Analysis of the french train system in a sugar mill of the 18th century on the island of Santo Domingo and restoration criterias.

Abstract

The cultivation and production of sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum) began in the New World in the 16th century on the island of Santo Domingo, where hydraulic sugar mills and blood or animal-driven mills were built. At the end of the 18th century, a sugar mill was built near Santo Domingo, on the banks of the Nigua River that used the French train system modified by Paul Belin de Villeneuve, which consisted of heating four lined up kettles of the same size, ending in two smaller ones, equal to each other, which had the same capacity as one of the larger ones, using a single fire, fed by firewood and dry bagasse from the sugar cane. This new procedure represented a great saving of wood and increased production speed. The Boca de Nigua mill has a boiler house with two production lines, a trapiche to be moved by animals, a purge house, a warehouse and a large lime kiln. The desing used for the construction of the mill is described and drawn in the book "Traité sur les propietés et les effets du sucre", published in Paris in 1789, which indicates that it was for a mill in Saint Domingue. This document was used to restore the mill in the second half of the 20th century. It was decided to rebuild half of the boiler house and the purge house, taking advantage of the existing symmetry in both buildings, preserving the consolidated vestiges in the other half. The objective of this article is to analyze the French train system of the Boca de Nigua mill and the criteria used in the partial reconstruction of the mill.