Improvements in and Apparatus for the Treatment of Ranoid Butter and other Materials for Purifying, Flavouring, and Mixing the same.
Year: 1886

page_text: Improvements in and Apparatus for the Treatment of Ranoid
Butter and other Materials for Purifying, Flavouring, and
Mixing the same.
I, JAMES YATE JOHNSON of 47 Lincolns Inn Fields in the County of Middlesex
Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of this Invention, which has been com-
municated to me from abroad by Charles Marchand of New York City, County
and State of New York in the United States of America, and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
This Invention relates more particularly to the treatment of rancid butter, or
.butter of which the commercial value is lessened, by unwholesome impurities
contained in it.
Heretofore, a number of chemical processes more or less effective have been
devised for the purification of rancid butter, but the mechanical operation of
mixing the butter with the chemicals has been so performed as to destroy the grain
of the butter. Heretofore, the butter and chemicals have been churned together,
and the grain by this operation is soon destroyed; so that although the rancidity
is removed, a greasy appearance is given, which renders the product unsaleable.
The present Invention enables the butter and chemicals to be brought into
intimate contact without destroying the grain or appearance of the butter. It is
based upon the fact that butter can be subjected to a moderate pressure, while at
a temperature of between fifty seven degrees and sixty two degrees, Fahrenheit,
and can be worked under these conditions as long as the chemical process requires.
A temperature of Sixty degrees (Fahrenheit,) givės, according to the Inventor's
experience, the best results
The Invention consists in squeezing or expressing the butter or other material
treated and the chemical or other liquid, from one vessel to another through one
or more small openings. These openings are preferably near the bottom of the
vessels, so that the butter will be forced through the liquid. This operation may
•
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page_text: be repeated a number of times so that fresh surfaces of the butter or other material
are constantly exposed to the liquid, and different liquids for purification_or
flavouring may be used at different stages of the process. Moderate pressure, less
than sufficient to break or destroy the granules should be employed.
The Invention also consists in an apparatus designed to carry out this process, as
described hereafter, and as shewn in the accompanying Drawings. Figure 1 being
a vertical Section and figure 2 a horizontal Section on line x x of Figure 1.
The two chambers A and B may be square, oblong, circular, oval, or of other
suitable form in plan, but are shown as square; and the pistons C, D. which work
in those chambers correspond with them in form. The chambers are separated by
a partition E, provided at the bottom with a line of holes 1, which form a com-
munication between the chambers. Each piston is provided with a man hole 2, a
pipe 3 provided with a stop cock, and a pitman 4, connecting it with a crank 5 of
the shaft F. The two cranks are placed diametrically opposite so that the pistons
move in opposite directions. The manhole 2 is for the purpose of introducing the
solid material and also the liquid at the beginning of the operation into the
chambers, and should be large enough to permit a man to pass through the same.
The pipe 3 is for admitting materials during the operation without requiring the
manhole to be opened. Each chamber is provided at its lower part with a pipe 6,
and a stop cock for drawing off its liquid contents, and also with a door 7 for
withdrawing the solid materials. The two chambers can be placed in a reservoir
of water maintained at 57° to 62° F, but it is better to regulate the temperature
of the room in which the apparatus is placed, maintaining it constantly within the
limits given.
The operation is as follows:-
One of the pistons being in the upper part of its chamber, the latter is filled
with the rancid butter and the chemical liquid for treating the same, both at a
temperature of from 57° to 62° Fahrenheit. The manhole being closed hermeti-
cally and the other opening being closed also, the shaft F is slowly revolved. The
pistons C. D alternately rise and descend, and the butter and chemicals are forced
from one chamber to the other through the openings 1. The masses of butter will
naturally float upon the liquid, and as the bulk of the latter will therefore be
transferred from one chamber to the other in advance of the butter, which, being
afterwards expressed or squeezed through the openings in the partition, enters the
liquid at the bottom in numerous small streams.
From time to time pieces of butter become detached and rise through the liquid
to the surface of the same. By repeated passage from one chamber to the other,
the butter becomes thoroughly impregnated with the chemical by which its rancidity
is destroyed, or the unwholesome properties removed. Thus without rotation or
any concussion analogous to that of churning, a thorough subdivision of the mass
and the constant exposure of fresh surfaces to the action of the treating liquid is
obtained without material injury to the grain the appearance or the consistency of
the butter.
The treatment is to be continued until the desired result is obtained, say from
half an hour to an hour, in order to secure a thorough impregnation of the butter
with the chemical agent.
During the operation the before mentioned temperature is maintained, so that
the butter is not altered.
When the operation is finished the liquid is drawn off by one of the pipes 6. and
the butter removed through one of the doors 7. The butter is then placed on an
inclined table and allowed to drain for say from three to four hours, by which
time the chemical agents will ordinarily have completely effected the purification.
The butter is then returned to the apparatus shown, water at preferably sixty
degrees Fahrenheit is introduced, and the butter is expressed from one chamber
into the other, so that all parts are completely washed, and all or nearly all traces
of the foreign matters have been removed. The washing is or may be repeated
with fresh water until the desired state of purity is obtained.

page_text: After the washing is complete, the liquid is drawn off through one of the pipes 6,
and butter milk, or sour milk from which butter has been removed is introduced.
The pistons are then set in motion again, and the butter is worked for say half an
hour. This operation gives the flavor of fresh butter to the product. The butter
milk is then drawn off, water is introduced, and the butter is washed therein; and
finally the water which will not drain from the butter is removed by a butter
worker.
The same apparatus, and to a certain extent the same process may be applied to
the purification of fats of all kinds, say in the manufacture of oleo-margarine, and
also to the mixing of the constituents of oleo-margarine and other artificial butter
compounds. By the use of the same the ingredients may be mixed at a low
temperature, which results in considerable improvement in the quality of the
products.
It will be understood that the use of the apparatus and process or either of them;
in whole or in any new part, is within the Invention, whether it be for one opera-
tion (as for treating with Chemicals, or washing or mixing alone) or for several
operations.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:
First. The treatment of butter or other fats with a purifying or flavouring agent
or of butter compounds and like materials by squeezing or expressing the butter
or fat together with the said agent, or the other materials treated, one or more
times from one vessel into another, through an opening or openings (preferably
near the bottom of said vessel) substantially in the manner. and for the purposes
set forth.
Second, The described apparatus for treating butter and like materials, the said
apparatus comprising chambers, communicating by a series of small openings,
preferably near the bottom of the chambers, the pistons and operating devices
substantially as described.
Dated this 23rd day of March 1886