IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTERS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Nasmyth, of Kennington, in the County of
Surrey, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING
ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTERS."
Sealed the 1st May 1855, and dated the 21st February 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Nasmyth at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
February 1855.
I, GEORGE NASMYTH, of Kennington, in the County of Surrey, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTERS" to be as follows:-
The improvements relate to means for discharging the atmospheric air from
vessels, suitable to receive animal or vegetable matters for the purpose of
preserving them; and the improvements consist in the employment for that
purpose of the vapours of alcohol or other liquids, which "vapourize" at a low
temperature, that is, below that of boiling water.
The vapours are obtained by introducing into the vessel a small quantity of
the liquid, from which the vapour will be generated by the application of a
low heat. The matters to be preserved are then placed in the vessel, which
will be sealed in any suitable manner, except at a small aperture for the
escape of the atmospheric air, which will be driven out by the generation of
the vapours by heat, upon which such small aperture will be sealed when the

page_text: process is complete; or the vapours may be generated before being introduced
into the vessel, and be caused to enter into it by a suitable opening, and thereby
force out the atmospheric air at another opening, when both openings will be
closed, and the process is complete. By the adoption of these improvements,
various kinds of animal and vegetable matters will be preserved from
decomposition
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Nasmyth in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
NASMYTH, of Kennington, in the County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Nasmyth, Her special licence that I, the said George Nasmyth,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Nasmyth, 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
ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said George Nasmyth, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to bo
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 George Nasmyth, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say) :-
The improvements relate to means for discharging the atmospheric air from
vessels suitable to receive animal or vegetable matters, for the purpose of
preserving them.

page_text: And the improvements consist in the employment for that purpose of the
vapours of alcohol or other liquids, which "vapourize" at a low temperature,
that is, below that of boiling water.
The vapours are obtained by introducing into the vessel a small quantity of
the liquid, from which the vapour will be generated by the application of a
low heat. The matters to be preserved are then placed in the vessel, which
will be sealed in any suitable manner, except at a small aperture for the
escape of the atmospheric air, which will be driven out by the generation of
the vapours by heat; such small aperture will be sealed when the process is
complete; or the vapours may be generated before being introduced into the
vessel, and be caused to enter into it by a suitable opening, and thereby force
out the atmospheric air at another opening, when both openings will be closed,
and the process is complete. By the adoption of these improvements, various
kinds of animal and vegetable matters will be preserved from decomposition.
But that the nature of the said Invention may be fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued
by me.
In carrying my improvements into effect, I employ by preference as the
holding or retaining means for the animal or vegetable matters to be pre-
served, cases or vessels of tin or tin-plate, such as have heretofore been
employed when preserving animal and vegetable matters by other methods
heretofore employed, except that according to one method of carrying out my
improvements, I apply to the lid or cover of each case a short piece of tin or
other soft metal pipe, for the purpose hereafter explained. The vessels
or cases being thus prepared, I introduce thereto the animal or vegetable
matters to be preserved, and by preference I suspend such matters in the case
or vessel by thread or otherwise, so as not to touch the parts of the case or
vessel. As a description of the operations in connection with one case will be
a description of the operations performed with respect to any number, I will
confine myself to describing the mode of proceeding with a single case. The
animal or vegetable matters having been introduced to the case in a raw or
uncooked state, I next apply to it the enclosing lid or cover, and solder the
parts securely together in the usual manner, so as to make the case air-tight,
except through the small pipe. I then force into the case or vessel, through
this small metal pipe and by means of a syringe or otherwise, a small quantity
of alcohol or other liquid capable of vapourizing at a temperaturo below that
at which water alone vapourizes. I then place the vessel or case in a bath of
hot water, or otherwise subject it to heat sufficient to vapourize the alcohol
or other liquid employed, and the vapour thus generated will have the effect of

page_text: driving out the atmospheric air contained in such case or vessel through the
small pipe, by which the alcohol was introduced thereto. By the application
of a light to the outer end of this pipe, when the whole of the atmospheric
air has been expelled, a steady blue flame will be obtained from the ignition of
the vapour, which will then alone escape. When this is the case, and it may
be thus judged that the whole of the vapour is spent, I pinch the end of the
pipe by pincers or otherwise, so as to close the passage through the small pipe,
and then solder the end of it, in order to the vessel being kept air-tight.
Another method which I adopt is to form each vessel with two of such
small pipes, and in place of applying the alcohol or other liquid to be
vapourized in the vessel or case with the matters to be preserved, I place it in
a separate vessel or boiler, to which I apply suitable heat. The heat from jets
of gas I have found to answer well, by which I generate the vapour desired to
a pressure of a few pounds (say, about 15 pounds) to the square inch. To this
boiler I apply a small safety valve, to prevent liability to explosion in case
of the application of too much heat thereto, and a pipe to conduct the vapour
generated to the vessels or cases to be treated. To this pipe of communication
I apply a tap, so as to close the same when desired, and a piece of prepared,
or what is commonly called vulcanized, india-rubber tubing, so as readily to
connect this pipe of communication with one of the small pipes in a vessel or
case containing animal or vegetable matters to be preserved, but other con-
necting means may be employed. When a connection is obtained between
the vessel or boiler in which the vapour is, by heat being generated and the
vessel or case containing the matters to be preserved, the vapour will drive off
the atmospheric air from the vessel or case containing such matters by the
second small pipe. By the application to this second pipe of a light, the absence
of atmospheric air in the case will be ascertained, as when employing the
former method, by a steady bluish flame being obtained. I then stop the
supply of vapour to such case, and close both pipes by pinching and then
soldering them.
In carrying out this second method, I sometimes form the second or escape
pipe from the vessel or case containing the matters to be preserved, sufficiently
long to be bent over and dipped into another vessel, and when the vapour has
expelled the atmospheric air, as explained, I dip the end of this second pipe
into a vessel containing liquid gravy or gelatine or other matter, which, from
being somewhat heated, is for the time in a fluid state, and I vary such liquid
to the character of the matters to be preserved, and at the time of applying
the second pipe to the gravy, gelatine, or other fluid, I cut off the supply of
vapour from the case, when by the condensation of that vapour a vacuum or

page_text: partial vacuum will be created in the case, and the liquid gravy, gelatine,
or other matter will flow in by the second pipe to aid by covering the matters
to be preserved, in more effectually excluding the atmospheric air. This
method will be found very beneficial when treating cooked meats, as boiled
beef, for instance, as well as in the perservation of soups and other liquids.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the means
which I adopt in carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood
that I do not confine myself to the details herein given as illustrations, as
variations may be made in the modes of operating without departing from the
peculiar character of my Invention; but what I do claim is, the employment
of alcohol or other liquids which vapourize at a low temperature, that is,
below that of boiling water, as a means for discharging the atmospheric air
from vessels or cases containing animal or vegetable matters to be preserved.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Nasmyth, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
BENJ J. B. MILLS,
78, Chancery Lane.
GEORGE NASMYTH. (L.s.)