CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES AND LIQUIDS;
Year: 1840

page_text: TO
ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WERTHEIMER, of West Street, Finsbury Circus, in the City of London,
Printer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighth day of February, in the third year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Wertheimer, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said John Wertheimer, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Wertheimer, my exors, admors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL
AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES AND LIQUIDS;" communicated to me by a certain
Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that I, the said John Wertheimer, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Wertheimer, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say) :-
The Invention relates to that mode of preserving animal and vegetable sub-
stances and liquids where the matter to be preserved is placed in cases, from
which the atmospheric air is more or less driven off by heat, and thus obtaining
a more or less perfect vacuum; and the Invention consists of a mode of more
readily and certainly obtaining a vacuum, and then closing the opening in the
case by soldering; and it is well known that on the extent to which the atmo-
sphere is driven off and subsequently excluded depends the success of the process
and the length of time which provisions may be preserved, and, so far as I am
informed on the subject, up to the time of granting my said Letters Patent there
did not exist any mode of fully driving off the atmospheric air, and of soldering
and passitively closing the cases in which provisions were placed; and in order
to give the best information in my power, I will proceed to explain the Invention
as practised by me. The cases in which the animal or vegetable substances,
whether in the solid state or in the form of soups and liquid, are to be placed
in cases, and as nearly as possible to fill them; the covers are then to be soldered
on, and each of such covers having one or two small holes, the larger of which
is to be about the one eighth of an inch in diameter, the other much less, even
as small as the fiftieth of an inch. The cases and covers I prefer to make of
sheet iron or iron tinned, but do not confine myself thereto. The cases thus
covered are, with their contents, to be heated by a fire or hot plate, or other
convenient means, to a temperature of somewhat more than 212° of Fahrenheit,
in order to ensure the food being at the boiling point. By this means the steam
which is driven off from the liquid which is in the provisions will drive off the
atmospheric air through the openings before mentioned; and in order to prevent
the atmosphere entering, I apply a ring of heat or flame around the openings,
which prevents the air passing through the openings into the cases, at the same
time the steam, with the air from the inside of the cases, can, by the pressure
within, be driven out at the openings. In thus applying a ring of flame I
prefer to use gas, though I do not confine myself thereto; and in using gas I
have a ring or hoop burner, having holes for jets all around the upper surface,
and the under surface of the ring is covered with cotton or other soft material,
which, being kept damped and pressed against the surface of a case containing
provisions, will not allow any air to pass under the burner; and I apply one
such ring or hoop burner to each hole in the case in such manner that the hole
is at or near the centre of the burner, and then, by pressing the burner on to

page_text: the case, or the case up under the burner, I make the same as air tight as
possible and ignite the gas; the steam and air from within continue to be forced
through the holes and through the flame, which, at the same time, owing to the
interior of the flame having little air to supply combustion, will come together,
and forms a hollow dome over the hole below, and thus most perfectly exclude
the outer atmospheric air passing down through the flame. It should be stated
that the provisions are to be submitted to the process of heat for more or less
time, depending on its nature as heretofore, and according to the extent it is
desired the same should be cooked, and the provisions, when meat or vege-
tables, may be put into the case in their natural state, or they may be first
scalded. When the cooking has been carried on to the desired extent, and the
operator is satisfied that all the atmospheric air which was in the provisions
and in the case is fully driven off, which he will judge of by observing that the
steam is coming off with considerable force, he will then proceed to solder
up the holes, commencing by stopping the larger hole, and then the smaller
one, keeping up the temperature during this process, in order to ensure the
boiling point being maintained within the case, and that the pressure within
may be such up to the last moment as to ensure the driving off every portion
of atmospheric air from within the case; for it is of the utmost consequence
that every particle of atmospheric air should be driven off; and I continue the
heat for some minutes after the vessel is hermetically closed, when only par-
tially cooking. Having completed the process as above described, I allow the
case to cool, and stand till the next day, and then light the gas burner around
one of the openings, and unsolder that opening, by which means any air which
may have remained in the food, which it is liable to do when only slightly
cooked, will pass off and be consumed; the hole is again soldered, and the
process complete. By this mode of ensuring the driving off of the atmo-
spheric air, and of closing the holes air tight by the aid of the ring burner, very
large cases of meat or vegetable food may be preserved with certainty and for
a great length of time.
I sometimes, in place of using the burner at the opening through which the
air is expelled, operate in the following manner:-Having soldered on the cover of
the case, I apply heat in order to expel the atmospheric air through the small
hole or holes left, and having forced the air out as fully as I can by such means,
I then solder up the small openings; but not having used the heat or flame at
the openings, the vacuum will not be sufficient to preserve the provisions fully
for a long time, and such process has been before resorted to, but without suc-
cess; but this part of my Invention consists in having first driven off as much
air as I can by heat, and having soldered up the small openings, I continue the

page_text: process of heat from about ten to thirty minutes, according as the case is small
or large; a small case, being under 10 lbs., will not require more than ten
minutes. By either of the above modes very large cases can be preserved with
certainty, which is not the case with other modes before resorted to.
Having thus described the Invention, I would have it understood that what
I claim as the Invention is:--
First, the mode of employing a burner for excluding the atmosphere and for
closing the openings of cases wherein animal and vegetable substances and
liquids produced therefrom are to be preserved as above described.
And secondly, I claim the mode of preserving animal and vegetable matter
in closed cases by expelling as much air as I can by means of heat, then
closing the opening and continuing the heat after closing for a time, in order to
decompose the remaining atmospheric air.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Wertheimer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.

