AN IMPROVED SAFE FOR FOOD AND AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR GENERATING PRESERVATIVE AND OTHER ELASTIC GASES TO CONNECTION THEREWITH, AND FOR OTHER DOMESTIC AND GENERAL PURPOSES
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Donald Nicoll at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd April
1869.
I, DONALD NICOLL, of 154, Caledonian Road, London, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED SAFE FOR FOOD AND AUTOMATIC APPARATUS
FOR GENERATING PRESERVATIVE AND OTHER ELASTIC GASES TO
CONNECTION THEREWITH, AND FOR OTHER DOMESTIC AND GENERAL PURPOSES,'
be as follows:-
BE USED IN
The object of this Invention is to provide a safe, chamber, or cupboard
wherein butchers' meat, poultry, fish, and other food may be placed
during warm and muggy weather, and which will prevent taint or
decomposition. This I effect by constructing for the use of butchers
and others a compartment or cupboard of wood in the ordinary manner,
extending half-way from the ceiling to the floor of the room, carriage,
or cabin intended to be used for the aforesaid purposes; this cupboard
or compartment is for the reception of the articles of food to be preserved,

page_text: and beneath beneath a space is left for working an exhauster to be
hereafter described.
In constructing the cupboard or safe I prefer to line it with prepared
bitumenized paper, slabs, or boards whereby it is rendered perfectly air,
gas, and water tight (these chambers may also be made with enamelled
sheet iron or any clean and impervious substance), and the opening
or door is made to close up to an india-rubber washer. The exhauster
which I place under the safe is composed of a board having the same
dimensions as the bottom of the safe, and to the edges of this I nail
or attach a piece of india-rubber or clastic cloth having a depth equal
to the height of the preserving chamber or cupboard, and also nailed or
otherwise fastened round the edges of the floor of the safe, and in this
floor I have an opening communicating with the gas bag or exhauster.
Thus when the safe has had the articles of food to be preserved placed
within it the door is screwed up and a cock and valve arrangement which
which is provided at the top is opened to allow the escape of atmospheric
air as the preservative gas enters. When required to extract any article
from the safe the cock furnishing the gas supply is to be closed, and
when this is done the exhauster is unfastened and allowed to descend,
in doing which it sucks into itself the whole of the gas contained in
the upper chamber or safe; the door of the chamber is then opened and
anything required 'taken out and the door closed up again, and the
bottom board of the exhauster lifted up and fastened to the bottom
of the safe by an arrangement provided for the purpose. By the act
of lifting up the bottom of the exhauster all the gas contained within
it is forced back into the safe and expels all air; this may be repeated
as often as desired, with a very slight loss of gas and without any danger
to the persons who have occasion to use the safe. Any small loss of gas
is supplied by the automatic gas generator, shewn in the annexed
Drawing, and now to to be described,
A, a leaden chamber for containing marble in small pieces; B, a
leaden chamber for containing hydrochloric or sulphuric acid; C, a
leaden chamber for containing the acid which has already been in
contact with the marble when the apparatus ceases working; D, a leaden
pipe for containing the valve E and for conducting the supply of acid
from B to A; E, a small valve of india-rubber and lead for regulating
the supply of acid from chamber B to A; F, a disc of thin sheet india-
rubber stretched tightly over the opening and having a wire fastened

page_text: into its centre, the end of said wire being a plug or valve of india-
rubber, shewn at E; G, a small cap with india-rubber washer for filling
the chamber B with acid; H, a cap with clamp for filling the chamber A
with marble; I, a pipe and cock for conducting the generated gas to any
desired place; J, a pipe leading direct from the bottom of chamber A to
the bottom of chamber C for conducting the partially spent acid from
the generating chamber to the pressure chamber when the quantity and
pressure required has been furnished; K, a cock for drawing off the
spent liquors, washing the apparatus out, &c., &c.; L, a tube leading
from the top of chamber A to the top of chamber B. This pipe allows
the passage of sufficient gas to maintain the same pressure in chamber B
as in A, and the moment the pressure increases beyond the desired point
the pressure exerted upon the disc F causes it to rise, carrying with it
the wire and plug of india-rubber, shewn at E, and thus cuts off all
supply of acid.
The action of the apparatus is as follows.-The chamber A being threc
parts filled with marble in small lumps lumps (or any carbonate of lime)
and the cap screwed on, the chamber B is to be about 3 parts filled with
diluted hydrochloric or sulphuric acid and the cap screwed on; this
done the acid commences to run down the pipe D through the valve E
into the chamber A and attacks the carbonate of lime, generating
carbonic acid gas freely, which escapes by the stop-cock I and is con-
ducted to any desired place, and this generation of gas continues so
long as the cock I is open or so long as the resistance in the receiver
does not exceed that for which the apparatus has been constructed.
By shutting the cock I an increased pressure is exerted upon the india-
rubber disc F, which rises, lifting with it the wire with the india-rubber
plug attached, and this is drawn with considerable force against the
stop arrangement, shewn at E, thus shutting off the supply of acid.
The confined gas next exerts itself upon the solution existing in the
generating chamber and which is still going on generating generating gas,
and this solution it forces into the upper chamber C (which may be called
the pressure chamber); the carbonate of lime is thus left quite dry and
all action ceases. It is obvious that the pressure may be regulated to
any desired point by simply raising the chamber C to any given number
of feet or inches above the generating chamber, and this may casily
be done by placing the chamber C in an upper room, always calculating
that for every foot it is raised above the generator an increase of about

page_text: half a pound on the square inch will take place. The india-rubber
disc must be made of thicker material as the pressure is increased.
This apparatus is applicable for the automatic generation of all gases
where a solid body is acted upon by an acid, as in the case of hydrogen
gas, &c., &c. In addition to the use of the automatic generator for
supplying my meat safe with a preservative gas I also purpose employing
it for the use of of private families, publicans, &c., &c. for forcing their
beer, &c. from the cellar, thus obviating (in the case of private families)
the necessity of going into the cellar, and at the same time maintaining
the beer in a bright and sparkling condition. The same automatic
generator will serve the double purpose of keeping the meat safe
supplied with preservative gas and expelling all atmospheric air from
same and of acting as the power for forcing up the beer, &c. from the
cellar to any desired height and under any pressure; it also maintains
the beer in a bright and sparkling condition.
I wish it to be clearly understood that I do not confine myself to
the exact mode of constructing my safe as herein-before described, but
what I claim as my particular Invention is, the exhauster hercin-before
described, as also the automatic generator, and I especially claim for
any and every use to which the same can be applied. I also purpose
employing employing (in connection with the above generator) for domestic
purposes glazed earthenware or glass barrels, whereby the objectionable
flavor occasionally imparted by dirty casks is entirely obviated, and any
tendency to souring avoided.