Improvements in and relating to Boxes or Packages for the Transport of Butter, Fruit, or other Edible Substances.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 26th May, 1896-Accepted, 27th June, 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Boxes or Packages for the
Transport of Butter, Fruit, or other Edible Substances.
We, GEORGE PONTIN, of The Poplars, Pascoe Street, Williamstown, in the
Colony of Victoria, Engineer, and PONTIN'S PATENT BUTTER BOX COMPANY
LIMITED, of 6 Adam Street, Adelphi, London, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention has for its chief object to provide a box which is so constructed
that butter or other edible substances that are liable to become rancid or to
decompose can be packed therein and be preserved for a considerable length of
time so that they can be transported long distances without the necessity of
employing refrigerating apparatus or other expensive means for preserving them.
According to our invention we provide the box with a lining composed of some
material that is tasteless, inodorous and a bad conductor of heat, the said lining
being so arranged that the box will not be absolutely air-tight.
A
The material of which we construct the aforesaid lining consists principally of
asbestos shale, to which is added a suitable binding material such as cow-hair.
small proportion of wood-ash or ground bark may also be added for removing any
odour that may exist in the asbestos. Asbestos shale of the kind we prefer to employ
is readily obtained from quarries in Tasmania, South Australia and other parts of
Australia.
We find that the following manner of making the aforesaid lining material is
very advantageous. We first grind or otherwise pulverize the asbestos shale to a
fine powder and add water thereto to form a stiff paste; to about seven parts of
this paste we add about one-half part of cow-hair and about one-half part of
wood-ash or of ground bark, the wood-ash or ground bark having been previously
made into a paste by the addition of water thereto. The whole is then intimately
mixed together and moulded under considerable pressure into the form of tiles slabs
or sections of the requisite dimensions to fit the box to be lined.
In some cases as for instance when it is desired to produce a cheaper material
from which to make the tiles or slabs I employ the following substances :-Three
parts of asbestos shale, two parts of pumice stone, two parts of lake-flour, one-half
part of cow-hair and one-half part of wood-ash or ground bark. These substances
are treated in approximately the same manner as that already described with
reference to the other ingredients. The lake-flour above referred to is obtained
from the bed of dry lakes found in Germany and Victoria and is a well known
substance in such countries.
In the accompanying drawings we have illustrated a box provided with these
tiles or slabs, Figure 1 being a vertical section and Figure 2 à horizontal section
on the line 1. 1. of Figure 1.
A is the box proper, in this case composed of wood, and B B' are the tiles or
slabs of lining material; B being the side slabs and B' the top and bottom slabs.
The tiles do not tightly fit where they meet each other, a small space being
purposely left between them to permit of the entrance of air to the interior of the
box and to enable any liquid that may be exuded from the contents of the box, to
escape. We attach considerable importance to arranging the lining so that
access of air to, or escape of liquid from the interior of the box can take
place

page_text: If desired the aforesaid lining instead of being made in sections or slabs
fitting together as above stated may be moulded in the form of a cylindrical
vessel with a lid the said cylindrical vessel being then preferably perforated at
intervals to permit access of air to and escape of liquid from the interior. In
this case it would obviously be preferable to construct the box proper of
cylindrical form.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood
that we do not claim broadly a box provided with a lining of inodorous non-beat-
conducting material but what we do claim is :-
1. A box or package having a lining composed principally of asbestos shale
mixed with a binding agent substantially as and for the purpose specified.
2. The lining composition consisting of asbestos shale cow-hair and wood-ash
or ground bark, with or without the addition of pumice stone and lake-flour,
mixed together in substantially the proportions described and for the purpose
specified.
Dated this 26th day of Mar 1896
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.