IMPROVEMENTS IN MA- CHINERY FOR EXTRACTING MOISTURE FROM SUBSTANCES AND FOR SEPARATING LIQUID FROM SOLID BODIES, APPLICABLE TO THE REFINING OF SUGAR, DRYING OP GOODS AND TO PURPOSES FOR WHICH CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES ARE EMPLOYED."
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Aspinall, of Fenchurch Street, in the City of
London, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MA-
CHINERY FOR EXTRACTING MOISTURE FROM SUBSTANCES AND FOR SEPARATING
LIQUID FROM SOLID BODIES, APPLICABLE TO THE REFINING OF SUGAR, DRYING OP
GOODS AND TO PURPOSES FOR WHICH CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES ARE EMPLOYED."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Aspinall at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th May
1855.
I, JOHN ASPINALL, of Fenchurch Street, in the City of London, Civil En-
gineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR EXTRACTING MOISTURE FROM SUBSTANCES AND FOR SEPARATING
LIQUID PROM SOLID BODIES, APPLICABLE TO THE REFINING OF SUGAR, DRYING OF
GOODS, AND TO PURPOSES FOR WHICH CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES ARE EMPLOYED," to be
as follows:-
My Invention consists in placing a perforated or wire gauze cylinder or
drum horizontally, or in an inclined position, open at both ends, and in causing
the same to rotate by frictional contact with driving rollers, to which motion
is communicated from a steam engine or other prime mover. Through the
centre of this cylinder I introduce a perforated pipe which is stationary, and
to which for some purposes I fit a series of inclined directing plates. The
operation is as follows:-Supposing sugar in its semi-fluid state be required
to have the liquid separated from the granular matter, and at the same time
to be decolored or whitened, it is fed into one end of the drum through a pipe

page_text: while the drum is at rest or in motion; fine liquor or water or steam is intro-
duced through the perforated pipe; the sugar will get massed, or will accumu-
late for a brief period at the bottom of each directing plate; after which it will
be transferred from plate to plate until it reaches the opposite end of the
drum, from which it will be ejected into a suitable receiver in a dry granular
state, while at the same time it will have been deprived to a great extent of
its coloring matter.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Aspinall in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ASPINALL, of Fenchurch Street, in the City of London, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Aspinall, Her special licence that I, the said John Aspinall, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Aspinall, 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 MACHINERY FOR
EXTRACTING MOISTURE FROM SUBSTANCES AND FOR SEPARATING LIQUID FROM SOLID
BODIES, APPLICABLE TO THE REFINING OF SUGAL, DRYING OF GOODS, AND TO PURPOSES
FOR WHICH CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES ARE EMPLOYED," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Aspinall, 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
ese 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 Aspinall, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-

page_text: My Invention consists in placing a perforated or wire gauze cylinder or
drum, open at both ends, horizontally or in an inclined position, in causing the
same to rotate by frictional contact with driving rollers or by strap pullies, to
which motion is communicated from a steam engine or other prime mover, and
in introducing through the centre of this cylinder a perforated pipe which is
stationary, and to which for some purposes I fit a series of inclined directing
plates. Or, instead of fixing the inclined directing plates upon the perforated
pipe, my Invention consists in introducing a fixed shaft or spindle through the
centre of the drum or cylinder, and in fixing the inclined directing plates
thereon. Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed represents a side
elevation of a machine constructed according to my Invention; Figure 2, a
longitudinal section; and Figure 3, an end view of the same; Figures 4 and 5
shew a separate view upon an enlarged scale of one of the inclined directing
plates. A, A, is a cylinder of cast iron or other metal fixed upon flanges a, a,
projecting from the inside of the two upright end frames B, B. These frames
are held together by the rods b, b, and nuts c, c. C, C, is a copper or other
suitable metal cylinder, perforated or formed of wire gauze between the dotted
lines d, d. This cylinder may be made to increase gradually from the feed
entrance to the discharge end thereof, instead of being made cylindrical
throughout; it is strengthened by means of the rings e, e, and the en³ are
carried through and project beyond the frames B, B. f. f, are flanges rings
placed round the cylinder close up to the inside of the frames B, B, -d are
for the purpose of keeping the cylinder always in its place; D, D, are four
friction rollers, placed at each end of the machine, and revolving upon the
ends of the shafts E, E, fixed in the plummer blocks F, F. These friction
rollers serve to support the two ends of the cylinder, which are provided with
grooved rings g, g, in which the friction rollers work. G, G, are strap pullies,
fixed upon the two ends of the cylinder, which communicate motion from a
steam engine or other prime mover, and cause the cylinder to revolve rapidly;
H is a solid metal cone, fixed to one end of the cylinder at the part where the
perforations or wire gauze terminate; and I is a similar cone, but formed of
perforated metal or wire gauze. This cone I is also fixed to the cylinder, as
shewn, a space being left between the two cones to allow of the escape of the
liquid or moisture thrown out by the centrifugal action of the machine. K is
a hopper, for supplying the materials to be subjected to the action of the
machine. This hopper feeds in the materials upon the cone portion of the
cylinder. L is a spindle or shaft, which passes through the centre of the cylin-
der, one end of it being supported in the boss of the projecting arms M, M.
This spindle serves to support a series of inclined directing plates N, N, placed

page_text: at suitable distances apart, and fixed to the spindle by the nuts and screws h, h.
O is a tube or pipe, supporting a series of perforated nozzles, through which
fine liquor or water or steam is directed, if desired, upon the materials under
treatment in the cylinder. The mode of operating with this machine is as
follows: Supposing sugar in its semi-fluid state be required to have the
liquid separated from the granular matter or particles, and at the same time to
be decolored or whitened, it is fed into one end of the drum through the
hopper K while the drum or cylinder C is at rest or in motion; fine liquor
or water or steam is then introduced through the pipe O. On the cylinder
being made to revolve rapidly by means of the strap pullies, the
sugar will
get
massed, or will accumulate for a brief period at the bottom of each directing
plate; after which it will be transferred from plate to plate until it reaches the
opposite end of the cylinder, from which it will be ejected into a suitablo
receiver in a dry granular state, while at the same time it will have been
deprived to a great extent of its coloring matter, and this without stopping
any part of the machinery in order to remove the sugar after being dried and
whitened. Qis a cone fixed to the framework into which the sugar is thrown
from the cylinder. This cono prevents the granular particles of the sugar
from being scattered. The liquid thrown off from the sugar is received by
the outer cylinder, and flows out through an aperture in the bottom and down
the spout P into a suitable reservoir or receiver. This machine will be found
equally applicable for extracting moisture from other substances, and for
separating liquid from solid bodies; for drying goods, and to most purposes for
which centrifugal machines are employed.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the improved
machinery herein-before described for extracting moisture and for separating
liquid from solid bodies, consisting of a drum placed in a horizontal or in an
inclined position, formed and furnished as herein-before fully described,
whereby sugar and other like substances can be fed into and discharged there-
from dried, and, in the case of sugar, dried and whitened, without stopping any
of the parts of the machinery.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Aspinall, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
LARE
JOHN ASPINALL. (L.S.)