertained distance apart, which distance ought, of course, to depend
on the thickness of the cane; for suppose two rollers are placed so as to pro-
duce the best effect on a cane of one inch and a half in diameter, and that in
the course of work two canes pass through together, one of which is an inch
thick and the other two inches, it must follow that both will be done imper-
fectly, since their respective bulks are as four to one, the small one being
only partially pressed, and a small portion of the saccharine juice extracted,
while by the larger one a larger amount of saccharine juice will be expressed,
but mixed up with much of the foreign and injurious matters before referred
to. This defect is common to all and every of the roller mills in use, and is

page_text: totally irrespective of the number and position of the rollers. Further, when a
cane is passing between a pair of rollers, the pressure at any one time does not
extend to more than two or three inches of its length, and the extreme pinch.
is exerted on a mere line only where the rollers approach. nearest together, the
pressure gradually decreasing on each side of the. centre of pressure. Now,
when rollers of two feet diameter are making ten revolutions per minute, their
surfaces, and consequently anything passing between them, must be moving at
a. rate. exceeding one foot per second; therefore, if we assume that the effective
pressure upon a cane amounts to three lineal inches at one time, it is clear that
one quarter of a second only is allowed for expressing the juice from cach
portion of the cane. under operation, a period wholly inadequate to effect the
thorough displacement of the fluid from the. congeries of cells in which it is
contained. Neither can this evil be remedied by any alteration of position or
arrangement of the rollers.
pres-
Another most serious, defect of the roller mill is, the extraordinary facility it
affords for the reabsorption of the juice after it has once been expressed. The
cane, it is well known, consists of an outer rind enveloping a spongy cellular
mass, which contains the saccharine juice. The spongy mass possesses a con-
siderable amount of elasticity when deprived of the juice, and, as the cane
emerges from its momentary pressure between the rollers, this elasticity causes
the cane to expand, in the same way as sponge does when relieved from
sure, then it reabsorbs the juice which is following in contact with it among
the rollers, and thereby not only wastes the juice, but leaves the refuse cane so
saturated with it that it is found necessary to spread the cane trash in the mill
yard to be dried by the sun before it can be used for fuel. I have before
stated, that the pressure on a cane while passing between the rollers of a mill
will always be in proportion to the relative thickness or diameter of the cane
and the amount of space between the rollers; but the amount of pressure
exerted upon the different parts of the cane is far from equal, since the rind
and knots are more liard and woody than the rest of the cane, and therefore
subjected to a much heavier pressure than the intermediate parts, which are
composed chiefly of soft cellular matter and juice.; and thus it is that so much
green wax, chlorofile, and other objectionable matters are expressed from the
knots and rind, which should, if possible, have escaped pressure altogether.
Their superior hardness and solidity cause the. rollers to exert a far greater
pressure upon them, by which the injurious matters before referred to are
expressed, the juice greatly contaminated, and the power of the mill absorbed.
This defect is common to all roller mills, however the rollers may be varied in
number or position.

page_text: Lastly, the action of the rollers upon the canes, when great or repeated
pressure is exerted upon them, tends to lacerate them to a considerable extent,
causing thereby many of the larger fragments to fall into the juice, and forcing
out and mixing with it innumerable small pieces of the delicate cellular tissues
of which the structure of the cane is chiefly composed, the mixture of which
with the juice greatly increases its tendency to fermentation, and impedes the
process of defeccation.
Having thus briefly pointed out the more prominent defects in the existing
roller mills, I will now proceed to describe the means by which I propose to
remedy them.
On the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed I have represented a cane press
intended to be worked by steam power, the steam machinery being combined
therewith in one framing, and without any intermediate gearing.
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the cane press; Figure 2, a longitu-
dinal section on the line x, y, of Figure 3; and Figure 3, a plan of the same.
A, Figure 1, is a strong iron frame, cast in one piece. At one end this
framing forms a cistern A 1, for the reception of the expressed juice, the bottom
of which slopes to the centre in order to facilitate the running off of the juice.
B, B, are two gun-metal tubes or trunks, placed above the cistern A 1, which
have their ends firmly attached, by bolts C, C, to the ends of the cistern, and
are further secured thereto by the projections W, W, which are cast on the
under side of the tubes, and abut against the ends of the cistern. The tubes
are also prevented from springing by pillars X, X, which stand up from the
bottom of the cistern, and have bolts Y, Y, passing up through them, and
screwed to a massive boss formed on the under side of the tubes. The tubes
are rectangular in their cross section, and are parallel throughout internally.
They are of a width sufficient to receive a cane of the largest diameter. They
are made of tough gun-metal, and should be of such thickness as to be
capable of withstanding a considerable amount of internal pressure. In the
middle of the length of each tube there is inserted a sliding ram or piston D,
and the two pistons are connected by a cross head E. The crank shaft G, by
which these pistons are worked, is made of wrought iron, and revolves in
plummer blocks or bearings of brass F, F, formed in the sides of the bed plate
at A 8. The shaft is further supported by a plummer block H, and carries the
fly wheel I, by which the motion of the machine is regulated. The crank
shaft is shewn as broken off, because its length may be made much greater
than is represented in the Drawings, in order to remove the fly wheel further
from the machine. The end of the bed plate farthest from the cistern is
narrowed at A 2, in order that the plummer blocks J, J, which support the

