IMPROVE- MENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCESPOR FOOD." MENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCESFOR FOOD
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Hands, of Duke Street, Grosvenor Square,
in the County of Middlesex, M.R.C.S., for the Invention of " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCESPOR FOOD."
MENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCESFOR FOOD."
Sealed the 29th February 1856, and dated the 27th October 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Hands at the.
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
October 1855.
I, JOSEPH HANDS; of Duke Street, Grosvenor Square, in the County of
Middlesex, M.R.C.S., do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES FOR:
Food to be as follows:-
The Invention relates to preserving animal & vegetable substances for food,:
by subjecting the matters to be preserved to the influence of those gases or
matters which are capable of combining with or neutralizing the influence of
those gases or elements which predispose animal & vegetable substances to:
decomposition, especially with respect to the chief of them, namely, oxygen;
also to subjecting them to the. influence. of other negative media held to be:
inimical to decomposition.
The agents which I employ to combine with these decomposing elements,
are chiefly those.different compounds. resulting from the union.of sulphur with

page_text: oxygen, particularly selecting as an example of this series the binoxide of
sulphur (commonly called sulphurous acil gas), also the different compounds
of nitrogen (except nitrous oxide) and oxygen, especially selecting of this
series the deutoxide of nitrogen (commonly called nitric oxide gas), and which
forms hyponitrous or nitrous acid gas or vapour when mixed with oxygen.
After subjecting the matter to be preserved for a short period in a closed
chamber or vessel to one or other of the above series of gases, I, by suitable
exhausting means applied to the chamber or vessel containing the matters to
be preserved, withdraw those gases, & with them a portion of others with
which they have combined, but which by the combination have thereby formed
a new compound; or I withdraw the matters from the vessel or chamber in
which they have been subjected to the gaseous influence, & I then generally
subject such matters to a negative media, held, as already stated, to be inimical
to decomposition, as nitrogen & carbonic acid gas.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Hands in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPHI
HANDS, late of Duke Street, Grosvenor Square, and now of Kensington Park
Terrace, North, Notting Hill; both in the County of Middlesex, Member of
the Royal College of Surgeons, send greeting
3
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of October;..in the year of our
Lord One thousand.eight. hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give, and grant,unto nie, the
said Joseph Hands, Her special license that I, the -said. Joseph; Hands; my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 'I; the,,said Joseph
Hands;; 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:: Inventions for IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES FOR FOOD," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Hands, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 'should particularly describe and ascertain the nature.

page_text: 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 Joseph Hands, 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 thereof (that is to say):
My said Invention consists of a mode of preserving either in a raw. or cooked
state such animal substances as are used for the food of man, and this I effect
by subjecting the matters to be preserved to the action of certain gaseous
chemical agents for a longer or shorter period, according to the weight, dimen-,
sions, and nature of the articles to be operated upon. This may be effected
in any convenient vessel or chamber, either by filling the vessel or chamber in
which the operation is to be performed with the gaseous agent or agents intended
to be employed, thereby expelling or partially expelling the atmospheric air
therefrom, and then introducing the substance or. substances to be preserved
into the vessel or chamber; or the substance or substances to be preserved
may be first introduced into the vessel or chamber, into which the gaseous
agent or agents may afterwards be impelled or introduced, so as to occupy, the
place of all or part of the atmospheric air within the vessel or chamber.
use
The chemical agents which I use in this manner are binoxide of nitrogen,
nitrous acid, and sulphurous acid, each in a gaseous state, and they may be
used either separately or combined. Binoxide of nitrogen, nitrous acid, and
sulphurous acid, having each an affinity for oxygen, and neither of those agents
by any process here described impart any disgusting, or unpleasant flavour or
taste to the substances preserved, or destroy the neutrative qualities apper-
taining to them. I believe that the preserving agents I combine with, or
have a tendency to combine with or neutralise, those elements or parts of the
substances preserved, which tend to absorb or cause the preserved substances,
to absorb oxygen from the atmosphere, and so predispose them to decom-
position, by inducing or promoting that acid fermentation which precedes the
putrefactive fermentation in, animal matter; but it is difficult to state with
certainty the precise action of any agent used for the preservation of animal
substances, and I do not therefore mean to assert anything more than my belief
respecting the action of these chemical agents, which I have discovered are
fitted for these purposes in manner herein described, whether the precise
chemical action of them be or be not what. I have supposed it to be.
In order to ensure the proper action of the, gaseous agent or agents upon
the substances to be preserved, I. suspend the substances in the vessel or

