SUGAR FROM SORGHUM 227 



and sheath before being submitted to the cutting machine. 

 The cane leaves the cutters in small chips ready to fill the dif- 

 fusion battery, which is composed of vessels technically called 

 cells, of various sizes; those at Fort Scott 1 held 1900 pounds 

 of chips, and had a capacity of 75 cubic feet each. 



These cells may be disposed in a row or in a circular arrange- 

 ment as is usual in the beet-sugar factories abroad. The cells 

 are connected by means of pipes for the passage of water 

 from tanks to the cells of the battery, and for the flow of water 

 from cell to cell. Calorisators for heating are connected with 

 the cells, and an apparatus for compressed air to drive the 

 water from the chips when the process is over. The best tem- 

 perature for sorghum diffusion is about 70 Centigrade, 2 and 

 for sugar-cane 90 Centigrade. 3 



The cells are filled with the chips from above by an opening 

 in the top, and when the diffusion is over they are removed 

 by opening a discharge gate of the diameter of the cell at its 

 bottom. This door is held firmly in place, during the extrac- 

 tion, by an hydraulic joint of circular rubber tubing, the 

 pressure within the tube being greater than within the cell. 



The flow of water through the cell is controlled by pressure, 

 and passes from the cell first filled to the last one of the battery. 

 The water enters the first cell by means of a valve from below, 

 and is turned off, when it overflows, from an air valve above. 

 The pipes are reversed, and fresh water driven in from above 

 cell i, to displace its contents of saccharine liquid, which 

 then flows below into cell 2, as the fresh water originally passed 

 into cell i from the bottom upwards. This process is continual, 

 making a complete system of displacement, the water as it 

 passes from cell to cell becoming more dense. Whilst the last 

 cell is filling, cell i is emptied of the chips and refilled with a 

 fresh charge. 



Thus it will be seen that in a battery of 14 cells all in 

 operation, 12 cells would be under pressure and one filling 

 and the other emptying. 



1 Bui. No. 14, Chem. Div. Dept. of Agr., by H. W. Wiley, p. 9. 

 3 Ibid., p. 40. 

 Ibid., p. 45. 