page_text: steam cylinder K, may be brought sufficiently near to it. The steam cylinder
is of the construction ordinarily employed in oscillating high-pressure engines.
The slide is worked by the levers L, L, in a manner well understood and prac-
tised. The piston rod M is connected to the central throw G 1 of the crank
shaft G. On each side of the central throw, and at right angles with it, thero
are other throws G 2 and G 3, both of which are much shorter than the one
connected with the steam cylinder. N, N, are two connecting rods, of
considerable strength, each of which is connected at one end to the cross
head E, and at the other to the crank throws G2 and G 3, so that whenever
the crank shaft G is made to revolve, a reciprocating motion is given to the
pistons D, D. On the upper side of the tubes B, B, are fixed the conical
hoppers Pa, Pb, which are connected together by lugs P 1, P 1, cast on them,
and terminate in holes at P 2, formed in the upper part of the tubes. The
tubes B, B, are perforated all round with numerous small holes B 1, which
are placed at greater distances apart towards each end of the tubes. These
holes may be about a tenth of an inch in diameter on the interior of the tube,
and a quarter of an inch on the exterior, the holes being made conical
in order to facilitate the escape of any matter that may be accidentally
forced into them from the interior. The action of the machinery is as follows:
-When steam is admitted into the cylinder K, the piston rod acting on the
crank throw G¹ causes it to revolve, and the two short throws G and G³, act-
ing on the connecting rods N, N, and cross head E, impart a reciprocating
motion to both the pistons D, D, at oue and the same time, and these pistons
move through a much smaller space and at a much less velocity than the
steam piston, exerting thereby a powerful though quiet and steady pressure on
the canes in the tubes. The canes are put into the hoppers P, Pb, in a
vertical position, and as the pistons D, D, move from under the hoppers, the
canes fall down into the tubes, as shewn at R, Figure 2. In the Drawings
the machinery is represented as having been some time at work, and the
pistous as about to make a return stroke. On the return stroke the pistons
cut off from the canes, which have dropped from the hoppers Pa into their
respective tubes, lengths equal to the height of the tubes; and the further
progress of the pistons forces the pieces so cut off against the compressed
masses of cane which have acoumulated at the end Q' of the tube. While
effecting this, the opposite ends of the pistons will have passed from under the
openings into the hoppers Pb, and allow a cane to drop. from each of these
hoppers down into the ends Q of the tubes, so that on the next stroke of the
pistons they will also cut off from the canes last dropped lengths corresponding
with the length of the tube, and conipressed in the same manner as before. It

