IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CONCRETE CANE JUICE AND SUGAR
Year: 1854

page_text: Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CONCRETE CANE JUICE
AND SUGAR"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Augustus
Archbald at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 1st May 1854.
I, WILLIAM AUGUSTUS ARCHBALD, of No. 37, Stanhope Street, Gloucester.
Gate, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature
of the Invention of my "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CONCRETE CANE
JUICE AND SUGAR"" to be as follows:-
It consists in consolidating cane juice or other convenient saccharine matter
into concrete, by exposure to cold air and by agitation, for the purpose of being
manufactured into sugar; and also in manufacturing sugar from concrete or
concentrated sugar cane juice by heat, by a mixture of West India inolasses or
beet root molasses and by water; and also of separating the molasses or syrup
during the manufacture of sugar from the crystals of sugar, which are united'
in the concrete. or concentrated cane juice or other saccharine matter, by an
addition to the centrifugal machine.

page_text: in which the molasses or syrup and the saccharine matter are enclosed before
they are placed in the centrifugal machine, by means of which bag less loss
of sugar is sustained during the process of the separation, and time is saved.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Augustus Archbald in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st November 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
AUGUSTUS ARCHBALD, of No. 37, Stanhope Street, Gloucester Gate, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, -in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, .Her. heirs and. successors, give. and grant unto me, the
said William Augustus Archbald, Her special licence that I, the said William
Augustus Archbald, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Augustus Archibald, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CONCRETE CANE JUICE AND SUGAR," upon the
_condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Augustus. Archbald,-by-an
instrument.in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Augustus Archbald, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-

page_text: AS IT RESPECTS THE METHOD OF CONSOLIDATING CANE JUICE AND OTHER
SACCHARINE MATTER INTO CONCRETE.
The sugar cane juice or other saccharine matter is first to be defecated and
rendered as pure as possible; for this purpose I prefer to employ Archbald's
process and ingredients, as they have been proved to be particularly efficacious
for purifying cane juice, and which have been described in the Specification of
Letters Patent, dated the Tenth day of September, in the tenth year of Her
Majesty's reign, and granted to Charles Richardson, of Dalston, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, for "Certain-Improvements in Making and Refining
Sugar, and in the Machinery and Apparatus employed therein, but with the
following modifications in the composition of the said ingredients, namely, (1st),
I omit the use of sulphate of zine; (2dly), when the filtration of the juice is
attended with inconvenience and difficulty on the estate I omit the employment
of animal charcoal, although its use when possible should be preferred; 3dly,
I omit the employment of ingredient No. 3. It should here be remarked that
it is extremely difficult properly to compose the said ingredients, and that
unless they be properly composed injury will result to the juice. The juice or
saccharine matter may be boiled in the usual or any other convenient manner,
but I prefer that it should be concentrated to the sugar point, called high or
stiff boiled sugar, and that its temperature should be raised, as nearly as it
conveniently can be without risk of injury to it by carbonization, to the
temperature of 248° Fahrenheit, or 96° Reaumur.
The tayche, as is well known, is in many cases inconvenient for making
sugar; it is still more so for boiling concrete, as it is apt to carbonize it. Where
it is found convenient to use the tayche, the saccharine juice destined to make
the concrete should be well defecated and rendered as pure as possible; and in
boiling it to the necessary degree of concentration, the fire under the tayche
should be slackened when the juice approaches the ordinary sugar point, and
its concentration should be slowly advanced. The temperature already
indicated, namely, 248° Fahrenheit, or 96° Reaumur, is found to be the best
for producing good concrete; but should the juice be of a weak or inferior
quality, then it may be boiled at a lower temperature than 248° Fahrenheit, or
96° Reaumur; but care must be taken to concentrate it to the highest degree
of temperature to which it can be raised without risking carbonization.
In order to avoid the defects and the excessive heat of the tayche, I prefer
to complete the boiling of the saccharine juice in a separate pan, in which the
temperature may be kept more under control, and for this purpose I prefer a

page_text: pan, called the French bascule, but I do not claim the use of such a pan for
boiling the juice as a new Invention. The pan should be so set over the-fire
that the flame may not ascend higher than about one-fourth from its bottom.
-When this method is employed I prefer to discharge the boiling matter from
the tayche a short time before it arrives at the ordinary sugar point, and to
complete the boiling in the said pan or bascule. By this mode the danger of
carbonization will be avoided, and the boiling operation on the estate will be
greatly accelerated. If. the boiling is terminated at too low a temperature,
molasses will be produced from the concrete during a sea voyage, and if the
boiling is carried to too high a temperature, carbonization will be produced.
When the juice or saccharine matter is sufficiently concentrated by boiling, it is
to be discharged into coolers of any convenient form, but I prefer such as are
usually employed in the West Indies for making sugar; it is not, however, to
be put into the coolers to the usual depth, but in such quantities only as will
form at the bottom of the cooler a bed about six inches deep or thick. In some
cases, in order to harden the concrete with greater facility, and likewise to
guard against the effects of damp during a sea voyage, I prefer to employ with
the boiled juice a composition of. loaf sugar, of alum, and of Howard's finings;
these materials are mixed together and formed into a powder, the proportion
of each being, by preference, one pound of alum, a quarter of a pound of sugar,
and two ounces of Howard's finings; the said composition I mix with the
boiled juice in the cooler, while stirring it as aforesaid, in the proportion of
from two to four ounces to about one hundred and twelve-pounds of the said
boiled juice. The experience of the operator will easily enable him to judge
what quantity of the composition will be requisite to produce the desired
effects. The use of the composition is not indispensible, and in many cases
good concrete may be made without it.
The boiled material being put into the cooler should be exposed to a current
of air and be allowed to remain quiet for about ten minutes or a quarter of an
hour, at the end of that time it should be well stirred up from the bottom and
beaten up, so that all the particles of the mass may be well agitated. This
operation should be renewed at the expiration of about every ten minutes, till the
material begins to become thick and grainy; after that the agitation should be
kept up without ceasing, till it assumes the consistency of thick mortar.
soon as it assumes that consistency, but before it is quite cold, it is, by prefer-
ence,
to be transferred to a convenient shallow vessel or tray, capable of holding
about a hundredweight. In order to facilitate the removal of the concrete
when cold, a sheet or cloth of any convenient material and of close texture, or
As

