IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF FOOD AND OF SUBSTANCES LIABLE TO FERMENTATION OR DECAY, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN." PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Paul Egide Marie Koch, of 86, Boulevard Leopold,
Antwerp, in the Kingdom of Belgium, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE PRESERVATION OF FOOD AND OF SUBSTANCES LIABLE TO FERMENTATION
OR DECAY, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Paul Egide Marié
Koch at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd July 1877.
PIERRE PAUL EGIDE MARIE KOCH, of 86, Boulevard Leopold, Antwerp, in
the Kingdom of Belgium. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF FOOD AND
OF SUBSTANCES LIABLE TO FERMENTATION OR DECAY, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN."
The object of my Invention is the preservation of all sorts of alimentary substances
in their different states, whether natural or salted, smoked, boiled, or cooked. The
Invention is applicable to all substances which are subject to change, fermentation,
or corruption; meat, fowl, game, fish, fruit, flowers, roots, vegetables, fats, butter,
bread, skins, yeast, anatomical preparations, and so forth.
To preserve articles of food and substances liable to fermentation in general in
their natural condition, I place them in a solution of bisulphite of soda of potash, or
of lime, employed either alone or associated with the acetate or the borate of soda,
or with salycilic acid. The degree of concentration of this bath and the duration of
the immersion will vary essentially with the nature and the destination of the
substance to be preserved, with the seasons, the country, the temperature, the length
of the period of preservation which is proposed, the special risks of decomposition to
be encountered after preservation, and so forth. The substances to be preserved are
then submitted to the pressure of a gas in a close vessel of suitable form.
The apparatus is composed of an horizontal cylinder; it is constructed of metal,
and is furnished at the lower part with rails. Upon these rails there is supported
an open iron frame or platform furnished with wheels. This frame or platform is

page_text: on the ground level. To the front, and perpendicular to it, the cover of the cylinder
is fixed. A winch combined with these parts furnishes the means of running them
in and out at pleasure.
The matters to be preserved are, according to their nature and dimensions, sus-
pended or arranged horizontally (separating them with surfaces formed with rushes,
rattan, or others), in wagons approximately of a cylindrical form, so that they may
be able to enter conveniently the apparatus.
The loaded wagons are run on to the platform when it has been withdrawn from
the boiler, and they occupy the space between the mouth of the boiler and the
cover; then by means of a winch they are carried on into the cylinder, and at the
same time the cover comes into place to close the apparatus air-tight, and it is fixed
in its place by means of bolts. This boiler, after that the air has first been
exhausted from it, is put into communication with. another in which de-oxygened
air has been compressed; this may be obtained by the action of copper or iron
turnings heated to redness, or by means of coke or wood charcoal similarly heated,
or by other means. The amount and duration of this pressure (which may also be
obtained directly by means of a force pump), will vary with the nature of the
substance to be preserved, its consistence and size, the special conditions of climate,
seasons, temperature, and the end desired to be attained.
After this operation the wagons.are taken out of the cylinder and the substances
are enclosed in vessels or receivers of glass, earthenware, tinplate, or other material,
or it may be in wooden packages (barrels or others), in which, according to circum-
stances, I form a vacuum; I replace the atmospheric air by de-oxygened air, or I
interpose a substance such a fat, tallow, margarine, and the like.
: For the purpose of obtaining a vacuum or replacing the air in the vessels or
réceivers enclosing the substances to be preserved (in addition to the ordinary
means), I employ special apparatus and means. It is composed of a metal cylinder
having a double bottom, which receives a rotary movement from a crank handle or
from a pedal placed outside. A moveable metal cover closes the cylinder hermeti-
cally; it has apertures or windows in it, glazed with strong glass, so that the
interior of the cylinder can be seen. There is also an opening in the circular sides
of the vessel which serves to introduce an instrument; it may be a soldering iron or
other instrument suitable for closing the small hole left at the top of the cans or
vessels in which the preserved matters are packed. This instrument passes through
a metal joint packed so as to prevent escape, and permitting of movement in all
directions.
