IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING SOLUTIONS OF SUGAR FOR FILTRATION
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fairrie, of Church Lane, Whitechapel, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING SOLUTIONS OF SUGAR FOR
FILTRATION."
Sealed the 9th February 1855, and dated the 7th December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fairrie at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th December 1854.
I, JOHN FAIRRIE, of Church Lane, Whitechapel, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING SOLUTIONS OF SUGAR
FOR FILTRATION" to be as follows:-
In place of melting sugar by "blowing up," as it is called, that is, by passing
steam through the mixture of sugar and water, I dissolve the sugar by
stirring it mechanically with the requisite proportion of water, at the ordinary
temperature of the atmosphere, or it may be at a moderate degree above, and
when the solution is brought to a proper density I allow it to remain at rest
for a short time, until the undissolved particles of sugar subside and run off
the clearer part of the solution, and bring it to the proper degree of heat for
filtration by passing it over a heated surface; the solution is then passed
through filters in the ordinary way. The mode of heating I prefer is by
passing the solution through an oblong vessel containing a large surface of
tubes heated by steam, so that the solution entering cold at one end of the
vessel runs along the tubes, and is heated to the proper degree when it reaches

page_text: I
the other end, from which it passes at once into the filters; and in bringing
the solution of sugar to a proper heat, I find it advantageous to cause the
oblong or other form of vessel, above mentioned, to be made air-tight, so that
may remove, by means of an air pump or otherwise, the pressure of the
atmosphere; the solution of sugar is thus caused to pass in a more or
less perfect vacuum over the steam pipes, and is brought to the desired
temperature.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Fairrie in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FAIRRIE, of Church Lane, Whitechapel, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Fairrie, Пer special licence that I, the said John Fairrie, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Fairrie, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRE-
PARING SOLUTIONS OF SUGAR FOR FILTRATION," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Fairrie, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and scal, 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 John Fairric, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say):
In place of, melting sugar by "blowing up," as it is called, that is, by passing
steam through the mixture of sugar and water, I dissolve the sugar by stirring
it mechanically with the requisite proportion of water at the ordinary tempe-

page_text: rature of the atmosphere, or it may be at a moderate degree above. The
stirrer which I prefer, but other forms may be used, is composed of four blades
of malleable iron, placed upon an axle at right angles to each other. The
axle is supported by two bearers, placed on the rim of the vessel, and is moved
by hand by means of a winch or by steam power. The blades of the stirrer
are in the form of a screw, so that when the blade rises from the surface the
liquid is not thrown out of the vessel. The screw form of the blades gives a
circular motion to the liquid, but as they are skewed alternately right and left,
the currents formed oppose each other, and the agitation of the mixture of
sugar and water is made more complete; and when the solution is brought to a
proper density I allow it to remain at rest for a short time, until the undis-
solved particles of sugar subside, and I then run off the clearer part of the
solution, and bring it to the proper degree of heat for filtration by passing it
over a heated surface. The solution is then passed through filters in the
ordinary way. The mode of beating I prefer is by passing the solution through
an oblong vessel containing a large surface of tubes heated by steam, so that
the solution entering cold at one end of the vessel runs along the tubes, and is
heated to the proper degree when it reaches the other end, from which it passes
at once into the filters; and in bringing the solution of sugar to a proper
heat, I find it advantageous to cause the oblong or other form of vessel, above
mentioned, to be made air-tight, so that may remove, by means of an air
pump or otherwise, the pressure of the atmosphere; the solution of sugar is
thus caused to pass in a more or less perfect vacuum over the steam pipes,
and is brought to the desired temperature.
I claim the method of dissolving sugar in suitable proportions of water at
a low temperature, and heating the solution to the point suitable for filtration
by the application of a surface or surfaces heated by steam or otherwise, and
this, either under the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere or in a vacuum, more
or less approaching to perfectness.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fairrie, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
JAMES HODGSON.
JOHN FAIRRIE. (L.S.)