IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH, AND IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND EMPLOYING THE REFUSE MATERIALS OBTAINED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE
Year: 1839

page_text: VERDURE'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
JEAN ISIDORE VERDURE, of Leicester Square, in the County of Middlesex,
gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Pierre Jean Isidore Verdure, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Pierre Jean Isidore
Verdure, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Pierre Jean Isidore Verdure, my exors, admors, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF STARCH, AND IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND EMPLOYING THE REFUSE
MATERIALS OBTAINED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE;" communicated to me by a cer-
tain foreigner residing abroad, in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I, the said Pierre Jean Isidore Verdure, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Pierre Jean Isidore Verdure, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained' in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon (that is to say) :-
According to the ordinary process of making starch, the wheat being ground
is submitted to a process of steeping for a considerable length of time, and fer-
mentation takes place, by which means the gluten is injuriously acted on and
becomes putrid and refuse material, and is of little value, and the most valuable
use to which it can be applied is, I believe, when used to feed pigs.
Now the object of this Invention is to obtain the gluten in a pure state,
separate from the matters for making starch, in order that such gluten may be
more advantageously employed in place of submitting the gluten together with
the other materials to the usual steeping and fermenting process, by which the
gluten becomes putrid; and the Invention also relates to machinery whereby
the products for making starch are separated from the gluten, leaving the
gluten in a prepared state, and suitable for being employed in the making of
bread, biscuit, and other preparations wherein gluten is employed; and in order
to give the best information in my power I will proceed to describe the process
and machinery as pursued by me, and which has been found fully to answer,
and are, I believe, the best which can be devised for carrying out the
Invention.
.
The wheat is to be ground and sifted in order to separate the bran, and
dough is to be made of the flour either by hand or machinery. I prefer to use
a machine capable of mixing large quantities at a time. The dough being
prepared is next submitted to pressure and movement by a machine which. I
call a kneading trough; by such means the dough is turned and opened. out
offering fresh surfaces to be washed by means of streams of water, whereby
the material for starch making is separated from the gluten and carried
away by the water, leaving the gluten in a sweet and pure state, which
may be immediately mixed with flour or other materials, and made into
bread, biscuit, maccaroni, and other preparations containing gluten..
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a side view of a kneading trough made according to, the
Invention. Figure 2 is a plan, and Figure 3 is a transverse section thereof.
The section of the trough is semicircular. a, a, is the trough, and b, b, the ends
thereof; c is an axis moving in bearings at each end of the trough a, and d,.d,

page_text: are a series of rollers carried by the axis c, the rollers d, d, being caused to
move to and fro across the trough by means of cranks or other means applied
to the arms e, of the axis c. On each side of the kneading trough is applied a
gutter f,f, and there are openings in the trough at g, g, which are covered with
fine wire cloth in order to allow the water from the trough to flow freely through
into the gutter f. It will be seen that there are a series of partitions at h, h, so
placed and fixed as to cause the dough to take an indirect course from end to
end. At one end of the trough is an opening i, through which the gluten (which
has been separated and prepared) passes. In using this machine dough is to be
supplied into the left-hand end of the trough, and by the rolling and pressing
of the dough it will proceed through the various compartments of the trough,
the rollers pressing and causing the dough to be turned and moved about in
such manner as to offer fresh surfaces to be washed by the streams of water
which proceed from the perforated pipe j, and the process of kneading of the
dough together with the washing is to be carried on so long as the water
running into the gutters appears white and clouded by the material for starch
making; so soon as the water appears to be clear and not clouded with white
the starch waters will be separated from the gluten. The water with the
material for starch making is received into any suitable vat or vessel in which
it is allowed to stand from sixteen to twenty-four hours till the material for
starch making is fully precipitated, when the water is to be drawn off by a
syphon or other convenient means, and the water thus obtained may be
employed in the making of vinegar or otherwise. The precipitate is to be put
into vats or tubs together with some sour waters from a previous fermentation,
in the proportion of one part by measure of sour water to nine parts by
measure of the material for starch making, and the same are to be permitted
to ferment during from five to eight days, occasionally stirring the same, the
completion of the process of fermentation being readily to be ascertained by
forcing a stick down into the matter under process, and if the water on with-
drawing the stick flows clear and uncoloured the process is complete, and the
sour water is to be removed by a horse-hair sieve or other suitable means;
and it should be stated that if bran has been put into the precipitate or matter
for starch making to undergo the process of fermentation, in such case the
fermented product of starch is to be washed in order to separate the bran
therefrom, as is well understood by starch makers; but in case the bran is not
thought to contain so much starch as would justify the after trouble of washing,
then the bran being omitted, the washing of the fermented product will not be
necessary. The product thus obtained is then to be. treated in like manner to

page_text: the washed fermented product of starch, as heretofore practised when starch is
made, by steeping and fermenting the whole product of the wheat and thereby
destroying the value of the gluten, which is an important product of the wheat
when treated according to this Invention. I would remark that in carrying on
the process of fermentation the matters are kept to a heat of 80° to 90° of
Fahrenheit.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would remark that although I have been particular in
describing the means I have pursued and find fully to answer, I do not confine
myself thereto so long as the general principle of the process or of the machine
be retained, the great object of the process and of the machinery being so to
operate that the gluten may be obtained separate and pure, to be employed for
various useful purposes from the product for starch making; and it will be found
that by having simply to act on the separated materials for starch making not
only is much time saved by the combined kneading and washing process, but
also a larger product of starch is obtained by the mode of first separating
the materials for starch making from the gluten, as the ordinary process of
separating the refuse matters in starch making subsequent to fermentation
takes away much of the starch in the employment of a given quantity of
wheat in the making of starch. I would remark that in using the gluten
prepared in the process of separation by kneading and washing to the pur-
poses of making bread, biscuits, or other preparation containing gluten from
wheat, the same is to be mixed with wheaten or other flour or materials in any
proportions persons employing the same may think desirable for the particular
object to be obtained. I have found that in making bread the mixing of one
part of gluten with to four parts of wheaten flour makes very excellent bread;
and very good bread may be made by mixing potatoe flour with gluten, and
I have found that a mixture of thirty-two pounds of fresh gluten, thirty-six
pounds of potatoe flour (fecula), and twenty pounds of yellow potatoes of
good quality cooked by steam, makes good bread; and in making biscuit the
mixing of one-third part of gluten with one-third part of wheaten flour, and
one-third part fecula makes very excellent biscuit; and mixing fresh gluten
with wheaten flour till the paste is of the required condition makes very fine
maccaroni. And it should be stated that when mixing of the flour with the
gluten is being performed the same are kept warm by steam heat, or other-
wise, to about eighty to ninety degrees Fahrenheit; and it may be desirable
to remark that by pursuing the mode of making starch above described, the
nuisance heretofore consequent on the putridity which is caused by the

page_text: fermentation of the gluten contained in the wheat as well as the other products
thereof is by the new process got rid of, and the manufacture of starch may
be carried on without nuisance.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Jean Isidore Verdure, have here-
unto set my hand and seal this Twenty-fifth day of July in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.