page_text: even broad vegetable leaves, should, when deemed requisite, be previously laid
over the vessel or tray before the cooling material is placed upon it. The
material in the tray should, by preference, be placed in a layer, about six inches
in thickness, and as long as its consistency .admits of its being stirred up, the
process of agitation should be continued until it becomes hard; it may then be
taken out of the vessel. or tray with the sheet, cloth, or leaves,, which may be
removed, if desired; the material should then be exposed to the sun or to a
warm atmosphere during several hours, to render it as dry as possible; after
that it will be fit for being shipped. It may be shipped in bags, boxes, or in
any way that may be found convenient; but it is. desirable, until the operator-
becomes accustomed to the manufacture of concrete, that it should be. shipped
in tight molasses casks, or in any other convenient vessels, so that, should the
concrete not have been properly prepared and boiled, no loss may occur from
ifs giving out molasses. It should be remarked that the concrete will be
defective if the saccharine juice from which it is consolidated be not well
defecated and purified; when this has been done there will be no necessity
for the refiner to clarify it or to filter it, and he may simply reduce it to syrup
and pass it through charcoal, which will enable him to avoid a large part of
his usual expences and waste of material. The concrete may be converted
into sugar, either by treating it in the way in which raw sugar is usually
treated for making refined sugar, or by any of the methods ordinarily in use.
Having now described the nature of this part of my said "Invention, and in
what manner the saine is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that in
respect of the manufacture of concrete my claims consist,-
.
}
1st, in reducing boiled cane juice or other saccharine matter into concrete;
for the purpose of combining the sugar and molasses or syrup into a hard mass,<
in the manner herein described.
2ndly, in placing the same on a sheet, or on any other convenient object, for.
the purpose of facilitating its withdrawal from the vessel in which it has been
hardened.
.
3rdly, in regulating the temperature (a thing of the most essential
importance for the production of good concrete) to which that article should
be concentrated.
4thly, in drying the concrete in the sun or in a warm atmosphere.
5thly, in the employment of concrete (produced by means of agitation
during the cooling of the boiled saccharine juice), as herein described,. in'
the manufacture of sugar or other manufacture in which saccharine-niaterials

page_text: MY IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR.
.I dissolve concrete or concentrated saccharine juice into syrup, which, if
necessary, I clarify and whiten; the syrup thus obtained is then to be boiled
in the pan to dryness, or to such a state of dryness that it will not run from
the pan in which it has been boiled, as sugar usually runs when boiled to the
.ordinary sugar point. For this boiling I prefer to use a vacuum pan. When
the proposed dryness has been obtained by the boiling, I introduce into the
pan, and mix with the boiled material whilst it is in the pan, a quantity of (by
preference) cold thick syrup. In the process of making sugar by boiling to
dryness, I prefer syrup made from West Indian molasses, which molasses
should be previously well clarified and whitened. The quantity of syrup
introduced into the pan should be such as to render the dried material
sufficiently liquid to run from the pan, but I prefer to draw it from the pan in
the thickest possible state, and just sufficiently liquid for it to run out. The
density of the syrup I prefer should be from thirty-two to thirty-six degrees,
or thereabouts (ascertained cold, by Baumé); it should be sufficiently thick to
avoid dissolving the crystals of the boiled sugar. I prefer to use for this boiling
an improved vacuum pan, patented in the name of Daniel Towers Shears, and
described in the Specification of Letters Patents granted by Her Majesty for
Great Britain, dated the Seventeenth day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty, to the said Daniel Towers Shears, of Bankside, in the
County of Surrey, copper merchant, for "Improvements in the Manufacture
and Refining of Sugar." When the sugar has run from the pan I mix with
it whilst in the heater a quantity of water, sufficient to reduce the sugar to a
density convenient. to be put into, moulds for making refined sugar; I prefer
cold filtered water for this purpose, and the said water may be sweetened, but
it is preferable to employ it pure.
-When I employ the centrifugal machine-to-separate-the-molasses or-syrup,
during the manufacture of sugar from the crystals of the sugar, I have found it
very advantageous to place the sugar combined with the syrup in a bag made
of linen or other pervious texture, and then introduce it into the machine, which
is then set in motion; by this means less loss is sustained during the process
of separation, and considèrable time is saved.
Having now described the nature of this part of my Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that
I claim,
First, the improvement in the manufacture of sugar from concrete or

page_text: concentrated cane juice, by boiling the same to dryness in the pan, as above
described.
Secondly, I claim as an improvement in the manufacture of sugar, when
boiled to dryness, the employment of molasses in the pan, as above described.
Thirdly, I claim the improvement in the manufacture of sugar by introducing
the
sugar into the centrifugal machine in a bag, as above described.
Fourthly, I claim the mixing of water, either pure or sweetened, with the
sugar in the heater, as aforesaid.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Augustus Archbald, have hereto
set my hand and seal, this First day of November, One thousand eight-
hundred and fifty-four.
W. A. ARCHBALD. (L.S.)