page_text: has been found that canes so compressed in a tube require a considerable
amount of force to be exerted upon them in order to move them forward in
the tube; and the resistance thus opposed to the pistons D'is found sufficient
to express the saccharine juice from the cane, which passing through the per-
forations B', is received in the cistern, from whence it flows through the wire
grating U and pipe V into a defeccating vessel as usual. The crank throws
which actuate the pistons D, being placed at right angles to the throw. in connec
tion with the steam piston, it follows that, as the steam engine piston acquires its
most powerful position, the throws which act on the pistons D, D, will assume
a position nearly horizontal, by which the force they exert will he immensely
increased, and the masses of cane in the tubes, yielding to the force thus
exerted upon them, portions will be pushed out at the open ends of the tubes.
The same advantageous position of the steam and other pistons with reference
to each other takes place at each end of the stroke. It will also be observed,
that when the pistons D, D, are at half stroke, and require but a small amount
of power to produce motion in them, the central or steam throw will be pass-
ing its dead points; and thus the motive power, which varies considerably
throughout, is made to correspond with the work it has to perform. When
the operation of pressing canes is first commenced with empty tubes, it will
bo found that the first two or three minutes' work will have been performed
imperfectly, owing to the want of resistance in the tube. It will therefore .be
necessary to submit this small portion of "cane trash" to a-second operation,
which will be effected by simply putting it again into the hoppers.
pressure first comes upon a new portion of cane, the juice is given out so
rapidly as to be projected through the perforations of the tubes with sufficient
force to carry a portion of it beyond the cistern. To prevent this, a cover
formed of a bent piece of sheet copper should be put over each of the tubes
when the machine is in operation; or a larger sheet-metal cover, may be made
to extend all over the area of the cistern, and to enclose the whole of the
tubes, by which means the waste of juice which would otherwise take place. is
prevented. (I have not shewn these covers in the Drawings hereunto annexed,
because they would greatly obstruct the view of. the other parts of the appa-
ratus.) It would be desirable to face the pistons D with steel, and also to.let
a piece of steel into the upper part of the tubes B at the part where the cane
is cut off; or the openings into the hoppers might be lined with a ring of
steel extending downwards into the metal of the tube, and flush with the
inside of it. The two cutting angles being thus formed of, steel will last
longer and act better than if left of the metal forming the tubes and pistons.
I have shewn in Figures 2 and 3.an opening Z through. which that portion of
When the

page_text: .
the cane trash falls, which is expelled from the ends of the tubes .nearest the
cranks. The cane press should be placed upon a slightly elevated base, and.
a small arched opening should be left for the purpose of getting out the cane
trash which falls through the opening Z. The cistern A 1 I prefer to line
with copper or lead, and the tubes B, B, to be made of an alloy of copper,
by which the injurious effect of iron on the cane juice is prevented. It may
be desirable in some cases to act upon a much greater quantity of canes at a
time than can be done by means of the apparatus herein described. In that
case the tubes may be made higher, so that longer pieces of 'cane will be cut
off at each stroke; or, instead of this, more tubes may be employed in one
machine; or, the two arrangements may be combined, that is, larger tubes and
more of them. Although I have herein described a cane press as combined in
one frame with a steam cylinder and appendages, it will be obvious that,
instead of such combination, an ordinary steam engine may be connected to
the crank shaft of the press, or any other motive power may be so employed, the
motion being in that case connected to the crank shaft by tooth gearing. I
have herein described how the friction against the parallel sides of the tubes
forms a resistance to the movement of the canes along them. This resistance
in a parallel tube must be in proportion to its length; but the resistance may
be greatly increased by contracting the aperture, which may be either done
quite at the end of the tube, or the tube may be made wedge-shaped through-
out. Further, in order to regulate the pressure on the canes in a tube or
other vessel, the ends at which the cane is intended to escape may be partially
or entirely closed by a door or valve kept shut by a spring or weighted lever,
so that the force required to overcome the counterpoise shall constitute wholly
or in part the resistance required, and thus determine the force exerted upon
the cane by the piston. The requisite contraction of the escape aperture may
be readily effected by forming a portion of the sides of the tube or other
vessel into doors or flaps, which may be hinged to the side of the tubes so as
to unfold and form between them a parallel space equal to the size of the
tube; but when inclined slightly inwards towards each other (by the force of
any weighted lever upon them), they would form a wedge-shaped aperture, the
size of which might be either regulated by a weighted lever or spring, as
before described; or the doors or flaps might be acted upon by screws so as
to form a permanent contraction of the aperture to the required extent. I
prefer upon the whole the parallel open-ended tubes, as represented in the
Drawings. The advantages proposed to be realized under this head of my
Invention may be thus briefly summed up :-
Firstly, with regard to the equalization of pressure upon .canes of different

