IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR FROM GRAIN AND OTHER VEGETABLE PRODUCTS CONTAINING SACCHARINE MATTER, AND FROM A REFUSE PRODUCT OBTAINED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH, ALSO IN APPARATUSES EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1859

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Jacques Théodore Smets at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th
June 1859.
I, JACQUES THEODORE SMETS, of Plaçamen, in the Empire of France,
Distiller, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF VINEGAR FROM GRAIN AND OTHER VEGETABLE
PRODUCTS CONTAINING SACCHARINE MATTER, AND FROM A REFUSE PRODUCT OBTAINED
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH, ALSO IN APPARATUSES EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be
as follows:-
In the residuum which remains in the manufacture of starch, and which is
generally used for feeding cattle, there remains from about twenty to twenty-five
per cent. of starch of excellent quality, but of too fine a grain to deposit itself
spontaneously, and become detached from the thick particles with which it is
mixed. It is this substance, still very rich, but of small value, which I take
fresh, after it has settled four or five days, and, in the first instance, submit
to saccharification, either by using malt, or simply sulphuric acid, in a wooden
vat heated by steam or otherwise. In the first case, that of saccharification
by malt, I employ about twenty lbs. of malt to about one hundred quarts of
residuum. These materials, whether in greater or smaller quantities, but
always following the same proportions, are mixed in a vat where steam is
introduced, to keep the mass constantly moving until it has reached a tem-

page_text: perature of from 150° to 160° Fahrenheit, after which the steam is shut off,
and the vat covered, and left for about two hours, the mass then being in a
fluid state, steam is again introduced, and the mass is made to boil three or
four hours. The steam is again shut off, and the vat covered and left in a
quiescent state for from eighteen to twenty hours, after which the clear part
is drawn off into another vat, and that part which is thick or half fluid is
put into another vat, and to each is added a sufficient quantity of pure water
to raise the mash in the vats to about 6° Beaumé; they are then made to
ferment, by adding the necessary quantity of yeast, about a pint of yeast to
one hundred quarts if the yeast be liquid, or half a pound if the yeast is dry.
The vat containing the clear liquor produces excellent yeast, which is taken
off, and the alcoholic fermentation terminated. The clear liquid or wine is
then in a state to make vinegar, and the thick liquor in the other vat is put
into a vat of a particular construction, hermetically closed by a head fastened
upon it, which communicates with a refrigerating worm. It is brought into
a state of ebullition by a steam pipe, and kept so long enough to evaporate the
spirituous parts, which are collected in a liquid state, and filtered through
pounded charcoal placed upon a false bottom in a vat of a particular con-
struction, and afterwards added to the clear liquor or wine, to give it a certain
alcoholic quality of from nine to ten per cent., which is necessary to obtain
first quality vinegar. If saccharification is produced by sulphuric acid as a
matter of economy to use the residuum only, without the addition of other
grain or flour, I proceed to place it in a vat, and use steam, as before stated,
but according to the quantity of residuum operated on. I proceed by degrees
and by successive quantities, commencing by placing about one inch deep of
residuum at the bottom of the vat; then, at once, I add the necessary quantity
of sulphuric acid, of sixty degrees, required for the operation, at the rate of two
pounds to about one hundred quarts of residuum; then the steam is let into
the vat.
When this first portion is in a state of ebullition, and perfectly fluid,
I continue adding small quantities of the residuum in succession every ten
minutes, so as to keep up a succession of small quantities for a space of from
four to five hours. The ordinary quantity put into a vat, and under decom-
position, should not exceed three-fourths of the capacity of the vat, the
quantity being completed in the time stated. I cover the vat, and maintain
it in a state of ebullition by a moderated jet of steam for about four hours;
then turn off the steam, and proceed to saturation for the complete elimination
or expulsion of the sulphuric acid, according to the quantity employed ;. add
about 6 lbs. of chalk or carbonate of lime to 4 lbs. of acid. The chalk should

page_text: be pounded, and made to form with water a sort of semi-liquid milk, which
must be stirred, and poured by small quantities into the vat at the commence-
ment particularly, and at each addition the whole mass must be stirred, and
more chalk must not be added till the froth has subsided, and the carbonic
acid is disengaged; then cover the vat, and let it stand, as explained in the
first operation, and treat it in all respects in the same manner, to obtain the
first liquor or wine. The entire quality and quantity of the subsequent pro-
ductions depend, firstly, on a perfect saccharification, to produce the liquor or
wine, and afterwards in its efficient treatment, and its containing a sufficient
quantity of alcohol to make pure first quality vinegar.
Now, to proceed, I make, firstly, my mixture of clear liquor or wine and of
filtered mucus in one or more vats, specially adapted to this first amalgamation,
which I leave to react upon its mass from fifteen days to one month; then
after this rest and a certain degree of clarification, I draw off this liquid into
other vessels of the same size, but three-fourths filled with shavings of beech
wood; the liquor or wine remaining in that state from fifteen days to a month
matures and clarifies itself completely, and is then ready to be placed in the
vinegar vases.
My vessels or vinegar vases are a large pipe or a tun, or a long tub with
a head at both ends placed horizontally. Before putting them in place there
is introduced an open cylinder of beech wood, strongly constructed and
fastened. An oaken axle, with its ends round it, passes through it, the ends
extending beyond the heads of the tub. This beech cylinder, forming a sort
of cage, is stuffed with beech shavings. This cage is supported upon the
wooden axes, which are inserted through the ends of the tub rather above the
centre. These vessels so arranged are ready to work. A tap of wood or
other non-oxidizable substance is placed below the opening through which the
axes are inserted, and the vessel is filled with the strongest and best quality
vinegar until it runs out through the orifice of the tap; then shut off the
tap, and fill up with liquor or wine, previously matured and clarified, to
within an inch or so of the opening through which the axes of the cylinder
work. The place containing the vessels is to be heated to a temperature of
from 75° to 85° Fahrenheit. Then for several days I give a half turn every
twelve hours to the beech-wood cylinder, of which more than one-half per-
fectly moist remains out of the liquor. The first liquor or wine added to the
vinegar having arrived at a sufficient degree of acetification, and the liquid
in the vessel being quite clear and acetified, I proceed to the first drawing off
by turning the tap into a conduit, which empties the vessel up to the level of

page_text: the tap, after which I draw off the same quantity, and replenish every
eight days.
In the preceding description I have referred only to the treatment of the
refuse product obtained in the manufacture of starch, as the greatest economy
results from the employment of such product, but the same processes and
apparatuses apply equally to whole grain, rice, and other saccharine vegetable
substances.