AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES IN AIR-TIGHT VESSELS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Isaac Bengough, of No. 191, Richmond
Road, Hackney, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR PRESERVING ANIMAL AND
VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES IN AIR-TIGHT VESSELS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Isaac Bengough
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 28th September 1870.
I, JOHN ISAAC BENGOUGH, of No. 191, Richmond Road, Hackney, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR PRESERVING ANIMAL. AND
VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES IN AIR-TIGHT VESSELS," to be as follows:-
In preserving meat and other substances in cans by means of heat the
chief defect of the systems heretofore employed has been the injury.
caused to the substances by over cooking, which has been rendered
necessary in order to destroy the oxygen or putrefactive gases remaining.
in the cans after sealing. The great desideratum has been to discover

page_text: an agent for or mode of destroying these gases without excessive
cooking and without injury to the flavour of the meat or other substances
being preserved.
In preserving animal and vegetable substances I first prepare the
substances in the usual manner, and I then place a small quantity of
boron or boracic acid in the bottom of the tin or can, and then fill the
same with the meat or other substance to be preserved; the lid is then
soldered on the can or tin, an aperture in the lid being left for the
escape of the gases; the cooking is then commenced, and when com-
pleted an additional quantity of the same acid dissolved in water may
be introduced into the can through the aperture in the lid ; the can is
then hermetically sealed and retained in the cooking bath for a time
which will vary according to the size of the can, but which is much less
than is found necessary in preserving meats by the processes heretofore
employed. I thereby avoid the necessity of over cooking the meat, by
which over cooking the quality is deteriorated and its value very much
lessened. Instead of introducing the boron or acid at both the top and
bottom of the can or tin it may be placed at the bottom only, or all of it
introduced through the aperture in the lid, the object being to rapidly
destroy the oxygen or putrefactive gas remaining in the tin, which has
heretofore been done though in a less perfect manner by long continued
cooking after the tin is hermetically sealed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Isaac Bengough in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th March 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ISAAC BENGOUGH, of No. 191, Richmond Road, Hackney, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Isaac Bengough, Her special
licence that I, the said John Isaac Bengough, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Isaac Bengough,

page_text: 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 PROCESS FOR PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES IN AIR-
TIGHT VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Isaac Bengough, my executors or administrators, 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 John Isaac Bengough, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
In preserving meat and other substances in cans by means of heat,
the chief defect of the systems heretofore employed has been the injury
caused to the substances by over cooking, which has been rendered
necessary in order to destroy the oxygen or putrefactive gases remaining
in the cans after sealing. The great desideratum has been to discover
an agent for or mode of destroying these gases without excessive cooking
and without injury to the flavour of the meat or other substances being
preserved and without imparting to them any deleterious properties.
In preserving animal and vegetable substances first prepare the
substances in the usual manner, then place a small quantity of boron
or boracic acid in the bottom of the can or tin, and then fill the same
with the meat or other substance to be preserved; the lid is then
soldered on the can or tin, an aperture in the lid being left for the
escape of the gases; the cooking is then commenced, and when com-
pleted an additional quantity of the boron or boracic acid dissolved in
water may be introduced into the can through the aperture in the lid,
the can is then hermetically sealed and retained in the cooking bath for
a time which will vary according to the size of the can, but which is
much less than is found necessary in preserving meats by the processes
heretofore employed. I thereby avoid the necessity of over cooking the
-meat, by which over cooking the quality is deteriorated and its value

page_text: very much lessened. Instead of introducing the boron or acid at both
the top and bottom of the can or tin, it may be placed at the bottom
only or all of it introduced through the aperture in the lid, the object
being to rapidly destroy the oxygen or putrefactive gases remaining in
the tin, which has heretofore been done though in a less perfect manner
by a long continued cooking after the tin is hermetically sealed. Or
instead of leaving the aforesaid aperture in the lid of the can I place the
entire contents, including the boron or boracic acid at once in the can
and then solder the lid upon the same. I then place the can in the
bath, which is then gradually heated up to about two hundred and five
degrees Fahrenheit or more or less according to the size of the can.
I let the can remain in this bath until it begins to expand and then
pierce the cover with a small bradawl or similar implement, and leave
the aperture so formed open for a short time to allow the gases to
escape. I then solder up the said aperture and proceed with the cooking
as before.
This improved process is applicable to the preservation of all kinds of
perishable substances used as food, but is more especially useful for pre-
serving meat and fish either in small cans or tins such as are ordinarily
supplied to consumers or in large cases for exportation.
Having thus described my said Invention, and shown how the same
may be conveniently and advantageously carried into practice, I claim
the process for preserving animal and vegetable substances substantially
as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Isaac Bengough, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.
Witness,
E. C. JACKSON.
JOHN ISAAC BENGOUGH. (L.S.)