IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BACON AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Abraham Denny and Edward Maynard Denny, both
of Waterford, Ireland, Merchants, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BACON AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."
Sealed the 8th August 1864, and dated the 11th February 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Abraham Denny and
Edward Maynard Denny at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 11th February 1864.
We, ABRAHAM DENNY and EDWARD MAYNARD DENNY, both of Waterford,
Ireland, Merchants, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BACON AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED
THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
Attempts have been hitherto made to what is termed "dry cure bacon in
salt and on flags in summer as in winter, by producing artificially a winter
temperature by means of. ice spread in and in some cases over curing houses,
but only partial success has however been obtained.
Now our improvements primarily consist in causing the cooling liquid used.
to circulate through pipes at a very low temperature, and to the action of
which the bacon is subjected, as hereafter described. We make the curing
house as much as possible unsusceptible to the action of atmospheric influences
from without; we_calculate the cubic contents of the house, and in proportion
thereto we arrange that so many feet of cooling surface will be sufficient to

page_text: bring down the temperature to the best point for obtaining a good cure. We
suspend or otherwise support a sufficient quantity of piping from the ceiling,
arch, or floor of the curing house, as the case may be, through which the
cooling liquid is caused to circulate. We prefer to lead the piping out the of
house to a convenient situation. The cooling liquid from the return pipe we
pass over a mixture of ice and salt, so as to reduce its temperature to a very
low degree, and we pump the mixture up to a reservoir which commands the
flow pipe; the liquid thus circulates through the pipes at any desired tempera-
ture, the degree of which is regulated by the time the liquid is allowed to flow
over such cooling medium. We keep the curing house at any desired
temperature, at 45° or 50° Fahrenheit for example, for the temperature being
determined the rest is clear, and the distribution of cold or heat is uniform.
In frosty weather, when the temperature is too low, we pass hot air, steam, or
a heated liquid through the piping, so as to produce the desired temperature.
The piping is suspended or otherwise supported above the flags or floor of the
curing. house, at a height therefrom of by preference about seven feet, and the
bacon is laid in salt underneath. A small engine with one attendant is
sufficient for all the pumping required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Abraham Denny and Edward Maynard Denny in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 10th August 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ABRAHAM
DENNY and EDWARD MAYNARD DENNY, both of Waterford, Ireland, Merchants,
'send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh 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 us, the said Abraham Denny and Edward Maynard Denny, Her special
licence that we, the said Abraham Denny and Edward Maynard Denny, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Abraham
Denny and Edward Maynard Denny, our executors, administrators, 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 Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an

page_text: Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BACON AND IN APPARATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said Abraham Denny and Edward Maynard Denny, our executors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, 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 we, the said Abraham Denny and Edward Maynard
Denny, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
" bacon in
Attempts have been hitherto made to what is termed "dry cure
salt and on flags in summer as in winter, by producing artificially a winter
temperature by means of ice spread in and sometimes over curing houses, but
only partial success has however been obtained.
Now our improvements primarily consist in causing the cooling liquid used
to circulate through pipes at a very low temperature, to the action of which
the bacon is subjected, as hereafter described. We make the curing house as
much as possible unsusceptible to the action of atmospheric influences from
without; we calculate the cubic contents of the house, and in proportion.
thereto we arrange that so many feet of cooling surface will be sufficient to
bring down the temperature to the best point for obtaining a good cure. We
suspend or otherwise support a sufficient quantity of piping from the ceiling,.
arch, or floor of the curing house, as the case may be, through which the
cooling liquid is caused to circulate. We prefer to lead the piping out of the.
house to a convenient situation. The cooling liquid from the return pipe we
pass over a mixture of ice and salt, so as to reduce its temperature to a very
low degree, and we pump the mixture up to a reservoir which commands the
flow pipe; the liquid thus circulates through the pipes at any desired tempera-
ture, the degree of which is regulated by the time the liquid is allowed to flow
over such cooling medium. We keep the curing house at any desired
temperature, at 45° or 50° Fahrenheit for example, for the temperature being
determined the rest is clear, and the distribution of cold or heat is uniform.
In frosty weather, when the temperature is too low, we propose to pass hot air,
steam, or heated liquid through the piping, so as to produce the desired.
temperature. The piping is suspended or otherwise supported above the flags.
or floor of the curing house, at a height therefrom of by preference about seven

