This machine consists of an eight inch cast iron cylinder, with
knives like those of a planing machine. It is really three cylinders
placed end to end in the same shaft, making the entire length eighteen
inches. The knives are inserted in slots and held in place with set
screws. The cylinder revolves at the rate of about twelve hundred per
minute, carrying the knives past an iron dead knife, which is set so
close that no cane can pass without being cut into fine chips. From this
cutter the chips of cane are taken by an elevator and a conveyer, K, to
cells, MM, of the diffusion battery. The conveyer passes above and at
one side of the battery, and is provided with an opening and a spout
opposite each cell of the battery. The openings are closed at pleasure
by a slide. A movable spout completes the connection with any cell which
it is desired to fill with chips.
WHAT IS DIFFUSION?
The condition in which the sugars and other soluble substances exist in
the cane is that of solution in water. The sweetish liquid is contained,
like the juices of plants generally, in cells. The walls of these cells
are porous. It has long been known that if a solution of sugar in water
be placed in a porous or membraneous sack, and the sack placed on water,
an action called osmosis, whereby the water from the outside and the
sugar solution from the inside of the sack each pass through, until the
liquids on the two sides of the membrane are equally sweet.
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