THE CUBA REVIEW 



THE PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING SUGAR FROM 



CANE IN CUBA 



The cane is transported from the fields in carts and railway cars and on arrival at the mill 

 is unloaded upon the cane-carrier by a hoist with a capacity to lift up to ten tons at one opera- 

 tion. Chains or wire ropes are placed under the load of cane between transverse slats on the 

 platform of the car or cart, the end attached to the support above, and the load is lifted bodily 

 into the air, transported to a suitable hopper a1>ove the carrier and then dropped by the pull of 

 a trigger. In some cases the cane is gradually discharged from the hopper upon the carrier by 

 means of a revolving drum or traveling apron provided with strong hook-like teeth; in other 

 cases the hopper is built at the bottom of a trough six or seven feet wide by about half as deep, 

 and leading up at an angle to the crusher. In the bottom of this trough is the carrier— an 

 endless apron of wooden or metal slats or plates; or in the later models of steep ascent a link- 

 belt conveyor of great strength provided with strong steel teeth, 18 inches long, curving slightly 

 forward to elevate the heavy, tangled mass of cane which falls upon it and the mass of cane, 

 in a rough layer 12 inches or 18 inches deep, falls precipitously over the upper apex of the carrier 

 into a hopper-like receptacle which feeds it into the preliminary crusher, consisting of two 

 enormously strong steel rollers, provided with interlocking ridges to grip, which crush and tear 

 the cane. Besides the hoist method of unloading cane, there is the basculador or tip-platform, 

 which is arranged to tip either to one side or on end at an angle of about thirty degrees, causing 

 the cane to slide from the car or cart into the hopper of the carrier. There is also an arrange- 

 ment for forcing the cane out through one end of the car by means of power driven bumpers 

 which are in use in some of the mills of Cuba. 



Cane contains about eighteen per cent of sugar, of which from ten to thirteen per cent is 

 extracted in the process of manufacture. .'Vfter the cane has been macerated the juice flows 

 through a finely perforated Ijrass straining plate into a small receiving tank, and is pumped into 

 the lining tanks, where milk of lime is immediately added to neutralize acidity and to precipi- 

 tate those impurities which form insoluble Silt. Then ensues the defecation process. The 

 juice passes through heaters fitted with tubes, along which the liquid flows, and thence into the 

 defecators, which are open vessels with steam coils in the bottom, serving to heat the juice 

 slowly, after which the clear juice is decanted from the scum on the top and the "mud" at the 

 bottom. The clear juice is subsequently drawn by vacuum attraction into the evaporators 

 called "effects," where the boiling process properly begins. There may be double, triple, quad- 

 ruple effects, or even d, greater number. In these eva])orators the juice is reduced to the extent 

 of 75 per cent of its volume, and is then called "syrup." A further reduction of 50 per cent takes 

 place in the vacuum pans, where the syrup becomes known as "massecuite." The concen- 

 trated juice is run into immense vessels to cool and crystalize, and the mass of crystals formed 

 is poured into fast-whirling machines called "centrifugals" in recognition of the force which 

 whirls the molasses out of the crys+als and turns them a golden-yellow color in a few minutes 

 rotation. The amount of molasses flung out of the crystals is about 30 per cent. This molasses 

 is carried away through ])i]je lines and is pumped into large tanks wh?re it isstored for shipment. 

 In times gone by little attention was paid to this factor in the business, it being allowed 1o run 

 away, but the advent of what is now an importtnt and welcome enterprise in connection with 

 the sugar irdustry, the Cuba Distilling Compan'' turned the despised and neglected molasses 

 into something for which there is a steady sale, and which without any trouble or expense to 

 the pi inters is, m many cases, equal m financial returns to a moderate dividend on the capitali- 

 sation of the estate. The most up-to-date melhod of treating "massecuite" is to pour the con- 

 tents of the vacuum or "strike-pan" mto a large receplacle, called a crystalizer, in wnich a 

 revolving shaft with blades attached keeps +he m-^ss m motion for a certain number of hours 

 before it goes to the centritugds. This process is based on the fact that while sugar crystals 

 ivre in motion their volume increases to a greater extent and more rapidly than when at rest. 



From the centrifugals the sugar descends through a chute mto liags, containing usually 

 320 or 325 pounds. The bags when filled are sewed, weighed and then shipped to the market 

 awaiting raw sugar^ — -or perhaps stored pending a rise in the market-price of this necessary 

 commodity. 



