The Sugar Mill Origins and Evolution Part 12: Heavyweight Dominance

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Introduction   

Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) is a perennial grass of the family Poaceae. It is primarily cultivated for its juice, from which alcohol (through fermentation and distillation) and sugar (through dehydration and refining) can be obtained. Most of the world’s sugarcane is grown in subtropical and tropical areas.

It is commonly accepted today that sugarcane originated in Papua, New Guinea, where it was initially domesticated. The plant was then taken to other lands by traders, where its sweet virtues quickly made it a sought-after commodity.

It is also commonly accepted that around 10,000 years ago, the original inhabitants of Papua did not have tools to process the cane, meaning that they likely chewed it raw to extract the juice, which was consumed as- is (Noël Deerr, The History of Sugar: Volume One).

                   The Sugar Mill: Origins and Evolution

                       Part 12: Heavyweight Dominance

Many of the cane mill designs we’ve seen throughout this series exist because their designers mastered the skills/technology required to produce them profitably.  Affordable products are, after all, easier to sell than their more expensive counterparts.  Machines that are easy to produce and easy to sell, however, are not always easy to maintain or capable of producing the highest yields possible.The Blymyer Iron Works Company, from Cincinnati Ohio put it best in its 1892 company catalog:

“The office (purpose) of a cane mill being to press out the juice, it is all important that it press out the largest possible percentage thereof.  Only a heavy mill of the best construction will do this.  Mills with cast shafts, or unturned rolls, or with rolls in wooden frames, and two-roll mills, are all mere makeshifts, and will leave a large percentage of juice in the bagasse.  Flexible mills, or those with rolls arranged to yield under pressure . . . are also wasteful of juice.  The loss of juice by the best flexible mill over a good rigid mill is not less than 10% and in general, the loss is 20%-30%.”

As you can imagine from the above, the Blymyer mills were heavy and well-constructed.  The horizontal placement of the three rollers meant that the top roller would naturally exert great pressure on the bottom rollers, to achieve the maximum yields.  Shown below are several of the horizontal three-roller mills produced by the Blymyer Iron Works Co.

Testament to the efficiency of their approach can be seen around the world, in large-scale commercial/industrial sugar mills that still employ this horizontal roller arrangement.In this series we’ve taken a journey through the evolution of the different sugarcane juice extraction implements.  The sugar mill industry has been in decline for the past several decades, with fewer and fewer mills in operation remaining every year.  Will continuing closures affect the sugar market, driving up the price and, if so, will the potentially increased profit margins drive future investment in innovation?  Or have we seen the “end of the road” in terms of sugarcane mill technology?   Will we see a return to smaller mills that can be operated to supply small communities or even households?  Will we see a new generation of inventors design mills powered by renewable sources of energy?

Only time will tell.  But one thing remains clear: as long as we have a desire for sugar and as long as we are able to grow the sweet grass, people will continue to explore ways to extract its nectar!

We hope that you enjoyed this series about the origins and evolution of the sugar mill!.  Please stay tuned for more material from The Rum University®!

                                       Sugar Mill Spotlight

Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park.  This site was once part of a thriving sugar plantation owned by David Levy Yulee.  Yulee was a member of the Territorial Legislative Council, and he served in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate after Florida statehood. The park contains remnants of the once thriving, 5,100-acre sugar plantation, including a 40-foot limestone masonry chimney, iron gears and a cane press. The steam-driven mill operated from 1851 to 1864 and served as a supplier of sugar products for Southern troops during the Civil War.The park is located approximately 3 miles west of the city of Homosassa Springs, Florida, USA.