Improvements in the Preservation of Meat.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Mar., 1896-Accepted, 2nd May, 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Preservation of Meat.
I, CARLOS LISANDRO VILLAR of Buenos Aires, Argentine Republic, Physician,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
The present Specification relates to a new method of preserving meat for food,
which have invented and which I term: "Inter-Arterial."
The principles that have served as a basis for successfully carrying out the
preservation of practically entire carcases, are based ou the data supplied to us
by the anatomy and physiology of animal erganisms, the functions of which are
subject to laws of a permanent and regular nature that maintain life's
equilibrium.
I have therefore had to establish the rigorous logic of certain principles, that
are connected with each other within the results that I wished to obtain, for the
purpose of founding the theory of a process that I term: "Inter-Arterial."
If the equilibrium and the life of animal beings are maintained by the abundant
circulation of blood, well supplied with elements for the reconstitution of the
tissues, which same are transported by a motor called the heart, which applies its
motive power on a liquid column contained in a system of closed tubes, the same
being termed the arterial tree, the tissues must stay their resistance to the initial
force of the heart, and allow themselves to be saturated with the sanguineous
fluid. Thus, by replacing the method that the physiology of circulation teaches
us, that is to say, by making use of the heart, of the arteries and of the veins,
and substituting the power of the heart, paralyzed by death by an external force,
very much greater resistance opposed by the lifeless tissues, I could not but realize
the same effects as the circulation of the blood, as regards the saturation of the
tissues by any liquid that might be used to replace the same.
This was not sufficient however; it was necessary that chemistry should supply
me, from its well stored arsenal of antiseptic substances with one that should not
be in contradiction with the hygiene of food, and for which the chemical elements
of the tissues should have a sufficient power of affinity to fix the same, when once
it should have been brought into contact with those elements.
It is thus I have proceeded, and have obtained from the first the most perfect
success, solving a problem that has been discussed throughout the scientific and
industrial world, without such a complete result having been arrived at so far, in
a matter of such transcendent importance for humanity, a large proportion of which
is deprived of a food so highly essential to life.
The inter-arterial process unites to an exceedingly low cost of operation a great
rapidity of execution, and allows of the cattle and sheep being exported under such
favorable conditions that the meat of the same appears as fresh and as juicy as
when first killed, so much so that most of the articulations retain a great part of
their movements, which shows that the stiffness following on death is almost
totally arrested. I should also observe that the hide of the animals thus
prepared will increase in value, since the pores remain completely distended
together with the pilous bulb which allows the wool and the hair to be readily
removed as soon as the animals are prepared. This state of the hide relieves the
tanner from complicated operations, that take a great deal of time in soaking the
hides to loosen the hair.

page_text: Under my inter-arterial process, the hide, as soon as it is removed, passes into
the tannery, where it is at once cleaned by the scrapers, and forthwith submitted
to the action of the tan; the leather thus produced will have the advantage of
being thicker and of better quality since the tanning will take place completely
and in a short space of time.
As for the hygienic conditions of the meat it is as harmless as if freshly
killed, since the antiseptic agent is simply chloride of sodium or common salt in
tolerably small proportions; and employed as a diluted solution so that when the
meat is cut up for consumption a slight washing will allow the saline solution to
escape and the flavour, colour, freshness and flexibility of the meat will be almost
the same as if it was recently killed.
Having thus laid down the principles that have guided me in the carrying out
of my method, I now propose to describe the manner in which it is carried out.
The animal is seized up to keep him still and his neck is disjointed by means of
an instrument of my own invention, consisting of a thin triangular steel blade,
some six inches long, with blunt edges and a sharp point. The spinal marrow
being thus severed in its cervical portion the animal falls paralyzed, while the hide
barely shows a trace of the wound.
The operator is also provided with a small and well sharpened knife, a pair of
pincers such as are used by surgeons, but somewhat stronger and a little thread.
