Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1896-06-19
UTILITY OF NOTHING.
INVENTIONS WHOSE VALUE DEPENDS
UPON THE VACUUM.
A Variety of Important Processes FDu nd.
ed on the Principle of Exhaustion-Pres-
ervation of Foods. Wood, Leather and
Many Other Things by This Method.

ed on the Principle of ExhaustioD-Pres-
ervation of Foods. Wood Leather and
Many other Things by This Method.
Making money out of nothing! The no.
tion is attractive. Many millions of dollars
IN this country are invested in patents upon
n vacuum, which is less than what most
people call nothing. These inventions Gov
er great variety of industries, such as
preserving foods, tanning, fermenting,
bleaching hardening stone and making
woods imporishable. Some of them actu-
ally relate to the keeping of corpses and
the manufacture of mortuary memorials.
The history of the vacuum in the United
States patent Office is an interesting one,
dating back to 1888, in which year George
H. Richards took out exclusive rights in
process for preparing leather from various
substances by evaporation in vaouo at
temperature below 212 degrees, the object
being to avoid injuring the product by too
great heat This method is applied in OBJ
tanning flavors for sirups dispensed at soda
water fountains. 1t also serves IN making
extracts from malt and hops and from
coffee. The fact is well known that firms
engaged in the business Of roasting coffee
for market commonly deprive the beans of
their volatile ilaVOring essence and sell the
latter separately. An honest coffee rooster
returns this essence to the beans. Much Of
1t passes off during the ordinary cooking
process, and thus it happens that at times
the streets in the neighborhuud of Il grocery
store arc fragrant with the udCr of coffee
1t is agreeable to the nostris, but very
wasteful. a properly constructed roasting
machine saves and condenses the precious
vapor.
There was once a firm of bakers in Lon
don that hit upon a very novel expedent
The process Of bread aking depends upon
fermentation which develops alcohol
This alcohol passes off in vapor from the
ovens under ordinary circumstances. The
concern in question devised method by
which 1T could be saved, the vapor being
passed into condenser. Unfortunately
rival bakers took notion to advertise as
widely as possible that their bread was sold
with all the gin in it." AS result the
enterprising establishment lost its trade
and was ruined. To assist the process of
fermentation methods have been contrived
for partly baking bread in vacuo. Bakers,
by the way, use great quantities of egg
meats dried in vacuum pans The eggs
are broken into the pans, the whites and
yolks being separated They are then
evaporated to absolute dryness, after which
they are scraped from the pans and granu-
lated by grinding The product looks very
much like sawdust. 1t is comparatively
cheap and will keep good for many months,
taking the place of fresh eggs when the
latter are scarce and dear. 1t is prepared
on a considerable scale in St. Louis. A
similar process is employed in the manu-
facture of SO called egg albumen, which
is said to be composed largely of the whites
of tho eggs of wild fowl. 1t looks like
fine quality Of glue and costs 80 cents
pound, being used by bakers and for glaz-
ing prints.
Several processes have been patented for
preserving eggs in their shells by means Of
the vacuum. One method is to place them
in chamber, which is then exhausted of
air The air. containing the germ of de-
composition, is thus drawn out Of the eggs,
and carbOlic acid gas is forced into the re-
ceiver to take the place of it. The eggs are
taken out and covered with varuish to
prevent the air getting into them again a
variation of this idea is to introduce into
the receiver melted paraffin, which fills
the pores of the shells.
BY far the most useful application Of the
vacuum has been for the preservation of
wood. Scores of patents in this line have
been granted. So far back as the year s37
August Gotthin of New York secured ex-
elusive rights in process for protecting
timber from destruction by worms dry rot
and other causes Of spontaneous decay"
His idea was to exhaust the air from the
wood and fill up the pores with coal tar
and turpentine. In this direction a great
industry has since grown up At Will
mington, y. c., piles and railway timbers
for tho entire south are imprognated with
preseryative substances. hallway ties are
commonly treated in this manner, while
metallic solutions are employed to defend
bridges against the Expectations Of the de
vouring shipworm or teredo.
Wood is artilcially colored by using the
vacuum to withdraw its fluid juices, the
place Of which is filled with solutions con
tanning pigments. In this manner ordinary
pine may be beautifully stained and made
to serve as "a substitute for rare and costly
wood. Lumber is seasoned oilhand by ex-
hausting the air from it and then forcing
dry air through the pores to carry off the
moisture, Wood is hardened for all sorts
of purposes, from bridge making TO wagon
making by process called "vulcaniz-
ing Rubber, of course, is vuclaniZed by
treating II with sulphur being thus trans
formed from a substance soft and flexible
to one that is hard and brittle. This idea
was long ago applied to wood by saturat-
ing the latter with "a solution of rubber
and then applying the sulphur. Nowadays
the rubber is not used, the wood being
subjected to the action of hot air under
pressure in closed chamber. The pressure
prevents the escape of the sap and gums,
while the heat has a hardening effect.
This is what is now termed vulcanizing.