IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING SACCHARINE FLUIDS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Armand Gilbee, of No. 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
"
A
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Armand Gilbce
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th March 1858.
I, WILLIAM ARMAND GILBEE, of No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN TREATING SACCHARINE FLUIDS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
The Invention communicated to me consists in the employment of alcohol
in combination with lime or other agents which have the power (when thus
combined) to precipitate mineral or organic impurities contained in the juice of
saccharine plants.
The following is the process employed for beetroot:-The juice obtained by
pressure or maceration is concentrated from 18° to 30° Beaumé and the acidity
of the syrup is neutralised by the addition of lime or other base, if too alkaline
carbonic acid or sulphuric acid is added. The syrup thus treated is poured
into a closed vessel furnished with an agitator. Alcohol at 95° is then added
from a vessel provided with a stop-cock in the proportion of three times the
quantity of syrup, so that the mixture will indicate 60° to 70° by. Gay Lussac's

page_text: alcoholimeter; after a short time it is allowed to settle. The deposit may be
separated by decantation, and may either be washed with alcohol at 93°
and serve for another precipitation, or after having deprived the deposit of its
alcohol by the passage of a jet of steam, it may be utilised in distilleries.
The clear liquid is placed in another vessel provided with a funnel and stop-
cock for introducing the purifying chemical agents; an acid or acid salt, such
as sulphuric, oxalic, tartaric acid, and sulphate of alumina, capable of forming
a compound with potass or soda insoluble in alcohol, will separate the alkalies;
sulphuric acid, diluted in alcohol, however is preferred. The excess of acid is
neutralised by a base such as line, barytes, strontian, oxide of lead, or one of
their basic salts. I then introduce into the separated liquid one of these bases
in excess, previously diluted in weak alcohol; an abundent precipitate is formed.
The vessel employed is furnished with a worm, which allows of heating by
steam. The ammonia being heated, and expelled is drawn along by the
alcoholic vapours and passed into a recipient containing alcohol acidulated by
sulphuric acid, where it is condensed, and the alcoholic vapours are then
condensed. This operation being finished the base in excess is removed.
The deposit is separated, and the clear liquid is placed in a special boiler
heated by steam, which forms at once an evaporating vessel and an alembic,
so that the alcohol is condensed and the syrup concentrated at the same time.
The precipitation of deposits is accelerated by adding soon after their forma-
tion albumen or gelatine bodies coagulable by alcohol, and which removes all
impurities held in suspension. When the deposits are collected in sufficient
quantity they are washed with strong alcohol for separating the sugar. The
alcohol is afterwards expelled by heat. Animal black may be employed, if
necessary.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Armand Gilbee in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd September 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ARMAND GILBEE, of No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,

page_text: the said William Armand Gilbee, Her special licence that I,, the said William
Armand Gilbee, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1,
the said William Armand Gilbee, 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 of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN TREATING SACCHARINE FLUIDS," communicated to me by a
foreigner residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Armand Gilbee, 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
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 William Armand Gilbec, 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, that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in the application to the treat-
ment of sugar of alcohol, and agents capable of effecting in conjunction there-
with, the elimination of mineral or organic impurities which are mixed with
the sugar in the juice of sacchariferous plants.
I will now describe the application of the process to the treatment of the
saccharine matter contained in beet root, which will enable the Invention to
be applied to other kinds of saccharine fluids with facility.
As it would not be economical to employ alcohol as the purifying agent in
treating juice of weak density if the juice be produced by the pressure or
maceration of green beet root, it should be previously concentrated from.
eighteen degrees to thirty degrees Baumés areometer,) either after defecation.
in the ordinary manner or direct, care being taken to neutralise the acidity. of.
the syrup, as soon as it appears, by lime or other base. Dried beetroot treated
by washing with boiling water and its acidity neutralised by the addition of .a.
small quantity of slack lime, produces syrups of the desired. degree of.con:
centration.
Crude and impure syrups, however obtained, if too. alkaline, are first
neutralised by carbonic or sulphuric acid, and then conveyed into a closed
sheet iron vessel provided with an agitator. Alcohol is then made to enter ou
it through a pipe furnished with a stop-cock, which pipe puts the above vessel

