IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING CHAMPAGNE AND SPARKLING WINES, AND IN THE APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Emile Dreveton, of 42, Rue Poyenne, Bordeaux,.
and 38, Queen Street, in the City of London, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING CHAMPAGNE AND SPARKLING WINES, AND IN
THE APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 10th August 1866, and dated the 16th February 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Emile Dreveton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th February 1866.
I, EMILE DREVETON, of 42, Rue Poyenne, Bordeaux, and of 38, Queen
Street, in the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING CHAMPAGNE AND SPARKLING WINES,
AND IN THE APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as. follows:-
Heretofore effervescing wines, such as champagne, hock, moselle, and
others, have been made by checking the fermentation of the juice of grapes
and securing it in tin bottles or other glass vessels, whereby carbonic acid
gas has been slowly generated, the wine being left to settle, to be after-
wards prepared by several rackings or cleansings of sediment from the.
bottles, and by final admixtures of syrup and brandy.
Now according to my Invention I allow such wines to ferment entirely
in vats, and thoroughly cleanse and fine them while in. casks, and when got
ready for bottling I charge each bottle or vessel with perfectly neutral and
tasteless carbonic acid gas to impart effervescence, and thus obtain pure
sparkling wine, which 1 bottle with a convenient machine on the same!

page_text: principle as that used in aërating mineral waters, being careful to generate
and impart for the purpose oxygen or other suitable gas or aëriform vapour
that will not spoil or alter, but rather improve the wine, such gas or vapours
to be modified to suit each and every quality of wine which is to be
made sparkling, consequently the wine may be oxygenated, or supplied
with carbonic acid gas, or otherwise made effervescing. I make use of the
ordinary soda water machine for aërating the wine, but I apply thereto a
liquid guage in order to denote the quantity of wine contained in the
chamber. I also apply an extra pipe with a cock connecting the tube of
the safety valve on the top of the condenser with the bottling rack, so that
carbonic acid gas only is admitted through this pipe, which I use to drive
off all atmospheric air out of the bottles. I.also apply another pipe to my
bottling rack for the purpose of affording an egress to the atmospheric air,
and the excess of froth likewise, both of which are conducted by the same
pipe to any vessel or bottle for receiving the waste. The rack should be
fixed in a slightly inclined position instead of upright, so as to cause the
wine to flow gently into the bottles instead of falling directly vertical; by
these means less froth is caused.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,.
filed by the said Emile Dreveton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EMILE
DREVETON, of 42, Rue Poyenne, Bordeaux, and 5, Devonshire Square,.
Bishopsgate Street Without, in the City of London, and late of 38, Queen
Street, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Emile Dreveton, Her special licence that
I, the said Emile Dreveton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Emile Dreveton, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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

page_text: Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND OXENGYNATING
CHAMPAGNE AND SPARKLING WINES, AND IN THE APPARATUS TO BE. EMPLOYED
THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Emile
Dreveton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, 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 I, the said Emile Dreveton, 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 :---
Whereas heretofore effervessing wines, such as champagne, hocks,
moselle, and others, have been prepared and made by checking the fermen⚫
tation of the juice of grapes and securing it in bottles or other glass vessels
after pressing, whereby carbonic acid gas has been slowly generated
therein. The wine being left to settle, to be afterwards fined by several
rackings or cleansings of sediment from the glass bottles, and prepared by
final admixtures of syrup and brandy.
.
Now according to my Invention I allow such wines to ferment entirely
in vats or tubs and thoroughly cleanse and, fine them while in wooden
casks, and finally purify them in silver-plated copper-lined casks of various
capacities (say from one hundred gallons upwards,) by submitting them in.
such to the action of carbonic acid gas at a given pressure according to the
wines to be acted upon, being careful to employ carbonic acid gas derived
from fermented, must, and crushed grapes in order that it may well
assimulate with and not injure the wine. Accordingly I preserve the car-
bonic acid gas generated and discharged during the process of the ordinary
fermentation of the wine in the vats. I afterwards re-impart it to the wine
only when it is mature, namely, when about from three to four years old
and when separated from all its natural lees. Now to re-impregnate the
wine and charge it again with natural froth, and to regulate the requisite
pressure I use an ordinary soda water pump and condenser, to which I
apply a liquid gauge to mark the quantity of wine contained in the pressure
chamber. I also add an extra pipe with a tap connecting the tube of the
safety valve with my champagne corking and bottling machine combined,
as shewn by the appended Drawings of sections of divisible cone, which at
the same time reduces the corks and admits the wine into the bottles

page_text: through the taps and one of the eyes bored in the front section of the
cone, of which I have rendered all the joints air-tight and capable to bear
a high pressure, by india-rubber sections cast in the grooves sprade along
the joints of the pieces forming the cone, they are all closed together first
to pinch and forcibly reduce the cork; secondly, to receive the wine
impelled by the pump, and when the bottles are full the cork is forced in
through the cone by a powerful plunger. The lower part of the cone then
divides to release the neck of the bottle. By the above-named contravences,
and as sketched in the appended Drawings, I have modified, to suit cham-
pagne bottling and corking, the continuous process employed in bottling
aërated and mineral waters, by which means I retain in the wine greater
powers of effervescence than if bottled as heretofore by the ordinary cham-
pagne corking machine, which has no air-tight joints. The
bored on
the right-hand side of the section with a tap and pipe in connection I use
to afford an egress to the atmospheric air contained in the bottles, and also
when necessary to the excess of froth. At the time of bottling the bottle
is firmly pressed against the india-rubber ring formed by the two lower
sections of the cone, both by self-acting spring, and for additional power
a foot lever acting upon a piston guide rod to resist the heavy pressure
from the plunger forcing in the cork.
eye
In conclusion of the aforesaid I wish it to be well understood that I
claim as my Invention,--
First, the process of re-imparting effervescense or sparkle to any still
wines, as heretofore all wines intended for sparkling have only been
rendered and prepared to be such by checking the fermentation, as before
stated.
Second, the mode of finally submitting it to the action of carbonio acid
gas into the silver-plated vessel or lined casks.
I also claim as my Invention the mode of continuous and air-proof
bottling and corking applied to wine, likewise the mechanical appliances
shewn in the sketches relating to it.
In witness whereof, I, the said Emile Dreveton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
EMILE DREVETON. (L.S.)