By a forced feed
the cane is so fed as to be cut into pieces about one and a quarter
inches long. This cutting frees the leaves and nearly the entire sheaths
from the pieces of cane. By a suitable elevator, F, the pieces of cane,
leaves and sheaths are carried to the second floor.
The elevator empties into a hopper, below which a series of four or five
fans, G, is arranged one below the other. By passing down through these
fans the cane is separated from the lighter leaves, much as grain is
separated from chaff. The leaves are blown away, and finally taken from
the building by an exhaust fan. This separation of the leaves and other
refuse is essential to the success of the sugar making, for in them the
largest part of the coloring and other deleterious matters are
contained. If carried into the diffusion battery, these matters are
extracted (see reports of Chemical Division, U.S. Department of
Agriculture), and go into the juice with the sugar. As already stated,
the process of manufacturing sugar is essentially one of separation. The
mechanical elimination of these deleterious substances at the outset at
once obviates the necessity of separating them later and by more
difficult methods, and relieves the juice of their harmful influences.
From the fans the pieces of cane are delivered by a screw carrier to an
elevator which discharges into the final cutting machine on the third
floor.
Pages:
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96