page_text: In the Matter of a Patent granted to John Wertheimer, of West
Street, Finsbury Circus, in the City of London, Printer, for an
Invention (communicated to him by a certain Foreigner residing
abroad) of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGE-
TABLE SUBSTANCES AND LIQUIDS," bearing date at Westminster, the
Eighth day of February, One thousand eight hundred and forty,
of which Invention a Specification was enrolled in the High Court
of Chancery on the Eighth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and forty, and which said Letters Patent and all interest
therein, have been duly assigned to George Blogg, of Bucklersbury,
in the City of London, Diamond Merchant, in trust for Simon
Reüter, of Finsbury Chambers, in the City of London, Merchant,
and for himself, the said George Blogg, and for Stephen Goldner,
of West Street, Finsbury Circus, in the City of London, Merchant,
in certain shares or proportions.
CLAIMER AND MEMORANDUM OF ALTERATION proposed to be
entered by the said George Blogg as such assignee of the said Letters
Patent as aforesaid, with the Clerk of the Patents of England, pursuant
to an Act of Parliament passed in the fifth and sixth years of the reign
of His late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled "An Act to
amend the Law touching Letters Patent for Inventions," and to an Act of
Parliament passed in the seventh and eighth years of the reign of Her
present Majesty Queen Victoria, intituled "An Act for amending an Act
passed in the Fourth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty, intituled An
Act for the better Administration of Justice in His Majesty's Privy
"Council, and to extend its Jurisdiction and Powers."
68
66
n the said Specification the Patentee did fully describe the said Invention,
I, the said George Blogg, have been lately advised that the Specification
ms more than is useful; for which reason I do wish to disclaim, and do
eby disclaim, so much of the said Specification as described any matter of
ention other than or beyond the process of causing animal and vegetable
stances and liquids when placed in cases to be heated to a higher degree of
than the boiling point to ensure the driving off of the air more effectually
steam, then closing the cases in opposition to the flow of steam caused by
ntaining the high heat, and then continuing such heat to the matter in the

page_text: closed cases, as described in the said Specification; and in order that this
Disclaimer and Memorandum of Alteration may be fully understood, I have
hereunto annexed a copy of the said Specification with the parts which I
disclaim and alter ruled through or cancelled with red ink; and I decl are
that this Disclaimer and Alteration is not such as will extend the exclusive
right granted by the said Letters Patent, and that I make this Disclaimer
and Alteration with the privity and consent of the said Simon Reüter and
Stephen Goldner respectively, testified by their respectively setting their hands
and seals to these presents.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Blogg, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, and the said Simon Reüter and Stephen Goldner have also
hereunto set their hands and seals, this Second day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WERTHEIMER, of West Street, Finsbury Circus, in the City of London, Printer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster the Eighth day of February, in the third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Wertheimer, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority that I, the said John Wertheimer, my exors, admors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Wertheimer, my exors, admors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL
AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES AND LIQUIDS," communicated to me by a certain
Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I, the said John Wertheimer, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of the said Iuvention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Wertheimer, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say) :-
The Invention relates to that mode of preserving animal and vegetable
substances and liquids, where the matter to be preserved is placed in cases
from which the atmospheric air is more or less driven off by heat, and thus
obtaining a more or less perfect vacuum. And the Invention consists of a
mode of more readily and certainly obtaining a vacuum and then closing the
opening in the case by soldering. And it is well known that on the extent
to which the atmosphere is driven off, and subsequently excluded, depends
the success of the process, and the length of time which provisions may
be preserved, and, so far as I am informed on the subject, up to the time
of granting my said Letters Patent there did not exist any mode of fully
driving off the atmospheric air, and of soldering and positively closing the
cases in which provisions were placed; and in order to give the best infor-
ation in my power, I will proceed to explain the Invention as prac-
tised by me.
The eases in which the animal or vegetable substances,
whether in the solid state or in the form of soups and liquid, are to be
placed in cases, and as nearly as possible to fill them; the covers are then
to be soldered on, and each of such covers having one or two small
holes, the larger of which is to be about the one eighth of an inch in dia-
meter, the other much less, even as small as the fiftieth of an inch. The cases
and covers I prefer to make of sheet iron or iron tinned, but do not confine
myself thereto. The cases thus covered are with their contents to be heated
by a fire or hot plate, or other convenient means, to a temperature of
somewhat more than two hundred and twelve degrees of Fahrenheit, in
order to insure the food being at the boiling point. By this means
the steam which is driven off from the liquid which is in the pro-
visions will drive off the atmospheric air through the openings before
mentioned; and--in-order to prevent-the-atmosphere-entering, I apply a ring of
beat or flame around the openings, which prevents the air passing through the
openings into the eases, at the same time-the steam, with the air from the inside of
the cases, ean, by the pressure within, be driven out at the openings. In thus
applying a ring of flame, I prefer to use gas, though I do not confine myself
thereto;-and-in using gas. I have a ring or hoop burner, having holes for jets al
around the upper surface, and the under-surface of the ring is covered-with-cot
ton or other soft material, which, being kept damped, and pressed-against-the
surface of a case containing provisions, will not allow any air to pass under the

