IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING BREAD AND SHIP BISCUIT
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hippolyte Mège, Chemist, of 2, Rue Ste. Appoline,
Paris, France, and of 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING BREAD AND SHIP BISCUIT."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hippolyte Mège at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th August 1860.
I, HIPPOLYTE MÈGE, Chemist, of 2, Rue Ste. Appoline, Paris, France, and
of 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, do hereby declare the nature of my
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING BREAD AND SHIP BISCUIT," to
be as follows, that is to say:
My Invention.consists in a process for the manufacture of white bread of
the first quality and. ship biscuits with white and brown meal, or flour com-
bined, without altering the whiteness of the products, and giving them more
nutritious properties than by the ordinary mode of preparation.
The process is based, firstly, on dividing the .flour into first, second, and
third qualities by bolting, the first and second qualities being called white
meal, and the third brown;meal; secondly,. on. the. separation from.. the. brown
meal of the bran and; flour they contain by wetting it in water; by which
means the disagregation of the flour from the bran-is effected, and its separa-

page_text: tion is completed by decantation of the farinaceous liquid with or without
sifting; thirdly, on the employment of flour of the first quality to make the
yeast or leaven; fourthly, on the introduction into paste of white and brown
meal either in a dry or liquid state together or separately, taking care not to
use it as leaven; fifthly, the white and brown meal being near the skin of the
grain, and of a fermentable nature on wetting the same in water to preserve
it; sixthly, on the manufacture of ship biscuits with the first, second, and
third quality of flour or meal in the same way as bread, with the exception
that no yeast or leaven is used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hippolyte Mège in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th February 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HIPPOLYTE
MEGE, of 2, Rue Sainte Appoline, in Paris, the Empire of France, and of
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Hippolyte Mège, Her special licence that I, the said Hyppolyte
Mège, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Hippolyte Mège, my 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 Bri-
tain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING BREAD AND SHIP BISCUIT," upon the. condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Hippolyte Mège, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Hippolyte Mège, do hereby declare the
nature of my said. Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereto annexed, and to
the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention has for object the producing of better bread and as white
as the bread of the first quality and ship biscuit by the employment of
all the farinaceous parts contained in corn, and with which parts until now
brown bread and biscuit only were made.
To manufacture bread and biscuit according to the processes of my Inven-
tion, I use the flours as they are prepared in commerce, or they are purposely
prepared by me. In the first case I buy from the miller, firstly, the flour of
the first quality; secondly, the white groats, which serve to make inferior flour
and bread; and, thirdly, the brown groats, which only serves for feeding
animals, or for making brown bread. In the second case, that is to say, when
the flours are prepared purposely by me the corn is cleaned by wetting it with
three or four per cent. of its weight of water containing a small quantity of "
alkali, and saturated with sea salt. The corn having remained in that state
during several hours at rest is made to pass into a husking apparatus, by
which the impurities are removed with the greatest part of the bran. After
this cleansing the. corn is ground by the usual means, and after the sifting
operation the flours, as above stated, are separted; that is to say, firstly, the
flour of the first quality; secondly, the white groats mixed with some hun-
dredth parts in weight of bran; and, thirdly, the brown groats containing from
20 to 25 per cent. of bran.
With these products, which represent the whole constituents of the corn
(less the bran), instead of making white bread, bread of second quality, and
brown bread, I make according to my processes only one sort of white bread,
more economical and more wholesome than the former, and I proceed as
follows: For making bread with yeast the leaven is prepared according to
the custom of the country, or to the particular mode of operating of the baker,
with the yeast and flour of first quality, and whilst this leaven is preparing the
brown groats are thrown into the upper vat A of the apparatus, shewn in
elevation at Figure 1, and in section at Figure 2 of the annexed Drawing.
This vat..should contain to 5 or 6 -parts of water 1 of brown groats. The
groats are allowed to soak during 2 or 3 hours, after which time the agitator C
is put in motion by the handle B, after being agitated for about a quarter of an
hour, the vat A is put, in communication, with the sieve D by opening the
india-rubber pipe E, which is closed, by the pressure of the lever G. By
turning the handle B the mixture of water and brown groats falls on the sieve,
which by the alternate motion and the regular shock produced by the eccentric
H, causes the water saturated with flour to fall into the lower vat I at the

page_text: same time that the bran pushed to the end of the sieve D by the shock falls
into a recess or sack J. When the liquid mixture has passed through the
sieve the bran can be placed in the vat A with a small quantity of pure water
and again treated as above, in order to remove from the bran the remaining
particles of flour. The sifted liquid saturated with flour remains in the lower
vat I during three or four hours, then the flour is precipitated to the bottom
of the vat and clear water remains at the top. This useless water is made to
The quantity of water kept
run off, less the required quantity for the dough.
varies according to the weight given to the leaven. It is easy to calculate that
quantity, and to keep only the quantity of water required for the mode of
manufacture adopted. The separation of the liquid being effected, I mix with
the farinaceous deposit the white groats, and I add for one hundred parts of
corn flour about 10 parts of flour leaven or dough leaven, and when they are
well combined they are left at rest during about half an hour. If it be the
custom to add some particular salts, such as bitartrates or alum, they must be
added at the same time as the flour yeast. What may be the mode of manu-
facture at this stage of the operation, the leaven made of yeast must be ready,
and I then add to it the thickened mixture, herein-before described, they are
mixed together; and to make the dough I add the flour of first quality, the pro-
portions of which have been so calculated that every part of it is made use of.
It is, however, understood that more or less groats can be employed without
being obliged to remain within the proportions given by the grinding. Even
white or brown groats may be employed directly as well as white groats.
When bread is to be made with dough leaven the leaven is made as usual, and
the brown groats are prepared, as herein-before stated, only the leaven is
diluted with the liquid containing the flour of sieved brown groats; then a
sufficient quantity of flour of first quality is added to make a soft paste, to
which I add the white groats, by such means the dough is brought to the
required consistency, and the bread making is continued as usual.
To manufacture white ship biscuits of first quality with the farinaceous
products containing some bran, such as white and brown groats, I proceed as
follows: The brown groats are prepared, as herein-before stated, for obtaining
the farinaceous deposit, and to that liquid, saturated with flour, I add the white
groats, if it be desirable to put them, I add a very small quantity of alkali,
selecting, preferably, ammonia, on account of its easy volatilization. With the
thick liquid I mix flour of the first quality to obtain a paste of a suitable
consistency, and proceed then to manufacture the biscuits by the ordinary
means.
If it ho indifferent that the biscuit should have'a slightly vellow 'color.

page_text: though of the first quality, some particles of groats are added to the paste ;
the groats containing more or less bran are sprinkled with a small quantity of
ammonia. The groats so prepared will be added to a soft paste made with
water and flour of first quality to produce a dough of the required consistency
to manufacture the biscuit.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the best means with
which I am acquainted to put it into execution, I wish it to be understood that
I do not confine myself to the precise details of operating, herein-before
described, provided. the principle of my Invention be preserved; but what I
claim as my Invention is,―
First, the manufacture of bread and biscuit of first quality by the employ-
ment of the whole of the farinaceous parts contained in corn, as herein-before
described.
Secondly, the mode or process of cleaning the corn, as herein-before
described, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed.
Thirdly, in the mode or process of converting flour into bread and biscuit, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hippolyte Mège, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
H. MEGE. (L.B.)