Norbert rillieux invention biography of mahatma gandhi

American inventor, engineer (–)

Norbert Rillieux (March 17, &#; October 8, ) was a Louisiana Creole inventor who was widely considered one of the earliest chemical engineers and noted for his pioneering invention of the multiple-effect evaporator.

Norbert Rillieux obtained his first patent for the revolutionary multiple-effect vacuum evaporation process, which made the refined sugar whiter and grainier. The technique became the basic manufacturing process in the sugar industry. Rillieux, born in New Orleans inwas the son of a white engineer and a free mixed-race chick. His father invented the steam-operated cotton-baling press.

This invention was an important development in the growth of the sugar industry. Rillieux, a French-speaking Creole,^[1] was a cousin of the painter Edgar Degas.

Family

Norbert Rillieux was born into a prominent Creole family in New Orleans, Louisiana.

He was the son of Vincent Rillieux, a white plantation owner and inventor, and his placée, Constance Vivant, a free person of color.^[2][3] Norbert was the eldest of seven children. His siblings were: Barthelemy, Edmond, Marie Eugenie, Louis, Marie Eloise, and Cecile Virginie.

Norbert's aunt on his father's side, Marie Celeste Rillieux, was the grandmother of painter Edgar Degas. His aunt on his mother's side, Eulalie Vivant, was the mother of Bernard Soulie, one of the wealthiest gens de couleur libre in Louisiana.

One of Norbert's cousins was the blind writer Victor Ernest Rillieux.^[4][5]

Early life

As a Creole of color, Norbert Rillieux had access to learning and privileges not available to lower-status free blacks or slaves.

On this date in , Norbert Rillieux, a Black inventor and engineer, patented his revolutionary improvement in the cultivation and processing of sugar. His patent number was # Before his invention, sugar was an pricey luxury, used only on unique occasions.

Baptized Catholic, Rillieux received his early education at intimate Catholic schools in Louisiana before traveling to Paris in the early s to study at École Centrale Paris, one of the top engineering schools in France. While at École Centrale, Norbert studied physics, mechanics, and engineering.

He became an specialist in steam engines and published several papers about the operate of steam to work devices. These early explorations became the foundation of the technology he would later implement in his evaporator. At 24 (), Rillieux became the youngest teacher at École Centrale, instructing in applied mechanics.^[6]

Sugar refining

In the s, the process for sugar refinement was slow, expensive, and inefficient.

The most common method of converting sugarcane into sugar was called the "Sugar Train"; it was also known as the "Spanish Train" or "Jamaica Train". The sugarcane juice was pressed from the cane and poured into a large kettle, where it was heated and left until most of the water evaporated.

The workers, who were mostly slaves, poured the resultant dense liquid into smaller and smaller pots as the liquid continued to thicken.^[7] Each time the liquid was poured, some of the sugar was lost. A considerable amount of sugar was also burned because it was difficult to monitor and maintain appropriate heat levels for the pots.

The process was also dangerous for the workers, who had to routinely transfer the hot liquid.

While in France, Norbert Rillieux started researching ways to improve the process of sugar refining.

Safety, efficiency and profitability — these are the major reasons for the triumph of an invention. As adequately, an even greater qualification is when the invention revolutionizes an industry and an overwhelming outcome on society. Norbert Rillieux can certainly be seen to possess achieved all of these goals. Norbert was born a free mane.

Meanwhile, back in Louisiana, Norbert's brother, Edmond, a builder, along with their cousin, Norbert Soulie, an architect, began active with Edmund Forstall to create a new Louisiana Sugar Refinery. In , Forstall, having heard about Rillieux's research into sugar refining, offered him the position of Head Engineer at the not-yet-completed sugar refinery.

Rillieux standard the offer and returned to Louisiana to take up his new position. However, the sugar refinery was never completed due to disagreements between the principals, mainly Edmond Rillieux, his father, Vincent Rillieux, and Edmund Forstall.^[4] These disagreements created long-term resentments between the Rillieux family and Edmund Forstall.

In spite of the failure of the collaboration, Norbert Rillieux remained focused on improving the sugar refining process, developing his machine between and , when he patented it. The multiple-effect evaporation system that he invented addressed both the spillage that resulted from move and the uneven application of heat, as well as making the process safer for workers.

The system utilizes a vacuum chamber or a container with reduced air to lower the boiling point of the liquids. Inside this several pans are stacked to contain the sugarcane juice. As the bottom pans heat, they release steam to transfer heat to the pans above.

