IMPROVEMENTS IN PRE- SERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, AND ALSO STONE, CHALK, AND PLASTER FROM DECAY
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BETHELL, of Parliament Street, in the City of Westminster, Gentleman, send
greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-first day of August, in the twelfth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Bethell, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege, and
authority, that I, the said John Bethell my exors, admors, or assigns, and
such others as I, the said John Bethell, my exors, admors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRE-
SERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, AND ALSO STONE, CHALK, AND PLASTER
FROM DECAY" in which said Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
John Bethell, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Bethell, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
[Price Sd.]

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, that is to say:
My improvements in preserving vegetable and animal matters have
herein-after fully described, and have explained the method of preserving the
different matters. Wood and timber I preserve by drying or seasoning, or
drying and also smoking the wood in the manner herein-after described, and
also by saturating the wood (either without first drying it, or after it has been
dried, or dried and smoked.) with the antiseptics hereafter mentioned, but for
some purposes one process only is necessary, as only drying or smoking, or only
saturating with the antiseptic without previously drying. I shall, in the first
instance, describe the modes of drying and smoking, and afterwards the modes
of saturating the wood with the antiseptics. The modes of drying and smoking
I shall describe under the three following heads:-
It will be
First. I build a close chamber or drying house, either of iron, or of brick, or
stone set in cement, with 'flues proceeding from a furnace fire and running
round the bottom of the chamber, having openings in the flues through which
the smoke and hot vapour from the burning coke or fuel may pass into the
chamber. From the top of this chamber a pipe must proceed to an air
exhausting apparatus, which may be of any usual construction.
evident to a practical workman that such a chamber can be built in a great
variety of forms. The wood being put into this chamber, and the fire lighted
in the furnace with coke or any other fuel, and the chamber closed, the air
exhausting apparatus must be set to work, which will draw off the moist
vapour as it is exhaled from the wood, and the heated carbonic acid gas and
smoke from the fire will pass through the small openings in the flues at the
bottom of the chamber, and up through the chamber, thereby heating all parts
of the wood, and impregnating it with the gas and smoke of the fuel, the
surplus of which is ultimately drawn out of the chamber at the top by the
exhausing apparatus. By this means the wood becomes gradually heated and
impregnated with the gas and smoke of the fuel, and the moisture evolved from
the wood is drawn off. The temperature of the chamber is easily governed by
the working of the exhausting apparatus either faster or slower, and by the
quantity of fuel in the furnace. I prefer keeping the chamber heated by this
means at a temperature varying from 100° to 200° degrees of Fahrenheit. and
the time that the wood may be required to remain in the chamber must
depend on its size and condition; and sometimes use a fan or blower for
blowing the furnace fire.
Second. As a further preservative to the wood, I introduce into the furnace
fire of the above drying chamber materials which will gve off a considerable

page_text: quantity of smoke or gas of a more antiseptic nature than the ordinary smokė
or gas of coals and coke. In those cases I run into the fire small streams of
coal tar, or heated coal tar pitch, or put on the fire at once a large quantity of
peat, or oak, birch, or beech wood, so that the fire may be partially smothered
by it, and a considerable quantity of smoke be generated from the peat or
wood, which will then impregnate the wood or matters placed therein, and
preserve them.
Third. Another or third mode of preserving and drying the timber in the
chamber which I use, and which is applicable to many other useful pur-
poses, is by heating the interior of the chamber and the materials therein, by
a current of what I will call "dried or heated steam," which is obtained by
simply passing steam, generated in the usual way, through a series of heated
or red hot pipes or such other contrivances as are now used for heating air
for the hot blast, and therefore well known. This "dried or heated steam"
being introduced into the bottom of the chamber containing the wood or other
articles. will pass up through the chamber. and out of it by the exit pipe at
the top, as before described. An opening is also made from the external air
into the chamber close by the steam pipe, and which must be furnished with
a valve or cock to close it with, so that the workman, if he wishes it, may let
in by that opening a portion of cold air to mix with and reduce the tempera-
turne of the dried or heated steam to such a heat as he requires for drying. the
wood or other articles placed therein. By this arrangement, any heat from
100° to 200° degrees of Fahrenheit can be obtained; and, in order further to
preserve the timber, I make this dried or heated steam to pass through the
antiseptic materials described below, under heads number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8,
and 9, so as to carry with it some of the vapour from those materials into the
For many purposes,
chamber, to impregnate therewith the articles therein.
