The Sugar Mill: Origins and Evolution, Part 4

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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).

Not much written history exists that documents the early extraction of the juice for the purpose of dehydration and formation of sugar crystals until the publication of De Materia Medica, a pharmacopoeia of medicinal plants and the medicines that can be obtained from them, which was written between the years 50 and 70 of the current era by Pedanius Dioscorides, a Greek physician in the Roman army. This is the oldest record documenting the existence of crystalized sugar, which was used at the time to “treat indigestion and stomach ailments.”

How did people manage to extract the dissolved sugar from the juice? The answers to this question are at the core of this series. so join us, as we explore this fascinating topic!

                  The Sugar Mill: History and Evolution

           Part 4: The Vertical Three-Roller Sugarcane Mill

In Part 2 we discussed the beauty and simplicity of the Pole Press but also mentioned how inefficient it is for large volumes of sugarcane, suggesting it was OK for personal consumption but nothing more.  In order to understand the volume of sugarcane that must be processed as a commercial activity, we should explore sugarcane yields, both in the infancy of the industry and as they are now, thanks to all our present-day mechanical innovations.

In early times:

  • 1 acre of land produced 10 tons of sugarcane
  • 10 tons of sugarcane produced 1 ton of sugar

Nowadays in the USA (LA, FL and TX):

  • 1 acre of land produces 38 tons of sugarcane
  • 38 tons of sugarcane produce between 3.8 and 4 tons of sugar

It is easy to see why industry pioneers would look for ways to take advantage of mechanical innovations and to reduce or eliminate human labor as much as possible.

Last month (in Part 3 of this series) we saw an implementation of a Screw Press that also used a water-powered grinder.  Pre-cutting the sugarcane and filling mash bags for pressing was an improvement, but it still was very labor- intensive, so ideas had to continue to evolve, looking at other industries for inspiration.

Enter the Vertical Three-Roller Sugarcane Mill.

According to Sugar Machines: Picturing Industrialized Slavery (by John E. Crowley), the Vertical Three Roller Mill was probably introduced to Brazil from Peru in the early 1600s, and would quickly take over the Brazilian engenhos (sugar mills).

Animal, human or water power turned the vertical axle of the mill’s central cylinder and its two counter-turning rollers. Such mills required fewer workers than Screw Presses to feed and to tend them: whole cane stalks could be fed from opposite sides of the rollers in a continuous process.

The rollers’ superstructure supported the application of more force than was possible with the high friction and inertia of edge rollers. And they extracted more of the cane’s juice because their tolerances could be adjusted. Sugar output per worker increased by 150–200 percent (according to John Daniels and Christian Daniels, The Origin of the Sugarcane Roller Mill”).  Shown in the background: the earliest known on-the-spot drawing of the recently invented Vertical Three-Roller Sugar Mill, worked, presumably, by enslaved Africans. Frans Post, Pressoir a` sucre au Brésil (ca. 1640). VC Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels.

                                         Sugar Mill Spotlight

An old wooden Vertical Three-Roller Sugarcane Mill, near Pirenópolis in the Brazilian state of Goiás.

Join us again next month, as we continue to explore this fascinating topic!