The heat is more easily controlled than in the Jamaican Train method because one source is needed, at a lower temperature, for multiple pans of sugarcane juice. This prevents the sugar from being burned and discolored. As the workers do not have to shift the liquid, sugarcane is not spilled, and they are at a reduced risk for burns.

Norbert Rillieux's invention revolutionized sugar processing. His great scientific achievement was his recognition that at reduced pressure the repeated apply of latent heat would finding in the production of excel quality sugar at a reduce cost.

One of the fantastic early innovations in chemical engineering, Rillieux's invention is widely acknowledged as the best method for lowering the temperature of all industrial evaporation and for saving large quantities of fuel.

Several years after patenting the system, Norbert Rillieux successfully installed it at Theodore Packwood's Myrtle Grove plantation.

Not long after this, Rillieux's new system was installed at Bellechasse, a plantation owned by Packwood's business partner, Judah P. Benjamin. Benjamin and Rillieux became quite good friends,^[4] possibly due to their similar social situation; they were both considered outsiders in Louisiana's very class-conscious society.

Norbert Rillieux Biography (1806-1894) - madehow.com: Norbert Rillieux (March 17, – October 8, ) was a Louisiana Creole inventor who was widely considered one of the earliest chemical engineers and noted for his pioneering invention of the multiple-effect evaporator. This invention was an significant development in the growth of the sugar industry.

After these successes, Norbert Rillieux managed to convince 13 Louisiana sugar factories to use his invention. By , Merrick & Towne in Philadelphia were offering sugar makers a choice of three other multiple-effect evaporation systems. They were able to select machines capable of making , , or pounds of sugar per morning.

The evaporators were so productive that the sugar makers were able to cover the costs of the new machine with the huge profits from the sugar produced with Norbert Rillieux's system.

Other work

Rillieux also used his engineering skills to deal with a yellow fever outbreak in New Orleans in the s.

Rillieux presented a intend to the city that would eliminate the moist breeding grounds for the mosquitoes that carried the disease by addressing problems in the city's sewer system and drying swamplands in the area.

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The arrange was blocked by Edmund Forstall, now a state legislator.^[4] Several years later, the ongoing yellow fever outbreak in New Orleans was addressed by engineers using a method extremely similar to Rillieux's proposals.

Later life

Norbert Rillieux returned to France in the late s, a few years before the start of the American Civil War. Race relations in the United States may have motivated part of his decision to do so since at one point, Rillieux became enraged when one of his applications for a patent was rejected because authorities falsely believed that he was a slave and thus, not a citizen in the United States.^[8]

In Paris, Rillieux became interested in Egyptology and hieroglyphics, which he studied with the family of Jean-François Champollion.

He spent the next decade working at the Bibliothèque Nationale.^[6]

In , at the age of 75, Rillieux made one last foray into sugar evaporation when he adapted his multiple effect evaporation system to extract sugar from sugar beets.

The process for which he filed patent was far more fuel-efficient than that currently in apply in the beet sugar factories in France. Prior to Rillieux's invention, two engineers developed a vacuum pan and electric coils to improve the process of making sugar, but this was unsuccessful due to the exploit of steam at wrong locations in the machine.^{[citation needed]} Rillieux's process fixed the errors in the previous process, but Rillieux lost the rights to the patent he had filed.^{[clarification needed]}

Norbert Rillieux died on October 8, , aged He is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris with the inscription "Ici reposent Norbert Rellieux ingénieur civil né à la Nouvelle Orleans 18 Mars /décédé à Paris le 8 Octobre /Emily Cuckow,^[2] Veuve Rillieux " His wife, Emily Cuckow, died in and is buried beside him.

In his honor, a bronze memorial was erected in the Louisiana State Museum with the inscription: "To honor Norbert Rillieux, born at New Orleans, Louisiana, Rally 17, , and died at Paris, France, October 8, Inventor of Multiple Evaporation and Its Application to the Sugar Industry."^[9]

References

Sources

• The University of Michigan. (). Brodie, James M., Created Equal: The Lives and Ideas of Black American Innovators (pp.&#;42–44)
• MIT Press.

  (). Pursell, Carl W., A Hammer in Their Hands: A Documentary History of Technology and the African-American Experience (pp.&#;59–70)

• University of California (). Benfrey, Christopher, Degas in New Orleans: Encounters in the Creole World of Kate Chopin and George Washington Cable

External links