[Sugar Evaporation] Norbert Rillieux, an African American inventor, patented his vacuum evaporation system in 1843. He designed it to evaporate the liquid part of sugar cane juice more efficiently, more safely, and less expensively than the open-kettle system then in use.

Rillieux was unable to persuade sugar cane plantation owners to buy his machinery for several years. But its superiority became apparent almost immediately once it began to be used. Courtesy of the Anacostia Community Museum.

Patent Model for a sugar evaporation system, 1843, invented by Norbert Rillieux (1806-94)

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