page_text: ing
such manner that the hole is at or near the centre of the burner, and then by
pressing the burner on to the ease, or the ease up under the burner, I make the
same as air tight as possible, and ignite-the gas; the steam and air from within
continues to be forced through the holes and through the flame, which at the
same time, owing to the interior of the flame having little air to supply-combus
tion, will come together, and forms a hollow dome over the hole below, and thus
most-perfectly exclude the atmospheric air-passing-down through the flame. It
should be stated that the provisions are to be submitted to the process of
heat for more or less time, depending on its nature as heretofore, and
according to the extent it is desired the same should be cooked, and the
provisions (when meat or vegetables) may be put into the case in their
natural state, or they may be first scalded. When the cooking has been
carried on to the desired extent, and the operator is satisfied that all the
atmospheric air which was in the provisions and in the case is fully driven
off, which he will judge of by observing that the steam is coming off with
considerable force, he will then proceed to solder up the holes, commencing
by stopping the larger hole and then the smaller one, keeping up the tem-
perature during this process, in order to insure the boiling point being main-
tained within the case, and that the pressure within may be such up to the
last moment, as to ensure the driving off every portion of atmospheric air
from within the case; for it is of the utmost consequence that every particle
of atmospheric air should be driven off; and I continue the heat for some
minutes after the vessel is hermetically closed, when-only-partially-cooking.
Having completed the process, as above-described, I-allow-the-ease-to-cool-and
stand-till-the-next-day, and then light the gas burner around one of the openings,
end-unsolder that opening, by which means-any-air which may have remained in
the food, which it is liable to do when only slightly cooked, will pass off and be
consumed. The hole-is-again-soldered-and-the-process complete. By this mode
of ensuring the driving off of the atmospheric air, and of closing the holes
air tight by the aid of the ring burner, very large cases of meat or vegetable
food may be preserved with certainty and for a great length of time.
I sometimes, in place of using the burner at the opening through which the air is
expelled, operate in the following manner: Having soldered on the cover of the
ease, I apply heat in order to expel the atmospherie air through the small hole-or
holes left, and having forced the air out as fully as I can by such means, I then
solder up the small openings; but not having used the heat or flame at the openings,
the vacuum will not be sufficient to preserve the provisions fully for a long-time,
and-such-process has been before resorted to but without success; but this part of

page_text: my-Invention consists in having first driven off as much air as I can by heat, and
having soldered-up the small openings, I continue the process of heat from
about ten to thirty minutes, according as the case is small or large; a small
case being under ten pounds will not require more than ten minutes. By
either of the above modes very large cases can be preserved with certainty,
which is not the case with other modes before resorted to.
Having thus described the Invention, I would have it understood that what
I claim as the Invention is:-
First, the mode of employing a burner for excluding the atmosphere, and for
elesing-the-openings of cases wherein animal and vegetable substances, and liquids
produced therefrom are to be preserved-as-above described.
And secondly, I claim the mode of preserving animal and vegetable matter
in closed cases by expelling as much air as I can by means of heat, then
closing the opening and continuing the heat, after closing for a time in order
to decompose the remaining atmospheric air.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Wertheimer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.
To the Clerk of the Patents of England.
This is to certify that the above-named George Blogg, as Assignee of Letters
Patent granted to John Wertheimer, of West Street, Finsbury Circus, in the
City of London, Printer, has applied to me for leave to enter with you the
above written Disclaimer and Memorandum of Alteration of a part of the Spe-
cification of a certain Invention contained in the said Letters Patent granted
to the said John Wertheimer, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, dated at
Westminster, the 8th day of February, 1840, and to which a Specification was
duly enrolled; and having considered of the said application, and no objection
having been made to the same, I hereby grant leave to the said George Blogg
to file the said Disclaimer and Memorandum of Alteration.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the Second day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1846, the aforesaid George Blogg came before our said Lady
the Queen in Her Chancery and acknowledged the Disclaimer aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Disclaimer aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Nineteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six.