Scientific American Supplement, No. 561, October 2, 1886Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 561, October 2, 1886
Various
Science -- Periodicals
On the larger plantations, machinery of very elaborate description is
used, and the most advanced processes known to science are employed in
the manufacture. The principle is, however, the same as has been seen
in the account of the simpler processes. On these larger plantations
there are extensive buildings, quarters for workmen, steam engines,
and all the necessary adjuncts of advanced manufacturing science. In
the sugar mills the cut cane is carried in carts to the mill. It is
then thrown by hand upon an endless flexible conductor which carries
the cane between heavy crushers. The great jaws of the crushers press
the cane into pulp, when it is thrown aside automatically to be carted
away and used as a fertilizer. The juice runs off in the channels of
the conductor into huge pans. The juice is now of a dull gray color
and of a sweet, pleasant taste, and is known as _guarapo_. It must be
clarified at once, for it is of so fermentable a nature that in the
climate of Porto Rico it will run into fermentation inside of half an
hour if the process of clarifying is not commenced. The pans into
which the juice is conducted are pierced like a colander. The liquor
runs through, leaving the refuse matter behind. It is then forced into
tanks by a pump and run to the clarifiers, which are large kettles
heated by steam. Lime is used to assist the clarification. It is then
filtered into vats filled with bone black. The filtering is repeated
until the juice changes color, when it is conveyed to the vacuum pans.
It has now become a thick sirup. It is then pumped into the sirup
clarifiers, skimmed, and again run through bone black, and finally is
conducted into another kettle, where it is allowed to crystallize. The
sirup that fails to crystallize is molasses, and it is here that we
catch up with what we started after. To extract the molasses from the
crystallized mass of sugar, we must go to the purging house. This is
similar to the building spoken of in connection with the simpler
process. It is of two stories. The upper floor is merely a series of
strong frames with apertures for funnel-shaped cylinders. The sugar is
brought into the purging house in great pans, which are placed over
the funnels. The pans are pierced with holes through which the
molasses drains off into troughs which are underneath the floor, all
running to a main trough. From thence the molasses runs into vats,
called _bocoyes_, each of which holds from 1,200 to 1,500 gallons. The
hogsheads in which the molasses is brought to this country are
manufactured principally in Philadelphia and taken to the West Indies.
They are placed in the hold of the vessel and the molasses pumped into
them. The government standard for molasses is 56 degrees polarization.
When not above that test, the duty is four cents per gallon. Above it
the duty is eight cents. This tends to keep molasses pure, as the
addition of glucose increases the quantity of sugar and therefore of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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