IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WINE
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
STONE, of Winsley, in the Parish of Bradford, in the County of Wilts,
Gentleman, 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 Twenty-first day of January, in the third year, of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Stone, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said William Stone, my exors, admors, and assigns, or.such others
as I, the said William Stone, my exors, adñiors, 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, and
in the Islands of Jersey, Alderney, Guernsey, Sark, and Man, and in all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WINE;" in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso that I, the said William Stone, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my 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
William Stone, do hereby declare the nature of my 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):-
My Invention relates to the application of the product of the stems or stalks
of the plant called rhubarb; and in order to give the best information in my
power, I will proceed to describe the process as pursued by me and which I
have found fully to answer.
When the green stalks or stems of the rhubarb plant are arrived at their
full size, which will be generally about the middle of the month of May, I
pluck from the plant the stems or stalks; I then cut off the leaves and throw
them away.
I bruise the stalks or stems in a large mortar or other con-
venient means, so as to reduce them to a pulp. I put the pulp into an open
vat or tub, and to every five pounds weight of the stalk or stem I add one
gallon of cold spring water. I let it infuse for three days, stirring it three or
four times in a day. On the fourth day I press the pulp in the usual manner
and strain off the liquor, which I place in an open vat or tub, and to every
gallon of the liquor I add three pounds of white loaf sugar, stirring it until
the sugar
is quite dissolved. I then let it rest, and in four, five, or six days
the fermentation will begin to subside, and a crust or head will be formed,
which is to be skimmed off, or the liquor drawn from it, just when the crust
or head begins to crack or separate. I then put the wine into my cask, but
do not then stop it down. If it should begin to ferment in the cask, I rack
it into another cask; in about a fortnight I stop down the cask and let it
remain till the beginning of the month of March in the next year, when I rack
it and again stop down the cask; but if, from continued slight fermentation
in any cask, the wine should have lost any of its original sweetness, then I put
into the racked wine a sufficient quantity of loaf sugar to sweeten it, and stop
'down the cask, taking care in all cases that the cask should be full.
In a
month or six weeks it will be fit to bottle, and in the summer to drink; but
the wine will be improved by remaining a year or more in the cask after it
has been racked. I would remark that the plant in the autumn, about the
'latter end of August), will produce a second crop, when I make another quantity
of wine by pursuing a like process.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would remark that
though I have been particular in describing the process as pursued by me, I
do not confine myself to the precise means. And further, I have found that
by using the before-mentioned process, and applying one pound and a half of
wwhite loaf sugar to every gallon of the liquor instead of three pounds, I make

page_text: a very agreeable wine; and by applying the same process and using two pounds
of white loaf sugar to every gallon of the liquor instead of three pounds, I make
a very good wine; I do not therefore confine myself to the precise quantity of
sugar before mentioned. But what I claim is, the mode herein described of
manufucturing wine by the application of the product from the stems or stalks
of the plant called rhubarb, as above dsscribed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Stone, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty.