CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1833

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
ANTOINE ANGILBERT, of Upper Charles Street, Northampton Square, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the First day of June, in the third year of His reign, did, for
Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Pierre
Antoine Angilbert, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Pierre Antoine Angilbert, my exors, adiñors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Pierre Antoine Angilbert, my exors,
adñiors, 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, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that I, the said Pierre Antoine Angilbert, 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 His 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 Antoine Angilbert, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
improvements, and the manner of carrying the same into effect, are described
and set forth as follows, that is to say:-
The said improvements are applicable to the preservation of animal and
vegetable substances in vessels of metal or earthenware, the apertures of which
I close by certain methods not hitherto practised in closing the vessels used for
such purposes; by which methods I am enabled to make a sound and air-
tight joint between the vessels and their covers, but yet the two parts can
afterwards be separated readily and without using-violence; whereby the
contents of the said vessels may be taken out without injuring either the
vessels or the contents, and the same vessels may be used many times over;
whereas with the method at present practised of closing such vessels,
violence is requisite very often _to_ open them (unless a workman expert
in soldering is at hand), by which the contents are often, and the vessels
themselves almost always, injured.
My improvements consist, first, in closing the apertures of metal cases or
boxes, which are used, for preserving meat and vegetables therein, prepared by
processes well known and in use; and, secondly, in closing the apertures of
earthenware jars or vessels, which are used to preserve fruit and vegetable
substances that act upon metals. The Figure in the margin represents a vessel
of metal adapted to be closed according to my method for preserving provisions.
It is a cylindrical box made of sheet iron tinned, or it might be made of any
other vessel that will not communicate any unpleasant or prejudicial quality to
the provisions preserved in it, but tinned iron is the most convenient material.
The upper edge, instead of being plain, for the lid to be soldered on to it in the
usual way, is made with a projecting, hollow rim a, a, forming a channel all
round it into which the cover is adapted to fit, its lower edge b, b, being turned
downwards for that purpose, as shewn in the Drawing. The channel a, a, is
intended to contain melted solder, and while the solder is in a fluid state, the
cover is put on, and pressed down into its place, so as to bury its lower edge
in the melted solder. The solder being afterwards allowed to cool and set
around the lower edge of the cover, adheres to it and to the bottom and sides
of the channel a; a, and thus binds them together and makes a sound joint.
The operation of enclosing provisions in one of my improved boxes is as
follows: The iron box being first filled with meat, or vegetable, or other
provisions, which may be prepared in the way usual in the manufactories of
such preservable provisions, an annular plate of, thin iron c, c, about an inch
and a half or two inches broad, is put round it about an inch below the rim

page_text: The plate c, c, is cut in two, see the detached plan of it, and its ends being
brought together till the plate clasps tightly round the box, are fastened together
by a staple or two driven tight over them where they overlap each other.
The same annular plate c, c, will do for boxes or cases of various diameters.
The box being now prepared, some solder is melted and poured into the
channel a, and red hot coals are put on the plate c, c, all round the box and
kept hot, in order to keep the solder in a state of fusion, while the lid b is put
on and pressed down as aforesaid into its place to plunge its lower edge below
the surface of the melted solder. If any parts of the edge do not get well
covered with solder, they must be touched over with a little resin in powder and
solder. When the joint seems to be quite covered with solder, the hot coals
are removed from the plate c, c, and the solder is allowed to cool and harden,
and a sound and hard joint is thus made. The annular plate c, c, may then be
removed, and the iron box being now closed with an air-tight. joint, may be
exposed to the; heat of boiling water to expel the air and gases therefrom in
the usual way. Note. A small hole is left in the cover to allow the escape of
a little air from the box when the cover is put on, without which it might be
difficult to fit the cover on correctly, and also to allow the air and gases evolved
from the provisions during the boiling thereof to escape, and as soon as the
operation is finished that hole must be stopped up with a little solder.
To take out the preserved provisions from one of my improved air-tight
metal boxes, the annular plate c, c, is to be again placed round it, and hot coals
placed thereon and kept burning until their heat melts the solder or fusible
metal contained in the channel a, a. The cover b, b, can then be easily lifted off
without injuring the box at all. The fusible metal may be left afterwards to
cool in the channel a, a, where it will remain ready to be heated again the next
time the box is filled and closed. In respect to the kind of solder to be used,
common solder, composed of a mixture of tin and, lead, will answer; but I find
it more convenient to use a solder fusible at a very low temperature, made of
a mixture of tin, lead, and bismuth, which may be rendered fusible at lower
temperatures than common solder; the proportions between the component
parts of the solder used will of course be varied according to the temperature
at which it is desired that it should be fusible. I have found that a solder
fusible at two hundred and forty-six degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, and
composed of four parts of tin, one of lead, and five of bismuth, will answer the
purpose very well.
That part of my improvements which relates to closing the apertures of
earthenware' jars or vessels, so as to exclude the external air from them, in
order to preserve fruits or any kind of vegetable substances that are usually

page_text: preserved in such earthenware vessels, consists in a method of closing the
apertures thereof by means of caoutchouc, or india rubber, which material not
being acted upon by the heat of boiling water, and being perfectly impervious to
air, is well fitted to be used for the purpose. In order to apply the caoutchouc,
I have the earthenware jars or vessels made with a flat rim projecting out all
round the edge of the mouth, upon which rim I lay a ring of caoutchouc, cut
out to fit upon the said rim (or a circular piece of india rubber covering the
mouth of the jar as well as the rim may be used). Then over the india
rubber I apply a cover made of earthenware, or else of silver or of plated
metal, which has a flat rim, also projecting all round it, to fit upon the flat rim
of the jar. The cover is forced tight down upon the packing of india
rubber interposed between the two rims by means of small wedge-shaped
staples, something of the form shewn in the Drawing, which clasp the two
rims between their prongs, and a number of these staples being driven over
them with a mallet all round their circumference, draw them into contact with
each other. The india rubber packing being then compressed between them,
excludes the air and forms a sound joint.
Note. When the fruit or other vegetable substance contained in the jar is
to be boiled after the jar is closed, it will be necessary to leave a small hole in
the cover, and then a metal cover should be used and the hole stopped up
afterwards with solder, and to prevent damage to the earthenware by hammer-
ing on the staples that draw the rims together, a ring or washer of india
rubber should be put under the rim of the earthenware jar, and another on
the upper side of the rim of the cover, if the cover is also of earthenware, to
prevent the metal staples from being in contact with the earthenware.
_And whereas the methods which I have herein-before described for making
a close and air-tight joint in closing the apertures of metal or earthenware
vessels, constitute my improvements in preserving animal and vegetable sub-
stances, and are, to the best of my knowledge and belief, new as applied to
excluding the external air from vessels of metal or earthenware for the purpose
of preserving animal and vegetable substances therein, I hereby claim the
exclusive right to the same under the Letters Patent granted to me as afore-
said.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Antoine Angilbert, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-three
ANGILBERT JUN. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirtieth day of November, in the
year of our Lord 1833, the aforesaid Pierre Antoine Angilbert came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
5 written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
T
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