Winner Yulee Sugar Mill Model

[jumps4]

not being able to sleep long made me productive last night and today... I finally finished all of the pipe fittings and Valves. there is one thing missing but I'm not sure I'm going to add it. there should be a manual pump out in front of the big gear on the ground but I don't think anyone would notice it missing.
next I have to make the conveyor chutes, 4 drive pulleys and the rollers for the conveyer. I don't have room on this board for the entire conveyor system so I'll just have the drive rollers turning with no belts on them.
thank you for viewing
Steve

 

[jumps4]

I started making parts for the conveyor on the roller mill. I contact cemented the metal to plywood to cut it out, then I removed it with a heat gun. I also made the flat belt pulleys and installed them on the ends of the rollers. I have never found any good information as to what they would have used for conveyor belting in the late 1840's early 1850's
Steve

 

[jumps4]

I made 2 rollers for the conveyor belts today. all the wood on my model is salvaged teak from a sunken dive platform.
I need to add detail to the sheet metal to make it look like cast plates, they didn't have sheet metal yet as far as I can see.
thanks for viewing
Steve

 

[jumps4]

I think I'm going to try to power it with a small ac compressor from a small air conditioner or fridge. I want to try to hook the compressor to the exhaust and pressure side so it is closed loop system. It should work if I let the suction side intake more than just the engines exhaust so it will build pressure on the high side to the regulator. it only needs 5psI to run at the speed I want it to run at. the other up side to this is the engine will stay oiled internally. I'll use a momentary switch so by holding the button it runs?
steve

 

[ScrapMetal]

Jumps, I have a question for you. I was just showing off your work to my wife and she asked me an obvious question I couldn't answer. "What is a sugar mill and how was it used?"

Would you mind a quick explanation?

Amazing work you're doing!

Thanks,

-Ron

 

[jumps4]

sugar cane looks like bamboo and was harvested in the fall, stripped of its leaves then run through the roller press. the sweet liquid that was pressed from the cane was heated in a series of massive kettles until almost all of the water was removed and the sugar would begin to crystalize in a thick syrup called molasses. the molasses was fermented and used to make rum or used for cooking in its natural form. the cane sugar a brown colored crystal remained and was filtered out of the liquid.
The plantation this mill was located at was 5100 acres and during the civil war had 1000 slaves operating it. the boiler to operate the cane press was fired by the stalks that remained after being crushed.
The Yulee Sugar mill on the Margarita plantation closed at the end of the Civil war and David Yulee's home was destroyed by Northern gunboats. the steam engine and mill were only in use for 13 years so this engine was only started and run 13 times at harvest time in October/November each year then sat idle waiting for the next harvest.
Steve

 

[Marco Bernardini]

The sugar cane is far different from the giant cane growing on river banks.
While the stem of a giant cane can be easily crushed, even if large, the sugar cane is very hard, and to cut it is not at all an easy job.
A friend of mine brought me a sample of sugar cane from Cuba, ~ 2" diameter, and it was impossible to cut it with a normal kitchen knife, as shown in the films: I had to use a metal saw…

 

[jumps4]

there were two pieces of linkage for the steam box on the engine I have wanted to redo for a long time. the outside lever was made by soldering 4 pieces together because at the time I started on the mill I really didn't know how to use a rotary table and the one I have made was not really accurate. It looked ok but I had broken it when I tried to tighten it. the other part was the link in between the steam box and the linkage It was just made really fast to see if the engine even ran and I had planned to get back to making something nicer looking at a later time. so today I remade these 2 parts and tuned the engine.
thanks for viewing
Steve

 

[jumps4]

this afternoon I made a few parts for the conveyor.
The aluminum part is a jig to hold the brass blocks in position while soldering them to the sheet metal.
thanks for viewing
steve

 

[12bolts]

This is great work Steve, very good detailed instructions and photos.

this made me laugh,

..I cannot foresee another project involving rivets in my near future....

The small cast plumbing fittings, are they bought or are you casting them yourself?

This is interesting,

.... and was harvested in the fall, ...

where I live, sugar cane is THE industry, and similar climate to Florida I imagine. We do all our harvesting at the start of winter and right through Spring.

Cheers Phil