The Sugar Mill Origins and Evolution Part 5: The Windmill Press

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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).

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!

Part 5: The Windmill Press

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 we saw an implementation of a Screw Press that also used a water-powered grinder.  Erecting sugar mills only around rivers or waterways was a very limiting proposition, so innovations had to be brought in from other industries.

Enter the Sugarcane Windmill, an adaptation from wind-powered technology used around the world to create flour from grains. 

In a traditional windmill, sails are designed similar to airplane propellers to catch the wind and spin.  The sails drive the horizontal “wind shaft” and the “brake wheel” located in the top of the mill.  The brake wheel spins another wheel called the “wallower” located at the top of the vertical “main spindle.”  The “great spur wheel” at the bottom of the main spindle engages a “stone nut” which turns the millstones through the “stone spindle.”

Photo description: The Mill Yard, part of the series Ten Views in the Island of Antigua by William Clark. Originally published/produced in Thomas Clay: London, 1823. Notice the vertical rollers inside the mill, we’ll explore these in detail next month.

Sugar Mill Spotlight

Old Windmill at Morgan Lewis, Barbados. This Mill was the last sugar windmill to operate in Barbados, it stopped formal operations in 1947. It is the only complete sugar windmill that has survived in the Caribbean. The wind-driven machinery that ground the sugarcane in the 18th and 19th centuries is still intact inside the mill.

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