Auxiliary apparatus for producing maple syrup

摘要

An auxiliary apparatus for producing maple syrup from maple sap is adapted to utilize the latent heat of the steam emitted from the flue pan of a maple syrup evaporator which is fitted in sealed relation on top of the flue pan. The auxiliary apparatus is in the form of an upwardly opening pan with upright side walls and a bottom wall having a triangularly grooved inner surface and a correspondingly ridged outer surface. Steam pipes "open" at both ends thereof, extend through the interior of the auxiliary pan from a steam receiving chamber of the auxiliary pan to an upwardly opening exhaust chamber at the opposite end of the pan so that a substantial portion of the steam from the flue pan will flow through the sap in the auxiliary pan to heat the maple sap disposed therein to reduce the water content of the sap utilizing the latent heat from the flue pan. A plurality of air pipes also extend through the evaporator in parallel and closely adjacent relation to and below the steam pipes. Disposed in spaced-relation under each of the truncated lower portions of the evaporator are condensate drain pans oriented to provide for the collection and drip-off into a drain trough of steam which condenses on the obliquely angled concave underside of the evaporator.