IMPROVEMENTS IN PRE- SERVING FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Seventeenth day of September, in the tenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Edward Newton, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said William Edward
Newton, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey,
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRE-
SERVING FRUIT AND VEGETABLES," being a communication from a Foreigner
residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said William Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing undor
my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the said

page_text: Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery with six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Edward Newton, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say) :-
The Invention communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and for
which I have obtained Her Majesty's Letters Patent as aforesaid, is described
and set forth by the inventor in nearly the following words:-It is a fact
well known that fruit and other vegetable substances may be preserved in
a perfect state for an indefinite length of time, if kept at a temperature
nearly approaching the freezing point of water, without being actually
allowed to freeze. The apparatus constructed substantially in the the
manner hereafter described is intended to produce this condition, and
thereby act on the fruit and vegetable preserver. The articles to be!
preserved are to be placed in a compartment in which they are surrounded on
all sides by ice or by water, at or near the freezing temperature, but so dis-
posed as not to come into contact with or induce the freezing of the articles
placed therein; the apparatus being also so constructed as to admit of renewing
the supply of ice at the top or the sides, whenever it is requisite so to do. The a
apparatus when complete, is usually divided into two principal compartments,
one of which constitutes an ice house, from which the ice necessary to the
second, or fruit and vegetable preserver is to be applied; this combination of
two such compartments is not, however, absolutely necessary, as the preserving
compartment may be constructed and used separately where there is already
an ice house, or where from any cause it may be desirable to separate the two.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figure 1 is a top view of the apparatus
complete, when constructed with the two compartments above named; the outer
covering or roof being removed from the ice house compartment, and a second
or lower and inner covering form the preserving compartment.
Figure 2 is a vertical section taken longitudinally through the middle of the
apparatus.
Figures 8 represent the roof or upper covering of one of the compartments
the roof of both compartments being similarly constructed.
8

page_text: Figure 4 is an outside perspective view of the preserving compartment,
separated from the other parts of the structure. A, A, represents the ground
or rather a wall of stone or of brick, built for the purpose of supporting the
sides of the excavation in the ground within which the compartments are
situated. B is the ice house, and C the preserving compartment. D, D, is
a space left between the sides of the compartments and the wall or ground,
so as to prevent the communication or transmission of heat. Each of the
compartments is formed of a double box of plank, a, a, and b, b, having a space,
c, c, between them, which is to be filled with charcoal, tan, bark, or other bad
conductor of heat. Between the two compartments, when joined, there is also
a similar filling as at c". The flooring d, d, of the compartments is supported
above the bottom of the excavation, to protect them from the heat of the
ground, and also to allow of a free passage to the water produced by the
thawing of the ice. E, E, Figures 1, 2, and 4, represent the second, or
lower covering to each of the compartments, which covering, like the roof or
upper covering to be presently described, is slightly pyramidal or sloping from
the centre to each of the sides. F, F, Figures 1 and 4, are doors through
which an entrance may be had to either of the compartments. Ice may
be placed upon the covering E of the ice house, and as this ice melts
the water from it will trickle down an inner wall of the ice compart-
ment, and will absorb any heat which might otherwise find its way through
the charcoal or imperfect conductor, and flow under the preserving com-
partment and tend to keep it at the proper temperature. The plan just
described, is the manner in which it is in general intended to. construct
and arrange the ice compartment; but as this is only auxiliary to the pre-
serving compartment, and does not differ materially from some other ice-houses,
I do not intend to make any claim to this part of the structure. .
"
The preserving compartment C, Figure 4*, shewn also in section in Figure 2,
consists of a box distinct from the compartment. This box, receptacle, or room,
is made of plank, having a covering E¹, as described, and is surrounded on all
sides with several troughs or tubes e, e, Figures 2 and 4, which, when de-
sired, may be filled with water. In the section, Figure 2, they are represented
as tubes. In Figure 4, f, f, are vertical tubes, through which the water may
be poured and caused to pass into those marked e, e. This is only to be done.
when, from excessive cold, there may be danger that the contents of the vege-
table compartment might freeze, an event which by this provision may be
effectually prevented. G, G, are planks on the outsides of the troughs e, e,
serving to prevent the ice which may be interposed between the compartment
C and the excavation containing it from coming into direct contract with the

page_text: inner flanking. 9, 9 is the space between the preserving compartment and
the excavation. Over the excavation for the preserving compartment, and also
over the ice-house when the two are combined, I place a roof or covering, H, H,
Figures 2 and 3. This covering consists of shallow boxes fitted closely together,
and containing charcoal or other bad conductor of heat. Between this and the
covering E, E, is a space for stowing a stratum of ice, and when this requires to
be renewed, either of the shallow boxes may be removed without disturbing the
others. When it is desired to enter the ice-house of the preserving compart-
ment a door I, Figure 8, in the upper covering, corresponding with the doors
F, F, in the lower covering, may be removed. The preserving compartment
does not reach to the bottom of the excavation in which it is placed, but suffi-
cient space is left between the lower part of the preserving compartment and
the bottom of the excavation, so as to allow room for the water to pass off,
provision being made to allow such water to be absorbed by the ground or to
be draw off into a well or reservoir below. The covering E¹ of the preserving
compartment conducts the water produced by the melting of the ice on to the
inner side of the planking b, b, Figure 2, down which it trickles; and for the
more hardy fruits and vegetables which have little tendency to ferment, this
will suffice for their protection, but for the preservation of the more delicate
kinds which soon spoil, ice must be passed into the space g, g; but the space
should be a few inches only in width, so that the bulk of ice shall be but
small.
Having thus fully described the nature of the apparatus for the preservation
of fruit and other vegetables, being the Invention communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent as aforesaid, and having shewn the operation thereof, I
would observe, in conclusion, that what I claim therein as new, and desire to
secure by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is constructing the
preserving apparatus so that the substances contained in the preserving com-
partment may be subjected to the influence of the ice deposited on the covering
E³, in conjunction with that of the ice-cold water produced by its melting, or
to the additional influence of a thin stratum of ice surrounding the sides of
the said compartment, or to the moderated temperature produced by the sup-
plying of water to the tubes or troughs e, e, the respective parts being com-
bined, arranged, and operating substantially as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.
W. E. (L.S.) NEWTON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Thirteenth day of March,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Edward Newton came
before our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.