AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR PURIFYING AND DECOLOURING BLOOD-ALBUMEN AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Pierre Jacques at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
October 1869.
I, PIERRE JACQUES, of Rue Turgot, No. 21, à Paris, Expert Painter,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
PROCESS FOR PURIFYING AND DECOLOURING BLOOD-ALBUMEN AND APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
In the ordinary process for the extraction of albumen from blood the
serum of blood is spread upon slabs arranged in a particular manner and
kept at a temperature of about 50° by means of a fire. After a whole
day's desiccation the albumen is considered to be sufficiently pure and
discolored, and is sent to the market in very irregular masses. Thus pre-
pared blood albumen is very far from being equal in quality to albumen
produced from eggs, it is insufficiently discolored, with difficulty soluble
in water, and it does not possess the amount of purity required by printers
and others who use it. These disadvantages are entirely obviated by my
improved process for the extraction and discoloration of blood-albumen,
which said process is founded upon the combined influence of the four
physical agents, heat, light, water, and air.

page_text: cent.
The following are the various processes that I employ to carry out my
Invention. The apparatus in which the albumen is extracted is so
arranged as to facilitate the action of the different clements above
mentioned. First, the sides and top of the chamber or stove instead of
being solid and opaque are glazed so as to permit the access of light to
the interior. Heat is supplied either by an open fire or a large house
stove, or preferably by steam tubes placed along the bottom of the
chamber. Above are arranged pipes by which currents of air are con-
veyed into the chamber, and the trays containing the serum of blood to
be dried and converted into albumen are arranged in the same manner as
at present. Instead of zinc trays however I prefer to use enamelled
trays, so that the light is conveyed a second time through the albumenous
mass by reflection. The remaining details of the process are easily under-
stood. Before putting the serum or the raw albumen into the trays it is
necessary to free it from grease by mixing therewith a small quantity of
spirit, such as the spirit of turpentine, in the proportions of about 1 per
The liquid mixture is by this means worked upon and a scum
formed which must be taken off, and the trays being then charged with
serum arc arranged in the stove and the drying proceeded with, the tem-
perature being maintained at about 40°. At the same time that the
albumen is acted upon by heat it is also affected by the rays of light from
the glass sides and top of the chamber, and only about half of the usual
quantity of serum should be placed in the trays so that the light may be
able more thoroughly to penetrate it. As soon as the albumen is observed
to dry small quantities of water are thrown upon it from a rose or per-
forated nozzle which purifies and expands the mass. After thus soaking
the albumen currents of air are caused to act thereupon, whereby the moist
particles are absorbed and the evaporation facilitated. By these means
the desiccation and discoloration of the albumen is much more rapidly
effected, from six to seven hours being sufficient for the operation (while
the usual process occupies from eighteen to twenty-four hours), the
result being that much time is gained, although two operations are
necessary to discolor the same quantity of albumen, but the product
obtained is finer and purer, the albumen is more soluble because it is
dried at a temperature of 40° instead of 50°, it is quite as good as
albumen produced from eggs, and can be advantageously used by reason
of the moderate price of its production for all purposes to which this
substance is applicable. If a more complete discoloration be required the
product is dissolved and passed a second time through the stove, when

page_text: it is watered and operated upon in the same manner as before. To obtain
discolored albumen in sheets or slabs it suffices to re-dissolve it and place
the solution in greased trays as at present. If desired any agent or
means for aiding the purification and discoloration of vegetable and
animal products without changing their nature, such as filtration,
sulphur, vapour, and others, may be adapted to this process.