IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRE- SERVATION OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL MATTERS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Young, of Bucklersbury, in the City of
London, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRE-
SERVATION OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL MATTERS."
Sealed the 19th July 1864, and dated the 4th February 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Young at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th February 1864.
I, JAMES YOUNG, of Bucklersbury, in the City of London, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PRESERVATION OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL MATTERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists, firstly, in the preservation of vegetable matters by
the employment of certain sulphides or sulphurets, such as the sulphide or
sulphuret of calcium, in order to deprive of oxygen the air in the cases or
vessels in which such vegetable matters are placed.
Secondly, in the preservation of animal and vegetable matters by the
employment of certain oxides and carbonates, such as the protoxide and car-
bonate of iron, in order to deprive of oxygen the air in the cases or vessels in
which such animal or vegetable matters are placed.
In carrying out the first part of this Invention, the vegetable matter is
placed in its case or vessel along with the sulphide or sulphuret in the pro-
portion of about one pound of the sulphide or sulphuret to each cubic foot of
the capacity of the vessel, which latter is then sealed or hermetically closed,

page_text: or if preferred, the sulphide or sulphuret may be placed in a separate vessel,
which is in communication with that containing the vegetable matter. The
same equivalent proportions may be observed when preserving animal and
vegetable matters by the use of the oxides and carbonates, and the chemicals
are to be used in the same manner as that above described in reference to
the use of sulphides and sulphurets. The sulphides, sulphurets, oxides, and
carbonates employed are those well known to chemists.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Young in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th August 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
YOUNG, of Bucklersbury, in the City of London, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Young, Her special license that I, the said James
Young, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Young, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL
MATTERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Young, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my
hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, should par-
ticularly 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 James Young, do hereby declare
the nature of my said. Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say :-
My said Invention consists, firstly, in the preservation of vegetable matters

page_text: by the. employment of certain sulphides or sulphurets, such, for example, as
the sulphide or sulphuret of calcium, in order to deprive of oxygen the air in
the cases or vessels in which such vegetable matters are placed.
Secondly, in the preservation of animal and vegetable matters by the
employment of certain oxides and carbonates, such, for example, as the
protoxide and carbonate of iron, in order to deprive of oxygen the air in the
cases or vessels in which such animal or vegetable matters are placed.
In preserving vegetable matter, according to the first
part of
my Invention,
I place the vegetable matter to be preserved in the usual closed case or vessel,
along with a sufficient quantity of the sulphide or sulphuret herein-before
mentioned, or the sulphide or sulphuret may be placed in a separate air-tight
vessel, which is in communication with the vessel or case containing the
vegetable matter. In practice I find that one pound of the sulphide or
sulphuret of calcium placed in a vessel or case of a capacity equal to one
cubic foot, which is filled up with vegetable matter, is sufficient to preserve
the same.
I take a vessel or case capable of being made air-tight, say, of
tinned iron, into which I introduce a coarse cloth bag containing dry sulphuret
or sulphide of calcium, which I find is improved by being mixed with one-
fourth of its weight of slacked lime. And in order to keep the vegetable
matter from direct contact with the bag, I cover the bag loosely with glazed
cloth, tinned plate, or other suitable material, allowing free communication
between the mixture of sulphuret or sulphide and lime, and the air contained
in the vessel or case. I then fill up the vessel or case with the vegetable
matter to be preserved, and solder down the lid or cover air-tight. The
proportions I prefer to employ are one pound and one quarter of the mixture
herein-before referred to of sulphurets or sulphide and lime, or one pound of
the sulphuret or sulphide without the lime for each cubic foot capacity of
the case or vessel. If the case or vessel be large it is better to divide the
mixture or the sulphuret or sulphide, and to place it in different parts thereof,
in lieu of in one place. Although I prefer to use the sulphuret or sulphide
of calcium by reason of its cheapness, other sulphurets or sulphides having
the same property may be employed, such for example, as the sulphuret or
sulphide of potassium, or the proto-sulphuret of iron.
In carrying out the second part of my Invention which has reference to the
preserving of animal as well as vegetable matters by the employment of
certain oxides and carbonates herein-before mentioned, I proceed in a
precisely similar manner to that herein-before described in reference to the
preserving of vegetable matter only, but I substitute for the sulphurets or
sulphides then employed certain oxides and carbonates, such as the protoxide

page_text: and carbonate of iron, which I also employ in the same equivalent proportions
as the sulphurets or sulphides herein-before referred to.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1st, the preservation of vegetable matters by the employment of the
sulphuret or sulphide of calcium or other sulphurets or sulphides capable
of absorbing oxygen, substantially in the manner herein-before described.
2nd, the preservation of animal and vegetable matters by the employment
of the protoxide and carbonate of iron or other oxides and carbonates capable
of absorbing oxygen, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Young, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Second day of August One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-four.
JAMES YOUNG. (L.B.)