page_text: in communication with a receiver placed at a higher level. The quantity of
alcohol to be introduced is proportionate to its degree of strength and the
degree of concentration of the syrup operated upon. The proportions must be
such that the mixture will mark sixty degrees to seventy degrees by Guy
Lussac's alcoholimeter; three volumes of alcohol at ninety-three degrees, and
one volume of syrup at twenty degrees Baumé are the suitable proportions
for this mixture. After agitating the mixture during a few minutes it is
allowed to settle; the deposit thus formed is grumous, and may easily be
separated by decantation, when an excess of acid or alkali has not produced
too great a transformation of the pectine. A small quantity of sugar, according
to the degree of concentration of the syrup, remains mixed with the impurities
which form the deposit. The deposit may be either washed several times with
alcohol (which will serve for a subsequent precipitation) or after being freed
from alcohol by passing through it a jet of steam it may be used like molasses
in distilleries. The liquid thus obtained is clear and nearly colorless, and is
conveyed by difference of level by an exhaust pump, by steam pressure or by
other mechanical means into a vessel similar to the first, provided with a funnel
furnished with a stop-cock, for introducing the purifying agents; an acid or
an acid salt, such as sulphuric, oxalic, or tartaric acid, and sulphate of alumina,
forming with potass and soda insoluble compounds in alcohol, will separate
these alkalies. The alkaline salts precipitated are nearly white and collect
with more or less rapidity, and their value varies according as the acid employed
is a mineral or organic acid, and of more or less high price, the choice of
which is determined by circumstances. I prefer using sulphuric acid diluted
in alcohol. The quantity to be employed is indicated by the cessation of
precipitate. I operate in a cold state and agitate carefully; as soon as the
acid has been added I neutralise the excess of acid and the acids which it
has displaced by a base of lime barytes, strontian, oxide of lead, or other
suitable base or one of their basic salts. I introduce into the liquid separated
from the alkaline salts, one of these bases in excess, previously diluted in weak
alcohol; an abundant precipitate then forms. These bases serve to expel the
ammonia and prevent acidity towards the boiling. The vessel in which I
operate is provided with a worm, which allows of heating by steam. Upon
heating, the ammonia is expelled and drawn along by the alcoholic vapours,
and passes into a recipient containing alcohol acidulated by sulphuric acid or
sulphate of alumina. The ammonia condenses and forms a useful product,
and the alcoholic vapours pass into a refrigerator to be condensed into a liquid
state. This operation being finished, I remove the base in excess and at the
same time decompose, by a suitable acid or by a current of carbonic acid, the

page_text: small quantity of saccharine matter produced. I separate the deposit, and pour
the clear liquid in a separate boiler heated by steam, which boiler serves at the
same time as an evaporating apparatus and an alembic, so that the alcohol is
condensed for a subsequent operation, and the saccharine matter is concentrated
into a syrup, which may then either be boiled or submitted to the ordinary
process of clarification, and also to that of filtration, when it is freed from
alcohol at about thirty degrees Baumé, in case its nature does not permit of
avoiding this manipulation.
All the operations are performed in closed vessels. The precipitates are
separated by decantation. If the precipitates are light and voluminous, I
accelerate their deposit by adding, a short time after they are formed, a body
coagulable in alcohol, such as albumen or gelatine, which bodies are capable
of drawing all the particles in suspension into a perfectly coherent deposit.
When a sufficient quantity of the deposits is accumulated in a vessel they are
washed with strong alcohol to separate from them the sugar with which they
are impregnated, then the alcohol is expelled by heat, before the deposits are
passed off through an opening made for that purpose. When I employ carbonic
acid, to avoid the loss of alcohol, I cause the acid to be absorbed by a base as
it escapes from the liquid. This mode of operating permits the employment
of animal black in its most efficient state, namely, when new and in fine
powder. For this purpose it is necessary to add it to the syrup, which permits it
to act before the alcohol, by which it is precipitated with all the impurities.
The means adopted for condensing the alcohol should be such as to allow of
a rapid evaporation of the liquids, and prevent a large quantity of alcohol being
used without having to employ various epurating agents, as herein stated. By
means of alcohol and lime, a sugar of great whiteness may be obtained from
beetroot. For this purpose it is necessary to introduce lime in excess into
the liquid separated from the deposit formed by the alcohol, then to boil, con-
dense the ammonia and alcoholic vapours, as before described, afterwards to
neutralise the excess of base, separate the deposit, evaporate and boil. Instead
of adding the lime to the alcoholic solution, it may be added to the syrup at
twenty-seven degrees to thirty degrees Baumé after the evaporation of the
alcohol; I then clarify, filter, and boil. It will be easily understood from the
above description, that the principle on which this Invention is based is the
employment of any liquid dissolving sugar without deteriorating its saccharine
properties, and in which the solubility of the matters in combination is modified;
and also the employment of any body forming in such dissolving liquid an
insoluble compound with one of the foreign elements of the sugar, and easy
of elimination.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of the Invention communicated to me, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, I would observe, in con-
clusion, that I do not confine myself to the precise agents herein named, but
what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is, the application to
the treatment of saccharine fluids of alcohol and agents capable of effecting
conjunction with alcohol the elimination of mineral or organic matters
which are mixed with the sugar in the juices of sacchariferous plants, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Armand Gilbee, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of September, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
W. A. GILBEE. (L.S.)