Process for Reducing the Proportion of Caseine Contained in Milk.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Apr., 1895-Accepted, 1st June, 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Process for Reducing the Proportion of Caseine Contained
in Milk.
1 Dr. GUSTAV GAERTNER, of Schülerstrasse 1, Vienna, in the Empire of
Austria, Professor at the University, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Pure cow's milk is nearly altogether indigestible for the newly born during the
first months of their existence; this fact has been known for a long time and is
due, first, to the presence in cow's milk of much larger quantities of caseine than
in human milk, second, to the caseine from cow's milk coagulating into harder
lumps than human caseine..
To convert cow's milk into a product suitable for the food of infants, it is
necessary to dilute it with at least two or three times its bulk of water; this
process, which is now applied in cases where infants have to be reared artificially,
i.e. from animal milk, has a serious defect, which has been known for a long time
and has been dealt with in detail in various works concerning the subject, namely
that, by adding water to the milk, the proportion of fat it contains, ie. the nutritive
power of the milk, is at the same time reduced to a great extent. Whereas
maternal milk contains 3 per cent. or more of fat, the mixtures used for feeding
infants artificially contain only 1, or at the utmost only 14, per cent. of the same.
Hitherto three methods have been suggested to obviate this defect.
According to one method fresh or preserved cream is added to the milk, but this
process is practically so complicated that even the inventor only applies it
exceptionally..
According to the second method the deficient butter fat is replaced by
vegetable fat...
.J
:
According to the third method the fat is replaced by the addition of milk sugar
in excess..
The enumeration of these recently suggested processes suffices to show that
hitherto no simple general method applicable on a large scale has been known for
converting cow's milk into a food suitable for infant children, that is to say, for
rendering it poor in caseine and rich in fat, and that the process hereinafter
described may be considered new, notwithstanding its great simplicity.
This invention relates to a simple process, easily applicable on a large scale, for
reducing the proportion of caseine contained in milk without altering, or whilst
regulating, the proportion of fat.
This result is obtained in two ways.:
Either the natural cow's milk is freed, by centrifugal separation, from a certain
quantity of meagre milk containing no or little fat (whereby a corresponding
quantity of caseine is eliminated from the milk), the part of the milk thus removed
being replaced by another liquid containing no caseine; or this latter liquid is first
added to the natural milk, so that the existing quantity of caseine becomes thus
distributed in a larger quantity of liquid, and the whole is then treated in a
centrifugal separator in order to obtain the desired product rich in fat.
If, for instance, the quantity of natural milk to be treated in the separator is
mixed with twice its quantity of water or other liquid free of caseine, such as
sweet whey, decoctions of amylaceous substances, etc., the relative proportion of
caseine contained in the mixture is reduced to one third of the original proportion

page_text: of caseine contained in the natural milk. If the mixture is then treated in a
centrifugal separator and the outflow of the fat milk properly regulated, a product
will be obtained which contains the desired quantity of fat and only one third of
the caseine contained in the natural milk.
Of course the same result may also be obtained by treating the natural milk in
a centrifugal separator regulated as above, throwing out two thirds of the whole
quantity as meagre or separated milk and adding afterwards to the rich milk or
cream thus obtained twice its quantity of liquid containing no caseine.
As the eliminated quantity of meagre or separated milk has carried off two thirds
of the absolute proportion of caseine, the relative proportion of caseine in the
final mixture will also be one third of the original quantity of caseine contained
in the natural milk.
As a matter of course some fat will be extracted with the meagre milk, i... with
the heavier product of the treatment in the separator. However the quantity of
fat thus carried away will be exceedingly small and may be disregarded as being
of no importance in the practical application of the process on a large scale.
-
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
claim is :-
CLAIMS.
1st. A process for the reduction of the proportion of caseine contained in
animal milk, at the same time maintaining or regulating the proportion of fat, said
process consisting. in diluting natural animal milk with as much of a liquid. free
of caseine as to reduce to the desired proportion the caseine contained in the
mixture, then in treating the mixture in a centrifugal separator, the outflow of the
specially lighter final product being regulated, so as to control the proportion of fat
contained in the same, substantially as hereinbefore described and for the purpose
stated.
$
2nd. A process for the treatment of natural animal milk consisting in first
treating in a centrifugal separator the natural animal milk without any addition,
the apparatus being regulated as herein before stated, and in then adding to the
resulting cream or rich milk, a liquid containing no caseine, substantially as
hereinbefore described.
**
3rd. The process of treating animal milk to reduce the proportion of onseine
and to maintain or regulate the proportion of fat substantially as herein described 3
and for the purpose stated..
Dated this 23rd day of Anril 1805