IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRE- SERVATION OF VEGETABLE MATTERS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William James Cantelo, of Southwark, in the County
of Surrey, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRE-
SERVATION OF VEGETABLE MATTERS."
Sealed the 21st October 1856, and dated the 22nd April 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William James Cantelo
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd April 1856.
I, WILLIAM JAMES CANTELO, of Southwark, in the County of Surrey,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF VEGETABLE MATTERS, to be as follows:-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar method of desiccating fruits, esculent
plants, roots, seeds, and other vegetable matters by means of hot water hearths,
plates, pipes, and like arrangements.
I construct a boiler and furnace so as to be able to regulate the tempera-
ture to any required degree, and the water from the boiler I distribute through
the hot water apparatus by a screw or pump, to keep up the circulation and
equalize the temperature throughout. When the vegetable matters are spread
over the metal surfaces thus heated, they lose their moisture, dry, contract,
harden, and retain much of their colour.
To facilitate the process, I prefer to arrange the apparatus like a series of
shelves, one above another, by which means the drying proceeds by the action
of both contact and surface heat.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William James Cantelo in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JAMES CANTELO, of Southwark, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William James Cantelo, Her special licence that I, the said William James
Cantelo, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William James Cantelo, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PRESERVATION OF VEGETABLE MATTERS, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William James Cantelo, 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 Invention,
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 William James Cantelo, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
My said Invention relates to a peculiar method of desiccating fruits, esculents,
plants, roots, seeds, and other vegetable matters by means of hot water hearths,
plates, pipes, and like arrangements.
And for the better understanding of my said improvements, I will now
proceed to detail the particulars thereof, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, in which the same letters refer to like parts throughout.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a Langitudinal sectional elevation

page_text: A, A, is the external wood or other casing; A', A', A', A', metal double
partitions or shelves, forming hot water plates or hearths; B, B, is a circular
and moveable stove, with funnel B', and slides into an external tube or pipe
a, a, a, a, connected water-tight with the metal water bath or cistern C, D,
from which the hot water circulates to the shelves and other parts of the
apparatus; and 6 is the chamber for charcoal or other suitable fuel, or a gas
stove, or other convenient means of maintaining a moderate and regulated
temperature may be there situated with like effect; C is an internal cistern or
water jacket, extending to d, d, round the part a, a, that receives the stove; it
is open at top but closed at bottom; D is the external or main water bath or
cistern extending to c, c; the connexions e, e, e, e, between the different shelves
may be flat or tubular; E, the hot water flow; and F, the return or cool
water. It will thus be seen that the heat of the furnace B warms the water in
the cistern C, and is thence communicated to the cistern D by contact and
circulation. Here the heating medium is represented as placed centrally in
the apparatus, and the water flowing from the cisterns towards E, E, through
the several plates or shelves A¹, A¹, and connexions e, e, downwards to the
connecting pipes F, F, whence it ascends to c, and is heated there, and passes
on to E, E, these circuits being shown by the arrows. A water cock may be
placed at F for drawing off; and at f may be a thermometer; and G, G, may
be reserve or hot chambers. This arrangement forms a convenient portable
apparatus, or it may be extended to any suitable size, and may be square,
round, or of any other desired form. It is also obvious that the same
principle may be applied to a considerable length of shelves or drying hot
water plates. I prefer to incline the shelves slightly, as shown in the Drawing,
to favour circulation.
It will thus be observed that I construct a boiler and furnace in such a
manner as to be able to regulate the temperature to any degree of heat, for
the purposes required; and that I cause the water from the boiler to be
distributed by the arrangement thereof through the hot water apparatus, also
by a screw or pump to keep up the circulation and equalize the temperature
throughout. Thus, a pump barrel may be immersed in the water cistern D,
and so arranged that at every stroke of the piston the water will be raised
above the ordinary level, and by flowing onwards will maintain the requisite
circulation. When vegetable matters are spread over the top metal surfaces
thus heated, they lose their moisture at a temperature which does not
decompose or otherwise destroy them while they contract, dry, harden, and
retain much of their colour. To facilitate this drying process I prefer to
arrange the apparatus like a series of shelves, as A', A', one above another,

page_text: by which means the drying proceeds by the action both of contact from the
shelves on which the matters are lying, and surface heat from the under
surface of the upper shelf, except such matters as lie on the topmost shelf.
Having thus fully described my said Invention, and one mode of carrying
the same into practical operation, I wish it to be understood, that as the same
is capable of a variety of modifications, I do not, therefore, restrict myself to
any precise dimensions, materials, or situation, or number of the several parts.
herein described, so long as the principle of my said improvements is sub-
stantially maintained; and I do declare that what I claim as my Invention is,
namely, the novel construction of drying apparatus, and the application
thereof for effecting the preservation of vegetable matters, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William James Cantelo, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of October, in the year of
our Lord 1856.
W. J. CANTELO. (L.S.)