By means of a connection I form a vacuum in the apparatus and in the
packages, which turning with the moveable bottom, are brought in succession
under the instrument by means of which they are soldered or hermetically
closed. If it be intended to replace the atmospheric air by de-oxygened air or
by some other gas, the closing is not performed until after the apparatus has
been put in communication with the gasometer. Substances treated by this
method may be kept without special package in fixed or moveable receivers of
all sizes, which will protect them from the air either on land or sea. For the
preservation of articles of food, and in general all fermentable matters in a salt
state, I employ the same method as that described for their preservation in
natural or fresh state. The preparatory bath alone differs; it consists principally
of a more or less concentrated solution of sea salt.
The conditions of packing and transport are the same, and moreover the sub-
stances may be preserved in their own brine; they may also be dried and packed
without protection from the air either with or without the addition of salt in
crystal. To preserve substances in a smoked state I employ the same methods.
The preparatory bath is composed of sea salt and saltpetre, or of creosoted liquor, or
of smoke pickle, or any other solution ordinarily employed in smoking or creosoting,
and they are submitted to pressure in close vessels with smoke furnished chiefly
by shavings, tan, or sawdust. Substances preserved in this manner will keep
unpacked.

page_text: Finally, to preserve substances in a boiled or cooked state, I place them either in
their natural state or already to some extent boiled or cooked, with or without con-
diments in suitable vessels in which it is intended to preserve them. These receivers
are closed or soldered hermetically, except a small aperture formed in the centre of
the cover. They are placed in this state in the closing apparatus, where whilst
subjected to vacuum they are hermetically closed. After this operation they are
placed on the wagons and are enclosed in the cylinder first described. The apparatus
is then put into communication with a steam generator, and the substances to be
preserved are there submitted to the high temperature necessary to cook them and
for the destruction of the last germs of fermentation. The receivers are then cooled,
either in the apparatus or in the open air.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Pierre Paul Egide Marie Koch in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd January 1878.
PIERRE PAUL EGIDE MARIE KOCH, of 86, Boulevard Leopold, Antwerp, in
the Kingdom of Belgium. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF FOOD AND
OF SUBSTANCES LIABLE TO FERMENTATION OR DECAY, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN."
The object of my Invention is the preservation of all sorts of alimentary substances
in their different states, whether natural or salted, smoked, boiled, or cooked.
The Invention is applicable to all substances which are subject to change, fer-
mentation, or corruption; meat, fowl, game, fish, fruit, flowers, roots, vegetables, fats,
butter, bread, skins, yeast, anatomical preparations, and so forth.
To preserve articles of food and substances liable to fermentation in general in
their natural condition, I place them in a solution of bisulphite of soda, of potash,
or of lime, employed either alone or associated with the acetate or the borate of
soda, or with salycilic acid. The degree of concentration of this bath and the
duration of the immersion will vary essentially with the nature and the destination
of the substance to be preserved; with the seasons, the country, the temperature,
the length of the period of preservation which is proposed, the special risks of
decomposition to be encountered after preservation, and so forth. The substances
to be preserved are then submitted to the pressure of a gas in a close vessel of
suitable form.
The apparatus shown on Sheet I., Figures 1, 2, and 3, is composed of an horizontal
cylinder a; it is constructed of metal, and is furnished at the lower part with
rails b, b. Upon these rails there is supported an open iron frame or platform
furnished with wheels c, c. This frame or platform is on the ground level d. To
the front, and perpendicular to it, the cover of the cylinder is fixed. A winch g
combined with these parts furnishes the ineans of running them in and out at
pleasure.
The matters to be preserved are, according to their nature and dimensions,
suspended or arranged horizontally (separating them with surfaces formed with
rushes, rattan, or others), in waggons approximately of a cylindrical form, so that
they may be able to enter conveniently the apparatus a,

page_text: The loaded waggons h, h, are run on to the platform c when it has been withdrawn
from the boiler, and they occupy the space between the mouth of the boiler and the
cover f; then, by means of winch g, they are carried on into the cylinder a, and at
the same time the cover f comes into place to close the apparatus air-tight, and it is
fixed in its place by means of the bolts j, j. This boiler, after that the air has first
been exhausted from it, is put into communication with another in which de-
oxygened air has been compressed; this may be obtained by the action of copper or
iron turnings heated to redness, or by means of coke or wood charcoal similarly
heated, or by other means. The amount and duration of this pressure (which may
also be obtained directly by means of a force pump), will vary with the nature of
the substance to be preserved, its consistence and size, the special conditions of
climate, seasons, temperature, and the end desired to be attained.