page_text: chamber-in-which-they-are-to-be-subjected_to_the_action of any such gas.
in such a manner that the gas or gases may liave access to every'
part of their surfaces.
or gases,
To accelerate and ensure the preservative action of any gaseous agent
employed in any case, it may be kept in agitation within the. chamber or
vessel; or the substances to be preserved may be kept in motion whilst
immersed in the gaseous agent or agents. In either case the motion may be
effected by any convenient means. For preserving most kinds of-provisions,
either gaseous binoxide of nitrogen, nitrous acid gas, or sulphurous acid gas
may be used; but with respect to some other kinds of provisions one or other
of these agents may be employed in preference to the other or others; thus
tish, when preserved by the action of gaseous binoxide of nitrogen or nitrous
acid gas, is in a firmer condition than when preserved by the action of sul-
phurous acid gas, for which reason I prefer to use gaseous binoxide of nitrogen
or nitrous acid gas in the preservation of fish; also for preserving the inore
albuminous meats, such as veal, pork, and the flesh of common fowl, I prefer
to use sulphurous acid gas, either alone or combined with nitrous acid 'gas, by
which I am enabled to preserve the pristine appearance of those-meats
more effectually than by gaseous binoxide of nitrogen, or nitrous acid gas
alone.
Meats preserved by the action of sulphurous acid gas and nitrous acid gas
combined, will, I believe, afterwards bear exposure to the air better than meat
preserved by any one of the gaseous agents alone. Pieces of animal food to
be preserved, of the weight of from seven to fourteen pounds, I usually submit
to the action of the gaseous agent employed for a period varying from two to
three hours, according to tlie weight and dimensions of the pieces, só as
to ensure preservation; but I believe preservation may be effected in a much
shorter period, particularly when agitation or motion is used, as before
described.
In preserving fish by means of gaseous binoxide of nitrogen, I first
immerse the fish in water, and then subject it whilst in a moist state to the
action of the gas, or the fish may be subjected to the action of the gas by
causing the water in which it is immersed to absorb a small portion of
the gas.
Sometimes in preserving articles of food I place the substance to be pre-
served in the vessel in which it is to be kept for use, and then impel or intro-
duce therein the gaseous agent or agents to be employed, which I allow to
remain therein for a period varying from one to two hours, more or less,
according to the weight, dimensions, and nature of the substance to be pre-

page_text: served, so as to ensure preservation. I then extract or permit the escape of
the gaseous agent or agents, and substitute in its place nitrogen gas or carbonic
acid gas, and afterwards hermetically close the vessel. After animal substances
have been thus subjected to the action of a gaseous agent or agents in a close
vessel for effecting their preservation, the gas or gases may be allowed to remain
in the vessel, for the purpose of better ensuring their preservation; but this
observation must not be understood as extending to vegetable substances,
which cannot, I believe, be so treated. When substances operated upon by
any gaseous agent or agents for the purpose of preserving them are kept in the
vessels in which they have been subjected to the action of such gas or gases,
or in any close vessel, I deem it inexpedient to allow any atmospheric air to
remain in or have access to the vessel. And I deem it better that in every
case in which the vacant spaces in any vessel containing substances preserved
or treated according to my Invention are not filled with, the gas- or gases
used for preserving them, those spaces should be filled with nitrogen gas
or carbonic acid gas, inasmuch as these gases have no tendency to promote
decomposition in the animal or vegetable substances to be preserved; but I do
not claim the use of those gases in this way as part of my Invention.87
When an animal substance to be preserved is in a raw state, and has been
subjected to the action of the gaseous agent or agents employed in manner
herein-before described, I prefer to dry the exterior surface of it before storing
or putting it in the vessel or place in which it is to be kept for use, and this
may be effected by a current of warm dry air. or by any other convenient
means, care being taken that the temperature of the air be not higher than
one hundred and twenty degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer.
I dry fish which I intend to store more gently and not so much as other
animal substances; and when I dry an animal substance in this way and intend
storing it in close vessels, I prefer to subject it a second time to the action of
one or more of the gaseous agents which I have above mentioned before storing
it, in order more effectually to ensure its preservation. In some cases, however,
fish may, for a short time at least, be preserved in a moist state.
The gaseous chemical agents which I employ as above mentioned may
be obtained or formed as follows:-The gaseous binoxide of nitrogen may be
obtained by the decomposition of nitric acid by copper or iron, in the mode
well known to chemists, or by any other suitable means. The nitrous acid gas
may be formed by the combination of pure oxygen or common air with gaseous
binoxide of nitrogen, or by the dry distillation of nitrate of lead, or by any
other suitable means; and the sulphurous acid gas may be obtained by the
decomposition of sulphuric acid by means of copper or other suitable substances,

page_text: SUT
any convenient manner. And a compound of nitrous acid gas and sulphurous
acid gas for the purposes of my Invention may be obtained by burning about
three parts, of nitrate of potash and about seven parts of sulphur together in
a close chamber without water. It must be understood; however, that I do
not claim these modes of producing the gaseous agents as any part of my
Invention.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
it is to be performed, I declare I claim as of my said Invention, the mode of
preserving animal and vegetable substances, such as are used for the food
of man, by means of gaseous binoxide of nitrogen, nitrous acid, gas, and
sulphurous acid gas, either separately or combined, in the manner herein-before
described.
.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Hands, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six...
Witness,....
... HENRY-WINSTANLEY,
JOSEPH HANDS. (L.s.).