AN IMPROVED MODE OF CLARIFYING AND DEFECATING SACCHARINE SOLUTIONS AND JUICES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF CLARIFYING AND
DEFECATING SACCHARINE SOLUTIONS AND JUICES."-A communication from
abroad by Horatio Nelson Fryatt, of New York, in the United States
"of America.
Sealed the 20th January 1860, and dated the 11th October 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 11th October 1859.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF CLARIFYING AND
DEFECATING SACCHARINE SOLUTIONS AND JUICES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the removal of the impurities contained in crude
sugars and in the juices of sugar-producing plants, and to the obtaining of a
purified or clarified solution in which sugar alone remains dissolved.
To effect this object the Inventor avails himself of the use of aclohol in
combination with water and heat.
The presence of alcohol it is well known induces the coagulation of

page_text: albuminous and other nitrogenous substances usually present in sugar solutions
or juices. It has also so great an affinity for water that its presence in a
solution will attract the water in which earthy and other salts are dissolved or
held in suspension or separation, and thus allow the saline particles to be
separated from the solution. It boils at a much lower temperature than
water, and it does not dissolve sugar when cold, and little, if any, when hot.
Now the principle of the Invention is to make the first two-named
properties of alcohol applicable to the clarifying of or separation of earthy and
other impurities from sugar solutions or juices, and at the same time to
neutralize or overcome the fourth property, viz., the insolubility of sugar in
alcohol, which property would render the application of alcohol to the
clarifying or refining of sugars and juices impossible, as they require to be
dissolved and maintained in solution in some medium.
The alcohol is to be combined with water in such proportion and heated to
such degree as will retain the first two named properties of alcohol in full
force, at the same keeping the sugar of the solution or
the sugar of the solution or juices dissolved, to
allow the separation and deposition of the albuminous and other nitrogenous,
saline, and other impurities, which is aided and effected by the low tempe-
rature named as the third property of alcohol, without injury to the integrity
of the sugar present.
A suitable proportion of alcohol being applied to the saccharine liquid or
solution, the mixture is heated up gradually until the sugar is all dissolved
therein or brought near the boiling point (with constant stirring); when heated
up and stirred for about half an hour the solution or juice is drawn or decanted
off into another vessel and allowed gradually to cool down and settle. The
purified solution, when settled is drawn off from the sediments into other
vessels to be boiled down and crystallized in the usual manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th April 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in. the twenty-third year of Her

page_text: reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Alfred Vincent 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 Man, an In-
vention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF CLARIFYING AND DEFECATING SACCHARINE
SOLUTIONS AND JUICES," being a communication from abroad by Horatio Nelson
Fryatt, of New York, in the United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instru-
ment 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 Alfred Vincent 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 (that is to say) :-
Crude sugars and the juices of sugar-producing plants contain usually
besides crystalizable sugar varying amounts of earthy and other salts, albu-
minous and other nitrogenous substances, coloring matter, &c., the presence of
which, and the application of heat, are the causes of the deterioration of the
sugar in the making of the crude sugars as well as in the after process of
refining the same.
To effect the removal of these impurities and to leave a purified or clarified
solution in which sugar alone remains dissolved is the object and purpose of
the manufacturer and refiner. In attaining this object it is now proposed to
employ alcohol in combination with water and heat in the manner to be
presently described.
First, the presence of alcohol, as is well known, induces the coagulation of
albuminous and other nitrogenous substances usually present in sugar solutions
or juices.
Second, it has also so great an affinity for water that its presence in a
solution will attract the water in which earthy and other salts are dissolved or
held in suspension or separation, and thus allow the saline particles to be
separated from the solution.

page_text: Third, it boils at a much lower temperature than water.
And fourth, it does not dissolve sugar when cold, and little, if any, when hot.
Now the principle of the Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, is to make the first two named properties of alcohol applicable
to the separation of earthy and other impurities from sugar solutions or
juices, and at the same time to neutralize or overcome the fourth property,
vizt., the insolubility of sugar in alcohol, which property would render the
application of alcohol to the clarifying or refining of sugars and juices impossible,
as they require to be dissolved and maintained in solution in some medium.
To form and maintain a solution of the sugar the alcohol is to be combined
with water, in such proportion, and heated to such degree, as will retain the
first two named properties of alcohol in full force, at the same time keeping
the sugar
of the solution or juices dissolved to allow the separation and depo-
sition of the albuminous and other nitrogenous, saline, and other impurities,
which is aided and effected by the low temperature named as the third property
of alcohol, without injury to the integrity of the sugar present.
The combination of alcohol and water found to work best consists of sixty
per cent. of alcohol and forty per cent. of water or thereabouts, the per-centage
by volume according to alcohometry. Variations from this per-centage will
act in degree, but large variations cannot be practically employed. The
quantity of this combined liquid to be used is from fifty to sixty per cent., or
thereabouts, of the weight of the sugar operated on. The combination of
alcohol and water can be applied,-
First, to the expressed juice of sugar-producing plants so much alcohol is
added as to combine with the water present in the juice sufficient to produce
the combination of alcohol and water in the proportion above stated, and when
the quantity of water is too great it may be first evaporated before the addition
of the alcohol.
Second, crude sugars to be refined are dissolved in the combination of alcohol
and water of the required proportions as stated.
Third, into sugars previously dissolved in "water, alcohol is mixed in such
proportion as to form the combination of alcohol and water in the "proportion
as above stated.
A suitable proportion of alcohol being applied to the saccharine liquid or
solution as above stated, the mixture is heated gradually until it reaches to
near the boiling point. At this temperature it is maintained for half an hour,
or thereabout, being subjected the while to constant stirring. In like manner
the brown or crude sugar solution is kept heated up and stirred for half an
hour or thereabout. The solution, or the juice, after having thus been acted

page_text: on, is drawn or decanted off into another vessel and allowed gradually to cool
down and settle. Care must be taken while the solution is being heated and
stirred to neutralize any acidity which may be developed by adding small
quantities of milk of lime, testing the same with litmus paper. This com-
bination of alcohol and water, while getting heated up and stirred, melts or
dissolves the sugar, when crude sugar is used, and the juices of sugar-producing
plants when operated on in getting heated up, as stated, and keeping same
heated and stirred for the subsequent half hour, or thereabouts, with the
gradual cooling, effects the separation of the vegetable albumen and other fecu-
lent or nitrogenous matters, earthy and other salts and impurities which may be
present, leaving a clear and purified sugar solution. In about eight or ten
hours the purified solution is drawn off from the sediment and boiled down and
crystalized, the crystals being purified from the slight coloring matter which
usually adheres to the surface of crystals, and finished for the market in any
manner the operator may prefer, including the washing of their surfaces by
alcohol, if desired. Care must be taken to conduct all the above operations in
suitably connected closed vessels, for the purpose of recovering the condensed
combined liquid of alcohol and water for further operations.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved Mode
of Clarifying and Defecating Saccharine Solutions and Juices," as communicated
to me from abroad, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent
I claim the treatment of saccharine solutions and juices as above described,
for the purpose of obtaining a clear and purified sugar solution fit for crystal-
ization.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eleventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)