page_text: feet, and the bacon is laid in salt underneath. A small engine with one
attendant is sufficient for all the pumping required.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a longitudinal, and Figure 2 a
horizontal section of so much of a curing house fitted with the apparatus for
the manufacture or curing of bacon as will be necessary to illustrate the
manner in which we prefer to carry our Invention into effect.
A, A, show the walls of the house divided by air chambers a, a; to render
the interior as free as may be from external atmospheric influences; B, B¹,
are the floors, and C the basement, the latter being formed by preference of
flag stones, on which the bacon to be manufactured or cured is laid; E, E,
are the cooling pipes suspended from beams or girders F, F, which carry the
arching of the floor B¹. These cooling pipes E, E, are distributed and
arranged as shown in Figure 2, they may be of any form in section or plan,
and made of cast iron, copper, or other suitable material, of such sectional
area as may be found best to answer the purpose, but we recommend and
prefer round cast-iron pipes 5 inches internal diameter, spaced 2 ft. 6 inches
clear, and suspended from the floor or ceiling as before described in preference
to carrying them round walls or through the apartment and jointed with the
ordinary socket joints. We do not limit ourselves to any particular quantity
of piping, but that shown will be found sufficient to reduce the temperature
and to keep it at the degree required (we prefer 45° to 50° Fahrenheit) and
to distribute it equally throughout the pipes. G is the supply tank set on the
floor B and in communication through the pipe H with the cooling pipes E, E.
This tank G being on the floor B is consequently about 12 feet over the level
of the pipes E, E, and this is done to insure a rapid passage of the cooling
liquid through them. I is the cooling tank it contains a mixture composed
of ice and salt or ice only. The length of this tank is regulated according to
the degree of temperature to which the brine or other cooling liquid is
required to be reduced, and at which it will be found in the tank G. K is
a filter in connection with the tank I, and so arranged as to prevent salt or
grit of any kind finding its way into the pump tank L. M is the pump by
which the liquid is forced through a pipe N to the supply tank G. One end
of the cooling pipes E leads to the tank I, and it is there fitted with a
valve O.
:
The operation is as follows:-The liquid which has been forced up to the
tank G by the pump M descends through the pipe H into the pipes E, E,
and circulating through them, as indicated by the arrows in Figure 2,.returns
to the cooling tank I, the discharge being regulated by the screw valve or
tap O. When the brine or other cooling liquid is discharged from the

page_text: pipes E, E, into the tank I it passes therein through the mixture of ice
and salt, or through the ice alone, thence into the filter K and pump tank
L, and the pump lifts the liquid to the tank G; it then, as before, descends to
the pipes E, E, the valve O is opened and the liquid after circulating through
the pipes E, E, returns to the cooling tank I to be again reduced in tempera-
ture and returned to the pipes, and so on continuously. The lifting power of
the pump and the discharge from the valve O may be so adjusted that a constant
circulation of brine or other liquid can be maintained at the desired tempera-
ture, the chamber to be cooled being rendered as little liable as possible to
external atmospheric influence, the pipes having been fixed as recommended
(or otherwise) and charged with brine. The cooling tank is filled (as we
prefer it) with ice broken into pieces and mixed with salt, when covered
tightly over the tap or valve O is opened allowing the brine to flow through
the mixture of ice and salt contained in the tank; it then passes into the
filter K, where all salt or grit is caught and retained by an arrangement of
brass or copper wire seives; it thence passes into the pump tank Land-is
raised by the pump M into the supply tank G. So the circulating process is
kept up, and it will be found there is little difficulty in reducing the tempera-
ture of the brine in the pipes to 20° Fahrenheit and keeping it thereat or any
other temperature approved. The quantity of pipes shown on plan will be
found sufficient, as before stated, to keep the temperature of the curing house
within the degrees named, viz. 45° to 50° Fahrenheit; should, however, a lower
temperature be required more pipes may be introduced, and on the other hand
should less be required the quantity of piping may be reduced. By connecting
the flow and return pipes with a small boiler the liquid to be circulated through
the pipes can be heated to any required degree and the temperature thereby
raised during cold weather. Sometimes instead of the process before described
we raise the pickle, when cooled, with common wooden or other pumps, and
instead of the filter mentioned we store a quantity of cooled pickle in a tank
underground, which we allow to settle and then pump up; we run off the
charge in the pipes into the cooling tank, the moment we begin to run off
we also begin to pump; we find the hot pickle driven out of the pipes
without mixing with the cold pickle in the least; when we find the cold pickle
being discharged into the cooling vessel we stop, the pipes are then at 20°
Fahrenheit; we cool the pickle in tank which has just been run off to say 10°
Fahrenheit or under, pass it into the store tank, and allow it to settle for an
hour or so, and perform the like operation again.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim as our "Improve-
ments in the Manufacture of Bacon and Apparatus connected therewith,"—
First, causing the cooling liquid to circulate through pipes at a very low
temperature, to the action of which the bacon under treatment is subjected,
substantially as herein-before described.
Second, the construction and arrangement of houses for manufacturing or
curing bacon, substantially in manner herein-before described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said Abraham Denny and Edward Maynard
Denny, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifth day of
July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-four.
ABRAHAM DENNY.
(L.S.).
EDWARD MAYNARD DENNY.. (L.S.)