IMPROVEMENTS IN THE REFINING OF SUGAR AND APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1884

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I, ARSENE DE MAROUSSENO of 15 Rue Royale of Brussels in the Kingdom
of Belgium, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE REFINING OF SUGAR AND APPARATUS THEREFOR
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement -
Several Patents have been obtained for methods of sugar refining designed to
render the process more rapid, but these prescribe the placing of the syrup brought
by boiling to the requisite consistency in moulds to induce crystallisation by
cooling, and afterwards the separation of the crystals in centrifugal machines
specially constructed to permit of the production of tablets, lumps, or other forms
and even of pieces capable of being at once sent in to the market without further
treatment.
In the carrying out of this object two methods have been usually employed to
arrive at the same result.
1. The syrup boiled to the requisite point is run into moulds, which, after cooling
and crystallising, are placed in the centrifugal machine.
2. The syrup as aforesaid is run hot into the crystallisers, and after cooling and
crystallising, taken out and agitated with or without water and clarifying liquor
in agitators or mills of special construction, and is finally put into special
centrifugal machines whence it emerges in different shapes to be sent to the
cutting and crushing rooms.
Now the improved process differs essentially from the methods alluded to: the
whole of the preliminary operations of moulding, crystallising, cooling, agitating
etcetera are done away with the syrup boiled to the requisite consistency is filled
directly into the centrifugal machine, and entering the same in a hot sticky
condition it moulds itself under the pressure of the centrifugal force, before
undergoing the action of steam, air, water, clarifying liquor or other agents
designed to assist the refining process; by this method the whole operation of
refining a given quantity of syrup is completed in a much shorter time.
The machine employed in the carrying out of this process does not differ in
shape materially from that usually employed. As in the centrifugal machine at
present employed, our apparatus consists of an envelope, and of a revolving
drum of wire gauze, but this drum presents some novel features. In its interior,
ribs or projections are adjusted either vertically or horizontally, forming supports

page_text: for fixed or movable slides or divisions, between which the hot ass takes an exact
shape. These compartments are arranged horizontally, vertically, or even at an
angle more or less acute, so as to obtain, when the operation completed, blocks,
squares etcetera or even pieces ready for sale. The centrifugal machine is provided
with a steam pipe passing through the cover, which latter is preferably made to
close hermetically. The syrup driven out by the centrifugal force escapes through
the meshes of the drum, and when the operation is completed the shifting slides
are removed and the solid contents having taken the desired shape and size, are
taken out for further treatment or for sale.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is-
1st. The process of refining sugar as above described, consisting of two stages
(1) delivering the boiled hot syrup direct into the centrifugal machine without any
previous treatment, (2) moulding and crystallising the saccharine matter under
centrifugal pressure.
2nd. The above described apparatus consisting of a centrifugal machine, the drum
of which is divided so as to admit of the moulding of the boiled mass before the
apparatus is set in motion, and its division afterwards, in order to obtain tablets,
lumps etcetera, for cutting or crushing, or of pieces ready for sale.
Dated this 19th day of July 1884,
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Per J. O. O'Brien,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool,
Agents for the Applicant.