IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING ICE- LAND AND IRISH MOSS FOR USE AS FOOD
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING ICE-
LAND AND IRISH MOSS FOR USE AS FOOD."-A communication from
abroad by William James Rand, of Brooklyn, in the State of New
Sealed the 23rd August 1870, and dated the 31st March 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 31st March 1870.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING
ICELAND AND IRISH MOSS FOR USE AS FOOD," to be as follows:—
This Invention relates to the preparing of Iceland moss and Irish
moss in a portable form ready for sale and use.
In carrying out the Invention the moss is first cleaned by removing
the stems, which contain little nutriment, and any extraneous matters

page_text: and impurities that it may contain. Then by suitable machinery the
moss is disintegrated and dried in any suitable manner. It is sometimes
used in this disintegrated dried state, and at other times is reduced by
grinding to flour or fine powder.
There are three modes of putting up the moss for use; the first mode
is to put up the clear disintegrated or powdered moss in suitable boxes
or packages. The second mode is to mix it in proper proportions with
either sugar, corn, starch, farina, or other suitable substance which may
render it palatable, the proportions of the ingredients being varied to
suit varieties of tastes. The third mode is to dissolve the moss in sugar
syrop or other substance or article, with the addition of a little water or
other liquid (making the solution of about the consistency of honey)
which is preserved by thorough desiccation or by scaling hermetically in
suitable cans or boxes.
The Tealand moss and Trich mass are emploved either conamtaly on in
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED 2
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty- 2
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her
special licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at 3
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

page_text: Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING ICELAND AND IRISH MOSS FOR USE
AS FOOD," being a communication to me from abroad by William James
Rand, of Brooklyn, in the State of New York, United States of America,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 be filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office, within six calendar months next and
O immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing here-
5 unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say)
"
This Invention relates to a new and improved process for preparing
the healthy and nutritious substance known as Iceland moss and Irish
moss (the latter being also known as carageen") for food as "blanc
mange" and other edible dishes, by which process a new and improved
article of manufacture is produced.
The mosses above named have hitherto been offered to the public in
their natural condition or just as gathered, combined with much foreign
and impure matter, as sand and dirt, from which it is absolutely necessary
to separate them.
The imperfect appliances and amount of labor required to properly
prepare the moss for the various uses to which it is applied in the
culinary art has hitherto prevented their general use as an article of dict.
The stems of moss contain but little nutriment, and are difficult to
) dissolve, disintegrate, or reduce to powder.
The moss in its natural state is very bulky, so that not more than from
forty to sixty pounds can be contained in a common flour barrel, which
fact is detrimental to its value as an article of commerce.
The Invention consists in preparing the moss or mosses in a portable
5 form ready for sale and use.
In carrying out my Invention the moss is first cleaned by removing
all stems and other impurities. Then by suitable machinery it is dis-
integrated and dried in any suitable manner. It is sometimes used in

page_text: this disintegrated state, at other times it is ground or reduced to flour or
fine powder in a suitable mill.
There are three modes of putting up the moss for use; the first mode
is to put up the clear disentegrated or powdered moss in suitable boxes
or packages. The second mode is to mix it in proper proportions with
either sugar, corn, starch, farina, or other suitable substance which may
render it palatable. The proportions of the ingredients or substances
may be varied to suit varieties of taste, but the following will be found
satisfactory, viz., to ten ounces of moss add six ounces of sugar or other
substance and put up in suitable packages. The third mode is to dissolve
the moss in sugar syrup or other like palatable substance, with the
addition of a little water or other liquid (making the solution of about
the consistency of honey) which is preserved by thorough desiccation or
by scaling hermetically in suitable cans or boxes. The Iceland moss
and "carrageen" are employed either separately or in combination as
the trade may require.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements
in Preparing Iceland and Irish Moss for Use as Food," as communicated
to me from abroad, and having explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to
any positive or definite mode of putting up the prepared moss for edible
purposes; but I claim under the above in part recited Letters Patent
preparing for sale and use Iceland moss or Irish moss (or "carrageen ")
by grinding, cutting up, or shredding, or in any manner disentegrating
or dissolving either with or without sugar or other edible substance or
substances in combination therewith, and putting the same up in pack-
ages convenient for the trade and for the consumer as a new article of
commerce, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hercunto set my hand and scal, the Twentieth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and