IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1847

page_text: HORSLEY'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HORSLEY, of Ryde, in the Isle of Wight, in the County of Southampton,
Practical Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixth day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, in the tenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Horsley, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said John Horsley, my exors, admors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Horsley, 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, in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark,
and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my
Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said John
Horsley, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
inder my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court

page_text: 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 largo appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Horsley, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof (that
is to say)-
-
In the preservation of meat, fish, et cetera, for the purposes of food, I have
two methods of procedure, either by simple immersion of the same in a certain
liquid hereaftor mentioned, or injecting the same, and then packing articles so
prepared between layers of charcoal or any other equally sweat and absorbable
material not liable to fermentation in a suitable air-tight vessel, the charcoal
being also saturated with the liquid. When it is required to keep meat longer
than fourteen days I prefer the latter method
The preservative liquor is thus made:-I first perfectly neutralize strong
acetic acid (I prefer that known as Beaufoy's concentrated acetic or
pyroligneous acid) with the salt called sesquicarbonate of ammonia, the
result being the formation of an acetate of ammonia, which is eminently
volatile, and is given off in the act of cooking. I then dissolve in such
quantities as may be thought necessary, say, eight, nine, or more imperial
pints of water, (which has been well boiled to free it from air and other
impurities, and filtered through animal charcoal,) a small quantity, say, from
six to twelve ounces of chloride of sodium (common salt); to this solu-
tion I add two imperial pints of the neutral acetate before mentioned, though
I do not confine myself to any of these particular quantities, a little flavoring
or spice being added if desired. In injecting the meat with this liquid,
Carson's or any other force pump may be used. Meat thus treated is either
put into vessels and covered with the liquor, or it may be wrapped up in linen,
or any other fibrous material, saturated with the liquid and placed between layers
of sifted charcoal, or any other equally sweet and absorable material, in such
vessels as may be found to conduce to the safe keeping of the meat, as well as
resist the action of the fluid or gaseous matter therein contained.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I would wish it to be understood, that I do not
claim the use of any particular vessel, nor the use of charcoal, or any other
absorbent material, either as a preservative or medium of packing. But
what I claim is, the use of ammonia in such a combination with acetic
or purified pyroligneous acid as shall not interfere with the principle of decom-

page_text: 5
position
volamization or their elements upon the application of heat or in the
act of cooking.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Horsley, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.
JOHN (L.s.) HORSLEY.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourth day of November, in
the
year of our Lord 1847, the aforesaid John Horsley came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.