AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR CURING HOPS
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred Vincent Newton at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd September 1878. A communi-
cation from abroad by Charles Berzilla Terry, of Waterville, in the State of
New York, United States of America.
ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman. "AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR
CURING HOPS." [A communication from abroad by Charles Berzilla Terry, of
Waterville, in the State of New York, United States of America.]
This Invention has for its object to secure a uniform color of all the hope treated,
whether the same be naturally yellow or green, or whether they are of mixed
green and naturally yellow hops, and without in any way injuring the quality of
the lupuline which forms the essential property of the hop for uso in the arts.
The process also secures the peculiar soft silky texture in hops which is
characteristic of the best quality.
Hitherto in the curing of hops it has been found that a ro-action of the sulphur
fumes used in this process has proved deleterious to the lupulino, and to the
texturo of the hops, which are apt to become harsh and brittle, easily broken in
handling, and otherwise injuriously changed in quality other than color.
By the present Invention these disadvantages are avoided, and the hops of the
darkest green may be given the most desired yellow color without in the slightest
degree injuring the other desirable qualities of the same.
The Invention consists in sulphuring the hops whilo in the freshly picked cold
state, and without the application of heat thereunto, and after the sulphuring
has been continued till the desired shade of color is attained, drying them in
heated air.
In carrying out the process any hop kiln may be employed in which hops can be
dried by heated air.
The freshly picked hops are placed in the kiln in the usual manner, and in
proper quantity for a batch, and the lower air holes of the kiln are closed to prevent
circulation of air through the same. Under the hops sulphur is then slowly burned
in a pan, in about the proportion of fifteen pounds avoirdupois of sulphur to a
Price 2dl

page_text: batch of twenty-five hundred pounds of green hops. For hops containing large
admixture of dark green a batch of hops of the quantity and color described will
be bleached sufficiently in about two hours time. The heat of a lamp or of a small
stove is applied to the sulphur pan to fuse the sulphur, and when thus fused the
sulphur is ignited and the fumes generated by the burning of the same riso very
slowly, expelling the superstratum of air, and enveloping the hops in a dense cold
cloud of the said fumes.
After the sulphuring has been performed, and the desired color is secured, which
is determined by an examination of a sample of the batch the sulphur pan is
removed, the fire for drying the batch is kindled in the kiln, and the air holes at
the bottom are opened. The sulphur fumes are thus quickly driven out of the kiln
at the top by the air coming in below, and the drying is conducted and completed
in heated air. The drying is continued till by an examination of a sample of
the batch the hops are found to be in the proper condition for removal from
the kiln.