A NEW OR IMPROVED AERATED BEVERAGE
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Cleland Davidson, of Belfast, in the County of
Antrim, Gentleman, for an Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED AERATED
BEVERAGE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Cleland Davidson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th January 1880.
SAMUEL CLELAND DAVIDSON, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Gentleman.
"A NEW OR IMPROVED AERATED BEVERAGE."
My Invention consists in preparing an infusion of tea in the form of an aerated
beverage.
Infusion of tea under ordinary circumstances soon ferments and goes sour, and
one of the advantages of aerating it in accordance with my Invention is that, as I
have found by experiment, it will keep good for a considerable, if not for an
indefinite period, provided it be contained in bottles or vessels properly secured so
as to maintain the condition of aeration, and its aroma will be preserved apparently
as fresh as when the infusion was first made. The aërated tea forms a refreshing
and invigorating beverage.
According to one method of carrying out my Invention I make a comparatively
weak infusion of the tea, and preferably when it has become cold I force carbonic
acid gas into it by any of the processes ordinarily used in aerating liquids. I then
bottle it, securing the stoppers by wires or otherwise.
According to another method I make a very strong infusion of the tea, put a
suitable quantity of it, preferably when cold, into each bottle, and then inject or
force aerated water into the bottles, securing the stoppers as before.
In either case the infusion may be sweetened by adding dissolved or powdered
sugar in such quantity as may appear desirable; the sugar is preferably not mixed
with the infusion before being put into the bottles, but is put into the bottles first.
Even when it is not wished to impart sweetness I prefer to use a very small
quantity of sugar, as I find it has the effect of removing or counteracting a certain
alkaline flavour which is generally met with in cold tea.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Samuel Cleland Davidson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th July 1880.
SAMUEL CLELAND DAVIDSON, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Gentleman.
"A NEW OR IMPROVED AERATED BEVERAGE."
My Invention consists in preparing an infusion of tea in the form of an aerated
beverage.
Infusion of tea under ordinary circumstances soon ferments and goes sour, and
one of the advantages of aerating it in accordance with my Invention is that, as I
have found by experiment, it will when so prepared keep good for a considerable,
if not for an indefinite period, provided it be contained in bottles or vessels properly
secured so as to maintain the condition of aeration, and its aroma will be preserved
apparently as fresh as when the infusion was first mado. Tea thus aerated forms a
refreshing and invigorating beverage.
In order to carry out my Invention I make an infusion of tea of about 3 or 4
times the strength that it is intended the beverage shall be when aerated and ready
for use.
The quantity of dry tea to use for making this infusion is a matter of
taste, and depends also upon the strength and quality of the tea used, but if the tea
be of good quality an ordinary amount would be three or four ounces of dry tea to
the quart of infusion.
The infusion should be allowed to cool, and when cold it usually has a turbid or
clouded appearance, and particularly when the infusion is made from strong Assam
teas, in which case the turbidity when the infusion is cold is very marked, and the
cold infusion (even after dilution with water) is thereby rendered very objectionable
looking as a beverage. I therefore then clarify it, and for this purpose the method
of clarification which is the subject of Letters Patent applied for by me on the 24th
July 1880, may be employed with advantage. According to that method I add to
the infusion some of that gelatinous precipitate which is known as trihydrate of
alumina, thoroughly mixing the same therewith, and then filtering the trihydrate
out again either by cloth, paper, or other convenient filter of sufficient degree of
fineness to catch and retain it. On the removal of the trihydrate of alumina the
liquid should be left pure and bright. The quantity of the trihydrate to be used
depends so entirely upon the strength of the infusion that it would be difficult to
accurately define an exact proportion for it, but it should be added carefully till the
infusion filters out sufficiently clarified, and I preferably employ it with the infusion
when the latter is cold, and filter it therefrom again at the same temperature, 80
that it is an easy matter to keep adding the trihydrate of alumina until the infusion
comes through the filter clear enough. The trihydrate of alumina which I preferably
employ is that which is prepared by precipitation from a solution of alum by
adding thereto an alkaline carbonate until the solution is neutralized, or until it
shows just slightly alkaline to test paper. The precipitated trihydrate should be
then filtered out, but the filtrate need not be washed, and I prefer it to be retained
in a moist state and used in that condition.
Another, but comparatively inferior, inethod of effecting the clarification is to
add to the cold infusion a little albumen (such as white of egg) dissolved in cold
water, and to mix it into the infusion, and when it is intimately combined therewith
the infusion should be raised to boiling point, or to within a few degrees of it, so as
to cause the albumen to coagulate, and the coagulated albumen is then to be filtered
out by any convenient method. The filtered infusion will on recooling be found to
remain comparatively free from its previous tendency to become turbid or clouded in
appearance.
The infusion may be sweetened by the addition of sugar either before or after
the process of clarification, a suitable amount of sugar being about once or once

page_text: and a half times the weight of the dry tea used to make the infusion. Or any
other suitable flavoring substances may be used with or without sugar, but if used
before clarification they must not be of a nature to interfere with the proper action
of the trihydrate of alumina or the albumen.
Of the clarified infusion I then take what will about one quarter or one third fill
the bottle in which it is intended the aerated beverage is to be contained, and I
inject into the bottle, and upon the infusion of the tea therein, water charged with
carbonic acid gas under pressure of preferably 100 lbs. to the square inch, but a
greater or less pressure may be used, and I cork or close the bottle in such a manner
that the condition of aeration and pressure of gas shall be maintained as perfectly
as possible, and secure the cork or stopper by wires or otherwise.
For charging the water with carbonic acid gas, and for injecting the water when
so charged into the bottles containing the clarified infusion of tea, and corking or
closing the same, any of the machines ordinarily in use for the manufacture and
bottling of aerated waters may be employed.
When the bottles are filled and corked they should be subjected to a slight
agitation, in order to cause the admixture of the strong syrupy infusion of the tea
with the aerated water injected upon it, and after a few minutes subsequent rest
the beverage is then ready for use when required.
It is important that as little time as possible shall elapse between the making of
the infusion of the tea and its subsequent aeration and bottling, so that the infusion
may not have time to develop even an incipient fermentation, and the greatest care
should be taken in all the stages of the manufacture of the beverage to prevent
any ingredient getting into the infusion that would be liable in any way to
encourage or set up immediate or subsequent fermentation.
Having now described the nature and method of preparation of my new or
improved beverage, I claim as my Invention,-
The manufacture of a new or improved beverage consisting of an infusion of tea
prepared in the ordinary way, then clarified, and then aerated, substantially as
herein before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Cleland Davidson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty sixth day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and eighty.
S. C. DAVIDSON. (L.s.)