To Inventors and Patentees.

MESSRS. ROBERTSON & CO.,

PATENT SOLICITORS,

166, Fleet-street, London; and 99B, New-street

Birmingham.

(Of which firm Mr. J. C. ROBERTSON, the EDITOR of the MECHANICS' MAGAZINE from its commencement in 1823, is principal partner,) undertake

The procuration of Patents For England, Scotland, Ireland, and all Foreign Countries, and the transaction generally of all business relating to PATENTS.

Specifications Drawn or Revised. DISCLAIMERS, AND MEMORANDUMS OF ALTERATION PREPARED AND ENROLLED. Caveats Entered and Oppositions Conducted.

CONFIRMATIONS AND PROLONGATIONS
OF PATENTS SOLICITED.

Searches made for Patents, and Copies or
Abstracts Supplied.

Advice on Cases submitted, &c. &c.
INTENDING PATENTEES supplied gratis with
Printed Instructions, on Application, either per-
sonally or by letter.

AGENTS: For Manchester, Messrs. Wise and Wood, 3, Cooper-street. For New York, Mr. Thomas Prosser, 11, Platt-street.

Advantages of Registering Designs for Articles of Utility. Under the New Designs Act, 6 and 7 Vic. c. 65. Protection for the whole of the three Kingdoms by one Act of Registration.

Protection for a term of three years.
Protection at a moderate expense (from 127. to

201.)

Protection immediate, (may be obtained in most cases within a couple of days.)

Power of granting licenses for any of the three Kingdoms, or any of the cities, towns, or districts thereof, to one, two, three, or any greater number of persons.

Summary remedy for Infringements.

For a copy of the Act, with Table of Fees, and Explanatory Remarks, see Mechanics' Magazine, No. 1047, price 3d.; and for Lists of Articles registered under the New Act, see the subsequent Monthly Parts.

Specifications and Drawings, according to the Provisions of the Act, prepared, and Registrations effected without requiring the personal attendance of parties in London, by Messrs. ROBERTSON and Co., Patent and Designs Registration Agents, 166, Fleet-street, and 99B, New-street, Birmingham; or by their Manchester Agents, Messrs. Wise and Wood, 3, Cooper-street.

Ornamental Designs also registered under the 5 and 6 Vic., c. 100.

To Engineers and Boiler
Makers.

THE BIRMINGHAM PATENT IRON TUBE
COMPANY Manufacture Patent Lap Welded
Tubes, under Mr. Richard Prosser's Patent, for
Marine, Locomotive and all Tubular Boilers. Also
Tubes for Gas, Steam, and other purposes.
All
sorts of Iron Gas Fittings. Works, Smethwick,
near Birmingham. London Warehouse, 68, Upper
Thames street.

Mr. Bessemer introduces the first branch of his improvements those, namely, relating to the expression of the saccharine juice from the cane-by the following explanatory remarks:

The cane mills now generally employed for extracting the saccharine juices from the sugar-cane consist of an arrangement of rollers, the number and position of which are varied; but most commonly three rollers are used, and arranged so that the canes are pressed a second time in passing through the spaces between them, which spaces are increased or diminished by regulating wedges or screws, motion being communicated to the rollers by suitable gearing in connection with any first mover; the canes are fed endwise in between them by hand, several passing through at one time, crossing each other occasionally in all directions. The expressed juice runs into a receptacle below, and the refuse cane or megass passes out on the opposite side of the machine. Cane mills of this description are subject to various defects, which I will here briefly point out, in order to show more clearly the nature of the present invention, which has for its object to lessen or entirely remove these defects. In order to extract the juice from a cane by means of a rolling-mill, it is obvious that the rollers must be set sufficiently close to give a very tight pinch; but the rollers must not be too close, otherwise the cane trash is so lacerated and broken as greatly to lessen the value of the waste or megass for fuel, besides which, the too hard pressing of the cane extracts certain other matters therein contained, which are found to be highly prejudicial to the saccharine juice. It is therefore clear that, to produce the best effect, the rollers should be set at a certain ascertained distance apart, which distance ought, of course, to depend on the thickness of the cane. For, suppose two rollers are placed so as to produce the best effect on a cane of 1 inch in diameter, and that in the course of work two canes pass through together, one of which is an inch thick and the other two inches, it must follow that both will be done imperfectly, since their respective bulks are as four to one, the small one being only partially pressed, and a small

portion of the saccharine juice extracted, while by the larger one a larger quantity of saccharine juice will be expressed, but mixed up with much of the foreign and injurious

matters before referred to.

This defect is common to all and every of the roller mills in use, and is totally irrespective of the number and position of the rollers. Further; when a cane is passing between a pair of rollers, the pressure at any one time does not extend to more than two or three inches of its length, and the extreme pinch is exerted on a mere line only, where the rollers approach nearest together— the pressure gradually decreasing on each side of the centre of pressure. Now, when rollers of two feet diameter are making ten revolutions per minute, their surfaces, and consequently anything passing between them, must be moving at a rate exceeding one foot per second; therefore, if we assume that the effective pressure upon a cane amounts to three lineal inches at one time, it is clear that one-quarter of a second only is allowed for expressing the juice from each portion of the cane under operation-a period wholly inadequate to effect the thorough displacement of the fluid from the congeries of cells in which it is contained. Neither can this evil be remedied by any alteration of position or arrangement of the rollers. Another serious defect of the roller mill, is the extraordinary facility it affords for the re-absorption of the juice after it has once been expressed. The cane, it is well known, consists of an outer rind enveloping a spongy cellular mass, which contains the saccharine juice. The spongy mass possesses a considerable amount of elasticity when deprived of the juice, and as the cane emerges from its momentary pressure between the rollers, this elasticity causes the cane to expand in the same way as sponge does when relieved from pressure, when it re-absorbs the juice which is flowing in contact with it among the rollers, and thereby not only wastes the juice, but leaves the refuse cane so saturated with it, that it is found necessary to spread the cane trash in the mill-yard to be dried by the sun before it can be used for fuel.