page_text: diameters in the canc press. It deserves to be noticed that the pistons move
an equal distance at every stroke; but that as the masses of cane which form
the resisting media slide along the tubes whenever a certain amount of
pressure is exerted upon them, and will so move any required distance with-
out an additional intensity of pressure, it follows that as every cane, whatever
may be its diameter, has to move the mass forward, an equal pressure is given
to all of them; the only difference being, that when a larger cane than ordi-
nary is put in, it causes, by the insertion of its increased bulk between the
piston and the rest of the canes, a greater movement of the latter; and by
the same rule, however small a cane is put in, the yielding mass does not
give way until the requisite pressure is exerted upon it, when it will move
forward a small distance only, which in every case must be in direct propor-
tion to the bulk of solid matter contained in the newly-interposed portion of
cane. Further, the canes by this process are cut off into convenient lengths
for burning, and are not lacerated as usual, the trash resembling flatly-
collapsed tubes having a smooth and glossy external appearance. The knots
sink slightly into the soft portions of those pieces which come in contact with
them, and thus are not subjected to the rigid and unyielding pressure of iron
rollers acting on both sides of them; instead whereof, they are pressed onc
against each other, and consequently, although the pressure is sufficient to
extract the saccharine juices from the soft cellular interior of the cane, it is
not sufficiently rigid to cause the extraction of the green wax and other
objectionable matters from the knots and rind.
Secondly, with regard to the time which is allowed in the common rolling
mills for the expression of the juice. I have before shewn that in one quarter
of a second after the pressure is applied it is again entirely removed; but in
the cane press heroin described the pressure is continued on every portion of
cane for a space of time exceeding two minutes; for it is found that canes of
an ordinary diameter occupy, when under pressure in the tube, about onc
eighth of an inch of its length. Therefore, if we assume that the piston
makes sixty strokes a minute, and that the compressed cane occupies eighteen
inches of the length of the tube, it follows that each piece will require about
two minutes and twenty-four seconds before it arrives and is expelled at the
open end of the tube; and it is this retention of pressure on the cane which
causes so much of the juice to drain out of it with so little pressure that other
matters more difficult to extract are retained in the rind and knots, whereby
the purity of the saccharine juice is greatly enhanced.
Thirdly, with regard to reabsorption of the juice into the pores and cells of
the cane as it emerges from the rollers of an ordinary mill. It will be seen,

page_text: from the operation of the cane press just described, that each piece of cane is
propelled successively further and further along the tube. The first effort of
the press brings out a large portion of juice; but as the pieco of cane recedes
from the piston it gets further from contact with the principal flow of juice,
and continues to give out juice until it has progressed about a foot along the
tube, and becomes exhausted, or nearly so. Thus the piece of cane is deprived
of its saccharine juice by a continued pressure, and ample time is afforded for
the juice to percolate through the labyrinth of tissues in which it is contained,
while its removal under pressure prevents the possibility of reabsorption.
Lastly, having shown how the pressure of the pieces of cane against
each other, instead of the rigid pressure against iron surfaces, prevents the
extraction of the green wax or other injurious matters from the rind and knots
of the cane, I have only farther to remark, that, instead of the pressure
lacerating the cane, and forcing out great quantities of cellular matter and
large fragments into the juice as usual, the latter is rendered impossible by the
smallness of the perforations in the tube, while the delicate cellular tissues are,
as it were, carefully folded up in the collapsed cane, and act as a sort of filter
for the juice which continues to flow from the cane during its progress to the
dry end of the tube.
Secondly, my Invention consists in an apparatus for heating and regulating
the temperature of cane juice while out of contact with the atmosphere, and
during its passage from the cane press or mill to the defeccating vessel.
This apparatus is represented in elevation at Figure 4, and in section at
Figure 5 of the Drawings hereunto annexed.
a is a copper cylindrical vessel,
placed horizontally, having a pipe b leading thereto, which conveys the juice
from the cane mill or press, and c is another pipe, by which it is conveyed to
the defeccating vessel, at which place the pipe c is provided with a cock to
regulate the flow of the juice, by the entire or partial closing of which cock
the vessel a is kept always full of liquid, and the contact of the latter with the
air prevented. The vessel a is enclosed in a jacket d of cast iron, with
sufficient space between for the circulation of steam which has previously done
its duty in the steam-engine cylinder; but, as it is desirable that the cane liquor
should not exceed a temperature of one hundred and eighty degrees Fahren-
heit, I regulate the quantity of steam passing through the jacket in the
following manner:-e is a slide box, similar to the slide box of a steam-engine
cylinder; is a small slide valve, which opens or closes the two steam ports g
and h. Within the vessel a there is an iron pipe m, which passes from
thence, and is turned upwards and connected to the slide box e.
The upper
end of this pipe is open, and has a small piston n and rod r, by which it is

