Im- PROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES FOR USE AS FOOD AND IN APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE SAME
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Buchanan, of 14, Surrey Street, Strand,
in the County of Middlesex, Merchant, for the Invention of "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES FOR USE
AS FOOD AND IN APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE SAME."
Sealed the 31st August 1869, and dated the 6th July 1869.
FROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Buchanan at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 6th July 1869.
I, GEORGE BUCHANAN, of 14, Surrey Street, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
FOR USE AS FOOD AND IN APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE SAME," to be as
follows:-
In most of the methods hitherto followed for the preservation by
drying of animal and vegetable substances used for food much of the
nutritive and saline value of the substance is lost. The object. of my.
[Price Sd.]

page_text: improvements is to save these. For this purpose I deprive the substances
under treatment of moisture whilst subjected to a carefully regulated low
temperature, so that their nutritive value remains unchanged, and the
salts proved by Liebig and other chemists to be essential to nutrition
are retained undiminished, and in their normal quantity. The natural
flavour is also kept unimpaired and bears a favourable comparison with
that of fresh articles. I compress air in a chamber or receiver con-
taining chloride of calcium or other suitable absorbing material, and
having outlets for the discharge of the fluid produced. By this com-
pression an increase of temperature is generated, which exalts the power
of the drying material used and makes its affinity for moisture more
potent, thus causing the separation of the moisture to be more rapid
and complete. The air so dried is let into a chamber or cylinder of
expansion, whereby its temperature is reduced. The temperature is
then carefully regulated to a point ranging by preference between 32
and 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The air is afterwards passed through a
sieve or screen charged with absorbents to ensure its perfect dryness, and
is admitted into the chamber or compartment wherein the substances to
be preserved are placed. In this chamber the current of air ascends
through, between, & over the substances under treatment, its uniform
spread through the chamber being effected by porous screens or other
convenient means, and the current being assisted if requisite by a fan or
chimney. The substances are cleaned and prepared before being put
into the drying place, where they are kept moving until they cease to
lose weight, when they are removed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Buchanan in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th January 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
BUCHANAN, of 14, Surrey Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand, eight hundred and sixty-niue, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself,. Her heirs and successors, give aud

page_text: grant unto me, the said George Buchanan, Her special licence that I,
the said George Buchanan, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said George Buchanan, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 SUBSTANCES FOR USE AS FOOD AND IN APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE
SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George
Buchanan, 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
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Buchanan, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
In most of the methods hitherto followed for the preservation by
drying of animal and vegetable substances used for food much of the
nutritive and saline value of the substances is lost. The object of my
improvements is to save these. For this purpose I deprive the sub-
tances under treatment of moisture whilst subjected to a carefully
regulated low temperature, so that their nutritive value remains un-
changed, and the salts proved by Liebig and other chemists to be
essential to nutrition are retained undiminished, and in their normal
quantity. The natural flavour is also kept unimpaired, and bears a
favourable comparison with that of fresh articles. I compress air in a
chamber or receiver containing chloride of calcium or other suitable
absorbing material, and having outlets for the discharge of the fluid
produced. By this compression an increase of temperature is generated,
which exalts the power of the drying material used and makes its
affinity for moisture more potent, thus causing the separation of the
moisture to be more rapid and complete. The air so dried is let into a
chamber or cylinder of expansion, whereby its temperature is reduced.
The temperature is then carefully regulated to a point rauging by

page_text: preference between 32 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The air is afterwards
passed through a sieve or screen charged with absorbents to ensure its
perfect dryness, and is admitted into the chamber or compartment
wherein the substances to be preserved are placed. In this chamber
the current of air ascends through, between, and over the substances
under treatment, its uniform spread through the chamber being effected
by porous screens or other convenient means, and the current being
assisted if requisite by a fan or chimney. The substances are cleaned
and prepared before being put into the drying place, where they
are kept moving until they cease to lose weight, when they are
removed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal section of an apparatus constructed
according to my Invention.
a is a chamber containing perforated trays b, in which I place chloride
of calcium or other substance attractive of moisture. I supply this
chamber with air introduced through the aperture c, forcing it in by a
fan or by means of compressing pumps, bellows, or other suitable appa-
ratus when greater pressure is desired. The air so introduced after
circulating over and under the trays b, and depositing the greater part of
its moisture on the substance contained in the trays, passes through a
screen d, which is also charged with drying matter, and enters the lower
part of the drying chamber e. In this chamber I place several sets of
rollers f,f,f,f³, f, f, and stretch over each pair a flexible web, and
I cause these rollers to revolve so that each of the webs is made to
move in the direction of the dotted arrows. At the top of the drying
chamber e there is an opening by which the animal or vegetable
matters to be dried are introduced in small pieces or fragments, and laid
uniformly on the uppermost web. By the movement of this web they
are carried on to the roller f and fall thence on to the second web, by
which they are again carried on till they fall onto the next web, and so on
successively till they are finally discharged into a receiving chamber h.
This chamber is provided with a door which can be closed air-tight or
nearly so, and opened occasionally to remove the contents. The arrows
indicate the direction taken by the air through the apparatus. In
order to guide the substances in falling from any one of the webs to
the next below it I place sloping deflectors k above the end rollers;

page_text: l
also, to prevent any of the substances undergoing treatment from falling
over the edge of any web and getting entangled between the webs I
prefer to guide each edge of the web in a groove, as represented on an
enlarged scale in Fig. 2, which is a transverse section of part of one side
of the drying chamber e; I being part of one of the webs which travels
in the groove m. Sometimes when I use porous webs I find it con-
venient to fix partitions between the upper and lower side of each web,
as represented in Fig. 3, where n is such a partition, the purpose of
which is to prevent the air from passing directly through the webs and
to cause it to move in a zig-zag direction over the successive webs.
Instead of using perforated trays 6 for containing the drying substance
I sometimes cause it to travel on webs stretched over rollers in the same
manner as the substance to be dried in the chamber e. The trays or
webs employed for the drying substance are perforated or porous in
order that the fluid solution produced by the absorption of moisture
from the air may drop down to the bottom of the chamber whence it
can be let out by removing a spigot o or opening a stop-cock. The air
supplied at the aperture c may be warmed or cooled to the regulated
temperature as required.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Buchanan, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
JOHN IMRAY,
28, Great George Street,
Westminster.
GEO. BUCHANAN. (L.s.)