AN MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR SPRINKLING OR DIFFUSING LIQUIDS FOB REFINING SUGAR AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International Patent
Office," No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
Sealed the 15th October 1867, and dated the 23rd April 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd April 1867.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8,
Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Con-
sulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR SPRINKLING OR DIFFUSING LIQUIDS FOB
REFINING SUGAR AND OTHER PURPOSES," a communication, to be as follows:-
In the application of water or refiner's liquor or other liquids in the manu-
facture and refining of sugar, and for other similar purposes, which require the
diffusion of a small amount of fluid over a large surface, the jet has been
divided by forcing it through a strainer or finely perforated rose, by which the
object desired has been imperfectly attained in the separation and spreading of
a single stream into a number of smaller ones. In the more thorough and
expensive manufacture of loaf sugar the same end has been more perfectly
accomplished by the use of wet clay.

page_text: The chief value of the process of claying sugar in the moulds, which
involves so long a time in its operation, consists, it is believed, in the gradual
separation of the water or liquor from the clay and its slow percolation
through the moulds. The moisture passing through the sugar is sufficient to
cleanse the crystals, which, if they were subjected to the action of a forcible
current, would be washed and worn, to the detriment of the quantity of the
result, as well as the quality of the grain, upon which its value depends. The
length of time required, however, is so serious an objection to its use that
it cannot be advantageously employed where economy is the controlling
consideration.
In my improved process the water or other washing or bleaching agent is
caught and carried by a current of air or other elastic medium, by which it is
diffused in the form of a finely divided spray or mist on the surface of the
sugar or other material under treatment. For the purpose of carrying this
process into effect in the purification of granulated sugar in a centrifugal
machine I use a flexible pipe communicating with an air pump or reservoir,
and furnished with a suitable stop-cock and flaring nozzle, by which a stream
of air may be directed to any part of the machine. Connected with this pipe
there is another pipe, by which a small port of water or other fluid may be
introduced into the current of air, by which it is seized and blown from the
nozzle in the form of a fine mist against the interior surface of the layer of
sugar in the machine, and it is carried through the same by the centrifugal
force in sufficient quantity to produce the whitening effect desired without
prejudice to the size and sharpness of the grain.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd October 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen. Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Robert Lake, Her special licence that I, the said William Robert Lake,

page_text: my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Robert Lake, 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE
OF AND APPARATUS FOR SPRINKLING OR DIFFUSING LIQUIDS FOR REFINING SUGAR
AND OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Robert Lake, 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 Robert Lake, 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 follow-
ing statement, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings
forming part of this Specification:-
In the application of water or refiner's liquor or other liquids in the manu-
facture and refining of sugar, and for other similar purposes which require the
diffusion of a small amount of fluid over a large surface, the jet has been
divided by forcing it through a strainer or finely perforated rose, by which
the object desired has been imperfectly attained in the separation and spreading
of a single stream into a number of smaller ones. In the more thorough and
expensive manufacture of loaf sugar the same end has been more perfectly
accomplished by the use of wet clay.
The value of the process of claying sugar in the moulds, which involves so
long a time in its operation, consists, it is believed, in the gradual separation of
the water or liquid from the clay, and its slow percolation through the moulds.
The moisture passing through the sugar is sufficient to cleanse the crystals,
which, if they were subjected to the action of a forcible current, would be
washed and worn to the detriment of the quantity of the result as well as the
quality of the grain, upon which its value depends. The length of time
required, however, is so serious an objection to its use that it cannot be
advantageously employed where economy is the controlling consideration.
In my improved process the water or other washing or bleaching agent is
caught and carried by a current of air or other elastic medium, by which it is
diffused in the form of a finely divided spray or mist on the surface of the

page_text: process into effect in the purification of granulated sugar in a centrifugal
machine I use a flexible pipe communicating with an air pump or reservoir,
and furnished with a suitable stop-cock and nozzle, by which a stream of air
may be directed to any part of the machine. Connected with this pipe there
is another pipe by which a small portion of water or other fluid may be intro-
duced into the current of air, by which it is seized and blown from the nozzle
in the form of a fine mist against the interior surface of the layer of sugar in
the machine, through which it is carried by the centrifugal force in sufficient
quantity to produce the whitening effect desired without prejudice to the size
and sharpness of the grain.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
The flexible pipe a is connected with an air pump or reservoir of compressed
air, and is fitted with a stop-cock band a delivery nozzle; the smaller pipe c
and its cock d furnishes a supply of water to the nozzle through small holes
around the edge of its otherwise closed end e, whence it is diffused and dis-
tributed by and with the current of air. The flexible pipes permit the operator
to direct the spray to any part of the interior of the machine, and the degree
of moisture may be readily controlled by the cocks while the instrument is
being used.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, and shewn how the same may be conveniently and
advantageously carried into practice, I claim, diffusing the water or other
cleansing or bleaching agent in a finely divided state by means of a current of
air or other elastic fluid, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)
Witness,
THO. N. PALMER,
Clerk to Messrs. Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
8, Southampton Buildings, W.C.