US104491A - Simeon a - Google Patents

Description

SIMEON A. room 0F PARISH on ST. JAMES, LOUISIANA.

Letters Patent No. 104,491,1lat'ed June ,2l, 187i).

MROVBMENT m E'vAPonA'rINgcaNE-Jmcn.

2110 Schedule reten'ed to in these Letters Patent and taking part ofthe same.

I, Sumo A. P001511 1, of the parishof St. James, in

r the State of Louisiana, have invented a certain Im-.

proved Method of Evaporating Cane-Juice, with a view to its reduction to sugar, of which the'tbllowing.

isa specification.

My invention relates to an apparatus or equipage, technically so called,.as in the case of my improvement forwhich Letters Patent No. 84,134 were issued to me, on the 17th of November, A. D. 1868, in which the heat of steam that is generated, in a boiler in which a set of evaporating kettles or pans are inserted is the only agent or means employedto eiiect the evaporation and reduction of the juice; but, unlike that invention, my present improvement does not contemplate the supplying of steam to the engine of the sugar-mill, nor the generation of more steam than 'is necessary to furnish the requisite measure of heat to effect the evaporation of the juice. In other words, my equipage is detached from all other parts ofthe mill, although, of course, placed within it, and subserves no purpose otherthan the evaporation and reduction of the juice to sugar, my object being to economize water by the evaporation and condensation of the same volume over and over again indefinitely in the boiler or generator in which it is confined, and

' of reducing the quantity of fuel required to reduce any given volume ofjnice, by diminishing the temperature and pressure of the steam to the minimum point at which evaporation and granulation can be efiiected, which may be stated approximately to be about a thirty pounds to the square inch. And when it is remembered that, if cane-j nice is perfectly defecated and neutralized, and its evaporation is eflected rapidly at a low temperature, there is scarcely any molasses produced, but neally all the saccharine, is converted into sugar, and that'the value of sugar is at least double that of molasses, another and very important econ-.

omic advantage resulting from my invention is .at.

once disclosed.

The boiler, as well as the kettle inserted therein and securelyattached thereto by being riveted to proper flanches, may be of any form, but I prefer the forms for each which are shown on the drawing, which very clearly illustrate my invention in all its parts; that is to say, I make the boiler in the form of a longitudinal section of an ellipse, and-insert a set of rectangular evaporating-kettles or pans that gradually diminish in size from the grande or clarifying-kettle to the battery or granulatiug-kettle, as in the case of ordinary sets of kettles, in the flat top thereof, substantially as shown, and surround the whole with a flaring rim, to prevent overflowing and waste from too rapid a boili ng of the juice, as in my patented apparatus to which I have before referred.

creasing multiplication from'thefi,

Instead of steam-jackets underneath the battery, .sirup, and flambeau, forso the granulating and two next adjoining kettles are called in the order in which they are named, in the parlance of the sugarmills, in which a progressive increase of heat from the flambeau to the battery is requisite to produce an effective reduction of thejuicefl accomplish this object by means of transverse tubes, (a sfshown, which, open at both their ends, com municateavith the steam-space in the boiler, and hence extend the. heatirig-surface that is brought into contact with; juice by an in- V 1 can, in which a very l" cw are sufticient, to the battery, in which double or treble th'e number-is necessary to effect the best rcsults.

The boiler should be provided with steam and watergauges, a mud-drum, with the view of withdrawing mechanical impurities from the water, and a safety valve to prevent an accidental explosion from an undue accumulation of steam from carelessness or other cause.

'lhc emptying and filling of the kettles is effected in the ordinary manner, by means of buckets, in connection with a small hand-pump,wl1encvcr it is wished to empty any kettle completely.

The scum and other impurities that rise to the top of thejuice during the boiling are brushed off from one kettle to another in the usual manner until they reach the glands, and are finally thrown out.

A reference to the drawing, which, at Figure 1, represents my invention in perspective in its complete form, and, at Figure 2, by a longitudinal sectional view through line a b, will at once make clear itsnature and construction.

On the drawing- I A is the boiler, and B, B, B", B', and B"", the evaporating-kettles or pans, as they are indilierently called, B being the giande, B the proper, B" the flambeau," B'" the sirup, and the battery or granulating-kcttle; the whole composing what is popular] y known as a set of kettles.

C is a rim, which rises several inches above the top of the boiler, and inclines outwardly, as shown. The function -fulfilled by this rim, as before stated, is to prevent the overflowing and waste of juice during the operation of boiling it.

To prevent the intrusion of juice from one kettle into another by an over-active boiling, I extend the dividing walls about half way up to the top-of the rim 0, as shown at D.

In order to increase the heating-surface and quicken the evaporation in the flambeau or kcttlcB", which is necessary to produce the best results, I insert near its bot-tom a'numbcrof small pipes or tubcs, substantially as shown, which, connnuieating with the steam-chamber of the boiler, carr the-steam, with its heat, through the juice, and thus effect the desired result.

In the next kettle to the fiambcau, to wit, the sirup, where an increased rapidity of evaporation is required, I double the number of tubes, and in the battery I treble the number, in order still further to increase the heat to produce granulation:

The strike or withdrawal of the cooked sugar is ell'ectcd by any ordinary and suitable means.

The boiler being perfectly tight, and the steam within it, therefore, always confined, it will be perceived there can be no loss of water, and, consequent] y, no need for a pump to be kept constantly working during the process of evaporation, a pump, in fact,

onlybein'g required tofill the boiler in the first instance, and afterward to make up any loss resulting from the waste of steam at the gauge-cocks, safety valve, or elsewhere.

It will be seen, also, that, insomuch as the tubes running throughthe last three kettles of the series communicate with the steam-chamber of the boiler, and are always full oi'steam in the practice of the invention, the heat, applied through their agency in the kettles in which they are placed, will always be increased or diminished in precise correspondence with the number of tubes employed, and that, consequent] y, that gradual increase of heat from the fiambeau to the battery which is requisite to give the largest yield and best quality of sugar is with great ease managed.

Being completely confined, the steam, by contact with the upper portions of the boiler, the surfaces of the lcetlles,--&c., condenses as fast as it is generated, and hence the water in the boiler is always maintained at or about the same level.

An equilibrium ot'pressurc or density in the steam is maintained by a watch upon the gauges and proper management of the fire in the furnace in which the boiler is placed, and which may be of any proper coirstruction.

The drawing shows only five kettles in the set, but it must be understood I may, if I consider it expediout, use a larger number.

I have demonstrated the practical value of iny improvement by actual experiment, and it is beyond all question the simplest, most compact, and cheapest equipage over yet devised.

\Vhat I claim'as my invention, is-

The introduction of transverse tubes or pipes in eane-, juice-evaporating kettles, in the manner and for the purpose herein described, whatever may be the shape or form of the kettles, when the same are inserted in and constitute a part of a steam-boiler, and the steam generated in the latter is the heating agent to produce the evaporation and reduction of the cane-juice to sugar.

S. A. POOHE. Witnesses:

Runes R. RHODES, JNo. S. Tuorrnson.

Images