CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES FOR TREATING SACCHARINE SUB- STANCES, PART OF THE SAME BEING APPLICABLE TO OTHER CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand Lecomte de Fontainemoreau, of
No. 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the Empire of France, & 4, South
St., Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES FOR TREATING SACCHARINE SUB-
STANCES, PART OF THE SAME BEING APPLICABLE TO OTHER CENTRIFUGAL
MACHINES." A communication by Mr. Charles Hänsel, residing at
Paris.
Sealed the 23rd February 1864, and dated the 23rd September 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand Lecomte
de Fontainemoreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 23rd September 1863.
I, PETER ARMAND LECOMTE DE FONTAINEMOREAU, of No. 10, Rue de la
Fidélité, Paris, in the Empire of France, & 4, South St., Finsbury, London,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES FOR TREATING SACCHARINE SUBSTANCES,
PART OF THE SAME BEING APPLICABLE TO OTHER CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES," to be as
follows, that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me consists of improvements in centrifugal
machines for purifying and preparing saccharine matters. In the purifying
machine, with which is combined a steam engine, the self-discharging drums

page_text: are turned over by means of movable bearings, one of which turns upon an
axis keeping it in its place, and the other is so arranged as to be able to be
withdrawn or disengaged from its shaft to set it free, so that it can turn on its
axis, and thus overturn the drum to discharge it. To receive the liquid, the
drums are provided with a casing which receives and throws it into an external
channel; and for this purpose the ordinary recipient, which also serves as the
framework, is replaced by framing, with which is combined a steam cylinder,
and steam is introduced between the casings of the drum which latter is
balanced with a spring & counterweight for facilitating the discharge, and a
proper opening is provided for charging the same."
In the preparing machine, which is composed of two parts, the matters to
be treated are (in the first) continuously introduced by means of a tube
into the centrifugal drum, which is composed of three casings; the
saccharine matters pass from the tube between the first & second casings
till they reach the bottom, where the drum is provided with spikes by which
the matters coming out of it are beaten for their final preparation. The juice
extracted in its passage is guided by the third or outer casing into a circular
channel placed round the recipient, and to facilitate the operation, water is
pressed into the matters before they escape from the drum from a circular
channel properly placed inside the first casing, which is perforated for that
purpose. The speed of the apparatus is regulated by means of a spiral screw
placed in the space between the first and second casings.
In the second part, the centrifugal force is assisted by other pressure, and
for that purpose a piston is pressed on the matters under operation either by
hydraulic pressure by means of a pump, or by a screw put in action by a
differential movement; the saccharine matters are conducted from the first to
the second part of the machine by means of a tube. The discharge is effected
by hooking the perforated casing containing the pressed matters on to a crane,
and thus drawing it out of its place.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand Lecomte de Fontainemoreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 22nd March 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND LECOMTE DE FONTAINEMOREAU, of No. 10, Rue de la Fidélité,
Paris, in the Empire of France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Patent Agent, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Peter Armand Lecomte de Fontainemoreau, Her special license
that I, the said Peter Armand Lecomte de Fontainemoreau, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Armand
Lecomte de Fontainemoreau, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
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
" CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES FOR TREATING SACCHARINE
SUBSTANCES, PART OF THE SAME BEING APPLICABLE ΤΟ OTHER CENTRIFUGAL
MACHINES," (communicated to me by Charles Hänsel, a person resident at
Paris,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Armand
Lecomte de Fontainemoreau, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one
of them, 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 Peter Armand Lecomte de Fontaine-
moreau, 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 had to the
Drawings hereto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say :-
The Invention communicated to me consists in improvements in centrifugal
machines for preparing and extracting the juices from saccharine matters,
and in centrifugal machines for purifying sugar. In the purifying machine
or apparatus, with which is combined a steam engine, the self-discharging
drums are turned over by means of moveable bearings, one of which turns.
upon an axis keeping it in its place, and the other is so arranged as to be able
to be withdrawn or disengaged from its shaft to set it free, so that it can turn
on its axis, and thus overturn the drum to discharge it. To receive the liquid,.
the drums are provided with a casing which receives and throws it into an
external channel, and for this purpose the ordinary recipient, which also serves-
as the framework, is replaced by framing, with which is combined a steam.

