Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Sept., 1887
Specification Accepted, 7th Oct., 1887.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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 object of my invention is to produce a food compound which will furnish in a
small bulk all the material necessary to support life, and to preserve the physical
system in a healthy condition. To accomplish this object it is necessary to combine
the essential ingredients in the proper proportions and also in an easily digestible form,
in order that the food may be entirely assimilated and also that the stomach may not
be compelled to deal with a mass of superfluous material in order to obtain a certain
amount of healthful nutriment.
These results are very necessary in a food intended for young children, or any class
of people having weak digestive powers, and who are in need of nutritious and
strengthening food. It is also desirable in a food of this description that it should be
in a form that can be easily and quickly prepared for consumption.
The substances most essential in a healthy nourishing food are nitrogen and carbon,
but in all ordinary descriptions of food the amount of nitrogen is so sinall that it is
necessary to consume a very large quantity of material in order to obtain the requisite
proportion of nitrogen, and the greater part of this food is superfluous material which
it would be undesirable for a delicate stomach to be burdened with both on account of
the quantity and of its constitution. The other ingredients necessary in a perfect
food, besides nitrogen, are carbon and a small amount of saline matter; but it is very
much easier to obtain these in a desirable form and proper proportions than it is to
procure the nitrogen. I have found that the roe or eggs of fish may be used for the
purpose of supplying nitrogen in a desirable form for food, and this roe I make the
basis of my improved food, which is compounded and prepared as follows:
To 20 parts by weight of the roe or eggs of fish are added 30 parts of cane sugar
and 40 parts of oatmeal, or other equivalent cereal, and the whole thoroughly mixed.

page_text: Water is now added and the mixture boiled for several hours, in order both to cook
and preserve it. When thoroughly cooked the remaining water is evaporated off, and
the compound is thoroughly dessiccated. The hard, dry mass thus obtained is now
ground to a meal or flour, when it is ready to be packed for use.
In the above compound the sugar and the cereal furnish the requisite quantities of
carbon, and a small portion is also supplied by the fish roe; the cereal also adds some
nitrogen and the necessary saline matter. The chemical analysis of this compound
corresponds essentially with the composition of a perfect food as given by the most
eminent physiological authorities.
To prepare my improved food for use all that is necessary is to mix the flour,
prepared as above described, with a little water or milk, either warm or cold, to form a
mush or gruel, no yeast or leaven of any description is used with this food or in its
original preparation.
Slight departures from the proportions above set forth will not materially affect the
value of my new food, and they are occasionally desirable to compensate for variations
in the quality of different lots of materials.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is
A food compound consisting of a flour or meal composed of my roe or eggs of
fishes, oatmeal and cane sugar in substantially the proportions set forth.
Dated the 6th day of Septembe. 1887.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.