He then seizes the paralyzed animal, and in the case of horned cattle makes an
incision in the skin some few inches long in the centre of the throat, (in case of a
sheep the incision is shorter). This cut may be made on either side of the throat,
and should be on the edge of the trachea. The most inexpert eye will readily
find this region being guided by the wind-pipe which is a tabe with strong fibrous
rings which are easily perceptible to the touch.
The skin being cut, the incision is continued through the fatty tissue till softer
tissue is met with, which is easily separated with the fingers in the case of a sheep
or with the canula in horned cattle; the forefinger is slipped into the wound, and
the arterio-venous mass is at once recognized by the regular beating of the carotid
artery, which is of considerable diameter, and which projects on account of its
turgidity; the envelope is opened up with the fingers or with the canula and the
artery itself is gently drawn through the opening, a ligature being made on the
upper part of the same with a piece of strong thread; the artery is theu severed
below the ligature and the animal is left to bleed to death, which takes about half
an hour. As the coagulation of the blood at the outlet prevents the flow, and
retards death, the artery should be occasionally squeezed, so that hemorrhage be
constantly abundant.
By means of this operation the arterial tree is opened in one of its main
ramifications, with only one point of communication with the atmosphere, since the
other end of the artery is tied, this is an essential condition for the success of the
process and it is due to the same that the power of the heart may be
replaced, under like conditions, by an external pressure that reaches all the tissues
of the system.
Although this operation which is one of the most important of the process may
appear complicated, it is in reality extremely simple in execution.
The animal having parted with all its blood, the free extremity of the artery is
placed in communication with a tank containing a solution of salt, which is placed
at a height of from 25 to 30 feet above the ground by which means the necessary
pressure is obtained, the same being transmitted by a pipe provided with a cock
that allows the pressure to be graduated. To place the artery in communication
with the tank, a metal pipe is slipped into the former, after it has been forcibly
dilated, which facilitates this operation considerably; the artery is then firmly
fixed to the tube by means of a few turns of thread, drawn quite tight and the
metal tube is joined to that of the tank by means of an india-rubber pipe.
The tank, which is placed at the height already mentioned, contains a solution of
sea salt or chloride of sodium in proportions that may vary according to the time

page_text: that the meat is to be kept; for instance if it be desired to keep it for a con-
siderable length of time, a solution composed of 18 lbs. of chloride of sodium for
every 100 lbs. of water may be used; this proportion may be reduced without any
objection to 12 lbs. per 100 lbs. of water, and the animal will be kept equally
well during a long period of time and will stand great variations of temperature.
If the period is only of a few days, the solution may contain as little as 4 lbs. of
salt per 100 lbs. of water.
If we calculate the solution at 18 or 12 per cent. of salt, we shall find when the
injection is finished, that the salt employed for each animal is in proportion of
12 lbs. of salt for every 100 lbs. of live weight, in the former case and of 8 lbs..
per 100 lbs. in the second.
The tank being therefore charged with the requisite solution and the tube being
fixed in the artery, the cock is gradually opened and the solution is allowed to
penetrate into the interior of the animal until the pressure of the liquid swells out
the tissues, considerably distends the abdominal cavity, and raises the free limbs in-
the recumbent animal to a height of some 2 feet 8 inches from the ground. The
cock is then turned off, the free end of the artery is tied, and the metal tube is.
withdrawn.
The practical result of the effects of pressure on the arterial tree, which allows
of no escape at any point, may be tested by slightly puncturing the skin of the
ear, or any extremity of the animal, and it will then be seen, that just as in any
wound, no matter how small, a drop of blood will appear, so also in this case a
transparent drop will be seen, which will prove to be the saline solution that has
replaced the blood. But the most remarkable effect of pressure on the tissues is
that in the case of a cow or sheep that have borne no young, the mammalial
glands secrete the saline liquid in the same manner, that they give milk on being
milked. This clearly shows that the meat that is thus saturated with an antiseptic
substance such as chloride of sudium, will resist energetically and during a long.
space of time, the effects of putrefaction.
