100 



sides spread out to form a sort of lip, are built into the top of a brick or stone 

 furnace with only their lips or rims projecting above the surface, in such a 

 fashion that they extend in a direct line, ascending slightly in elevation from 

 the largest, where the juice enters from the mill, to the smallest, or "caua mayor," 

 also called "caua de puntos," in which the final operation of boiling the sirup to 

 a "massecuite" is carried out. To prevent loss of the juice by boiling over, the 

 whole battery is built up along the sides and inclosed by a protecting wall of brick 

 or cement, 40 or 50 centimeters high, or an extra perpendicular rim of thin iron 

 may be attached to the top of each "caua." The accompanying schematic dia- 

 gram gives a good idea of the most customary arrangement of a sugar house. 





There are really two distinct batteries built over separate furnaces, having only 

 the No. 5, or juice-receiving, "caua" in common. (The "cauas" are ordinarily 

 numbered in an opposite direction to that in which the juice proceeds in the 

 course of manufacture. No. 1 always being the one where the final boiling is 

 done.) The two batteries are fired through the furnace doors close under the 

 No. 1 "caua" in order that the heat may be most intense and easily controlled 

 at this point, and either side may be used independently of the other if desired, 

 while by placing a multitubular boiler directly back of No. 5, where the two 

 furnace chambers converge into one, sufiicient steam to run the engine may be 

 generated from the heat of the waste furnace gases, without the use of extra 

 fuel, although of course a separate firing door for the boiler and a by-pass to lead 

 the heat from the battery directly up the chimney, if necessary, must be provided, 

 so that either grinding or boiling may be carried on independently. 



