AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF PACKING AND COOKING BEEF, MUTTON, FOWL, FISH, AND OTHER ANIMAL FOOD IN CANS OR CASES
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Harris Lake, of the Office of Haseltine, Lake, &
Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for the Invention of
"
AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF PACKING AND COOKING BEEF, MUTTON, FOWL,
FISH, AND OTHER ANIMAL FOOD IN CANS OR CASES." A communication
from abroad by John Winslow Jones, of Portland, Maine, United States of
America Manufacturer
Sealed the 19th September 1879, and dated the 31st March 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Harris Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 31st March 1879.
HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Office of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF PACKING AND
COOKING BEEF, MUTTON, FOWL, FISH, AND OTHER ANIMAL FOOD IN CANS OR
CASES." [A communication from abroad by John Winslow Jones, of Portland,
Maine, United States of America, Manufacturer.]
This Invention relates to an improved process of packing and cooking beef,
mutton, fowl, fish, and other animal food in cans or cases, and consists in first
canning and hermetically sealing and cooking the beef or other substance in sealed
thus excluding water and at the same time preserving the juices and native
aroma of the meat; and secondly, in puncturing the can and compressing the same
to expel the excess of water or juices of the meat not coagulable by heat; and
finally, resealing the can.
cans,
The said process may be conducted as follows, and I prefer to use a rather flat
and easily compressible can having a bridge or other means for preventing the
puncture from closing under pressure while the water and air are being completely
expelled from the can.
I take raw beef or other meat, fowl, or fish, and pack the same closely into cans
or cases and hermetically seal the latter. Now the sealed cans are placed in hot
water, say during two and one half hours, until the contents are completely cooked
in the air tight cans. Then the cans are punctured while hot and the excess
of water or juice of the meat not coagulable by heat is completely expelled by

page_text: compressing the can in a suitable press, and then the puncture is immediately sealed;
the beef or other contents of the can are thus consolidated, and the cooling of the
can farther contracts the same and completes the compression and consolidation.
I am aware that beef previously cooked, or the more solid parts thereof, have
been pressed into cans and then sealed up, and thus a firm article of canned beef
has been made, but in this case the juices and jellies are partly lost, while in my
process a richer and better and more nutritious article of beef is obtained.
I am also aware that it is not new to preserve food by cooking the same within
the sealed can, and that both raw and cooked meats have been pressed both before
and after being placed in cans, also that it is not new to cook meats in sealed cans
and then allow the pressure of the atmosphere to act upon the cooling can, thus
compressing the contents.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Henry Harris Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
September 1879.
"
HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Office of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF PACKING AND
COOKING BEEF, MUTTON, FOWL, FISH, AND OTHER ANIMAL FOOD IN CANS OR
CASES." A communication from abroad by John Winslow Jones, of Portland,
Maine, United States of America, Manufacturer.
This Invention relates to an improved process or method of packing and cooking
beef, mutton, fowl, fish, and other like substances in cans or cases, and consists first
in canning and hermetically sealing and cooking the meat or other substance to be
preserved in cans or cases, thus excluding water and at the same time preserving
the juices and native aroma of the meat or other substances; and secondly, in
puncturing the can or case and compressing the same to expel the excess of water
or juices of the meat or other substance not coagulable by heat; and finally, in
resealing the can.
This process may be conducted as hereinafter described. I prefer to use a rather
flat and easily compressible can or case having a bridge or other means for preventing
the closing of the puncture under pressure while the water and air are being
completely expelled from the can.
I take raw beef or other meat, fowl, or fish, pack the same closely into the cans
or cases and hermetically seal the latter. The sealed cans are then placed in hot
water, say during two and one half hours, until the contents are completely cooked
in the air tight cans. Then the said cans are punctured while hot, and the excess
of water or juice of the meat not coagulable by heat is completely expelled by
compressing the can in a suitable press, and then the puncture is immediately sealed.
The beef or other contents of the can are thus consolidated, and the cooling of the
can farther contracts the same and completes the compression and consolidation.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it under-
stood that I am aware that beef previously cooked has been pressed into cans and
then sealed up, but in this case the juices and jellies are partly lost, while in my
process a richer and better and more nutritious substance is obtained.
I am also aware that it is not new to preserve food by cooking the same within a
sealed can, and that both raw and cooked meats have been pressed both before and
after being placed in cans; also that it is not new to cook meats in sealed
cans and then allow the pressure of the atmosphere to act upon the cooling can,
thus compressing the contents. But the improved process forming the subject of
this Invention differs materially from any of these processes, and I claim,―
The manufacture of the canned and cooked meat or other substance by the above
described improved process, consisting in hermetically sealing and cooking the same
in its own juice in the sealed can, thus excluding the water commonly used in
boiling meat, and puncturing the can and then compressing the same in order to
expel through the puncture the yet watery juice not coagulable by heat, and finally
resealing the hot can, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Harris Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty ninth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy nine