IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR EXPRESSING LIQUIDS PROM PULPY AND SEMI-FLUID SUBSTANCES
Year: 1865

page_text: 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR EXPRESSING LIQUIDS PROM PULPY
AND SEMI-FLUID SUBSTANCES."-A communication from abroad by Louis
Pierre Robert de Massy, of Rue St. Sebastien, Paris, in the Empire of
France.
Sealed the 12th September 1865, and dated the 4th April 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th April 1865.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR EXPRESSING
LIQUIDS PROM PULPY AND SEMI-FLUID SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
The apparatus which forms the subject of the present Invention consists of
a truncated cone constructed of strong sheet iron, and perforated with a
number of holes arranged at equal distances apart. It is provided internally
with a metallic cloth, which is covered with some woven or other fabric which
will act as a filter or straining medium. This cone constitutes the armature.
of the press, and is securely fixed upon a strong foundation; inside this cone
is placed another cone, the sides of which are flexible. The interior of this

page_text: latter cone forms a capacity for containing the liquid or fluid which is to exert
the pressure. This inner cone is formed of thick strong caoutchouc, which is
securely held at both ends between the flanges of the top and bottom plates
of the apparatus so that the pressing fluid may be maintained therein at a
sufficient pressure. An annular space is left between the external rigid
perforated cone and the inner flexible one, and into this annular space is
introduced the substance that is to be operated upon. When the annular
space is charged, water or air is forced into the inner or flexible cone so as to
cause the sides to expand and press on the substance in the annular space,
and by this means the liquid contained in the substance will be forced out
through the perforated sides of the outer cone, and will run down on the
outside into a gutter which surrounds it at bottom, and from whence they are
collected. When the pressing operation has been completed the flexible cone
is lifted up, and the pressed substance is removed from the interior of the
fixed perforated cone and may be passed down through the open end of the
cone. In order to recommence the pressing operation the flexible cone is
moved down again into its seat, and the annular space again filled with the
substance to be operated upon, and pressure is again put on the interior of
the flexible cone as before. This apparatus is more particularly intended for
expressing the liquid parts from the pulpy matters, floating scum, and barytic
salts used in the manufacture of sugar, but it may also be employed for
expressing liquids from other pulpy or semi-liquid substances. In order to
supply the pulpy substance to the pressing apparatus a peculiar construction
of pump is employed; it consists of a steam cylinder in which there is a
moveable diaphragm or piston. At the upper end of the cylinder is a steam
pipe, divided at its junction with the cylinder by means of a vertical
partition; it is also provided with two cocks, one for admitting steam to the
cylinder, and the other for allowing it to escape. Another pipe is adapted to
the lower end of the cylinder, and communicates with the reservoir in which
the pulpy substance is contained; this is also provided with a cock or valve
for cutting off the supply. Upon creating a vacuum in the cylinder by means
of the steam the piston will rise therein and will draw in a supply of the pulpy
substance, then upon cutting off the communication with the reservoir and
admitting more steam above the piston the pulpy substance will be forced
along a pipe into the pressing apparatus where it will be pressed in the
manner already explained. A similar arrangement of parts is used for forcing
water into the interior of the flexible cone.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 4th October 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special licence that I, the
said William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 Mau, an Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR EXPRESSING
LIQUIDS FROM PULPY AND SEMI-PULID SUBSTANCES," being a communication from
abroad by Louis Pierre Robert de Massy, of Rue St. Sebastien, Paris, in the
Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their bands and scals, should par-
ticularly 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 Edward Newton, 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, reference being bad to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
By means of this improved apparatus water or gas is caused to act directly
upon the substance to be operated upon, thereby doing away with the inter-
mediate action of the hydraulic press or any other mechanical means ordinarily
employed for transmitting power. For this purpose a casing, covering, or
partition is interposed between the matters to be subjected to pressure and the
agent (such as water or gases), by means of which the pressure is to be