as for work in the interior of houses, wood dried, or dried and smoked, accord-
ing to either of the three modes above described, will be sufficiently preserved,
but to préserve it for a longer period I saturate the wood with the antiseptics
hereafter named. If the wood is green and wet, then, before it is saturated, I
dry it, or dry and smoke it, as above described, but if it is tolerably dry and
seasoned I dispense with the drying or smoking process; and short lengths of
timber I saturate with the antiseptics by putting them into tanks filled
open
with either of the antiseptics hereafter named, in which the liquid is kept at a
temperature as near to 200° degrees of Fahrenheit as can be obtained by blow-
ing high pressure steam from a steam boiler into the liquid, or by heating the
tanks in any convenient manner, so that the wood may be nearly boiled in the
liquid. The wood is kept in the liquid until it has absorbed about 8 pounds

page_text: of liquid to each cube foot of wood. For long lengths of timber I prefer first
drying them, or drying and smoking them, according to either of the three
modes above described, and then impregnating them with the antiseptics here-
after named in the tanks. now well known under the name of pressure tanks.
(and described in my Specification to my previous Patent filed on the Eleventh
day of January. One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine), in which tanks
the air is first exhausted out of the wood by an air pump, and then the liquid
is forced in by an hydrostatic forcing pump at a pressure of full 160 pounds
to the inch, and I prefer that the liquid should be first heated to 160° degrees
of heat before it is pumped into the tank.
The antiseptic materials which I use, I describe under the following num-
bers. to which numbers I shall hereafter refer:-
Number 1. Any bituminous or tarry oils obtained by the distillation of
either bitumen, lar, or bituminous shale. or bituminous sandstone, and par-
ticularly the following. videlizet :-
2. The tar or pitch oil made under the Patent granted to Mr. Samuel Clift,
on the Eighth December, One thousand eight hundred and forty-six, and which
I use, either alone or mixed, with other tar. bituminous or resinous oils.
3. The oils obtained by the distillation of tar or bitumen, particularly the
heavy oil of coal gas tar.
4. The native petroleum or mineral oil which is found in some coal mines.
or exuding from some bituminous rocks, and also the oils obtained by distilling
this native mineral oil or mineral tar.
5. The fatty oil obtained by the distillation of rosin.
6. A mixture of all or any of the above oils:
7. Melted rosin kept hot, and thinned. when necessary, with either of the
above oils.
8. Sulphur dissolved in either of the above oils. and. using about 1 pound
of sulphur in every gallon of oil; but that which I prefer using as an antidote
against the ravages of the sea worm is the heavy oil of gas tar, with 1 pound
of sulphur dissolved by heat in each gallon of oil.
9. The rough pyroligneous acid obtained by the destructive distillation of
wood.
10. Rough pyro-acetate of copper, which may be made by steeping sheets
of old copper in pyroligneous acid, or by mixing together solutions of sulphate
of copper and pyrolignite of lime.
11. A strong solution of bark. the bark of larch and oak being preferred.
The antiseptics described under 9. 10, and 11, will be sufficiently preservative
when the wood is not to be exposed to the action of wet weather; but when the

page_text: wood to be prepared is intended for out-door work, and to be exposed to 'wet
weather, then I prefer using the antiseptics described under either Number
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8; and to enable it to resist the 'attacks of marine worms,
either Number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 8, must be used, particularly Number 8, which
I think is the best, and the wood must be first dried. or dried and smoked, and
then thoroughly impregnated in the pressure tank above described; in order that
it may absorb sufficient of the oil and sulphur to preserve it against the worms.
