AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE TREATMENT OF GRAIN IN ORDER TO PRODUCE STARCH AND SPIRIT THEREFROM
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George White, of Bromley, in the County of
Middlesex, Brewer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
TREATMENT OF GRAIN IN ORDER TO PRODUCE STARCH AND SPIRIT THEREFROM."
Sealed the 17th April 1857, and dated the 24th October 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George White at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th October 1856.
I, GEORGE WHITE, of Bromley, in the County of Middlesex, Brewer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
TREATMENT OF GRAIN IN ORDER TO PRODUCE STARCH AND SPIRIT THEREFROM," to be
as follows:-
My Invention consists in first treating the raw or unmalted grain in a
separate vessel to water or steam at such a temperature as would coagulate
the diastase in malted grain,, then reducing the temperature of the mass to
the degree to which malted grain is subjected; after which the grain, treated
as above, is mixed with malted grain in the usual manner, and the process of
distillation is carried on as at present performed.
By operating as above, a larger yield of starch is extracted from the
unmalted grain, and consequently a greater quantity of spirit.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George White in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th April 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WHITE, of Bromley, in the County of Middlesex, Brewer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Пler most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George White, Her special licence that I, the said George White, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
White, 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 for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE TREAT-
MENT OF GRAIN IN ORDER TO PRODUCE STARCH AND SPIRIT THEREFROM," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said George White, 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 George White, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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:-
My Invention consists in first treating raw or unmalted grain in a separate
vessel with water or steam at such a temperature as would coagulate the
diastase in malted grain, or at any lower temperature; then reducing the
temperature of the mass to the degree to which malted grain may be subjected,
after which, the mass, treated as above, is mixed with malted grain, and
the processes of fermentation and distillation are carried on as at present
performed. By operating as above, a larger yield of starch, and consequently
a greater quantity of spirit, is extracted from unmalted grain than by the
methods now in use. The precise manner in which I carry my Invention

page_text: into effect is as follows:-First, the unmalted grain, either whole, or previously
ground to meal, or bruised or crushed between rollers or otherwise, is put
into a vessel made of wood or of metal and mixed with water, or it may be
mixed with a saccharine solution technically known as return worts. Steam
is then blown into or through the mass for a length of time varying with the
temperature at which the mixture is kept; the higher the temperature to
which it is subjected, the sooner is the extraction or solution of the starch
contained in the grain effected; this time may vary from one to six hours.
Mechanical means for effectually crushing every particle of grain that escapes
the solvent action of the liquid with which it is mixed may be employed either
in or connected with the vessel in which the solution of the starch in the grain
is effected, or in a separate vessel, into which the first is made to discharge its
:
contents.
By subjecting unmalted grain to the treatment thus described, the starch
contained therein is brought into a state of solution, and is prepared for
admixture with malted grain, the diastase contained therein having the
property of converting such starch or starchy liquid into a saccharine liquid,
from which, after fermentation and distillation in the usual manner, spirit
(known as plain spirit, or spirit of wine,) is obtained, and for such mixing the
following methods can be employed-In a vessel distinct from that in which
the unmalted grain is prepared, the malted grain, crushed or bruised, may be
mixed with water, or with a portion of the prepared unmalted grain about to be
operated on, at such a temperature as that the mixture shall not exceed about
170° Fahrenheit, aud this mixture of malted grain and water, or malted grain
and prepared unmalted grain, is then mixed with the unmalted grain prepared
as already described, reduced to such a temperature as that the whole mixture
of malted and unmalted grain may range from 140° to 170° Fahrenheit, or
the temperature of the prepared unmalted grain being reduced so as to permit
the addition of the bruised or crushed malted grain in the dry state, without
danger of coagulating or rendering inert the diastase contained therein. Such
bruised or crushed malt may be mixed with the unmalted grain in the same
vessel in which it has been prepared; the same remarks, as to the final tem-
perature, applying as above; but the method I prefer is merely to saturate or
moisten the bruised or crushed malted grain with a portion of the prepared
unmalted grain about to be operated on, at a temperature not exceeding 100°
Fahrenheit; this being then mixed with the unmalted grain the same remarks
as to final temperature applying as above.
In this Specification where I have used the term grain I intend it to apply

page_text: generally to all grain capable of producing starch and spirit, such as barley,
rice, &c.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the treating of
raw or unmalted grain with water or steam at such temperature as would
coagulate the diastase in malted grain, or at any lower temperature, then
reducing that temperature and mixing the grain so treated with malted grain,
for the purposes and in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George White, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of April, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-seven.
GEORGE WHITE. (L.S.)