IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES FOR USE AS FOOD FOR ANIMALS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Dewar, Doctor of Medicine, residing at
Kirkcaldy, in the County of Fife, North Britain, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES FOR USE
AS FOOD FOR ANIMALS."
Sealed the 7th August 1868, and dated the 14th May 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Déwar at thẻ
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,. on the
14th May 1868.
I, JAMES DEWAR, Doctor of Medicine, residing at Kirkcaldy, in the
County of Fife, North Britain, do hereby declare' the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
FOR USE AS FOOD FOR ANIMALS," to be as follows :—
My Invention consists in preserving in a condition suitable for the
food of horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, and other like animals the solid and
liquid refuse of grain which has been used in distilleries and breweries
for making spirits and beer, and which is generally known as draff.and
dree

page_text: To effect this object I subject the substances intended to be preserved
to the action of sulphurous acid. For this purpose I employ the aqueous
solution of sulphurous acid, commonly manufactured of about specific
gravity 1.012, or sulphurous acid in the form of a sulphite or bi-sulphite.
I mix the acid in either of the above forms with the draff, which is
the solid portion of the above-mentioned refuse, and thereafter if I
intend to preserve the substance for a long time I thoroughly dessicate
the same. If the substance is to be preserved for a short time dessication
is not necessary.
I mix the dreg, which is the liquid portion of the said refuse, with
the acid in cither of the above forms, which preserves it for a long
time.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Dewar in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th November 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
DEWAR, Doctor of Medecine, residing at Kirkcaldy, in the County of
Fife, North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James, Dewar, Her special licence that I,
the said James Dewar, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said James Dewar, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING CERTAIN
VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES FOR USE AS FOOD FOR ANIMALS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Dewar, 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 bo

page_text: 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 James Dewar, 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 the processes of distilling spirits and of brewing beer from grain
there remains a considerable refuse of the grain more or less mixed
with the liquid used in the process. The more solid portion of this
refuse is commonly known in distilleries and breweries by the name of
draff, and the more liquid portion by the name of dreg. These residual
matters have been found by experience to afford valuable nutriment to
horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, and other animals which eat that description
of food, but are apt to ferment and become sour and unfit or unpalatable
for food when kept for any length of time.
The nature of my Invention is to preserve the residual matters above
mentioned, commonly known as draff and dreg, for a length of time in
a condition suitable for the food of horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, and other
animals for which the same is suitable as food when fresh by the
application of sulphurous acid.
The manner in which my Invention is to be performed is as follows:
-I subject any quantity of the said residual substances which I desire
to preserve to the action of the sulphurous acid by mixing the acid
therewith either in the form of an aqueous solution of the description
commonly manufactured, say, of specific gravity about 1·012, or in the
form of a sulphite or bi-sulphite. The aqueous solution of the acid and
the sulphite or bi-sulphite may be used separately or in combination,
but I consider it preferable to use the acid in one of these forms only
on any one occasion.
I mix the acid thoroughly with the draff, which is the more solid
portion of the residual substances above mentioned, and which I leave
in that condition, and I find that it will when so treated remain
for a considerable time sound and in a wholesome, palatable, and
nutritive condition. When I desire to preserve the draff for a
very long period I first mix it with the acid and then subject it to a
careful desiccation, by which I mean such desiccation as will expel

page_text: the moisture without injuring the nutritive properties of the substance.
This I find is best effected by subjecting the, substance to the action of
dry air of a temperature from eighty degrees to two hundred degrees
Fahrenheit. I mix the dreg, which is the more liquid portion of the
said residual substance, with the acid in any of the above forms, and I
find that when so mixed the dreg remains for a considerable length of
time sound and in a wholesome' and palatable condition, and retains all
its nutritive properties.
As respects the quantities of the acid which should be used I find
that one ounce by measure of the aqueous solution of the strength before 1
mentioned is sufficient for the preservation of three pounds' weight of
the draff; that one ounce by measure of the said solution is sufficient
to preserve five gallons of the dreg; that one ounce of the sulphite or
bi-sulphite is sufficient to preserve three pounds of the draff; and that
one ounce of the sulphite or bi-sulphite is sufficient to preserve five 1
gallons of the dreg.
In witness whercof, I, the said James Dewar, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of November, in the year of our
Lord Eighteen hundred and sixty-eight.