IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, of Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts, United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 14th May 1867, and dated the 26th November 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nathaniel Southgate Shaler
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th November 1866.
I, NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United
States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES," to be
as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in preserving animal and
vegetable substances. For these purposes animal and vegetable substances
to be preserved are introduced into and retained in a chamber or inclosed
space pervaded by an atmosphere of carbonic acid gas, such atmosphere being
constantly maintained at a temperature as near as may be at the freezing
point, though where the substances are not intended to be kept for a great

page_text: length of time somewhat higher temperatures may be used. The arrangement
of the enclosed space or chamber may be varied according to the dimensions
necessary for receiving the quantity of the animal and vegetable substances
desired to be preserved therein and other circumstances, but it is preferred
that the chamber or inclosed space should be at the lower part of a building
or house, and that the floor above should be arranged with openings to admit
of frames with trays or shelves to be lowered through such floor into the
chamber below, the animal and vegetable substances to be preserved being
placed on such trays or shelves. The interior of this chamber or enclosed
space and the atmosphere of carbonic acid gas are to be kept cooled by ice or
suitable freezing mixtures, so as to maintain such atmosphere as near as may
be at the freezing point. By these combined means of employing carbonic
acid gas and low temperatures animal and vegetable substances may be pre-
served from fermentation and decomposition for a very long time at a
comparatively small price. I would state that it is not new to maintain
enclosed spaces or chambers at low temperatures by ice or freezing mixtures
when pervaded by common atmospheric air, neither is it new to use carbonic
acid gas in chambers to retard decomposition in animal and vegetable
substances, nor will either when used alone preserve animal or vegetable
substances so well as when a combination such as above described is used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Nathaniel Southgate Shaler in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th May 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NATHANIEL
SOUTHGATE SHALER, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, Her special licence that I, the said
Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, my executors, admini-
strators, and 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

page_text: Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Nathaniel
Southgate Shaler, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, 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, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in preserving animal' and
vegetable substances. For these purposes animal and vegetable substances
to be preserved are introduced into and retained in a chamber or incloseḍ
space pervaded by an atmosphere of carbonic acid gas, such atmosphere being
constantly maintained at a temperature as near as may be at the freezing point,
though where the substances are not intended to be kept for a great length.
of time somewhat higher temperatures may be used. The arrangement of the
enclosed space or chamber may be varied according to the dimensions
necessary for receiving the quantity of the animal and vegetable substances
desired to be preserved therein, and other. circumstances, but it is preferred
that the chamber or inclosed space should be at the lower part of a building
or house, and that the floor above should be arranged with openings to admit
of frames with trays or shelves to be lowered through such floor into the
chamber. below, the animal and vegetable substances to be preserved being
placed on such trays or shelves. The interior of this chamber or. inclosed
space and the atmosphere of carbonic acid gas are to be kept cooled by ice or.
suitable freezing mixtures, so as to maintain such atmosphere as near as may
be, at the freezing point.. By these combined means of employing carbonic
acid gas and low, temperatures animal and vegetable substances may be
preserved from fermentation and decomposition for a very long time at a
comparatively small price.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe
more fully the manner of performing the same.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed is shown, the way in which, I prefer to
construct a building or house for preserving animal and vegetable substances,.
but it will be seen that my Invention is equally applicable for preserving sub-

page_text: stances on board ships or vessels, and that it may also be applied to carriages
used for transporting substances liable to decomposition. The building shown
in the Drawing is made two stories high, and the walls are made of a good
non-conductor of heat. The lower chamber is kept charged with carbonic acid
gas, and is to receive the articles to be preserved; this chamber is provided
with one or several racks or frames carrying trays or shelves, which can be
raised to the upper chamber through openings in the floor. The top and the
bottom of the moveable racks or frames are made to close the openings when
the frame is either lowered into the lower chamber or when it is raised
up into the upper chamber. The articles to be preserved are placed in the
moveable frames or racks. At the top of the lower chamber, or it might be
at some other convenient point is placed an apparatus for cooling the gas
contained in the lower chamber, in order to condense or freeze all moisture
there may be contained in the gas. The refrigerator may be composed of a
pipe or passage surrounded with a freezing mixture, and of a rotating vane
or screw to force or draw the gas through the pipe or passage, and thus make
it circulate in contact with the cooled surfaces, and by so doing remove any
moisture from it by condensation or freezing. The articles to be preserved
should in most cases be kept just above the freezing point, so that they may
not be frozen.
In the Drawings A represents the lower chamber; B, the higher chamber;
and C, the intermediate flooring; D is a moveable frame or rack, which can
be raised or lowered through an opening in the floor C; suitable means for
raising and lowering the frame are provided. An apparatus such as above
described for cooling the gas is shown at F, it consists of a winding passage a
surrounding a series of vessels b, b, b, which are to contain ice or suitable
freezing compounds. The passage a leads into a pipe c, which contains the
vane or screw d, which when caused to revolve draws a current of air through
the pipe cand passage a. The gas by passing through the refrigerating
apparatus will be deprived of its moisture, which will be frozen or condensed
on the side walls of the chamber or on the exterior of the vessels b. Other
means than those above described may be adopted for cooling and consequently
drying the gas, and also for introducing or removing the articles to be preserved
into or from the lower chamber.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would state that it is not new to maintain inclosed
spaces or chambers at low temperatures by ice or freezing mixtures when
pervaded by common atmospheric air, neither is it new to use carbonic acid
gas in chambers to retard decomposition in animal and vegetable substances,

page_text: nor will either when used alone preserve animal or vegetable substances so
well as when a combination such as above described is used.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER. (L.S.)