IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND REFINING OF SUGAR
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, ROBERT
and JOHN OXLAND, both of Plymouth, Chemists, 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 Fifteenth day of May,
(One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one,) in the fourteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Robert and John Oxland, our exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her
especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said
Robert and John Oxland, our exors, adññors, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said Robert and John Oxland, our exors, adññiors, and 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 the 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, our
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND REFINING OF SUGAR;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that we, the said Robert

page_text: and John Oxland, shall cause a particular description of the nature of our
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal
of one of us, 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 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, we, the said
Robert and John Oxland, do hereby declare that the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
that is to say :-
These improvements consist in the employment of phosphoric acid in a
combined state, as herein described, for defecating saccharine liquids or
solutions of sugar, and for removing their color.
We would in the first place remark that in a former Patent, bearing date
April the Twenty-sixth, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, we have
described a process for manufacturing and refining sugar by the use of acetate
of alumina, in which we direct the use of lime for effecting the separation of
the alumina; but we have since found that even with careful working some
alumina is liable to be left in solution, and to be conveyed through the several
processes (to which the saccharine liquid or solution of sugar is subjected),
and into the molasses or treacle. When acctate of alumina and lime have
been used, we effect the removal of the remaining alumina by the employment
of superphosphate of alumina or superphosphate of lime, by simply adding a
small quantity of either of these substances to the syrup after the completion
of the process with acetate of alumina described under our former Patent, then
boiling for two or three minutes, carefully neutralizing any excess of acids.
This is done by adding aluminate of lime, saccharite of lime, lime water, or
milk of lime; then, having ascertained that the alumina is completely separated,
the process is to be completed in the manner described in our former Specifi-
cation. In place of using acetate of alumina, either alone or combined with
phosphoric acid, as herein explained, phosphates may be employed directly,
and they are capable of producing similar effects to those produced by the use
of acetate of alumina, with the advantage that the whole of the agent employed
is separated from the saccharine matters. In the treatment of saccharine
liquids or a solution of sugar, say, for example, of an ordinary sample of
Mauritius sugar, we dissolve it by blowing up with steam in the usual

page_text: As some portions of the color
may occasionally be deemed
manner, but avoiding the use of blood, and adding to the water employed a
soluble phosphate. If ordinary crystallized phosphate of soda be used, it is to
be in the proportion of one and a half pounds of the phosphate of soda to the
ton of sugar, bringing the solution to the boiling point, carefully neutralizing
any acidity with aluminate of lime, saccharate of lime, milk of lime, or lime
water, and then passing the syrup thus obtained (of specific gravity twenty-
five degrees to thirty degrees Baumé) through the ordinary bag filters. The
sugar will have been thereby defecated, the feculent matters being left in the
bags, from which the last traces of sugar may be removed by passing clean
water through them. The weak solutions thus obtained may be employed in
the blowing up further quantities of raw sugar.
of the syrup is removed in this operation, it
sufficient treatment previous to boiling in the vacuum pan, or otherwise, for
crystallization; but a further amount of color may be removed by using from
five to eight per cent. or more of hydrate of alumina, which has been dried at
a temperature of two hundred and twelve degrees Fahrenheit (diffused through
the water employed in blowing up the sugar); and thus will the use of animal
charcoal be rendered- unnecessary. The residuary alumina left on the filter
bags after having the whole of the saccharine matter separated from it by
washing may be dried, and the organic matter removed by ignition; and,
after further washing, to remove any residuary soluble saline substances, it may
be employed for the manufacture of hydrate of alumina, or of the superphos-
phate of alumina; or, after the washing previous to ignition, it may be used over
again, with the addition of a further quantity of hydrate of alumina. If super-
phosphate of alumina be intended to be employed, we use it in the following
manner: We mix it in solution with the water used in blowing up the raw
sugar in the proportions of six pounds of alumina dissolved in phosphoric acid
for the ton of sugar. While the syrup at twenty-five degrees or thirty degrees
Baumé is being brought to the boiling point, sufficient aluminate of lime,
saccharate of lime, milk of lime, or lime water, is to be applied to neutralize
acidity. The syrup should then be passed through bag filters, and the clear
syrup conducted into the receiver from which the vacuum or other boiling pan
is supplied. The subsequent operations are the same as in the old plan of
working. The matters left in the filter bags should be treated as before
described for the separation of the saccharine matters. The superphosphate of
alumina we prepare by dissolving alumina in phosphoric acid, which we prefer
obtaining in the following manner-We burn bones white, grind them to
fine powder, and digest the product in sufficient muriatic acid for the solution
of the carbonate of lime only; we dry the residue after carefully washing it to

page_text: remove every trace of soluble matter.
To a given weight of this residue,
mixed with sufficient water to make it into a thin paste (in a shallow
earthenware tank or vessel), we add a quantity of pure sulphuric acid
sufficient to combine with nearly all the lime present, that is, excepting
about two or three per cent., stirring the mixture well together, and keeping
it warm, say, above ninety degrees Fahrenheit, for about twenty-four
hours. The mass is to be lixiviated with water until all the soluble matters
are separated from the sulphate of lime. The strong liquors obtained
may be used for combining with alumina, and the weak solutions for lixi-
viating fresh quantities of phosphoric acid in course of production. When
alumina is digested in the phosphoric acid thus obtained, phosphate of
alumina, insoluble in water, is first formed, which is to be dissolved in a
quantity of phosphoric acid sufficient only for that purpose. The superphos-
phate of alumina thus obtained should be filtered before being used. The
aluminate of lime is prepared by dissolving alumina in caustic potash or
soda, and then causing its precipitation by the addition of lime water or milk
of lime, carefully washing the precipitated aluminate of lime, which should be
diffused through water when required for use; and we prefer its employment
to either that of the saccharite of lime, or milk of lime, or lime water. When
making sugar from the cane, we defecate the juice with aluminate of lime, or
with lime, in the usual manner, neutralizing any excess of the lime with super-
phosphate of alumina or superphosphate of lime, and after filtering and concen-
trating the filtered liquor to from twenty-five degrees to thirty degrees Baumé,
we treat the syrup with phosphate of soda, in the same manner as with raw
sugars, and after a second filtration we boil in the usual manner.
manufacture and refining of beetroot sugar we proceed in the same manner as
already described for the cane sugar, only using a larger quantity of aluminate
of lime or of milk of lime in the first defecation.
In the
Having thus described the nature of our improvements, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we do not confine
ourselves to the details as herein given, nor to the phosphates mentioned, as
others may be substituted.
What we claim is the employment of phosphoric acid in a combined state,
as herein described.
:
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Oxland, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
ROBERT (L.s.) OXLAND.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of November, in
the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Robert Oxland came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
5 above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.