IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CREAM OR MILK AND IN OBTAINING BUTTER AND OTHER PRODUCTS THEREFROM
Year: 1861

page_text: Sealed the 5th September 1861, and dated the 30th May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frances Ann Whitehead'
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition, on
the 30th May 1861.
I, FRANCES ANN WHITEHEAD, of 7, Whitehead's Grove, Chelsea, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CREAM OR MILK AND IN OBTAINING BUTTER AND
OTHER PRODUCTS THEREFROM," to be as follows:-
In carrying my Invention into practical operation I prefer to employ cream
that has been partially separated from milk by skimming in the ordinary
manner; such cream usually contains a large proportion of milk in a state
of mechanical admixture, and by its presence retards the aggregation of the
innumerable small particles of butter which are diffused throughout the
semi-fluid mixture, and which particles it is desired to unite in a general
mass.
Now, my Invention consists in the separation of so much of the milk from
the buttery particles by filtration as will bring those particles into closer
contact, and thus facilitate their union and the consequent formation of butter.

page_text: For this purpose I prefer to employ a filter bag made of any suitable textile
fabric, sufficiently fine in the mesh to retain the particles of. butter, and at
the same time sufficiently open to allow the milk to pass through. Calico of
a good or fine quality answers well for small filters, but when operating on
a larger scale the bag or filter cloth should be supported on a grating, or be
enclosed in a sheath made of a stronger and more open material, as practised
in filtering saccharine solutions.
When skimming off the cream. from new milk I prefer to put it at onco
on to the filter, which-may-be .so-placed as to allow the milk as it flows from
it to run back again into the pan from which the cream was taken, or, if
preferred, it may be allowed to flow into any other suitable vessel. This
process of filtration will separate from three to six pints of sweet milk from
every gallon of cream; the substance retained by the filter will in consequence
be in a much more solid form than ordinary cream, and may be put at once
into a wooden bowl or other convenient vessel; and be there worked or kneaded-
by hand for two or three minutes, during which time it will undergo a con-
a
siderable change in appearance, first becoming spongy and then rapidly
changing into butter, and simultaneously-disengaging a small quantity of
fluid, which may be poured off. Cold water may then be added, and the butter
well washed and salted to the desired extent, as in the ordinary mode of
making up butter, the process of churning being entirely dispensed with.
If the quantity of butter to be made is extremely small, say a few ounces,
the filtered product may be stirred for a few minutes in a basin, and then
be rinsed in a little cold water, which will render it fit for use; by this process
butter can be made from fresh sweet cream each day as the cream is taken
from the milk; if, however, it be preferred to filter the whole of the milk
instead of operating upon cream, the milk should be allowed to become quite
cold before doing so.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frances Ann Whitehead in the Great Seal Patent Office on 30
the 30th November 1861...
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCES
ANN WHITEHEAD, of 7, Whitehead's Grove, Chelsea, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 35
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of May, in, the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Frances Ann Whitehead, Her special licence that I, the said
Frances Ann Whitehead, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Frances Ann Whitehead, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,.
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CREAM OR MILK AND IN OBTAINING
BUTTER AND OTHER PRODUCTS THEREFROM," upon the condition (amongst others),
that I, the said Frances Aun Whitehead, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and,
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frances Ann Whitehead, do hereby..
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
In carrying out my Invention practically I prefer using cream that has been
separated from milk in the ordinary way by skimming; cream so obtained
contains a large proportion of milk mechanically mixed with it, which by its
presence retards the aggregation of the innumerable small particles of butter,
the latter being diffused through the semi-fluid mixture, and requiring to be
united in order to form ordinary butter.
Now, my Invention consists in the separation of so much of the milk from
the buttery particles by filtration as will bring those particles into closer contact,
and thus facilitate their union and the subsequent formation of butter. For
this purpose I prefer employing shallow horizontal filters made of calico or other
suitable material adapted for separating the buttery particles from the milk.
I find ordinary unbleached calico or sheeting of moderately coarse texture
effect the separation most satisfactorily (the filters may readily be made
of any required size by fastening the calico over hoops made of ordinary beech
hooping), care being taken to inake the filters shallow, so as to allow as large
a surface for filtration as possible, or the filters may be supported on perforated
stoneware or other suitable material, so that the filters may be of a uniform
depth, which depth should not exceed one and a half to two inches, or an

page_text: absorbent material may be used to assist the filtration by absorption or capillary
attraction.
When skimming the cream from new milk I prefer to put it at once on
the filter, and allow the milk as it flows from it to run back into the pan or other
suitable receptacle by gutters, troughs, or otherwise. The cream after standing
on the filter for from 12 to 24 hours (the time depending on the depth of
cream on the filter) can at once be separated from it in a solid cake or mass,
which on being worked or kneaded by hand or otherwiso in a suitable bowl,
vessel, or other mechanical arrangement, undergoes a rapid change in appear-
ance, first becoming spongy, and in the course of a few minutes changing into
butter, with the separation of a small quantity of fluid retained in the buttery
particles themselves, and requiring pressure to break up the particles before it
can be separated; the butter may then be washed with cold water and salted
in the usual way. Butter may be thus made without the ordinary churning
from a large or small quantity of cream with ease and rapidity, increasing not
only the yield, but at the same time improving the quality of the butter. By
this process butter may be made from fresh sweet cream in a few hours after
being separated from the milk; it is generally advisable, however, to-let the
cream stand for 12 hours, so that the cream separated from the milk in the
évening may be made into butter on the following morning by simply skimming
the cream on to a filter instead of into an ordinary cream pot.
Having described my Invention, and the mode of applying the same pre-
ferred by me, I wish it to be understood that what I claim is the separation
of the buttery particles from cream or milk by filtration, and then converting
the cream into bulter, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frances Ann Whitehead, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
FRANCES ANN WHITEHEAD. (L.S.)