page_text: applied. These casings or partitions may be made of any suitable material,
preference being given to that substance which is found to possess the greatest
amount of elasticity. The vessels forming the press may be made of any
suitable material and of any convenient form, preference being given to that
which offers the greatest resistance to the pressure employed.'
The
large vessel
pulp
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents the apparatus (in sectional
elevation) forming the subject of this Invention set up ready for use.
beetroot or other substance to be operated upon, after being washed and
rasped in the ordinary manner, falls in the state of pulp into a
A to which are adapted large pipes B, by which it is connected with a
elevator C. This apparatus C is composed of an iron vessel constructed so as
to resist the pressure of ordinary boilers, and which is provided first with a
steam supply pipe D, leading from a suitable steam generator; second, with a
steam escape pipe E; third, with a water supply pipe F having a rose at its
extremity; fourth, a waste cock G; H is a valve for supplying the pulp,
and I is a pipe by which the pulp is conducted up to the pressing apparatus.
A floating piston J, adjusted in the interior of the apparatus follows all the
movements of the pulp, on the surface of which it is suspended. In order to
introduce the pulp into this apparatus it is only necessary to open the waste
cock G, and the pulp supply valve H. The pulp will by its weight enter the
apparatus and raise the floating piston J, the air being driven out through the
waste cock G. In case from any cause the pulp should not enter the elevator
with sufficient rapidity, a vacuum is to be produced above the piston J by
closing the apparatus. at its upper part after having injected steam therein,
which will drive out the air, and then condensing the steam by means of water
supplied by the pipe F. In order to discharge the pulp from this apparatus
C, the supply valve H below is closed, and the steam supply pipe D above is
opened, and by reason of the pressure of the steam acting upon the floating
piston J, the pulp will flow out in a perfectly homogeneous state into the
pressing apparatus K, shewn detached in section on an enlarged scale a
Fig. 2, it consists of an iron vessel .I., in the form of a hollow truncated cone
perforated with a number of holes through which the expressed liquor flows
and also of several cones M of wirework or perforated metal set one abov
the other; it is also provided with a filtering cloth N, of woollen or othe
suitable material, and a bag O of some impervious material. These fou
cones when the apparatus is in a state of rest should fit exactly into on
another so as to leave no empty space in which the impervious bag O ca
enter. A fifth conical vessel P is placed inside these vessels so as to leave
space between it and the impervious bag O of from one to four inches, accordin

page_text: to the nature of the substances under operation, and the degree of dryness
desired to be attained. This cone is provided at its surface with a jacket of
perforated metal P', under which the water for exerting the pressure is intro-
luced, and by which water is at the same time supplied to the whole internal
surface of the impervious fabric. The internal cylinder or cone P is suspended
by means of a system of chains and pulleys Q, and counterweights R, so as to
cause it to be readily raised or lowered by means of the windlass S above,
which may be worked by manual labor or otherwise. The valve T allows
the supply of pulp from the pulp elevator to be regulated. An india-rubber
pipe U, serves to supply the water which exerts the pressure, and which
pressure is communicated to the water by means of force pumps or by a steam
boiler V, which works at a very high pressure. The water for this purpose
is contained in a vessel X, which contains a quantity of water, much larger
than what is necessary for filling the impervious bag O, in order that this
latter may not be in contact with the steam which effects the pressure.
air cock y at the upper part of the iron cone P allows of the
which might impede the action of the apparatus.
An
escape of any air
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-The air cock y, and pulp
supply valve are first opened, and the pulp will enter the apparatus at a
pressure of about five atmospheres, and force the impervious bag O against
the inner cone P, and the liquor will flow therefrom in abundance, under-
going a kind of filtration by a pressure which is the preparatory pressure.
When the liquor no longer flows in such abundance (without however waiting
until it shall have ceased to flow entirely,) the air cock y, and the pulp supply
valve T are to be closed, and the cock of the water pipe U, which produces
the pressure inside the impervious bag O is to be opened, under which
pressure the bag will be forced outwards, and thereby press the pulp outwards
against the filtering surfaces M, N, with which the exterior cone is provided,
and through the perforations of which the liquor expressed will flow to any
convenient receptacle; this is the final pressure. When the liquor has
ceased to flow the air cock y is to be opened, and the water which serves to
The bolts,, which hold the
produce the pressure is allowed to flow off.
two cones together are then unscrewed, the inner cone P is lifted up and
removed, and the pressed pulp is allowed to fall into a carriage beneath, by
which it is conveyed away. If it were required to operate by levigation or
simply to employ a larger quantity of water than that employed in ordinary
work, a large vessel W would have to be placed under the cones, into which
the pulp after being subjected to pressure would be allowed to fall, and from
thence supplied to a second apparatus R', to be there mixed with the necessary

page_text: quantity of water. This mixture having been effected it is to be introduced
into a second pulp raiser C, similar to that C above described, and the liquid
expressed from it by means of a pressing apparatus M', similar to that above
described. The liquor produced by this second pressure should be conducted
to the first apparatus R", and mixed with the rasped beetroot in order to
increase its fluidity.
Having now described the nature of this Invention, and having explained
the manner of carrying the same into effect as communicated to me from
abroad, I desire it to be understood that I do not intend to confine myself to
the arrangement or construction of apparatus above shewn and described, as
they may be varied without departing from the nature and object of the
Invention, but that which I desire to claim is the industrial employment of
water or gases for the purpose of subjecting various matters to pressure by
means of a fabric or sheet, or plate consisting of any flexible and impervious
body which is interposed between the pressed product and the pressing agent.
I would observe that the conical form of vessels shewn and described has
been chosen simply because that form seemed the best adapted to the purpose
above described, viz., the manufacture of sugar from beetroot.
As a modification of the same system the apparatus may be arranged to
work in close vessels. In this case the pressing organ is a kind of bladder
contained in the close vessel, and which is caused to expand by forcing the
pressing fluid into it under pressure by means of a pipe leading from a vessel,
such as that above described, or from a force pump.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Fourth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)