IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR THE CLEANSING OR BLEACHING OF SUGAR, WHICH SAID MEANS AND APPARATUS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER HSEPILL PURPOSES OF A LIKE CHARACTER
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gustavus Adolphus Jasper, of the County of Mid-
dlesex, of the State of Massachusetts, of the United States of America,
for the Invention of "IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR THE CLEANSING
OR BLEACHING OF SUGAR, WHICH SAID MEANS AND APPARATUS ARE ALSO
APPLICABLE FOR OTHER HSEPILL PURPOSES OF A LIKE CHARACTER.”
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Gustavus Adolphus Jasper
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 7th November 1865, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, BE IT
KNOWN that I, GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS JASPER, of the County of Middlesex,
and State of Massachusetts, of the United States of America, have made
a new and useful Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR THE
CLEANSING OR BLEACHING OF SUGAR, WHICH SAID MEANS AND APPARATUS ARE
ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES OF A LIKE CHARACTER," and I do
hereby declare the nature of the same, and the manner in which it is to
be performed, to be fully described in the following Specification, the ac-
companying Drawing serving to illustrate the mechanism or apparatus used
by me in carrying out my said Invention.
I am aware, for the purpose of liquoring sugar, either water or a suitable
syrup has been used by simply pouring it into a "centrifugal machine" when

page_text: in motion, or by discharging it at a low velocity and with little force upon the
sugar contained therein by means of a watering pot or other similar vessel, or
a perforated tube. I am also aware that the centrifugal force of the machine
itself has also been employed to take up, conduct, and discharge the cleansing
liquid upon the sugar under treatment. Consequently I lay no claim to the
Invention of such modes of liquoring, neither of which being so capable as
my Invention of economically producing white sugars in large quantities.
The nature of my Invention consists of a new means and apparatus for
applying a cleansing liquid to sugar in a centrifugal machine, the same being
productive of great economy of the fluid employed, and also of such facility
and precision as to practically obtain complete uniformity in the sugar forming
the charge when the process is concluded.
By the application of pressure or its equivalent to the cleansing liquid, sub-
stantially in manner as herein-after explained, I am enabled to use white
liquor of a density greater than that hitherto used in such machines, and
thereby obtain an amount of white sugar equal to that produced in the
ordinary mode of liquoring in moulds.
The following is a description of the apparatus which I employ for this
purpose in connection with one or more centrifugal machines, and as such
machines have been constructed of different forms, I prefer the simplest
thereof, viz., that of an open cylinder without a cone in the centre, and driven
from below by suitable mechanism. In this way the workman is enabled
easily and safely to apply the cleansing liquid to all parts of the charge
contained in the centrifugal machine.
The Drawing herewith presented represents the said apparatus and two of
the centrifugal machines; the construction of these latter being well under-
stood, they being exhibited in vertical section and marked B, B. At a
suitable altitude above them there is placed a tight vessel A, made of strong
material, and capable of bearing a great internal pressure, or one, say, of about
one hundred and twenty-five pounds to the square inch. This vessel is to be
provided with a filling pipe a having a stop-cock in it, and it may also have
a safety valve g, and a glass tube e, the latter being arranged as shown in the
Drawing, and made to communicate at its two ends with the interior of the
vessel A, in order that the height of any liquid when in the said vessel may be
indicated by the liquid which may be within the tube. A pipe fto lead from
an air forcing pump may enter the upper part of the vessel A. Another
pipe h, having a stop-cock 6 near its upper end, leads off the bottom of the
vessel A, and communicates with a flexible pipe i arranged over each of the
centrifugal machines B, B. Each pipe is to terminate in a foraminous

page_text: nozzle d, which may be provided with a stop-cock k. There may also be a
stop-cock c at the lower extremity of the pipe h.
•
With an apparatus so constructed, if the reservoir A be charged with a
strong or thick cleansing liquor or syrup until the said reservoir be about two-
thirds filled therewith, and if afterwards air be forced into such reservoir, and
be condensed therein under a pressure of twenty-five pounds and upwards to
the square inch, as may be required for the kind of sugar to be treated, the
apparatus will be ready for use. If we next cause either or both of the centri-
fugal machines B, B, to be charged with a mass of sugar, and to be put in
rapid revolution, we have only to open the stop-cocks b and c, as well as the
stop-cock of that flexible tube which may be directly over the charged
centrifugal machine, and direct the foraminous nozzle so as to discharge with
great velocity and force the minute streams of the cleansing liquid against the
inner surface of the mass of sugar which may have accumulated against the
vertical inner surface of the rotary vessel of the centrifugal machine, taking
care to move the nozzle so as to cause the streams to be laid on the sugar
evenly from the bottom to the top of the mass thereof.
Although the above-described apparatus for obtaining a high pressure will
be most economical in its results, I have found that open tanks placed 50
to 75 feet above the centrifugals and connected with the pipe h, giving thus a
pressure of 20 to 30 lbs. per square inch, will produce very good results, and.
even a less pressure in connection with the flexible hose and nozzle will pro-
duce a uniform color in the charge of sugar operated upon. This uniformity
has never been economically produced by any mode heretofore used in
centrifugals.
The importance of the use of a great pressure applied to the cleansing
liquid arises from the fact that each particle thus forced into the revolving
mass of sugar penetrates the mass with less deflection by reason of the centri-
fugal force, and consequently at an angle more favorable for the removal of
the coloring matter from the surface of the crystals of sugar. The rapidity of
the transit is also advantageous as affording less opportunity for melting the
crystals of sugar, and the application of the cleansing liquor in fine jets has
the same recommendation. The density of the cleansing liquid which I can
thus use can be carried far beyond the point at which it would cease to flow
in jets from the nozzle of a watering pot or similar vessel, as heretofore.
employed, and the greater the saturation of the cleansing liquid the less will
be its tendency to melt the sugar to be liquored.
The time required for perfectly liquoring a charge of sugar is much reduced
by my process, thirty seconds generally sufficing, and I thus effect a material

page_text: saving in the force employed in driving the machines, and increase their
working capabilities.
I do not confine my Invention to the precise pressure liquoring apparatus
as above described, as others under different constructions and forms and
productive of like effects may be employed in lieu of it, my object being to
combine with the force induced by the centrifugal machine a force which shall
so operate on the cleansing liquor or syrup as to drive it with such velocity
into the sugar while in revolution as to prevent such sugar from being melted.
Although I claim specifically the application of pressure to the cleansing
liquid by a force supplied from without the centrifugal machine, I attach
great importance to the use of the flexible hose with a rose nozzle placed
immediately at its end. Any stationary or movable perforated pipe placed
within the machine and delivering cleansing liquid under a pressure greater
than the centrifugal force of the machine in motion will be found to work
imperfectly in comparison with the said hose and nozzle, and with a waste of
liquids employed. With the flexible hose I ensure the greatest economy in
working, and with proper guards I prevent the possibility of accident to the
workman employed in using it.
I claim as of my Invention the new or improved process, substantially as
described, for liquoring sugar in a centrifugal machine, such process involving
the employment of such machine, and also of pressure or its equivalent, in
manner substantially as set forth in the application of the cleansing syrup or
liquor to the sugar, while in revolution with the machine, as explained.
I also claim the improved apparatus, substantially as described for liquoring
sugars by the said new or improved process.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this First
day of October, 1865.
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS JASPER. (LS.)