IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF WINE TO IMPROVE THEIR QUALITY
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Hill Hassall, of Ventnor, in the Isle of
Wight, in the County of Southampton, Doctor of Medicine, and
Otto Hehner, of the same Place, Analytical Chemist, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF WINE
TO IMPROVE THEIR QUALITY.”
caled the 28th January 1876, and dated the 30th July 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Hill Hassall
and Otto Hehner at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 30th July 1875.
We, ARTHUR HILL ПASSALL, of Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight, in
the County of Southampton, Doctor of Medicine, and OTTO HEHNER,
of the same Place, Analytical Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS
OF WINE TO IMPROVE THEIR QUALITY," to be as follows:-

page_text: sulphate of lime, or of some substance containing that salt. This
addition occasions the removal of the whole of the combined tartaric
acid of the wine, as tartrate of lime, the sulphuric acid set free from the
sulphate of lime combining with the potash of the must to form sulphate
of potash. Now sulphate of potash is a bitter and aperient salt,
damaging to the flavor of the wine and impairing its wholesomeness,
and hence lessoning the money value of the winc. Many wines contain
as much as 500 grains, or over one ounce of sulphate of potash per
gallon.
By the method about to be described and for which this Provisional
Protection is sought, not only is the whole of the sulphuric acid removed
from the sulphate of potash, but the amount of tartaric acid originally
contained in the must is restored to the wine.
The process wheroby the above important objects are effected is as
follows The amount of combined sulphuric acid contained in the
wine is first estimated in the usual manner by means of a solution of
chloride of baryum either gravimetrically or volumetrically. From the
amount of sulphuric acid thus obtained the equivalent of tartrate of
baryum is calculated for any given quantity, say a gallon, and a little
less than this amount is added to the wine in the state of a very fine
powder, the wine after the addition being agitated from time to time.
After the lapse of three or four days the wine is completely separated
from the white deposit, consisting of sulphate of baryum, by decantation,
filtration, or in any other convenient and efficient manner.
On the addition of the tartrate of baryum to the wine the tartaric
acid of the tartrate of baryum combines with the potash of the sulphate
of potash, and the sulphuric acid of the latter salt unites in its turn with
the baryum, tartrate of potash remaining in the wine while sulphate
of baryum is precipitated. In this process there is no possibility
whatever of the wine being contaminated with even the faintest trace
of baryum, since the amount of tartrate of baryum added to the wine
is less than that required for the decomposition of the last trace of
sulphate of potash, and hence every atom of baryum is removed in the
form of that most insoluble of all known chemical substances, sulphate
of baryum. So rich does the wine become by this treatment in tartrate
of potash that in the course of a short time crystals of cream of tartar,
that test of a good and genuine wine will become abundently deposited,

page_text: that is to say, exactly as much becomes deposited as would have been
thrown down from the wine had it not been plastered at all.
It is obvious that the removal from the wine of the bitter and aperient
salt, sulphate of potash, and the restoration of the original tartrate of
potash must have a highly beneficial effect upon both the flavor and
tlio wholesomeness of the wine. That it has a marked effect upon the
flavour is at once proved by tasting against each other the plastered and
the deplastered wine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Arthur Hill Hassall and Otto Hehner in the
Great Scal Patent Office on the 29th January 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wo, ARTHUR
HILL HASSALL, of Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight, in the County of
Southampton, Doctor of Medicine, and OTTO HENNER, of the same
Place, Analytical Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Arthur Hill Hassall and Otto
Hehner, Her special license that we, the said Arthur Hill Hassall
and Otto Hehner, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Arthur Hill Hassall and Otto Hehner, our
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, usc,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF WINE TO IMPROVE THEIR
QUALITY," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Arthur
Hill Hassall and Otto Hehner, our exccutors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under
the hand and scal of one of us or them, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Arthur Hill Hassall and Otto
Hehner, 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 --
Sherry and some other wines are known to be subjected to a process
termed "plastering." This consists in the addition to the must of
sulphate of lime or of some substance containing that salt. This
addition occasions the removal of the whole of the combined tartarıc
acid of the wine as tartrate of lime, the sulphuric acid set free from the
sulphate of lime combining with the potash of the must to form sulphate
of potash. Now sulphate of potash is a bitter and aperient salt,
damaging to the flavor of the wine and impairing its wholesomeness
and hence lessening the money value of the wine. Many wines contain
as much as 500 grains, or over one ounce of sulphate of potash per
gallon
By the method about to be described and for which protection is
sought, not only is the whole of the sulphuric acid removed from the
sulphate of potash but the amount of tartaric acid originally contained
in the must is restored to the wine.
The process whereby the above important objects arc effected is as
follows. The amount of combined sulphuric acid contained in the wine
is first estimated in the usual manner by means of a solution of chloride
of baryum either gravimetrically or volumetrically. From the amount
of sulphuric acid thus obtained the equivalent of tartrate of baryum is
calculated for any given quantity, say a gallon, and a little less than
this amount is added to the wine in a state of a very fiue powder, the
wine after the addition being agitated from time to time After the
lapse of three or four days the wine is completely separated from the
white deposit, consisting of sulphate of baryum by decantation, filtration,
or in any other convenient and efficient manner.
On the addition of the tartrate of baryum to the wine the tartaric acid
of the tartrate of baryum combines with the potash of the sulphate of
potash, and the sulphuric acid of the latter salt unites in its turn with

page_text: the baryum, tartrate of potash remaining in the wine while sulphate of
baryum is precipitated. In this process there is no possibility whatever
of the wine being contaminated with even the faintest trace of baryum,
since the amount of tartrate of baryum added to the wine is less than
that required for the decomposition of the last trace of sulphate of
potash, and hence every atom of baryum is removed in the form of that
most insoluble of all known chemical substances, sulphate of baryum.
So rich does the wine become by this treatment in tartrate of potash
that in the course of a short time crystals of cream of tartar, that test
of a good and genuine wine, will become abundantly deposited, that is
to say, exactly as much becomes deposited as would have been thrown
down from the wine had it not been plastered at all.
It is obvious that the removal from the wine of the bitter and aperient
salt, sulphate of potash, and the restoration of the original tartrate of
potash must have a highly beneficial effect upon both the flavor and the
wholesomeness of the wine. That it has a marked effect upon the flavor
is at once proved by tasting against each other the plastered and the
deplastered wine.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention and the manner
of performing the same, we would have it understood that we claim,
submitting sherry and other wines which have been subjected to the
process termed plastering to the treatment herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Arthur Hill Hassall and Otto
Hehner, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-
sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-six.
ARTHUR HILL HASSALL. (L.S.)
OTTO HEHNER.
(L.S.)