The operations of the factory are illustrated in the large diagram. The
first cutting is accomplished in the ensilage or feed cutter at E. This
cutter is provided with three knives fastened to the three spokes of a
cast iron wheel which makes about 250 revolutions per minute, carrying
the knives with a shearing motion past a dead knife. 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. 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.