IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arnold Morel Fatio, Merchant, and François Verdeil,
Medical Doctor and Chemist, both residing in Paris, in the Empire of
France, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND
VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES"
Sealed the 11th April 1854, and dated the 31st January 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arnold Morel Fatio and
François Verdeil at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 31st January 1854.
We, ARNOLD MOREL FATIO, Merchant, and FRANÇOIS VERDEIL, Medical
Doctor and Chemist, both residing in Paris, in the Empire of France, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRE-
SERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a process of steaming and dessicating animal and
vegetable matters for the purpose of preserving them from decay. When
operating upon vegetables, they are to be trimmed and prepared as if for.
cooking; and in the case of meat, that is to be deprived of bone and fat. The
substances, whether animal or vegetable, are placed in a close vessel, into
which steam, at a pressure of from one to five atmospheres, is introduced.
The pressure of the steam is kept up until the substances under operation are
completely cooked. By the action of the heat all the albumen contained in
the meat or vegetables will be coagulated, and by performing the cooking

page_text: operation by means of steam the goodness is not washed out of the substances,
as is the case when water is employed for that purpose. When the substances
have been properly cooked, they are dried by exposure to a current of heated
air; or any apparatus may be employed in which a vacuum is formed for
assisting the evaporation of the water contained in the steamed animal or
vegetable matters.
When this drying operation has been effected, the substances will no longer
be liable to change, but they may be kept for years, the fermenting principles
having been destroyed by the coagulation produced by the action of the
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by
the said Arnold Morel-Fatio..and François Verdeil in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 29th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ARNOLD
MOREL FATIO, Merchant, and FRANÇOIS VERDEIL, Medical Doctor and Chemist,
both residing in Paris, in the Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of January, in tlie year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the Arnold Morel Fatio and François Verdeil, Her special license that we,
the said Arnold Morel Fatio and François Verdeil, our executors, adniinis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Arnold Morel Fatio and
François Verdeil, 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, exer-
cise, and vend, within the United 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 we, the said Arnold Morel Fatio and François Verdeil, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of one of us, 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 Arnold Morel Fatio and François
Verdeil; do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):-
Our Invention of "Improvements in Preserving Animal and Vegetable Sub-
stances" consists in the employment of the following means, which may be
applied to the preservation of vegetables, meat, and fish:-The substances to
be preserved, after having been previously prepared, according to their peculiar
nature, as will be hereafter described, for the preserving process, are submitted
to the action of heated steam, (that is to say,) steam supplied from a gene-
rator at any convenient pressure of atmospheres, by preference four or five
atmospheres, and heated by means of any suitable apparatus. The animal or
vegetable substances will by this means be speedily cooked, without having tho
goodness washed out of them, or their quality deteriorated, as is the case when
water is employed for that purpose. After having been submitted to the action
of the steam for a suitable time, the substances are to be dried by artificial
means in heated stoves, which may be provided with blowers, or into or through
which a current of hot air may be forced, or they may be dried in a vacuum
apparatus. By the action of the steam the albumen contained in the sub-
stances operated upon will be coagulated, and the fermentable principles
destroyed, and on afterwards drying them at a low temperature, for the purpose
of carrying off the water which they contain, the substances will be rendered
unchangeable, and may be kept for any length of time. When required for
use, it is only necessary to boil the substances so prepared in hot water,
and they will have all the quality and flavor of meat, fish, or vegetables cooked
when fresh.
By means of this process the substances may be supplied to those countries
where they are not to be obtained in a fresh state, and vegetables may bo
obtained in winter as well as in summer. We will now proceed to describe
the method we adopt of operating upon vegetables, meat, and fish. When
vegetables are to be operated upon, they are to be trimmed, cleansed, and
cut up, or divided, according to the state in which it is desired to preserve
them. They are then placed upon frames, upon which canvas or other fabric
is stretched, or upon wattles, and introduced into a close vessel or chamber,
such as that shewn in the accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a side
elevation; Fig. 2, a vertical section, of the vessel, taken in the line A, A,
of Fig. 3, which is a horizontal section taken in the line B, B, of Fig. 2.
Steam is introduced through the pipes 6 into this vessel at a suitable pressure,
and is allowed to escape from the pipe 6 into the interior of the vessel from

