IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF CERTAIN VEGETABLE AND ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau,
of the Patent Office for Inventions, No. 39, Rue de l'Echiquier,
Paris, and 4, South St., Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF CERTAIN
VEGETABLE AND ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES."-A communication.
Scaled the 12th December 1853, and dated the 16th June 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand
Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th June 1853.
1, PETER ARMAND LE COMTE DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of the Patent
Office for Inventions, No. 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, and 4, South
Street, Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare that the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF
CERTAIN VEGETABLE AND ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES" consists in the treat-
ment of certain vegetable substances containing saccharine matters for
the manufacture of a new alimentary product.

page_text: The vegetables are dried either in the open air or in an oven, and,
when dried, the product is reduced to powder and torrified till it has
acquired a brownish colour.
This powder is placed in a common boiler, or in an air-tight boiler,
containing a suitable quantity of water, and boiled down some time, the
duration varying according to the kind of plant to be treated. It is
sometimes necessary to digest it in alcohol during a few hours on a
slow fire to dissolve the resinous or acid principles which the several
plants might contain; the måtter may be left in the water heated to
two hundred and twelve degrees Fahrenheit during some time; both
water and pulp are then passed on to a sieve, and the solid matter
remaining is squeezed under a press.
The juice is placed either in large shallow kettles or in a vacuum
pan, where it is concentrated by evaporation, either by the direct action
of fire or by steam, till it comes to a syrupy condition, in which state it
may be sweetened and employed in commerce.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau
in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the 16th December 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
PETER ARMAND LE COMTE DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of the Patent Office
for Inventions, No. 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, and 4, South
Street, Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Peter Armand Le Comte De Fontaine Moreau,
Her special licence that I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte De Fon-
taine Moreau, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte De Fontaine Moreau, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,

page_text: and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF CERTAIN VEGETABLE AND ALI-
MENTARY SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Peter Armand Le Comte De Fontaine Moreau, by an in-
strument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte De
Fontaine Moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the Drawing hereto annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:
The Invention communicated to me consists,―
Firstly, in an improved method of and apparatus for extracting and
concentrating the juices of chicory, carrot, the soft acorn of Spain
or any other country, bectroot, barley, oatmeal, and other similar
substances, and employing the said juices for the improvement and
cheapening of coffee infusions.
Secondly, in combining the juices thus obtained with essences
extracted from dried dates, grapes, and other dried fruits containing
pectoral juices, and from gum, barley, oatmeal, pectoral flowers and
roots, for the preparation of a new liquid or solid alimentary product.
The vegetable substances first mentioned possess tonic properties; they
are bitter as well as cooling, and have been proved to be beneficial for
health; but having been hitherto employed in the state of powder, these
properties have not been advantageously developped. By subjecting
the powders of the said substances, but principally chicory, to the
processes and apparatus herein-after described, essences are obtained
which can be taken with light infusions of pure coffee. Their addition

page_text: improves the agreeable flavour of the coffee, and relieves it of the
irritating principles common to it. These essences of the various sub-
stances can be mixed together or employed separately. The substances
included in the second class are sweeter than those of the first, and
better for the chest; they are extracted by suitable apparatus, and con-
centrated by the same method and apparatus as the above substances,
and afterwards added to the former in proportions varying according to
the nature of the application, forming compound preparations to be
taken with milk, and in that state superseding coffee or chocolate.
These preparations may be rendered aromatic, and sweetened by the
addition of sugar, in which state they are ready for immediate use.
To operate with the vegetable substances of the first kind I first roast
and reduce them to powder, or take the powder already prepared in
the state in which it is found in commerce, and then operate upon it in
the apparatus herein-after described, in proportions of one hundred and
twelve pounds of powder to thirty-three gallons of water.
DESCRIPTION OF THE IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING AND
CONCENTRATING VEGETABLE JUICES.
Figure 1, is a section.
Figure 2, a plan of the said apparatus.
Figures 3, and 4, two filters employed in the extracting boiler.
A, Figures 1, and 2, the extracting boiler open at top. B, concen-
trating boiler closed at top, and provided with a safety valve b. C, C',
spiral pipes for circulating steam, being used to heat the juice placed in
the boilers A, and B. These pipes have egress orifices a, a. The steam
egressing may be used for other heating purposes. D, aperture for
introducing the extracted liquid closed by a cap c. E, outer casing
filled with powdered charcoal, to serve as a non-conductor of heat. I, I,
Figure 1, conduct pipes for steam to the spirals C, C', from a generator.
J, tap for drawing off the extracted matters from boiler A. J', similar
tap for boiler B. K, guage for indicating the height of liquid in B.
L, brickwork supporting the boilers. The supports of the boilers can
be of iron if requisite for portability. F, is a metal plate pierced with
small holes, to allow the liquid parts to pass through, and having in

page_text: the centre a receptacle for holding the thicker parts. S', a pipe for
conducting away the steam from the boiler B.
An arrangement of iron bars radiating from the centre, Figure 5, is
placed over the plate to support the sacks containing the substances to
be heated. The lower filter G, consists of a tissue of hair or fine
metallic cloth stretched on a ring.
The mode of operating is as follows:-
The powder is put into cloth sacks, the dimensions of which must be
a quarter larger than the space occupied by the powder, in order to
allow room for it to expand during the ebullition to which it is subjected
in boiler A. In order to operate more advantageously only fifty-six
pounds of powder should be put into the boiler at a time, which should
be taken out after half an hour's constant boiling, and immediately put
under the press to expel the juices therefrom while the second portion
is boiling in its place, which is also submitted to the pressing operation.
The juices obtained by this first operation will have acquired about
eight or ten degrees of strength by the arcometer.
The powder, however, still retaining some juicy principle, to extract
the same, should be introduced, during an equal space of time as the
last, into a second boiler of ordinary construction, independent of the
apparatus above described, and in capacity about one fourth larger;
then in a third boiler, similar to the second, and as much larger. The
liquid from the third boiler is used to increase the strength of the
second, and the liquid of the second boiler for increasing the strength
of the liquid in boiler A.
On leaving the third boiler the sacks are again put under the press,
and submitted to its greatest pressure, to express the remainder of the
useful principle it contains.
The juice from the first boiler, after being filtered, is introduced into
the closed boiler B, when its concentration is carried to eighteen degrees
for European consumption, and to twenty-five degrees, or even higher,
for use on long voyages or under the tropics.
The juice may be reduced to a solid state by mixing it with sugar,
so as to form cakes or sweetmeats, having tonic and cooling properties.
The fruits and gum of the second class should be extracted in

page_text: separate and distinct but known apparatus; and after being clarified.
and concentrated as herein-before described, their juices can be added
in certain proportions to the juices of the vegetable substances enume-
rated in the first class.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner of putting the same into execution, I wish it to be understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein laid down.
But what I claim as new is,-
Firstly, the improved method of and apparatus for extracting and
concentrating the juice of certain plants, and preparing thereby a liquid
applicable to improving and cheapening coffee infusions, as herein-before
described and referred to in the annexed Drawing.
Secondly, the combination of the juices so obtained with the extract
of dried fruits, gum, or other vegetable substances for the preparation
of a new liquid or solid alimentary product, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte De
Fontaine Moreau, have hereto set my hand and seal, this
Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty-three.
(L.S.) L DE FONTAINE MOREAU.