AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hector Auguste Dufrené, of No. 10, Ruo de la
Fidélité, Paris, in the Republic of France, and 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, for the In-
vention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE
SUBSTANCES, AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR.”—A communication
from Monsieur Charles Tellier, residing at Auteuil, Paris, in the
Republic of France.
Sealed the 5th February 1875, and dated the 11th August 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hector Auguste
Dufrené at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 11th August 1874.
I, HECTOR AUGuste Dufrené, of No. 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris,
in the Republic of France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Civil
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE
SUBSTANCES, AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOB, to be as follows, that is
to say:-
This Invention.consists in an improved method of preserving animal
and vegetable substances and in the apparatus employed therein.

page_text: To carry out my Invention I dry the animal or vegetable substancos
to be preserved in a suitably isolated enclosed structure at a temperature
varying from twenty-eight to thirty-eight degrees Fahrenheit in such a
manner as to remove from them about from one to twenty-five per cent.
of water, according to the length of time for which it is desired to
preserve the substances. When removed from the cold enclosure the
substances may be placed under ordinary conditions.
of
To effect the said desiccation at a low temperature I cause dry cold
air to circulate over the substances. I bring the air to this state either
by causing it to pass through the refrigerator of any suitable machine:
for producing artificial cold, or by preference by means of an apparatus
constructed as follows:―This apparatus consists of a series of chambers
any suitable form, but preferably flat, so as to present large surfaces;
in these spaces a cooled uncongealable liquid is made to circulate, such
liquid coming from a cold producing machine, or other suitable source
of cold. I cause the air to be cooled to pass over the cold exterior
surfaces of the said chambers. I can also inject the cooled uncon-
gealable liquid into the current of air to be cooled through a number of
orifices opening into the interior of the conduct pipe, conveying the air
to be cooled in such a manner as to present by the breaking up of the
liquid a very large cooling surface.
The desiccating property of the air may be increased by causing it to
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Hector Auguste Dufrené in the Great Seal Patent 2
Office on the 11th February 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HECTOR
AUGUSTE DUFRENÉ, of No. 10, Ruc de la Fidélité, Paris, in tho
Republic of France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Civil
Engincer and Patent Agent, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the

page_text: thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Hector Auguste Dufrené, Her
special licence that I, the said Hector Auguste Dufrené, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Hector Augusté
Dufrené, my executors, administrators, 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
"AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES,
AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR," a communication from Monsieur
Oharles Tellier, a person resident at Auteuil, Paris, in the Republic
of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Hector
Auguste Dufrené, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
3 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 Hector Auguste Dufrené, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereto
5 annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to
say :—
This Invention consists in an improved method. of or process for
preserving animal and vegetable substances and in improved apparatus
employed therein.
My process has for its object a slow desiccation combined with the
action of cold exerted at temperatures approaching to 32° Fahrenheit,
but without congelation for organic substances under 32° Fahrenheit,
with congelation for amorphous substances such as butter.
desiccation requires to be graduated according to the nature of the
5 articles to be preserved, and particularly with regard to meat it must
Such
be slight when it is required to preserve the meat in the ordinary
condition of butchers' meat, in which case a desiccation equivalent to a

page_text: The apparatus works as follows:-Methylic ether vapours are formed
in the refrigerator A. and absorb the heat to be removed; these vapours
pass into the force pump B, which forces them into the condenser C, and
condenses them under the double influence of the pressure and of the
relative cold produced by the current of water in which the worm h is
immersed. The condensation being effected the methylic ether returns
in a liquid state to the condenser, either by raising a valve cock S or
by passing through the distributor D. When arrived in the refrigerator
the ether disengages fresh vapours, which reproduce the same effect as
herein-before described.
To prevent the ether vapours escaping through the piston rod a double
stuffing box is placed at E in the force pump, which allows a free space
for the arrival of oil contained in a vessel N; by this means a water-
tight joint is formed, which allows of the complete occlusion of the
piston, and at the same time its lubrication. This vessel by the working
of the cocks of the refrigerator also allows of taking up the oil which
arrives in the refrigerator and replacing it in the piston rod.
At sea it is desirable to work the force pump direct, and so avoid the
use of driving bands.
Figure 2 shows the force pump A combined with its motor M on the
same foundation, and which only requires a current of steam to set it in
action. To utilise the supersaturated solution of ammonia I employ
the same force pump either separated from or combined with its motor
as herein-before described. I can employ the same refrigerator as that
shown in Figure 1, or replace it by a refrigerator provided with plates, as
shewn at A, Figure 3; and I replace the condenser by the arrangement
shown in Figure 3.
A vertical cylinder P contains a concentrated ammoniacal super-
saturated solution, which under the influence either of a float or a slide
valve passes into the refrigerator A. The ammonia is converted into
vapours, which enter the force pump and are forced into the super-
saturator; a small pump O is also placed so as to withdraw the
exhausted solution and send it into the supersaturator P, by which
double action I reform in a continuous manner the primitive super-
saturated solution, the flow of which from the supersaturator to the
refrigerator takes place in a regular manner. The formation of this
solution is facilitated by the action of a current of water carrying off the