page_text: jets c, c. It is advisable to provide the apparatus with a small aperture for. the
escape of a small portion of the steam, the exit of which may be regulated by
a pipe and cock, or by a small safety valve, as the vegetable will by. this
means be much better cooked. The form and dimensions of the steaming appa-
ratus may be variously modified according to circumstances, but that which we
prefer to employ consists of an iron casing, having a coil of perforated pipe
running through it, for the purpose of supplying the steam to the interior of the
apparatus, which is provided with a door or opening for the introduction of the
frames a, a, and is hermetically closed before the introduction of the steam.
When the vegetables are sufficiently cooked, the frames a, a, upon which they
are placed, are withdrawn from the chamber, and; the vegetables are trans-
ferred to any suitable drying apparatus. The one best adapted for this purpose
consists of a stove, into which air heated to from ninety degrees to one hundred
degrees or one hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit, is forced or drawn by.
means of fans or blowers, in such manner that the heated air shall be caused
to act equally upon all the frames on which the vegetables are placed.
When dry, the vegetables will be no longer. liable to change, and will be
preserved, even if exposed to the contact of the atmosphere.
All kinds of vegetables may be preserved in the manner above described; but
as we are aware that somewhat similar means, such as the cooking potatoes by
steam, has been employed for the preservation of potatoes, we do not claim the
application of our process thereto, but desire to secure the preservation by our
improved means of the following vegetable substances, viz:-Peas, asparagus,
champignons, spinach, French beans, haricot beans; carrots, cabbages, Brussels
sprouts, truffles, beet root, Windsor and other beans, turnips, sorrel, mush-
rooms, salsify or goats beard, endive, lettuce, celery, chevril, onions, tarragon,
lecks, radishes, Jerusalem and other artichokes, and rhubarb. Also the
following fruits, viz-Apricots, pears, apples, quinces, and pine apples.
The duration of the action of the heated steam upon these substances must
be varied according to their nature and the purpose for which they are
intended to be employed.
...The method of packing will also vary according to the nature of the sub-
stances. For example, seeds (such as peas) may be packed in boxes of card
board or wood, and vegetables in leaf are to be pressed in paper bags, but care
must be taken to secure them from the action of water, and to prevent them
from getting damp.
As by this process the substances will have been already, to a certain
extent, cooked by the action of the steam, when they are required for use
half an hour's cooking will be found sufficient to prepare them for the table,

page_text: and bring them to the condition of fresh vegetables; whereas under ordinary
circumstances, unprepared vegetable of a similar description would have
required at least two hours cooking. From this it will be seen that a con-
siderable economy of time and fuel will be effected by using the vegetables or
other substances prepared as herein described. When meat is to be operated
upon, it is to be deprived of bone and fat, and cut into pieces of about three
inches in thickness by six inches in length, or the greatest length possible in
the direction of the grain or fibres. The pieces thus prepared are then placed
in the steaming apparatus, which is similar to that employed for vegetables,
with this difference, that it is preferable to hang the pieces of meat upon hooks,
instead of placing them upon frames. The steam is allowed to act for nearly
a quarter of an hour, after which time the meat (all the albumen of which has
become coagulated, and which has undergone a peculiar cooking action,) is to
cut into slices, as nearly as possible across the grain. A small quantity of salt
is then sprinkled over these slices, and they are laid one over the other in a
vessel, and allowed to remain during several hours, in order that the salt may
penetrate them, after which they are to be dried in the same manner as
described for vegetables.
When the preserved meat is only intended to be employed for the purpose
of making broth or soup, the sprinkling with salt may be dispensed with, as
the only object of this operation is to render the meat more tender, and more
easily acted upon by the water when required to be cooked for eating.
This mode of preparation will preserve meat for an indefinite time in a fresh
state, so that broth prepared from such meat will have the great advantage of
complete freshness; and the meat having been prepared without salt, the
broth or soup made from it will not have that acrid and unpleasant taste inci-
dental to products obtained by concentrating the juices of meat by evaporation
or otherwise.
The pieces of meat when dried will be found to be hard, brittle, and without
smell, and may be kept for any length of time in casks or vessels, provided they
be kept free from contact with water, or from exposure to too great a degree
of humidity. In order to prepare the meat thus operated upon for table, it is
only necessary to soak it in lukewarm water, and to cook it slowly, in the
same manner as when cooking fresh meat.
If it be desired to economise space in packing, as in provisioning ships or
armies, the pieces of meat might be compressed on leaving the drying appa-
ratus, and being then still warm they would be soft and compressible, and
only become brittle on cooling. By means of powerful hydraulic or other

page_text: presses, cakes of any required thickness may be obtained, and which may be
divided as required.
Thirdly, when fish are required to be preserved, they are to be treated as
follows: If small, or of moderate dimensions, they may be preserved entire,
and for this purpose they must be gutted, and a small quantity of salt intro-
duced inside them. They are then to be placed in the steaming apparatus,
and submitted, during a very short period, to the action of heated steam, in
the same manner as when operating upon meat, but for a very short time.
They are then dried by the same means as those above indicated for
meat and vegetables. When fishes of large size are to be operated upon,
they may-be-cut up into pieces, sprinkled with salt, and dried in the same
manner.
Fish thus treated will be found to be altered very little, either in form
or size; it will keep well, and may also be prepared for table by boiling in
water.
Having now described our Invention, and the manner of carrying the same
into effect, we claim, in conclusion, preserving the animal and vegetable sub-
stances above mentioned by submitting them to the double process of being
operated on by steam, for the purpose of coagulating the albumen therein, and
partially cooking the substances, and afterwards drying the same for the
purpose of driving off or carrying away the watery particles.
In witness whereof, we, the said Arnold Morel Fatio and François
Verdeil, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Twenty-eighth
day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-four.