IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL SUBSTANCES
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edward Newton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th
December 1862. A communication from abroad by Victor Pierre
Celestin Band, of Rue St. Sebastien, Paris, in the Empire of France.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL SUBSTANCES," to
be as follows:-
This Invention relates to novel methods of preserving animal substances by
means of chemical agents: These methods differ as to whether the ingredients
to be preserved are intended to be employed for alimentary or industrial
purposes.
For alimentary substances, nitrates of various bases may be employed in the
manner hereafter described, but the neutral nitrate of alumina is preferred.
Preference is given to this salt, inasmuch as it does not change the flavor of
the meats, does not coagulate their albuminous parts; nor does it in any
manner change their alible properties; it is also perfectly innoccuous in a
hygienic point of view.
The result of operating with the nitrates, and especially with the nitrate of
alumina, is, that the hygroscopic and very soluble salts will not incorporate
with the animal substances to which they are applied, but only draw off from
them the aqueous elements to which these substances owe their putrescent
qualities. The animal matters to be preserved are to be cut into pieces of

page_text: from one to two pounds weight, and deprived as much as possible of bone,
tendons, and membranes. The fleshy parts are wiped and hung up on small
hooks over vessels which receive any drippings from them. A slight layer of
nitrate of alumina in a very dry and pulverized state is then spread over the
whole surface of each of the pieces of meat, and the moisture being thereby
attracted to the surface, will dissolve the salt which covers the meat, and will
flow copiously into the vessels underneath, from which, by evaporation on a
slow fire, a portion of the nitrate of alumina which had been employed in this
operation may be recovered and may be employed for fresh operations. The
application of the nitrate may be repeated. The pieces of meat are then to be
wiped clean and immersed in fat to serve them as a covering and to assist in
their preservation. The fat must be thoroughly purified in the [following
manner: The fatty portions of the meat are immersed in boiling water,
acidulated with hydrochloric acid. The cellular tissue intermixed with the
fat is converted into gelatine, the melted fat rising to the surface of the water,
the hydrochloric acid is neutralized by the action of a sufficient portion of
carbonate of soda and a, quantity of sulphate of alumina is added, and all the
gelatinous portions will be precipitated in an insoluble state. The purified fat
is then allowed to cool, and any water it may contain is to be pressed out.
The pieces of meat are immersed in the melted fat, which, when congealed,
must be about an eighth of an inch in thickness; this fatty surface is
then covered with a sheet of tinfoil, over this, in order to close the vessel
hermetically, a layer of plaster mixed with water and gelatine is laid.
Another mode of applying the preserving chemical agents consists in
immersing the animal matter in a concentrated solution of the nitrate of
alumina or other nitrate, or the solution may be injected through the blood
vessels or arteries.
In order to preserve animal matters, such as hoofs, horns, or skin for manu-
facturing purposes, so as to render them suitable for exportation from long
distances, the animal substances are steeped for several hours in a saturated
solution of pyroligneous acid and lime or other suitable base, after which they
are dried either in the air or by any suitable desiccating process.