USRE1830E - Improvement in the manufacture of sugar - Google Patents

Description

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v UNITED STATES JOHN FINDL-EY RIGGS, or FREMONT, NEBRASKA TERRITORY.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTUREOF SUGAR.

, Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 41,398, dated January 26, 1864; Reissue No. 1,830, dated November 29, 1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN FINDLEY RIGGS,

of Fremont, in the county of Dodge and Territory of Nebraska, have invented a new and useful Process for Manufacturing 'Sirup and Sugar from Sorghum and other Saccharine Juices; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description of the same. My said process consists in a peculiar manner of washing and pressing to -rernovegum and the foreign matters from sugar,as hereinafter explained.

In order that others skilledin the art to which my invention appertains may be enabled to fully understand and use the same, I will proceed to describe the manner of carrying it into efiect.

I run the sorghum or other saccharine juice from the mill through a filter of clean hay or straw into an evaporator of any suitable construction, where it is evaporated as rapidly as possible 'with as intense heat as can be generated with dry wood, removing the scum as fast as it rises, and (if possible) bringing the heat up to 240 Fahrenheit as it approaches the sugar-boil. The sirup is then about the color of boiling honey. The bubbles have a glossy appearance as it approaches completion, and a white filmy scum rises,

I have ascertained by experiment that the juices of sugar-cane have no color except'from the green vegetable matter which rises in the scum, and hence/any reddish color which may appear in the sirup is an effect produced by the fire. As soon as the sirup has attained the proper consistency, (about 45 Baum,) I draw it 011' into a cooler, and here, while it is at a temperature of about 100 Fahrenheit, saleratus, soda, or other suitable alkaline substance may be added to neutralize any free acid, if the product is to be used in the form of sirup. This, however, is unimportant, if sugar be the product desired. I then add a few ounces of wellgranulated sugar, and put the whole mass into an open vat and place it in a warm room or near the fire, where a regular temperatureof about 80 Fahrenheit can be maintained, stirring occasionally until thoroughly granulated.

I then draw off the sirup (which is clear and free from all acid or green-sorghum flavor) and place the sugar in a press to extract the remaining sirup. Having discovered that there remains in the sugar a mucilage or glutinous substance more readily soluble in water than the sugar itself, I add a s'uflicient quantity of water or other suitable liquid to permeate the mass and press it out quickly before the sugar has time to dissolve to any considerable extent. The effect of this is to produce a pure article of light-brown sugar free from mucilage, and by repeatingthe same treatment three times I obtain a very pure article of White ooifeesugar. I also take sirup that has been evaporated as above described, place it in a warm room, and granulate it by the ordinary process, drain it,and refine it by the use of water as above described, making an article of refined coffee-sugar free from gum and other foreign matter.

I am aware that it is common to apply water to sugar for the purpose of refiningit, and this therefore I do not broadly claim.

. The usual system of obtaining the sugar after washing is too long. and tedious a process, and the centrifugal apparatus which is sometimes employed to free the sugar from water is too expensive for general use among planters. In my invention the work is per-' formed in the most quick and thorough manner with the aid of a cheese-press or other suitable press, the sugar being at once delivered in a state sufficiently dry for packing in bar rels.

I am also aware that it is common in some countries to refine sugar by a washing process termed claying. This differs, essentially, from my invention and cannot beused with full success with sorghum-sugar.

. Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Refining sorghum or other sugar by applying a liquid to dissolve the gum, and removing the same by pressure.

JOHN FINDLEY RIGGS.

Witnesses:

OI-IARLEs D. SMITH, OOTAVIUS KNIGHT.