The evening times., 1899-01-23
BEEF" PATENTED
Government Record of "a Process for
Preseryinp Meat

hent-
The New York Sun says that while
one department of the Government is
struggling with the question of the ex-
istence of such commodity as ''embalmed
beef" and its alleged use as a food for
American soldiers. another department has
on record the details of the beef-embalm-
ing process, and has given protection to
the inventor of the article. 'Embalmed
beef in the Patent Office dates dates back
10 1877, when letters patent were granted
for the process, evidently the outcome of
experiments following the allowance of
patents for embalming human bodies, two
years before.
John L. Alberger, of Buffalo. New York
State. was the man who secured the orig
inal patent for a process of preserving
flesh" under letters patent No. 1874, 500.
granted August 2S, 1877. The Alberger
patent covered these four points:
l. The process of preserving flesh for food by
injecting the carcass. or any portion thereof
with a saline solution containing carboic or
salcylic acid, substantially in the proportions
specified whereby the albuminous juices are fix
ed and their decomposition prevented. while the
nutritiVe and market value of the meat is cor
respondingly increased.
,. The process of preserving flesh for food by
first injecting the same with saline solution
then Subecting the injected meat To a refrigerat-
ing temperature for curing the bones and cartil-
ages, and then immersing the injected meat in
brine of suitable strength for withdrawing from
the injected meat any excess or supplying there
TO any deficiency in salt.
3. The process OF immersing the injected meat
for finally curing the same in the saline solution
which has passed through the carcass after the
saline solution has been heated. so as to separate
the coaguable matters from the solution.
4. The process of treating the injected flesh
trimmings by packing the same in bags, smok-
ing them, then boiling the same in water, and
packing them in air-tight cans.
In his specification, submitted to the
Patent Office with his application on April
16, 1877, Alberger claimed merit for his
| invention as an improvement on the meth
DDS of using common salt through the ad-
dition of either carbolic or salicylic acid
and he even went so far as to declare that
the acid process improved the quality and
appearance of the meat, besides increasing
the weight In his criticism of the use of
common salt he said:
The mode and process of injecting the carcass
simply with a saline solution is imperfect and
unreliable for curing meat for Yhe market in the
following PARTICULARS: The saline solution injected
into the arteries and capillares constringes the
tissues, and thereby prevents the marrow bones
and harder cartilages from receiving the neccs-
essary quantity of saline solution to fully cure
the same, which frequently causes the marrow
bones, cartilages and adjacent parts to run into
decomposition, either in smoking afterward.
putrefy, drawn out of the meat by the ordi-
nary process of salting picking, while the
process of injection leaves a portion of these
| juices in the meat without curing them, where
by the meat is rendered liable to or run
into the composition after a greater less
| length of time, according to the degree of heat
| TO which it is exposed.
In the patentees process the carcass,
| Immediately after the animal was killed,
was prepared for injection by opening the
| chest and forming apertures in both sides
Of the heart. The solution was made by
mixing in one gallon of water three
| pounds of salt, eight ounces of sugar, two
ounces of saltpetre, and crystalized car
| bolic acid in the proportion of half an
ounce to about 120 gallons Of brine. Sali-
| cylic acid could be substituted for car
bolic in like proportion.
The carcass was injected with this So
luton under a hydrostatic head of about
eight feet, expelling the blood from the
vessels and permeating the tissues with
the solution. This done, Alberger claim
ed these superiorities for the acid over
the simple salt solution.
1 The acid has the effect to fix or coagulate and
| retain in the tissues the soluble albuminous
| juices, which amount to from 3 to per cent, OF
| the weight of the animal The juices, after hav
| ing been under the influence of the carbolic OF
salicylic acid, are no longer putrefactive while
! they are of great nutritive' value.
| There was a refrigerating process con-
| nected with Albergers plan, but this was
only a detail of the embalming.S He held
| the injected meat in cold storage for from
! three to fifteen days, while the marrow
bones and cartilages were absorbing the
| acid solution. 90 'ss<At'i