IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING EDIBLE ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING EDIBLE
ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES."-A communication from abroad
by Raymond Marie Jean Baptiste Honoré Henri Barre-Pin and
Tean Bantiste Marie Ernest Barre-Pin. of Paris, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 4th January 1872.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING
EDIBLE ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:—
The substances to be preserved according to this Invention are pro-

page_text: tected from the influence of the principal agents of decomposition, viz.,
light, moisture, the oxygen of the atmosphere, and heat.
The processes employed to attain this end are as follows:-The
substances to be preserved are placed in cans or jars together with some
suitable hygrometic substance, by preference chloride of calcium. The
air is displaced by nitrogen, and thereby the contents of the vessels arc
protected from the oxygen of the atmosphere. The vessels are then
hermetically sealed. The hygrometric substance will serve to absorb the
excess of moisture, which is unfavourable to the preservation of the
vegetable or animal substances. The sealed jars or cans are then
placed in a trench cut in the ice or snow of an ice-house, care being
taken to cover them with a layer of ice or snow so as to thoroughly
envelope them. When it is desired to preserve the substances for a short
time only they are placed in the cans or jars, which when hermetically
scaled are then deposited in an ice house.
As a modification of the above process the substances to be preserved
are placed in cans or jars, which are then filled up with water and
submitted to any well-known refrigerating process.
On the termination of this operation the substances will be completely
enveloped in a block of ice, and in order to prevent the ice from melting
the cans or jars are deposited in an icc house upon the ice, or they may
be placed in a trench cut in the ice and then covered with ice.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 4th July 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lanc, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
T
LI
2

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 PRESERVING EDIBLE ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE
SUBSTANCES," a communication to me from abroad by Raymond Maric
Jean Baptiste Honoré Henri Barré-Pin and Jean Baptiste Marie Ernest
Barré-Pin, of Paris, France, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and scals, should, particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 (that is to say) :-
To preserve vegetable and animal substances it is necessary to protect
them from the influence of the principal agents of decomposition, which
are humidity, the oxygen of the air, heat, and light. The processes
employed to attain this end and preserve these substances in a fresh
state until required for use will now be described.
The substances to be preserved are placed in metal cases, care being
taken that they do not touch one another, and that nothing shall press
upon them. The cases are then hermetically sealed. The cases are then
placed in an ice house and allowed to remain therein until their tempera-
ture is lowered to the same degree as that of the ice house. The time
required for this will vary according to the bulk of the substances to be
preserved. When this time has elapsed the cases are taken from the

page_text: ice house and thence to the workshop where they are opened. The
humidity which has become condensed by reason of the cold upon the
sides of the cases is now to be wiped off. After this operation the sub-
stances are placed in the same cases, care being taken to add thereto a
certain quantity of chloride of calcium, potash, or other suitable hygro-
metric substance. This work should be performed with rapidity and in a
place where the temperature is not too high. The hygrometric substances
cmployed, whether potash, chloride of calcium, or their equivalent, is
placed in a small bottle or flask. This bottle should be slightly closed
by means of a sponge or piece of linen cloth. By this means the
humidity of the substances is absorbed more rapidly that if there were
direct contact with the hygrometric body. The sponge by imbibing
slowly the humidity given off by the substances allows of the chloride
of calcium acting but very slowly upon the substances intended to be
preserved, thereby placing them in a more normal position, and by thus
gradually getting rid of their humidity the tissues are not affected as
they would be by a too hasty desiccation.
This second operation being finished the cases are hermetically sealed,
after which nitrogen is introduced thereto. To allow of this the case is
provided with two small openings, one of which is to allow of the
nitrogen being injected into the case, and the other the expulsion or
extraction of the air. After a slight insufflation, sufficient however to
nearly change the atmosphere in the cases by substituting nitrogen for
atmospheric air, the two small aperatures are quickly closed. Rapidity
of working aids the success of the operation.
The nitrogen required for the carrying out of the above-described
process may be conveniently obtained in the following manner:-Into
an inverted bell standing in water a lighted spirit lamp is introduced.
This lamp will burn until the oxygen of the imprisoned atmospheric air
is consumed, and it will then be extinguished. The nitrogen gas (almost
completely deprived of oxygen) thus obtained is passed into a receiver
filled with lime water, during its passage through which it will lose its
carbonic acid. On leaving the receiver the gas is conducted through a
series of tubes or flasks filled with chloride of calcium or other hygro-
metric substance, where it will be deprived of its moisture. It is upon
leaving these tubes or flasks that the nitrogen, which is nearly in a purc
state, is introduced into the preserving cases.