Corn and grain of all sorts I dry and preserve in the same manner by
the aid of heated steam, as described under the third head, for which purpose
the grain must be placed on trays in the hot chamber above described; the
bottoms of which trays must be made of wire gauze or hair cloth, so that the.
dried or heated steam current, mixed if necessary with the external atmospheric
air admitted through the opening described, may pass up through the bottom
of the trays and through the grain out at top of the chamber: or the grain may
be made to pass through a revolving cylinder of perforated metal or wire
gauze placed in a close oven or chamber, and which oven or chamber which
may be heated by. a fire of coke or charcoal, or by a current of the aforesaid
heated steam passing freely through it; or I preserve grain, pulse. seeds, or
berries, by drying them in the machine or apparatus described in the Drawing
hereto annexed. Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the apparatus I employ
for carrying my improvements into effect when they are applied to drying or
preserving grain, seeds, berries, or other analogous matters: Figure 2 is a
plan view of the same, as seen from above; and Figure 3 is a longitudinal
vertical section, taken through or near the middle of the apparatus, which
consists of a. square or other conveniently shaped box, a, a, a, a, in which are
placed a series of endless cloths, b, b, b, b; mounted on rollers c, c, c, c, and made
to travel with a constant and uniform speed. The grain, pulse seeds, or other
mafters to be operated upon, are fed into the apparatus through a hopper d, d,
which is furnished with a small fluted roller e, for the purpose of keeping up
a constant and regular supply of the mallers to be dried or preserved, and
which fall from. the exit aperture of the hopper on to the first and uppermost
endless cloth or belt b, whereby they are carried slowly onward to the opposite
side of the box, where they are allowed to fall into a second cloth or belt which
is travelling in the opposite direction. The grain or matters to be operated
upon. are thus carried backwards and forwards across the apparatus several
times, until they ultimately fall into a spout f', which conveys them from the
apparatus into any convenient receptacle. While the matters are thus slowly
passing through the apparatus, a current of the dried or heated steam above
described is admitted into the interior by the pipe g, and which dried or heated

page_text: steam can be diluted, if necessary, with some atmospheric air let into the box
through the pipe n, and after acting on the matters on the travelling cloth, the
steam and vapours arising from the operation ultimately escape from the
apparatus by the exit pipe or flue h. It should be observed, that the axle of
one of each of the pairs of rollers c, c, carries a pinion or toothed wheel i,
which gears into corresponding wheels on the axles of the rollers immediately
above and below, as seen best in the side elevation, and that motion is commu-
nicated to the whole train by a pinion on the fly wheel k, which is driven by
hand by the crank 1, the pinion j being made to gear into a toothed wheel m
on the axle of one of the rollers.
To preserve meat for food. I take one gallon of wood naptha, or fine pyro-
ligneous or pyro-acetic spirits, or very fine pyroligneous acid, but I prefer that
which is commonly called wood naptha, which I mix with from two to four
gallons of water in which common salt has been dissolved in the proportion
generally used for brines, and I cause the animals directly after they are killed
to be impregnated with this liquid by either of the modes of doing so now
known, but that which I prefer is by injecting the arteries and veins with the
liquid, for which purpose I prefer that the animal should be killed by stabbing
it in the heart, and then that the injection of the arteries and veins should be
made by pumping the liquid into them through the main artery and vein con-
nected with the heart (a process well known to all surgeons and anatomists).
