AN IMPROVED MODE OF OBTAINING ALCOHOL
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, of.
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF OBTAINING
ALCOHOL."A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand le Comte
de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with *
his Petition, on the 8th January 1855.
I, PETER ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Patent Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF
OBTAINING ALCOHOL " to be as follows:-
The. Invention communicated to me consists in the discovery that the
saccharine principle contained in dogs-grass is susceptible of being converted
into alcohol by being submitted to known processes of distillation. The alcohol
so obtained possesses an empyreumatic taste, which may be removed by time
or disinfecting agents.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 6th July 1855.
"
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Patent Agent, send greeting."
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reigu, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau; Her special license
that I, the said Peter Armand le Comté de Fontaine Moreau, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Armand le
Comte de Fontaine Moreau, 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 Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention of "AN IMPROVED
MODE OF OBTAINING ALCOHOL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in. what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in the discovery that the
saccharine principle contained in dogs-grass constitutes matter for obtaining
alcohol by distillation, and by the means ordinarily employed in the manu-
facture of alcohol. I take about six pounds of fresh dogs-grass, which will
give one pint and three quarters of alcohol, from seventeen to twenty degrees
Cartier. This alcohol has an empyreumatic taste; which, however, may be
easily removed by means of disinfectants, such as lime, charcoal, and carbon.
The dogs-grass is first dried and afterwards reduced to powder, and in order
to bruise it I add a small quantity of cane, which also causes fermentation.

page_text: Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that what I claim is,
the extracting saccharine matter from dogs-grass, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day
of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-five.
L' DE FONTAINE MOREAU. (L.S.)