page_text: caloric, which is set free, which current acts either by means of a ribbed
changer of a break S in the supersaturator, or by means of a
Worm T.
Whichever apparatus is adopted the option of two actions is presented,
videlicet, the action of a current of cold air and the action of a current
of cold liquid. The first presents an objection in its application, which
requires to be guarded against, viz., the formation of rime in the tubes,
by which the free passage of air is obstructed. The employment of cold
refrigerating solutions obviates this objection. I employ them by means
of surfaces suitably disposed; Figures 4, 5, and 6, will show the
simplicity of these arrangements.
Figure 4 shows an arrangement in which I employ hollow strips con-
sisting of two sheets of tinned iron, separated by an interval of two-fifths
to four-fifths of an inch. Inside this kind of box or chamber I circulate
the then no longer refrigerating mixture employed, but a non-con-
gealable solution, which enters at one extremity and passes out at the
other, whence it proceeds to the refrigerator to be cooled. I combine a
certain number of such boxes or chambers, as shown in section,
Figure 5, and cause the air to circulate in the spaces they contain.
The extremity of these boxes terminates in an air chamber large enough
for a man to enter, so as to allow the cleaning out and permanent
removal of the rime. The cleaning out may also be effected by the
injection of water saturated with marine salt, in which case it would bo
preferable to place the apparatus vertically, so that its sides may be
constantly washed with a slight coat of salt solution.
Figure 6 shows an arrangement in which I cause the uncongealable
liquid to pass direct into the air conduit on account of the liquid
particles, which might be carried with it. I prefer employing marine
salt to chloride of calcium as the uncongealable liquid. In this case
three tubes a, a, a, Figure 6, serve to bring in the uncongealable liquid,
which is projected in cross jets into the air conduit. The air con-
tinuously bathed by this cold liquid becomes cool and gives up to it its
moisture, as well as the germs it may contain in suspension. It is thus
kept in constant and intimate contact with the cooling action. The salted
liquid after having been thus projected is collected in a recipient placed
at the extremity of the air conduit. At this point a pump takes it up
and sends it to the refrigerator to cool, and it afterwards returns under

page_text: a sufficient pressure and acts on the air in the manner herein-before
described. The cooling operation may also be applied during the
transit on railways when long distances have to be travelled over.
The stores I employ consist of large isolated spaces similar to ordinary
ice houses, in which I keep up a temperature of about 32° Fah.; the
carcasses are lowered therein while still warm after extraction of the
viscera and intestines. They are kept there entire or divided, that is to
say, they are then prepared in the manner required for storage.
The meat is deposited in trucks, the partitions of which are suitably
isolated by forming them with double sides, between which is placed
wool, silk, or cotton, or powdered cork, or small straw. Such trucks
are provided externally with a reservoir of water A, Figure 7, and
internally with one or more reservoirs B of liquified ammonia, so as to
present sufficient surface to absorb the heat from the interior of the
truck, and it has two tubes extending outwards. One of these tubes n
serves for the arrival of the liquified ammonia when this recipient is
empty, the other for allowing the gasefied ammonia to escape into and
be dissolved in the vessel A placed at the exterior and containing water.
Each pipe is provided with a cock. It is easily understood that when
the cock, allowing the escape of the vaporized gas, is opened cold is
produced in the apparatus, which absorbs the heat which may be in
the truck. Thus the cock allows of easily graduating the interior
temperature, and the ammoniacal solution thus enclosed may be drawn
out by a cock on arrival at the station, so as to produce in an establish-
ment for that purpose, and by any known means,—
Firstly. Liquified ammonia, which may be stored in the interior
reservoir or refrigerator.
Secondly. Desaturated solution, which is placed in the exterior
maxrain and which may again be used for collectine ammonia which

page_text: I-can-also-use skins, either rolled, heaped up, stretched out, or super-
posed, of suitable thickness: These skins must bo deprived of their
germs by means of sulphurous or phenic acid, or by an antiseptic. Boncs
roughly ground will also form an excellent isolator.
I can also employ resin, either alone or combined with cork or oat 5
chaff. When using oat chaff it is necessary to render it poisonous to
protect it from the attacks of vermin.
The floor of the refrigerating chambers has to be covered with sheet
iron, or with an india-rubber carpet, so that the washings, or in the case
of injections-in-the-air-conduit-of-cold-saline water, the particlos which 1
may be carried away may run direct into the discharge gutter and be
taken up-and-used over again.
Suspension of the Carcasses.-Small carcasses may be suspended; that is
to say, attached at their upper or lower part, or simply placed on
hurdles, or preferably on metallic cloth.
Large carcasses may be preserved in joints or entire. If divided in
quarters, more or less voluminous, the pieces are placed on open iron
shelves, preferably placed horizontally when in the hold of vessels. The
shelves are moveable, so as to be able to fit them in their places as soon
as they are filled; Figure 8 represents such shelves.
--
Forked rods, Figure 9, may be placed. between the shelves, and-allow
of the pieces remaining fixed in; their places. An antiseptic may be
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