After the animal has been thus injected, the carcass will keep fresh and good
for a much longer time; but to preserve it for long voyages it must be cut up
and put into a barrel full of salt brine of the usual strength, and the barrel
closed up; but as it will not be necessary to use so strong a brine as is now
done, the meat will be much less hard than the present salt meat, and will, in
fact, be much more like fresh meat when cooked; or instead of packing the
meat so impregnated in barrels full of brine, I put it into strong iron barrels
or cases closed up, which I charge with compressed carbonic acid gas of the
density of about 30 pounds io 40 pounds to the square inch pressure: or the
meat may be cut into pieces without being impregnated as above described.
and packed in cases full of the above mixture, of one part wood naptha or
pyroligneous acid, and four parts of salt water, which will keep it fresh a long
time, but not so long as that which has been impregnated and afterwards packed
in brine. Meat may also be prepared by cutting it into thin strips, steeping it
first in the mixture of wood naptha or pyroligneous acid and salt, as above
described, for about eight or ten hours, and then drying it in the hot chamber
by the current of the dried or heated steam and air at a temperature not
exceeding 170° degrees of Fahrenheit...

page_text: In many places large quantities of animal matters can be obtained, which
would be very useful indeed for manure, if they could be sufficiently preserved
from putrefaction, so that they might be conveyed to the farms, and kept there
until wanted. To effect this useful purpose, I preserve all kinds of animal
matters, such as dead animals, sprats, and all kinds of fish, whale blubber,
seals, &c. &c., or the refuse of herrings, and of whale and seals after the oil
is extracted therefrom, by steeping them in the open tank above described, filled
with either of the antiseptics above described under Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
and 9, or with any kind of tar, or heated pitch, or bitumen. Small fish or
small pieces of flesh it is only necessary to steep for two or three hours, but
larger pieces must be kept in the tank eight or ten hours, after which time
they are taken out, dried, and packed in any convenient packages, and sent
away; or put the fish or pieces of animal matter into casks, and fill them
up with either of the liquid antiseptics above described, under Numbers
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, or with any kind of tar or heated pitch, or bitumen.
When used by the farmers, the animal matter is cut or ground into very small
pieces, and mixed with earth, ashes, or lime, and applied to the land in the same
manner as dry guano is now used. I also sometimes use the oil obtained by
the distructive distillation of bones as an antiseptic for this purpose; but as
the smell of it is very disagreeable, I generally mix it with some one or more
of the antiseptics, or tar, pitch, or bitumen, lastly above named, although it is
quite as good an antiseptic for this purpose when used alone as when so mixed;
and when it is only desired to preserve the animal matter so that it will keep
only a short time, I then find it sufficient to put the animal matter which it is.
desired to preserve for manure, into the hot chamber, as described under the
second and third heads, and dry and smoke them therein, in the same manner
as above described for smoking wood.
I preserve all kinds of malt liquors and wines by putting them into strong
small barrels or vessels made of metal, well tinned, and strong enough to bear
an internal pressure of from 60 to 80 pounds on the square inch, which are
made like the Drawing Figure 4, which is a small iron barrel well tinned.
The liquid is put in the barrel at the charging hole a, until the barrel is nearly
full. When the charging hole is closed by the screw, and a pipe leading from
an air forcing pump is then screwed on to the end of the cock at "b," or to
the charging hole at a, and by this pump compressed carbonic acid gas is forced
into the liquid in the barrel, part of which gas occupies the vacant space
above the liquid in the barrel, and part is absorbed by the liquid, thereby making
it. an effervescing drink. When it is desired to draw out any of the malt liquor
or wine, the cock is opened and the compressed gas forces out the liquid. It

page_text: will be evident that barrels or vessels may be made in very many other shapes
on this principle. which will answer the same purpose. By this arrangement
all kinds of malt liquors or wines can be kept perfectly sweet and good to the
last drop, and small quantities can be drawn out, as may be desired. without
injuring what is left in the barrel or vessel. I am aware that malt liquors and
wines have been heretofore often bottled with carbonic acid gas forced into
them, and disclaim any Invention in the preserving of malt liquors and wines
by charging them with carbonic acid gas: but what I claim is merely the pre-
serving them by putting them into strong barrels or vessels, like that described
in Figure 4. from which small portions can be drawn out without discharging
the whole contents and without injuring what is left in the barrel or vessel, the
liquid being forced out by the pressure of the gas in the barrel or vessel, and
which in many cases will be found to be very useful.