The injection being accomplished, the operator then proceeds to extract both
stomachs and the intestinal mass, leaving a portion of the large intestine connected.
to the anus, which is tied, the peritoneum, the bladder and the gall-bladder.
To extract these organs an incision is made in the middle part of the abdomen
from eight to twelve inches in length, according to the size of the animal and the
organs nearest to the incision are withdrawn; when both stomachs have been
removed the lower end of the gullet is seized with the left hand, and with the
right, by means of a small knife that is only sharp in the middle, the gullet is
severed below the diaphragm, as are also all the adherences of the rest of the
digestive canal, the same being done with the gall-bladder, the bladder and the
large intestine, the abdominal cavity being left completely free from these-
organs.
As the abdominal cavity contains a large quantity of saline solution, the animal
is left over for a few moments so that the cavity may drain, and also the arteries
that were severed on extracting the digestive tube. The incision in the throat,
and also that in the abdomen, are sewn up with a proper needle and strong thread,.
and the operation is then completely finished, and the carcase is ready to be
transported anywhere.
The animal is thus enveloped in his own hide, with his head entire the thoracic
cavity containing the heart and lungs, and the abdominal cavity the liver, the
kidneys and a great portion of the fatty tissue, and as the wounds have been sewn
up, he retains the aspect of an animal from which no organ whatever has been
extracted,
Experiment has demonstrated how rapid and expeditious is my "inter-arterial "
system in its industrial application for the preservation of meat.
To have a clear idea of the subject it will suffice to calculate how much work a
man may do, who in from 2 to 4 minutes operates on and produces hemorrhage in
an animal, and as this operation is what governs the daily out-put of an industrial

page_text: establishment each one may have a staff proportionate to the capital that may be
disposed of daily for the purchase of cattle. As for the time it may take an animal
to bleed to death, it should not be taken into consideration, for whilst some are
dying, others are being operated on, and as it is not indispensable to perform the
injection immediately, there is time to kill the number of animals that may be
required and carry out the injection in all of them at once, however many there
may be required, which operation may be repeated hourly, so that with a very
modest plant, consisting of a reservoir in which to dissolve the salt, a pump, a
tank, and the necessary piping, one hundred animals an hour may be prepared.
To summarize, that which constitutes the novelty of my "Inter-Arterial"
system in its industrial application for the preservation of meat intended for food
is the utilization of the arterial tree and a given pressure, from whatever source it
may proceed, whether from a head of water, a pump, or otherwise for the obtaining
of that which animal organization attains by means of the circulation of the blood,
that is, to carry the antiseptic liquids that are injected to all the tissues, and as
the arterial tree is composed of the network of arteries and of veins, the process
is equally applicable through any artery or vein, whatever may be the dimensions
of the anatomical situation of the same. Therefore it could never be considered
as a modification of my method, to make the injections by the femoral instead of
by the carotid artery, or by the jugular or other veins, or by the employment of a
pump instead of a head of water, or the use of other antiseptic agents instead of
chloride of sodium.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare what I
claim is :-
A process which I term: "Inter-Arterial" for the preservation of meat for
food, which same attains that which the animal organization realizes through the
circulation of the blood, that is to say, the carrying of an antiseptic liquid at a
given pressure to all the tissues which is arrived at, after death has taken place by
hemorrhage, by means of injections in a closed circuit, made through any artery or
vein with antiseptic agent in a more or less concentrated solution, preferably
chloride of sodium, using for the purpose canulas tubes, or other known means, and
obtaining the pressure required from whatever source, whether from a head of the
liquid or from pumps or otherwise, as is herein described and specified, and for the
purpose stated."
Dated this 30th day of March 1896
S. S. BROMHEAD,
97 Newgate Street, E.C., Patent Agent.