US8362A - Improvement in apparatus for draining sugar - Google Patents

Description

S. GARDNER. APPARATUS FOR DRAINING SUGAR.

PATENTED fiEPT. 16, 1851.

the figures.

UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SMITH GARDNER,- OF NEW' YORK, N.

lMPROVEMENTl N APPARATUS FOR DRAlNl-NG SUGAR.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No- 85362, dated September 16, 1851. 7

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SMIT GARDNER, of the city,'county, and State of New York, have,

, invented a new and useful Improvement in 'Apparatus for the Depuration of Sugar, but which is applicable to the separation of otherliquids from solids and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the principle or character of my invention which distinguishesit from all other cal section of my said' improved apparatus.

The same letters'indicate like parts in all It has often been essayed to depurate sugar by forcing currents of air underpressure through the mass placed in,a vessel with the'bottom,

perforated and covered with wire-gauzehaving meshes so fine as to prevent the passage, of the crystallized sugar, and yet admit the passage of the liquid matter and an, but the power necessary to induce the current of air of the requisite pressure to accomplish the desired result was so expensive as to render this method practieally useless, for if the charge be increased in depth,-say beyond six inches, the sugar will pack and prevent the passage of the liquid Jnatter and air, and if the charge beincreasedby either enlarging the pan or multiplying the number of pans the expenditure of power will be increased in the same proportion, for the I power applied-to make a given pressure must be the same or nearly the same for every square inch of surface, whether that pressure be'direct or induced by exhaustion. I have, 'however, so improved the apparatus for this process that the current of air required for producing the required effect in one vessel on a limited quantity can, without additional power,

be inade to pass in succession through several vessels, and produce the same or nearly the same effect .in all of them, and thus reduce the expense so as to render this method of depurating sugar of great practical utility T The nature of my invention consists in ar ranging one or more series of pans with their bottoms perforated or made of wire-gauze, and each provided with a pan or receiver below to catch the molasses, and provided with an aperture for the passage of the current of air, the whole being otherwise made air-tight, so that the curr'ent'of air forced into the first shall, in producing the required effect; pass to the second to produce a like effect there, thence to the third, and so on throughout the series, and thence in like manner through other series, if desired.

.In the accompanying drawings, a a represent two straining-pans with the bottom 'of each composed of grate-bars I) covered over with fine'wire-gauze'having meshes sufficiently fine to prevent the crystals of sugar from passing through. Over the upper one of these straining-pans is put a cover, 0, of the form of the pan inverted,andmade perfectlyair-tight,

and below ita molasses-pan, (1, made perfectly I air-tight, except that it is provided with a central tube, 6. perforated around the periphery and near the top or cover, which extends so far over the edges as to prevent the liquid mat -ter that passes through from the top pan a from entering the tube while the air can escape freely. Below the molassespan d is placed. the second straining-pan a, and below that another molasses-pan fisimilar to the one 6, except that it is not provided with a central tube, but instead of this there is an air-pipe, g, leading out from near the upper edge thereof to the cover h of the top pan of the second series arranged and constructed like the'first in every particular. These pans are-charged with the -iuatter to be .acted upon to the depth of about four inches. lined with india-rubber or other elastic sub stance; When they are'all put into a frame, 2, and drawn together tight bymeans of the nuts 7' of screw-bolts k, they oints shall be all packed pans can be placed one over the other extend. 7

ing to any heightwhioh convenience will per- -1n it. Each molasses-pan in-the series must be provided with a vcentral tube, e, like the pan d, except the last of tl ieseries,whi'ch only re quires to be provided with an air-pipe above the height to which the molasses will rise. The cover of the first series is provided with a windpipe, Z, leading to any kind of blowing apparatus whichiwi-ll force in'air under a considerable pressure, say, twenty pounds to the square inch, (more or less,) although I have found twenty pounds to produce a good effect.

The'edgsof alt the pans are The air thus forced in acts on the saccharine matter, and carries the liquid matter through molasses-pan, and then it passes through the pipe to the cover 01" the top pan of the .next series, and passes through that series as in the first, and so on through any number of series until discharged into the atmosphere. 'In this way the current of air required for one pan can be carried through any desired number of pans performing in succession the oifice in each, instead of being all expended in one,

thus greatly reducing the expense of working.

The pans can be made of any desired form and material, and the joints packed in any desired manner to resist thepressure and prevent the eseapeof; air. Any mode of mount- ,ing the serieslof pans in frames and-clampii'ig them together may-be substituted for the one herein described which I have -(assayed-with success.

In charging the apparatus care must be tak en not to put too much saccharine matter in each straining-pan, as inthat, event the pressure of air introduced will have the tendency to pack the crystals and prevent the discharge of the liquid parts, and, as the same current of air can be carried in succession through any number of pans, there will be no necessity for overcharging any one pan. I

It. will be obviousfrom the foregoing that this apparatus can be applied to other purposes analogous to the'depuration of sugarthat is, 61' driving or separating liquids from solids, so as to leave the solid matter in a-dry state.

V hat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by- Letters Patent, is-

Combining two or more strainingpans with molasses or receiving vessels below each, substantiallyas described, the said pans being provided with a discharge pipe or tube, substantially as described, so that the eurrentof air shall pass from the lower part of the first to the upper part of the next through the series, and soarranged as to retain the molasses or other liquid parts, and this combination whether the said succession of pans be used in one or more series, as'de'scribed.

SMITH GARDNER.

' Witnesses:

ALEX. PORTER BROWNE,

OAUTMBRowNn.

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