After this operation the wagons are taken out of the cylinder and the substances
are enclosed in vessels or receivers of glass, earthenware, tinplate, or other material,
or it may be in wooden packages (barrels or others), in which, according to circum-
stances, I form a vacuum; I replace the atmospheric air by de-oxygened air, or I
interpose a substance such as fat, tallow, margarine, and the like.
For the purpose of obtaining a vacuum or replacing the air in the vessels or
receivers enclosing the substances to be preserved (in addition to the ordinary
means), I employ special apparatus and means shown on Sheet II., Figures 1, 2,
and 3. It is composed of a metal cylinder a having a double bottom b, which
receives a rotary movement from a crank handle c, or from a pedal placed outside.
A moveable metal cover d closes the cylinder hermetically; it has apertures or
windows in it, glazed with strong glass f, so that the interior of the cylinder can be
seen. There is also an opening g in the circular sides of the vessel a which serves
to introduce the instrument h; it may be a soldering iron or other instrument, suit-
able for closing the small hole left at the top of the cans or vessels in which the
preserved matters are packed. This instrument passes through a metal joint
packed so as to prevent escape, and permitting of movement in all directions.
By means of a connection at s I form a vacuum in the apparatus and in the
packages, which turning with the moveable bottom are brought in succession under
the instrument h, by means of which they are soldered or hermetically closed. If it
be intended to replace the atmospheric air by de-oxygened air or by some other gas,
the closing is not performed until after the apparatus has been put in communication
with the gasometer. Substances treated by this method may be kept without
special package in fixed or moveable receivers of all sizes, which will protect them
from the air either on land or sea. For the preservation of articles of food, and in
general all fermentable matters in a salt state, I employ the same method as that
described for their preservation in natural or fresh state. The preparatory bath
alone differs; it consists principally of a more or less concentrated solution of
sea salt.
The conditions of packing and transport are the same, and moreover the
substances may be preserved in their own brine; they may also be dried and
packed without protection from the air either with or without the addition of salt
in crystal. To preserve substances in a smoked state I employ the same methods.
The preparatory bath is composed of sea salt and saltpetre, or of creosoted liquor, or
of smoke pickle, or any other solution ordinarily employed in smoking or creosoting,
and they are submitted to pressure in close vessels, with smoke furnished chiefly
by shavings, tan, or sawdust. Substances preserved in this manner will keep
unpacked.
Finally, to preserve substances in a boiled or cooked state, I place them either in
their natural state or already to some extent boiled or cooked, with or without con-
diments, in suitable vessels in which it is intended to preserve them; these receivers
are closed or soldered hermetically, except a small aperture formed in the centre of
the cover. They are placed in this state in the closing apparatus shown in the
Drawings, where whilst subjected to vacuum they are hermetically closed. After
this operation they are placed on the waggons and are enclosed in the cylinder first

page_text: described. The apparatus is then put into communication with a steam generator,
and the substances to be preserved are there submitted to the high temperature
necessary to cook them, and for the destruction of the last germs of fermentation.
The receivers are then cooled, either in the apparatus or in the open air.
Reserving to myself my method of dry gaseous pressure, and elimination or
replacement of atmospheric air in close receivers by any apparatus fulfilling the
prescribed conditions, whatever be their form and special accessory arrangements,
and declaring that the annexed Drawings are given only as one of the means for the
application of my system, and not excluding any arrangements fulfilling the same
objects, I claim as my Invention,―
First. The preservation in the natural state of articles of food, and in general of
matters which are subject to change, fermentation, or corruption, by simple
immersion of the matters to be preserved in an antiseptic solution, followed by
their exposure in a close apparatus to the pressure of a gas, and placing them
afterwards in packages of suitable nature from which the air is removed or
replaced by a gas or by a fatty matter, or preserving without special package,
either on sea or land, in receivers of any dimensions suitable to afford protection
from the air.
Second. The preservation in a similar manner of the same substances in a salt
state (either dry or wet).
Third. Their preservation in the smoked state by the same method.
Fourth. The preservation of substances in the boiled or cooked state by the
operation of vacuum obtained mechanically by my method in packages which
contain these substances (either in a natural state or already to some extent cooked),
and by their subsequent exposure in close vessels to the action of steam, which
effects or completes the cooking.
Fifth. Finally, I claim as my Invention the apparatus, substantially as herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Paul Egide Marie Koch, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
PIERRE KOCH. (L.S.)