page_text: attached to the slide f. The tube is filled with mercury, and at the flange
joints there is a piece of vulcanized india rubber inserted, so as to form a
cap capable, of yielding to pressure and raising the piston whenever the
mercury expands enough to do so. The use of the india rubber is to prevent
the leaking of the mercury past the piston. The action of, the apparatus is
as follows:-The vessel a having been filled with juice, steam is admitted to
the box through the pipe t, and flows partly thence into the port g, from
which it escapes into the atmosphere. A portion of the waste steam passing
through the port.h, finds its way into the jacket, and finally escapes by the
waste pipe u, and thus heats the juice contained in the vessel a. The mercury
also acquiring the temperature of the juice will expand, and acting upon the
slide f, will regulate the quantity of steam admitted to the jacket. Thus, if
the temperature of the juice rises, the mercury expanding, will further close
the aperture, and diminish the influx of steam into the port h, while it opens
wider the port g, and allows vent for the waste steam of the engine. The
reverse action takes place if the juice is not sufficiently heated by the con-
traction of the mercury lowering the slide and admitting more steam. In
order to clean out the vessel a it is provided with a screw cap w, which can
be removed, and the vessel cleansed when required.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same may be performed, I declare that, although I have herein shewn
and explained many parts of machinery or apparatus which separately are in
use for other purposes, I do not intend to claim any of these parts separately
as of my Invention, but that the improvements which I claim as constituting
my said Invention are as follows:-
First, I claim the cane press before described in the peculiar arrangement,
combination, and adaption of known parts of which the same consists, that is
to say, in so far as regards the combination in one framework of the machinery
or instruments for expressing the saccharine juices from the cane with the
machinery for working the said expressing machinery or instruments; the
employment of perforated tubes or cylinders, or other suitable vessels, left open
at the discharge end to hold the canes while in the act of being pressed, the
necessary resistance to the expressing piston or ram being obtained from the
friction of the canes against the interior sides of the tubes, cylinders, or other
containing vessels; the cutting of the canes into lengths adapted to the size of
the said containing tubes or other vessels by means of the same pistons or rams
by which they are immediately afterwards pressed; and, lastly, the peculiar
mode in which the reciprocating movements of the steam-driving piston are
combined with those of the expressing pistons, whereby the latter are made to

page_text: exert throughout each stroke a gradually encreasing pressure with a gradually
diminishing velocity.
Second, I claim the expressing of the saccharine juices from cancs by
passing them through perforated tubes or other containing vessels open at the
discharge end, and affording, by the resistance of their interior sides to the
passage of the canes, the necessary resistance to the expressing piston or ram,
whether the cane forms part of the general combination of machinery herein-
before described or of any other construction of machinery for the purpose of
extracting the saccharine juices from the canes.
Third, I claim the mode of attaching to such perforated tubes or other
containing vessels open at the discharge end loaded valves, doors, or flaps, for
the purpose of retaining the canes in the same under pressure while in the
course of being pressed, as before described.
Fourth, I claim separately the peculiar mode of imparting to the recipro-
cating pistons, when used to express saccharine juices from the cane, a
gradually encreasing pressure combined with a gradually diminishing velocity
as before described, whether the same is employed as part of the general
combination of machinery first berein-before claimed, or of any other combi-
nation of machinery for expressing the saccharine juice from canes, and
whether also steam or any other first source of power is made use of. And,
Fifth, I claim the apparatus for heating and regulating the temperature of
cane juice while in its progress from the cane press to the defecating vessel, as
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bessemer, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Seventeenth day of October, in the year of our
those sight hundred and forte ning