AN IMPROVED MODE OF PRESERVING VEGETABLE JUICES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lauchlan Rose, of Leith, in the Kingdom of Scotland,
Lime and Lemon Juice Merchant, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
Scaled the 5th June 1868, and dated the 9th December 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lauchlan Rose at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
December 1867.
I, LAUCHLAN ROSE, of Leith, in the Kingdom of Scotland; Lime and
Lemon Juice Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PRESERVING VEGETABLE JUICES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the preparation of lime, lemon, and other juices
with a view to prevent or greatly retard their deterioration. It is well known
that lime juice and lemon juice, as ordinarily prepared for exportation and use
at sea or for home consumption, will after a time deteriorate and become quite
unfit for use, and that to its deterioration is due much of the sickness to which
sailors are exposed while on active service. Many attempts have been made
to meet this difficulty, but from economical or other reasons none have
hitherto proved practically successful. I now propose in the preparation of
lime juice, lemon juice, and other like vegetable medicaments to employ
sulphurous acid or sulphurous gas. The acid in a liquid state is mixed with
the juice in an air-tight vessel or cask, and allowed to stand for a few days
until the acid has acted upon the vegetable matter in the juice. Afterwards

page_text: the vessel or cask is exposed, and any fumes not absorbed by the juice allowed
to escape until the juice has attained its natural flavor. When the gas is
used I cause it to circulate over and through the lime or other juice while
exposed in air-tight casks or other air-tight vessels until the result required is
accomplished; the gas is generated in the ordinary way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filel
by the said Lauchlan Rose in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th June 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LAUCHLAN
ROSE, of Leith, in the Kingdom of Scotland, Lime and Lemon Juice
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Lauchlan Rose, Her special licence that I, the said Lauchlan Rose,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Lauchlan Rose, 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 Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
*MODE OF PRESERVING VEGETABLE JUICES," upon the condition (amongst others')
that I, the said Lauchlan Rose, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 Lauchlan Rose, 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
statement:
It is well known that lime and lemon juice as ordinarily prepared for
exportation and use at sea or for home .consumption will after a time dete-
riorate and become quite unfit for use, and that to this deterioration is due

page_text: much of the sickness to which sailors are exposed while on active service, as
well as the inferior quality or condition of those juices as sold by chemists and
others in home consumption. Although attempts have been made to meet
this difficulty, yet from economical or other reasons none have hitherto proved
practically successful; hence, according to my Invention, I prepare lime juice,
lemon juice, and other vegetable juices or medicaments by employing sul-
phurous acid or sulphurous gas either free or combined (as for instance, as a
sulphite or bi-sulphite). The acid free or combined is mixed with the juice
in a vessel or cask and allowed to stand for a few days, until the acid has
acted on the vegetable matter in the juice by arresting fermentation and
decomposition; afterwards the contents of such vessel or cask are exposed to
atmospheric influence, and any fumes not absorbed by the juice are allowed
to escape until the juice has attained its natural flavour. When the gas is
used I cause it to circulate over and through the lime or other juices while
exposed in air-tight vessels until the result required is accomplished. The gas
is generated in the ordinary way.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed or carried into
practical effect, I hereby declare that I claim the preserving vegetable juices
by the adoption and use of sulphurous acid or sulphurous gas free or combined,
the same being herein-before particularly set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lauchlan Rose, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
ALEXANDER GOw,
Clerk to W. Steven, Leith.
Signed & declared before me, at Leith,
this Twenty-eighth May, Eighteen
hundred & sixty-eight.
WILLIAM STEVEN. J. P.
LAUCHLAN ROSE. (L.S.)