page_text: cylinder, and steam is introduced between the casings of the drum, which
latter is balanced with a spring and counterweight for facilitating the discharge,
and a proper opening is provided for charging the same.
In the preparing or extracting apparatus, which is composed of two parts or
machines, the matters to be treated are in the first continuously introduced
by means of a tube into a centrifugal drum which is composed of three
casings; the saccharine matters pass from the tube between the first and
second casings till they reach the bottom, where the drum is provided with
spikes, by which the matters coming out of it are beaten for their final
extraction. The juice extracted in its passage is guided by the third or outer
casing into a circular channel placed round the recipient, and to facilitate the
operation water is pressed into the matters before they escape from the drum
from a circular channel properly placed inside the first casing, which is per-
forated for that purpose. The speed of the apparatus, that is to say, of the
operation, is regulated by means of a spiral screw placed in the space between
the first and second casings.
In the second part or machine, the centrifugal force is assisted by other
pressure; and for this purpose a piston is pressed on the matters under opera-
tion either by hydraulic pressure by means of a pump or by a screw; the
saccharine matters are conducted from the first to the second machine by
means of a tube. The discharge is effected by hooking the perforated
casing containing the pressed matter on to a crane, and drawing it out of its
place.
To make the Invention better understood I will now proceed to describe
the apparatuses by the aid of the accompanying Drawings, commencing by
the description of the apparatus for extracting saccharine juices.
Sheets 1 and 2 are sections of the centrifugal apparatus, which consists of
two machines for extracting the juice from the pulp of beetroot and other
like saccharine matters.
Sheet 3 is a section of the centrifugal apparatus for purifying sugar, and
Sheet 4 is a plan of the same. The working of the machine, shewn in
Sheet 1, is continuous, and discharges itself, as will be herein-after explained;
it separates the greatest portion of the juice from the pulp, and prepares the
latter for the complete extraction of the juice by the second machine, shewn
in Sheet 2, with which screw and bydraulic pressure is combined to assist the
extracting operation. In the apparatus shewn in Sheets 3 and 4, for purifying
sugar, there is an arrangement for the self-discharge of its drums and a
peculiar combination of á steam engine with the apparatus.

page_text: Sheet 1. The recipient of the drum a is made of two parts b and b', which
are connected by a channel c passing all round it. In the upper part of the
recipient turns the centrifugal drum a, the shaft of which works in a step d
fixed in a cross piece e, fitted in the lower part of the recipient. The drum
and its shaft are each composed of two parts a', a", and f, f', working each
concentrically one in the other; the outer part of the drum a' is attached to
the interior shaft f by the connecting arms g, and the inner part of the
drum a" is attached to the exterior shaft f¹ by the arms h. The shafts are
coupled by means of a worm i and wheel ¹ (or any other mechanical con-
trivance) so that they shall turn at different speeds one in the other. Between
the parts a¹ and a" of the drum is placed the spiral fixed to the inner part
of the drum a", by which the matters introduced by the tube l are conducted
from top to bottom, and by this means the speed of the operation is regulated;
the tube is provided with a valve (not shewn in the Drawing) for regulating
the supply of the pulp to the drum. At the bottom of the inner casing a" of
the drum is fixed the angle ring m, m', the periphery m of which is furnished
with spikes n; the horizontal surface m¹ of the ring and the casing all together
form a channel o, into which water is conducted by means of the pipe p, and
this water is driven by the centrifugal force through the casing a" (which is
perforated for the purpose) into the pulp as it escapes from the drum. The
pulp is beaten and macerated by the spikes n, through which it passes and
falls into the lower part of the recipient 6", from which it is conducted by the
tube 9 into the second machine (shewn in Sheet 2,) where it undergoes the
final operation for extracting the juice. The juice driven by the contrifugal
force through the perforations of the casing is thrown into the channel c, from
which it is conducted by a pipe c¹ to proper reservoirs ready for use.
Sheet 2. a is the recipient fastened to the supporting columns a', which
rest on the foundation plate a". The two shafts k, k¹, are concentric; the
interior shaft is provided at its upper end with a screw thread ", and its
lower end works in a proper step or bearing 1, and the exterior shaft k³, to
which the drum is fastened, rests on a collar m of the interior shaft. The
drum is composed of a bottom 6 and three concentric casings b', bu, b; the
casings and are fastened to the bottom b, but 6" (which is perforated)
is moveable for the discharging, as herein-after described; it is held on its
top part by an open ring n, which locks it to the casing u.
A piston e,
serving both for the screw and hydraulic pressure, works concentrically in the
space between the two cylinders d, d'; these cylinders are connected together

