SUGAR-BEET 



SUGAR-BEET 



595 



Versuche iiber den Zuckerriibenbau (1882) ; Wm. 

 McMurtrie, Report on the culture of the sugar- 

 beet and the manufacture of sugar therefrom in 

 Prance and the United States, United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture, Special report No. 28 

 (1880); P. Roditzky, Der Riibenbauer (1889); G. L. 

 Spencer, Handbook for chemists of beet -sugar 

 houses and seed-culture farms (1897); Lewis S. 

 Ware, Sugar-beet, including a history of the beet- 

 sugar industry (1880) ; H. Werner, Der praktische 

 Zuckerriibenbauer (1888) ; Harvey W. Wiley, Sugar- 

 beet Industry, Culture of the sugar-beet and 

 manufacture of beet-sugar, United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Bureau of Chemistry, Bulle- 

 tin No. 27 (1890) (in collaboration with twelve 

 experiment stations) ; Influence of environment on 

 the composition of the sugar-beet, together with a 

 summary of the five-year investigation. United 

 States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of 

 Chemistry, Bulletin No. 96 (1905). Some of the 

 magazines are : American Sugar Industry and 

 Beet-Sugar Gazette ; The Sugar-Beet ; Blatter fiir 

 Zuckerriibenbau ; Centralblatt fiir die Zuckerin- 

 dustrie der Welt ; Die Deutsche Zuckerindustrie ; 

 Jahresbericht der Zuckerfabrikation ; La Bette- 

 rave ; Neue Zeitschrift fiir Riibenzuckerindustrie ; 

 Oesterreichisch-ungarische Zeitschrift fiir Zuckerin- 

 dustrie und Landwirthschaft ; Zeitschrift des Ve- 

 reins fiir die Riibenzuckerindustrie ; Zeitschrift fiir 

 Zuckerindustrie in Bohmen. 



The Manufacture of Beet-Sugar. Pigs. 823-825. 



By G. M. Chamberlin, Jr. 



A century has now passed since the first sugar 

 was made from the sugar-beet, and the develop- 

 ment of the industry has been of such great mag- 

 nitude in the past twenty-five years that, with the 

 steady perfection of the various parts of the 

 machinery necessary in an up-to-date sugar mill, 

 it has become possible to produce a high grade of 

 sugar at a very reasonable price. 



Details of beet-sugar^making. 



The crop. — The seeds of the sugar-beets are 

 planted in the spring in order that the beets will 

 mature before the frost gets into the ground. The 

 date of the campaign does not always depend on 

 the maturity of the beet, but rather on the capac- 

 ity of the factory and the saccharine quality of 

 the beet, which is determined by chemical tests. 



Storage sheds. — Having reached the proper 

 period in their growth, the beets are brought to 

 the storage sheds of the factory either in cars or 

 wagons, and unloaded by hand or with the aid of 

 automatic dumps into the various bins especially 

 constructed for them until they can be brought 

 into the factory to be worked into sugar. These 

 sheds are built like a "V," with a flume extending 

 the entire length of each, in order that the beets 

 may be carried into the factory with the aid of 

 water. This prevents the beets being bruised and 

 at the same time assists in cleaning them of 

 adhering dirt. The water for this purpose comes 

 from the condensers of the evaporators and vacuum 



pans, as well as from the overflow of the main 

 water-supply tank. 



Stone-catchers. — As the beets enter the factory 

 they pass over the large stone-catchers, so built as 

 to remove the stones and dirt that come from the 

 sheds with the beets, and which, if allowed to pass 

 on, would cause much trouble as well as material 

 loss to the knives in the slicing machine. Not 

 only would the knives be injured, but the beets 

 would be torn instead of being cut into good, clean 

 strips, which are necessary for the perfect working 

 of the battery in the process of the extraction of 

 the sugar, as well as in the treatment of the 

 juices at the various stations in the mill. 



The washer. — Passing over the stone-catcher, 

 the beets are carried by the aid of an Archimedean 

 screw, or a beet wheel, up into the mechanical 

 washer, where they are entirely freed of all remain- 

 ing dirt. This washer consists of a large tank in 

 which arm-agitators revolve. As the beets have 

 had most of their impurities removed in the 

 hydraulic transportation from the sheds, the 

 agitation in the washer renders excellent service 

 in removing the particles that still adhere. 



Slicing. — During the entire operation of washing, 

 fresh water is being run in at one end and the 

 dirty water out at the other. The beets enter the 

 washer at one end and are thrown on an endless 

 carrier at the other end and carried to the bucket 

 elevator, which elevates them to the slicer several 

 floors above. Here they are cut into strips, or slices 

 as they are called, and emptied into the various 

 cells of the difl'usion battery for the extraction of 

 the sugar which they contain. 



The slicer. — In order that the greatest amount of 

 surface may be exposed to the action of the water 

 in the extraction of the sugar, it is necessary to 

 cut the beets into long, slender strips, or cossettes, 

 by the aid of knives made especially for this pur- 

 pose. These knives vary in shape as regards their 

 cutting surfaces, but all types tend to secure one 

 result, that of producing a long slender strip, cut 

 lengthwise of the beet, and having a smooth, uni- 

 form surface. To secure this, a special apparatus 

 is used which generally consists of a, cylinder, or 

 hopper, at the bottom of which is a circular disk 

 with openings for knife attachments, and having a 

 rotary motion. This is the slicer. The beets are 

 fed into the hopper from the automatic scales, if 

 these are used, otherwise directly from- the beet- 

 elevator, and, falling on the knives, are cut into 

 cossettes. These drop either from a spout into the 

 cells of the battery direct or else on a moving belt 

 conveyor, as in the case of a longitudinal battery, 

 and from this are fed into the various cells as is 

 necessary. 



Diffusion battery. — The diffusion battery consists 

 of a series of ten to fourteen iron tanks, or cells, 

 known as diffusors, which are arranged in a circle 

 or in a straight line. Each diffusor is connected 

 at the bottom by means of a pipe with the top of 

 the next in the series, so that a continual flow of 

 water passes through the mass of sliced beets as 

 long as they remain in the cell of the battery. 

 Their shape is that of a round tank set on end, 



