US22648A - Improvement in apparatus for evaporating saccharine juices - Google Patents

Description

lnirnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LYMAN P. HARRIS, OF MANSFIELD, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT lN APPARATUS FOR EVAPORATING SACCHARINE JUIQES.

Spi cification forming part of Letti rs Patent No. 22,648, dated January 18, 1859.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LYMAN P. HARRIS, of the town of Mansfield, in the county of Richland, in the State of Ohio, have invented a new andimproved mode of constructing sugarevaporators for the purpose of making sugar from thejuice of the Chinese sugar-cane; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in pro viding the channeled evaporator and heater with a portable furnace and fire-place, so constructed as to afford an easy and ready control over the inclination of the furnace and evaporator, thereby readily controlling the flow of the cane-juice along its channels with the fire-place remaining stationary; also of providing the heater and evaporator with one or more valves and strainers.

To enable others skilled inthe art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

I construct my fire-place in the form of a square box nearly as deep and long as the furnace and wide enough to fill the furnace A. Nos. 20 to 24. sheet-iron is a convenient material for the fireplace B. For bracing, supporting the grates, flue, &c., I use strap-iron. No. is a convenient material. At one end of the fire-place I make an opening suflicient for receiving the fuel. The other end I cut down to a level with the bottom of the flue, which passes over it. For grates I use heavy sheet-iron crimped into a V shape and filled with clay, which strengthens and protects them. I construct my stops 0 of light bar iron, being bent at right angles so as to form a square shoulder and an ascending point. At

' the head of the fire-place I rivet them to the sides at a sufficient distance from the bottom to give the desired inclination to the furnace, and far enough from the end to admit of a free and easy movement of the furnace, which rests upon them.

To hold the furnace in its proper position I apply a bolt to each stop, which passes through the ascending point D and the lower edge of the furnace 1* into the fire-place beneath the grates. An iron rod may be substituted for the bolts F. At the foot of the fireplace I apply the stops 0 lower down and nearer the end, having an ascending point, G, a number of inches in length. To the outside of this cending point I apply a spring, H, which ascends to the top of the stop, then bends at a right angle across the top, is then folded back upon itself, then upward again so as to form a projection, I. At the top of the stop it is again folded upon itself and brought down to the shoulder, where both ends of the spring are attached to the stop, thus forming a loop, K, through which passes a spring, L, which is attached to the handle of the furnace M.

I construct my furnace A in a form similar to the fire-place, of a length and width suflicient to fit over and inclose the fire-place, and of a depth sufficient to rise above the sides of the fire-place when resting upon the stops of the same. It has also a few inches inclination at the foot to prevent too much elevation of the stops in front. Sheet-iron Nos. 24 to 26 is convenient material for the furnace. To render it sufficiently firm under the weight of the evaporator, I apply cross-pieces of heavy strap-iron. I apply'pieces of a similar material for handles, riveting them to the sides of the furnace, with their ends projecting in. The handles which I apply to the foot of the furnace M are bent at right angles similar to the stops, with their projecting ends standing out from the sides of the furnace, leaving suflicient room for the racks 0, stops G, and springs L. To the inner surface of each handle M, I apply a spring, L, which extends along the handle, passing through the loop K of the spring, which is attached to the stop H, and crossing it at right angles.

I construct my racks O by folding a strip of sheet-iron closely and turning its edges outward at right angles. Notches are then cut in the projection resembling saw teeth. I then apply these racks across the sides of the furnace, corresponding with the stops on the fireplace. I construct the bottom of my flue P of a material similar to that used for the fire-place, and of a width which fits closely into the fire-place. This being bent into the proper shape extends from the grates to its attachment at the foot of the furnace, being suspended on a movable iron rod, R, which passes through the same near the upper cor ner. Thus the line is not only movable with the furnace and evaporator, but its capacity is readily changed by elevating or lowering the rod on which it is suspended. I now adjust my furnace upon the fire-place, allowing the lower edges of the furnace to rest down upon the shoulders of the stops. I then apply the bolts or rod, as above described. The

foot of the furnace is now designed to be con-.

siderably inclined. By elevating the foot of the furnace the teeth on the racks will carry out the offset on the spring I at the top of the stop G, until the tooth rises above it, when it immediately springs into the notch and becomes a resting-point for the furnace. The downward movement of the furnace is readily obtained by placing the thumb upon the spring L and pressing it outward. Thus any desirable degree of inclination of the furnace and evaporator can readily be obtained. Rapid evaporation and immediate removal from the action of heat is the principle by which we se cure the granulation of the sugar-cane juice. Therefore a shallow covering of. juice only is allowed to flow along the channels of the evaporator to the point of escape into the cooler, and in order to keep the channel on all parts of the evaporator supplied with a proper quantity of juice as it evaporates and flows along, a ready control over the inclination of the furnace and evaporator is necessary.

I construct the channeled evaporator .in the well-known form by crimping metallic sheet into flanges or folds, and turning down or cutting down their alternate ends and applying wood or metallic heading, so as to form a continuous transverse channel. The heater is constructed of the same material, and continuously attached to one end of the evaporator, being separated from it only by abroad flange.

As an improvement upon the usual mode of constructing the heater and evaporator, I cut down and remove a square piece of the broad flange, which separates the heater and evaporator, and apply a movable valve and strainer, 1 2. I apply one or more fine strainers to the flanges of the evaporator.

In operation, the evaporator, is first filled with water, and the heater is filled with canejuice. As the juice in the heater approaches the boiling-point and is skimmed, the furnace is slightly inclined at the foot, and the water in the channel recedes from the heater. The valve 1 being slightly elevated, the heated juice flows through the strainer 2 and takes possession of the channel. This being established,a steady stream of canejuice flows from a receiver into the heater, is heated and skimmed,while a steady stream flows through the strainer 2 to supply the channel on the evaporator. The inclination of the furnace is adjusted in harmony with the intensity of the heat, so that the flowing juice becomes sufficiently evaporated upon reaching the point of escape into the cooler 3, when it may be set aside to cool and granulate. Thus the heating, skimming, and evaporating move simultaneously 011. \Vhen the work is done, water may be substituted for cane-juice.

- \Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The stationary yet portable firc-placeB, with its stops 0 O and springs H.

2. The portable, movable, and inclined furnace A, and its combination with the stationary fire-place.

3. The handles M and their springs L, and their combination with the springs H, also the rod F or its equivalent.

4. The racks O and their combination, also the movable flue or plate P and its rod R, and their combinations, with the movable furnace A and stationary fire-place B.

5. I do not claim the heater 8 nor evaporator 10 as my invention; but I claim as an improvement the application of one or more strainers 2 and valves 1 to the heater and evaporator.

LYM AN P. HARRIS.

\Vitn esses:

C. OLAPP, J. W. VVILKINSON.

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