Milk or cream preserve by first scalding it and then impregnating it
with carbonic acid gas in a soda-water machine. similar to the well-known
process of making soda water. The milk or cream (either alone or mixed
with such portions of boiled water as may be desired), being substituted for the
water now used when making soda water (but in working the machine I do
not use the agitator). After the milk is charged with the gas. it is drawn off
into bottles and corked in the usual way, or into the metal barrels, cases, jars.
or vessels next mentioned and like Fig. 4 or the milk. instead of being put
into ordinary bottles (from which, as soon as opened, the whole quantity of
milk must be poured out.) may. after it has been impregnated, be put into
strong metal barrels or cases (like that described in the Drawing at Figure 4,
and before explained), jars, or bottles, supplied with a cock or valve attached
to a pipe leading to the bottom of the barrel, case, jar, or bottle, in which case,
on opening the cock. a portion only of the milk may be drawn off at a time.
the pressure of the gas within the barrel, case. jar, or bottle being sufficient to
force the milk out; and for keeping milk or cream a moderate time, it is
sufficient to put the milk, after it has been scalded, into the metal barrels or
vessels, and then force in the carbonic acid gas by an air pump through the
cock, or the milk or cream may be charged with carbonic acid gas by any
other of the various means now well known for supplying carbonic acid gas to
liquids can be used. For milk or cream I prefer using that carbonic acid gas
which is made by the mixture of carbonate soda and acid, and I wash the gas
in water before it is used. and I also scald or boil the milk before it is prepared.
Porous stones, chalk, and plaster, and all articles made therewith. I preserve
from decay by first heating them in the drying chamber or house above
described, or in any kind of oven or kiln, and then steeping them whilst hot in

page_text: anks of hot tar or bitumen of any kind, or in melted rosin thinned if neces-
sary to enable it to penetrate with either of the antiseptic oils and materials
bove-named under No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7, to enable it to enter the pores."
The articles must be kept in the tanks until they are saturated to the depth of
half an inch or more, and then taken out and dried: when cold the surfaces
The
can be 'rubbed down, and, if desired, they can be painted any colour.
articles so prepared will be preserved from the decay which they would other-
wise suffer by exposure to weather.
I claim as my Invention the preparing of the. wood by drying or drying and
smoking it, according to the first and second modes above described.
I further claim the use of the dried or heated steam, as above described, for
the drying and preserving of wood, corn, and grain of all kinds, and strips of meat
and animal matter of all kinds, and which dried or heated steam I prefer using
in the manner above described; but it is evident that the dried or heated
steam may be used in several other modes than those described.
I further claim the preserving wood by saturating it with either of the
antiseptic materials above described, under No. 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, by
either or all of the modes above described, or by any other mode of saturation:
but I disclaim the use of the antiseptics No. 1 and 3 for wood, except only
when used in combination with the modes of saturation above described, and
then I claim them.
I further claim as part of my Invention the drying and preserving corn and
grain as above described, and also the machine or apparatus described in the
Drawing annexed, for drying corn and grain of all kinds.
I further claim as my Invention the preserving of meat for food, and also
the preserving of all animal matters for. the purpose of being used for manure
as above described..
I further claim the preserving malt, liquor, and wines, in the manner above
described.
I further claim the preserving of milk and cream by impregnating or charg-
ing it with carbonic acid gas, and keeping it in closed barrels, cases, bottles, jars,
or vessels, as above described.
I further claim the preserving porous stones, chalk, and plaster, and articles
made therewith, in manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bethell, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.
JN
(L.S.) DETHELL.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of February, in
the year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid John Bethell came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.