CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION AND APPLICATION OF VARIOUS FARINACEOUS PRODUCTS, AND FOR MACHINERY USED IN MANUFACTURING THE SAME
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
THOMPSON, of Cornwall Road, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Baker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twentieth day of December, in the eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Thompson, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said James Thompson, my
exors, admors, or assigns, or such others as I, the said James Thompson,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter, 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, my Invention of
CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION AND APPLICATION OF VARIOUS
FARINACEOUS PRODUCTS, AND FOR MACHINERY USED IN MANUFACTURING THE SAME;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that I, the said James
Thompson, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, under my
hand and seal, 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 there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Thompson, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the present Specification thereof, that is to say:-
The nature of my Invention consists in certain improved methods of
preparing the flour and other products obtainable from potatoes, and of
applying certain of the said products to useful purposes, and also in certain
improvements in the machinery used in manufacturing the same. And the
manner in which the said Invention is performed, is as follows:-The
potatoes, after being steeped for five or six hours in water, are thrown
into a cylinder composed of a number of bars or ribs of wood placed an inch
or two apart, which is mounted inside of a trough filled with water, and turns
on bearings in the sides of that trough. By causing this cylinder to revolve
the potatoes in it are not only freed from any earthy matter adhering to them,
but from the greater portion of the skins. The water, as it is fouled by the
washing and peeling of the potatoes, flows off through an outlet in the bottom
of the trough, while a supply of clean water is made to flow continuously into
the trough from a pipe overhead, which is connected with some suitable source
of supply, and is of equal area with the foul water outlet. The potatoes, after
they have been thus steeped, washed, and wholly or partially peeled, are then
reduced by rasping to a fine pulp in the manner which is commonly followed
in the manufacture of potatoe starch; I then carefully separate the fibrin con-
tained in this pulp from the starch, by subjecting it to a number of washings
in cylindrical sieves of metallic gauze, the liquid which comes from the sieves
bringing away the starch, and the fibrin, or the greater portion of it, remaining
behind in the sieves. To the starch liquor I add common salt in the proportion
of about an ounce to the gallon of the liquor, which has the effect of throwing
up any small particles of fibrin which may not have been separated by the
preceding process. From the starch liquor thus purified a fine flour is
obtained by subsidence, rewashing, drying, sifting, &c., all as commonly
practised by the manufacturers of potatoe starch. The fibrin, which is known
to be of a nature essentially different from the fibrous matter of most other vege-
table productions, but has been hitherto turned to little if any useful account, I
convert into yeast in manner following. I first subject it to strong pressure, in
order to expel the water embodied in it; I then dry it, and when dry I grind
it into meal; I next mix this meal with a decoction of hops, strain the mixture,
and leave it for a short time to ferment, when it becomes converted into an
excellent yeast suitable for baking and other fermenting purposes. The flour
obtained as before described.. I apply in manner following to improve the

page_text: quality of bread and pastry. In the case of bread I add a little of the potatoe
flour to the liquor used in making the dough, in the proportion of from one
to two pounds of the potatoe flour to each sack of wheaten flour employed;
or I make a jelly of the potatoe flour with boiling water, and work it up with
the dough. The effect of this addition on the bread is to make it keep much
longer sweet and moist, and to prevent it from crumbling. In making pastry
the potatoe flour is mixed up with the other ingredients when in the state of
paste, and in about the same proportions as observed in the case of bread, and
its general effect on articles of this class is to make them much lighter than
usual. A very good sort of fancy cake is made with potatoe flour alone, and
without butter, by beating up the yolk of eggs with sugar, thickening with
potatoe flour, flavouring with lemon or citron, and then baking.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is,-
First, the washing and pealing of the potatoes by means of an open-ribbed
cylinder revolving in water, as before described.
Second, the preparation in manner before described of the fibrin of the
potatoes, after its separation from the starch, and its application to the manu-
facture of yeast therefrom or therewith; and,
Third, the application of potatoe flour prepared as aforesaid to the improve-
ment of bread and pastry, as before described.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth
CT