page_text: This operation finished, the preserving cases are carried to an ice house
and deposited in spaces formed for them in the ice and carefully covered
up with ice. The cases may be placed in trenchcs cut in the ice of the
icc houses and covered in with ice. The cases are thus surrounded on
all sides by ice. Instead of injecting nitrogen into the preserving cases
the same result may be attained by placing in the said cases iron filings,
manganese, or other equivalent having a great affinity for oxigen. If
it is desired to preserve the meat for a lengthened period the cases are
removed from the ice and carried to the workshops, where they are opened
and examined to sec if it is necessary to add to or extract from the
hygrometric substances which have been placed in the said preserving
cases; for if humidity is a destructive agent it is also useful in reference
to the plumpness and juiciness of fruit and other substances; care must
therefore be taken not to go beyond a certain point, but to limit the
operation where humidity instead of being hurtful is necessary. The
length of time which should clapse before examining the cases will vary
according to the nature of the substances to be preserved, and it will be
understood that after the contents of the cases have been examined they
are to be again submitted to the above-described treatment, after which
they are to be stored in an ice house as already explained.
When the substances are required for almost immediate consumption
instead of placing the substances in the reserved spaces in the ice they
are placed upon the ice in the ice houses or in a cave or other place
where the temperature is lower than that of the atmosphere.
By the means described fruit, vegetables, and other substances have
been protected from the influence of superabundant humidity, oxigen of
the air, heat, and light, and the preservation of these substances in a
fresh state has been secured.
When the substances to be preserved throw off carbonic acid a flask
containing cotton powdered with slacked lime is to be placed in the
cases. By this means the carbonic acid combining with the lime will
never be in excess. The slacked lime may be replaced by potash or
other equivalent having the same chemical properties.
When it is not desired to preserve fruit and other substances for a very
long period the operation takes place in the following manner :—In a
metal receiver furnished with a lid or cover are deposited the substances
to be preserved, care being taken to place them so that they may not

page_text: bear the one against the other and that nothing shall rest upon them.
This done the receivers are hermetically sealed; they are then taken to
an ice house, which is called in this sort of work the condensing ice
house. When these receivers have acquired the temperature of the
ice house they are taken to an ice house called the preserving house; a
trench is then dug in the ice of the ice house. The receivers charged
with the substances to be preserved are placed in this trench and
covered with a layer of ice so as to completely surround them.
It must be understood that although the preserving cases have been
described as made of metal they may be made of any other suitable 1
material. The ice house may be charged either with ice or packed snow
for the purposes of this Invention.
The cases containing the substances to be preserved may be placed in
open trelissed cases or boxes made of metal or other suitable material
and packed on all sides with ice. This operation finished the boxes are 1
placed either in the hollow trenches or in spaces in the centre of the
ice or snow of the ice houses.
When butter is the substance to be preserved the moment it arrives at
the works it is placed in a receiver so arranged as to admit of a vacuum
being formed therein. At the same time chloride of calcium or other 2
hygrometric body is introduced into the receiver, and the barometric
pressure being lowered the water and buttermilk remaining in the butter
is disengaged therefrom and absorbed by the chloride of calcium.
•
When this operation is finished, which is shown by the quantity of
liquefied chloride, the butter is placed in metal cases by the aid of a 2
press; the cases are then closed with a lid which rests in contact with
the butter. The several cases are then placed in a receiver, and when so
placed and the opening in the receiver hermetically closed the internal
atmosphere is replaced by nitrogen. The cases are then taken to the
condensing ice-house, where they remain for the time necessary for 3
equalizing the temperature. After this operation they are placed either
in trenches cut in the ice or in spaces prepared for them in the ice-
houses.
When it is desired to preserve butter for a long period the following
method is employed:-The butter being deprived of its humidity in 3
vacuo is moulded by pressure and then placed in a case of a correspond-
ing form but somewhat larger. Water is now run in so as to fill up the

page_text: other approved system of refrigeration. When the enveloping water is
converted into ice the blocks are taken out of the cases and transferred
to the ice house. If this envelope of ice should melt the freezing
operation should be repeated.
I
The process above described for the treatment of butter will apply
equally to other edible substances, whether animal or vegetable.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Fourth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.