IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING FOOD, AND IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS EXPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left' by Felix Napoleon Target at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th November 1872.
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I, FELIX NAPOLEON TARGET, of Colyton, in the County of Devon,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING FOOD, AND IN THE MEANS OR APPARATUS
EXPLOYED THEREIN,” to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to preserve meat and other alimentary
substances in the fresh or uncooked state. To obtain this result I create
in the vessels containing the meat or other materials a complete or
nearly complete vacuum, and I then close these vessels hermetically in
order to prevent the return of any atmospheric air to the interior of the
vessels.
According to one mode of carrying out my Invention the meat is
placed in suitable vessels, made of tin or other substance capable of
being made completely air-tight, and of resisting the pressure of the
external atmospheric air. In arranging the meat in the tins I leave at
the top, and sometimes at the bottom of the tin a space of about half an
inch, and after covering the meat with a loose disc of thin tin or wood,

page_text: I complete the filling of the tin with some powdered charcoal, preferring
peat charcoal (which may be mixed in suitable proportion with some
antiseptic salts), the object of which is herein-after explained. The tin
being so prepared the cover is soldered down; at the centre of this cover
is an opening of about one inch and a quarter in diameter surrounded
by a small collar. The tins are then placed in a metal box or chamber
which I shall call the vacuum pan, and which being for example 10 feet
long, 5 feet wide, and about 18 inches deep, would be sufficient for the
preparation of 144 tins of 4 lbs. each, or 576 Ibs. of meat in about half
an hour's time. This pan made of wrought or of cast iron is provided
at the sides with glass lights to allow the operation inside to be watched,
and is fitted in the inside with a copper worm to admit of the apparatus
being kept at a certain temperature, and also with four small railways
one foot wide upon which travel four trays or trucks holding two rows
of 18 tins each. Over each tin is suspended from a proper support a
small funnel which can be raised or lowered by hand when the trucks
are out.
The four trucks being placed in the pan there will be 144 tins at
regular intervals of 6 inches, and surmounted by as many funnels fixed
over the central aperture of the covers. The front opening of the
vacuum pan is then hermetically closed. On the top of the vacuum pan
I place eight rows of copper pipes screwed to the pan itself and
hanging over the centre of each funnel. Each of these pipes is sur-
mounted with a stop cock, and connected with eight longitudinal pipes
running along the pan. The eight rows of 18 cocks or every row
separately may be opened and closed at once. Each pipe which is about
2 inches in diameter containes another pipe one inch only in diameter,
the outer pipe is connected with a reservoir of melted lard or grease, the
inner pipe with a steam boiler, and is intended to keep the grease in a
fluid state. The vacuum pan is connected with a suitable air pump of
sufficient power to exhaust the air contained in the pan, and is worked
either by hand or by steam, according to circumstances.
The pan and its contents being so arranged I put the air pump in
action and produce a vacuum of about 30° in the pan, at the same time
turning the steam into the worm so as to keep the temperature at about
98° to 100° Fahrenheit. After leaving the pan in that state for about
15 or 20 minutes to allow the escape of the gases from the interior of
the tins, and keeping up the vacuum by the air pump, I then inject a

page_text: certain quantity of grease into the funnels by opening the cocks above
them. As soon as the grease reaches the tins a more or less strong
bubbling or ebullition takes place occasioned by the escape of the air
still contained in the meat, and which forces its way through the hot
grease. After a short time the bubbling ceases for want of sufficient air,
and at this point the pan is allowed to cool, the grease soon congeals and
when sufficiently condensed the atmospheric air is introduced into the
pan, and the front opened, the trucks are drawn out, and the tins
released from the funnels. The apertures which are filled with grease
are then closed with small tin covers, which may be soldered down or
not, at pleasure. The atmospheric air and the gases contained in the
meat being thus extracted the object of the layer of charcoal is simply
to absorb and condense any gases that may be formed in course of time,
and keep the meat perfectly sweet.
According to another mode of carrying out my Invention the tins are
prepared in the same manner as in the mode already described, except
that instead of leaving at the top of the tin an aperture of one inch and
a quarter, I place at the centre of the cover a small lead pipe of about
inch in diameter, and 1 inches long. As many of these tins as
desirable are placed on a stage or table in an iron trough about 5 or 6
inches deep, which may be kept filled with hot water. Every piece of
lead pipe is then connected by a piece of vulcanized caoutchouc pipe, with
a copper tube of small diameter which is connected by a stop cock with
a general receiver. This receiver itself is connected with a suitable air
pump, and provided with a vacuum gauge. The tins being brought to a
temperature of about 100° Fahrenheit the air pump is put in action, and
worked until the vacuum gauge is brought to 30° when the pump is
stopped and the vacuum allowed to fall, which it will do in proportion
to the escape of the gases from the tins. The vacuum is renewed at
intervals until it is observed that it loses very little or not at all, then
every piece of lead pipe is squeezed with a strong pair of pliers so as to
close the tins hermetically, and the caoutchouc tubes being detached,
solder is run down each end of pipe, and the process is complete.