I have before stated that the pressure on a cane, while passing between the rollers of a mill, will always be in proportion to the relative thickness or diameter of the cane and the amount of space between the rollers; but the amount of pressure exerted upon the different parts of the cane is far from equal, since the rind and knots are more hard and woody than the rest of the cane, and there

the power of the mill absorbed. This defect is common to all roller mills, however the rollers may be varied in number or position. Lastly, the action of the rollers upon the canes, when great or repeated pressure is exerted upon them, tends to lacerate them to a considerable extent, causing thereby many of the larger fragments to fall into the juice, and forcing out and mixing with it innumerable small pieces of the delicate cellular tissues of which the structure of the cane is chiefly composed, the mixture of which with the juice greatly increases its tendency to fermentation, and impedes the process of defeccation. Having thus briefly pointed out the more prominent defects in the existing roller mills, I will now proceed to describe the means by which I propose to remedy them.

The description which follows is illustrated by drawings, from which the accompanying engravings have been made. The cane press is there represented as being combined in one framing with a steam engine, which works by direct action without the intervention of any gearing.

Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of the apparatus; fig. 2, a longitudinal section on the line ry of fig. 3; and fig. 3, a plan of the same. A, fig. 1, is a strong iron frame cast in one piece. At one end this framing forms a cistern, A1, for the reception of the expressed juice, the bottom of which slopes to the centre, in order to facilitate the running off of the juice. BB are two gun-metal tubes or trunks, placed above the cistern, A1, which have their ends firmly attached by bolts, CC, to the ends of the cistern, and are further secured thereto by the projections, WW, which are cast on the under side of the tubes, and abut against the ends of the cistern. The tubes are also prevented from springing by pillars, XX, which stand up from the bottom of the cistern, and have bolts, YY, passing up through them and screwed to a massive boss formed on the under side of the tubes. The tubes are rectangular in their cross section, and are parallel throughout internally. They are of a width sufficient to receive a cane of the largest diameter: they are made of tough gun-metal, and should be of such thickness as to be capable of withstanding a considerable amount of internal pressure. In the middle of the length of each tube there is inserted a sliding ram or piston, D, and the two pistons are connected by a cross-head, E. The crank-shaft, G, by which these pistons are worked, is made of wrought iron, and revolves in plummer blocks or bearings of brass, FF, formed in the sides of the bedplate at A3. The shaft is further supported

by a plummer block, H, and carries the flywheel, I, by which the motion of the machine is regulated. The crank-shaft is shown as broken off, because its length may be made much greater than is represented in the figures, in order to remove the fly-wheel further from the machine. The end of the bed plate farthest from the cistern is narrowed at A2, in order that the plummerblocks, JJ, which support the steam cylinder, K, may be brought sufficiently near to it. The steam cylinder is of the construction ordinarily employed in oscillating highpressure engines. The slide is worked by the levers, LL, in a manner well understood and practised. The piston rod, M, is connected to the central throw, G1, of the crank-shaft, G. On each side of the central throw, and at right angles with it, there are other throws, G and G3, both of which are much shorter than the one connected with the steam cylinder; NN are two connecting rods of considerable strength, each of which is connected at one end to the cross-bead, E, and at the other to the crank-throws, G and G3, so that whenever the crank-shaft, G, is made to revolve, a reciprocating motion is given to the pistons, DD. On the upper side of the tubes, BB, are fixed the conical hoppers, Pa P', which are connected together by lugs, P1 P1, cast on them, and terminate in holes at P2, formed in the upper part of the tubes. The tubes, BB, are perforated all round with numerous small holes, B', which are placed at greater distances apart, towards each end of the tubes. These holes may be about a tenth of an inch in diameter on the interior of the tube, and a quarter of an inch on the exterior; the holes being made conical in order to facilitate the escape of any matter that may be accidentally forced into them from the interior. The action of the machinery is as follows: -When steam is admitted into the cylinder, K, the piston rod acting on the crank-throw, G1, causes it to revolve, and the two short throws, G and G3, acting on the connecting rods, NN, and cross-head, E, impart a reciprocating motion to both the pistons, DD, at one and the same time, and these pistons move through a much smaller space and at a much less velocity than the steam piston, exerting thereby a powerful, though quiet and steady pressure on the canes in the tubes. The canes are put into the hoppers, P P', in a vertical position, and as the pistons, DD, move from under the hoppers, the canes fall down into the tubes, as shown at R, fig. 2. In the figures the machinery is represented as having been some time at work, and the pistons as about to make a return stroke. On the return stroke, the pistons cut off from the canes which have dropped from the