page_text: by a cover d", which is secured to the wings q' of the screw box g, so that
when the latter is screwed down, the cylinders, with the piston e, are pressed
on the pulp. The pipe f serves to force the water by means of the pump
between the hydraulic piston e and the cover d", by which means the piston e
is pressed farther down on the pulp; the pipe f is then coupled to the
machine, and the pump is put in action. The pipe f must be taken off at
the coupling f, when the drum is to be loaded; this coupling stands in the
centre of the shaft k, and is constructed so as not to obstruct the rotation of
the drum, and so that it it may follow the piston in its movements, and for this
latter purpose it is fixed on a spindler, which turns in the shaft, and can slide
up and down in it. When the machine is set in motion, the pulp is con-
ducted from the machine, Sheet 1, through the tube q, into the inverted
funnel t, from which it is driven by the centrifugal force through the opening o
into the drum and between the cylinders d, d', as shown by the arrows s.
When no more juice can be extracted by the centrifugal force alone, it is
assisted by the screw pressure; therefor the break cone g, fastened to the
guide rods g¹, is pressed by the lever h on the cone i, by which means the
shaft (on which the cone is fastened) is held fast, so that the rotating drum
screws the screw box down, and presses the piston and the matters under
operation. For unloading the drum the water must before be pumped back,
and this is effected by changing the action of the valves by merely turning the
plugs which contain these valves. To raise the piston to its primary
position, the shafts k, k, are coupled with the differential wheels v, w, when
the cone g, on which they rest, is raised by the lever h, so that the interior
shaft shall turn quicker than the exterior one, thus causing the screw box, and
with it the piston to be screwed up; the casing 6" with the residue can then
be taken out, and the machine prepared for another operation.
Sheets 3 and 4. These Drawings shew a centrifugal apparatus with four
horizontal drums for purifying sugar. The novelty consists chiefly in the
peculiar construction of the drums, and the arrangement for their self-dis-
charge, together with a peculiar combination of a steam engine therewith, and
the mode of transmitting the driving power to the drums. The frame of the
machine consists of two standards a, a, on which rest four beams b, b, b', b¹,
which carry the drums c; the drum shafts are in two parts d, d¹, the shorter
parts passing through the middle beams b', ', into a hollow shaft e, by which
they are coupled; this shaft carries the loose driving pulley f; 9, g', double
cone sliding on the shaft e. When the drums are to be driven, the driving
pulley must be locked to the shaft, and this is effected by forcing the cone g¹
into the pulley f by means of the lever f', and when the drums are to be

page_text: stopped the cones are drawn back from the pulley, and the cone 9 pressed
into the female cone h, which is fastened to the beam. The steam cylinder i
is cast in one piece with one of the middle beams b', which are fixed on the
standards of the driving pulley 7. The self-discharge of the drums is effected
by the jointed shafts d, d', and the moveable bearings m, m³, in the fol-
lowing manner-The bearing m turns on an axle q fastened on the beam b',
and the other slides in the box n of the beam b. The bearing m¹ is drawn
back from its shaft by the screw o, and the drum falls (as shewn by the dotted
lines c) by the articulated bearing m, and discharges its contents. The
shafts d, d', are coupled, and held in gear by the springs d"; the axle q is
provided with the springs p, p, for raising the drums after their discharge, and
the said springs may be assisted by the action of a counterweight (not shewn
in the Drawing). The covering r of the centrifugal drum is moveable, and
is held in a groove of the drum by a catch or other suitable fastening; the
bottom of the drum, like the cover, is open and fixed to the shaft d by the
arms. The recipient generally used in centrifugal machines is dispensed
with, by substituting for it the casing c¹, which is placed round the perforated
drum c. Into this casing the liquid extracted from the matter under operation
is thrown, and passes from it into the channel t, fastened to the bearing m¹
by the arms t, so that it must be drawn back from the drum when the latter
is to be discharged. The passage of the extracted liquid from the matters
operated upon is facilitated by the introduction of steam between the said
casings c and c¹.
Parts of my improvements are also applicable to other centrifugal machines
which require self-discharging to facilitate the operation.
And having now described the nature of the Invention communicated to
me, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that
I do not confine myself to the precise details berein laid down, provided the
main feature of the Invention be retained; but what I claim as new, and
intended to be protected by the herein in part recited Letters Patent, is,--
Firstly, the general arrangement and construction of a centrifugal apparatus
for extracting saccharine juices from beetroot and other like saccharine
matters, as herein-before described and represented in Sheets 1 and 2 of the
accompanying Drawings.
Secondly, the peculiar construction and employment of a piston in combi-
nation with the said centrifugal machine, and the arrangements for working
the same, as herein-before described and shewn in Sheet 2 of the accompanying
Drawings.
Thirdly, the combination of a steam engine with a centrifugal machine for

page_text: purifying sugar, as herein-before described and shewn in Sheets 3 and 4 of the
accompanying Drawings.
Fourthly, the peculiar construction of drums for the said purifying
machine, and the arrangement of mechanism for discharging the same, as
herein-before described and shewn in Sheets 3 and 4 of the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand Lecomte de Fontaine-
moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of
March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-four.
L. DE FONTAINEMOREAU. (L.S.)
L. DE FONTAINEMOREAU. (L.S.)