PROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVING OF ARTICLES OF FOOD, AND IN THE MECHANISM OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR OR CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Otto Engholm, of the City and County of
"IM-
Edinburgh, North Britain, Merchant, for the Invention of
PROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVING OF ARTICLES OF FOOD, AND IN THE MECHANISM
OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR OR CONNECTED THEREWITH."
Sealed the 9th October 1869, and dated the 24th April 1869.
PROVISIONAL
SPECIFICATION
left by the said Otto Engholm at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 24th April 1869.
County of Edinburgh, North
nature of my said Invention
I, OTTO ENGHOLM, of the City and
Britain, Merchant, do hereby declare the
for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVING OF ARTICLES OF FOOD. AND IN THE
MECHANISM OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR OR CONNECTED THEREWITH," to
be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention consists essentially in new or improved modes or
methods of treating the matters forming or contained in eggs without
the sliells, so as to preserve the same fresh and sweet for almost any
necessary length of time for the uses of food or other purposes to which
fresh eggs are applied, mainly by a simple process of stirring or mixing
and spreading the semi-liquid substances, namely, the whites and

page_text: yolks, either separately or combined in thin layers over surfaces, as
plates of metal, glass, porcelain, wood, or other non-injurious substances
which would not be chemically acted upon by the matters, and there
and then subjected to or acted upon by a current or blast of pure and
dry air, or otherwise air heated to such a low temperature as would
carry off all the watery matters or moisture and useless or unimportant
volatile odours or gases given off therewith, so as thereby to thoroughly
dry or desiccate the useful solid matters in a granular state with all
their oleaginous and albumenous and other useful matters in the
elementary contents and proportions substantially as in the fresh eggs
themselves, only dried fresh and sweet, in which granulated state as
removed from the drying plates the substance can be kept for any
ordinary length of time, as for months, or even a few years, if kept dry
and unexposed to the air, as in sealed cases, or compressed into small
cakes, which is preferable, as the substance in this state is not so liable
to be acted upon by the atmosphere though not enclosed in such air-tight
cases.
One modification of practically performing this Invention consists in
mixing the whole useful contents of eggs, that is, both the white and
yolk without-the shell, and then causing a number of large thin circular
discs to revolve in and take up a coating of the same, which is then
separated from the vessel and subjected to a strong current of pure dry
air, or by preference air heated to a temperature of from 80° to 150°
Fahrenheit, produced, heated, and regulated by any ordinary apparatus,
as a fan blast and a coil or number of heating steam or water pipes in
the close vessel through which the air is forced; or otherwise this current
of heated air may be produced by the use of a duplex nozzle fluid
current producing or inducing and forcing apparatus, through one of
the nozzles or ducts of which a smaller current of air is forced at a con-
siderable pressure and velocity by any ordinary air forcing apparatus, by
preference a current of heated air forced through close heating pipes,
which heating would increase the force of the current passing through
them, this heated current escaping at the one nozzle, being made to draw,
intermingle with, and force a greater body of ordinary air at and through
the other nozzle, and its suction and forcing ducts leading to and from
the nozzle apparatus, the openings of the respective nozzles and ducts
being regulated to give the proper force and temperature of the
respective currents and the combined main discharge current which
would be made to impinge on the coating of the plates as described, so

page_text: as to dry and carry off the moisture from the substance of the eggs; and
although in this arrangement the heated current has been described as
the forced and actuating current to the ordinary air current induced
which it heated and dried, yet still it will be obvious that the cold or
ordinary air current might be made the forced and actuating current
through the nozzle apparatus, and thus be made to draw in the heated
air, which would at the same time equalize and produce the discharge
This heated current of
current at the temperature and force required.
air at these temperatures would only drive or carry off the watery moisture
therefrom, and not cook or volatilize any of the oily and nutritive sub-
stances, but leave all these solid and dry in a hard granular film on the
plates, which is scraped off and compressed into small cakes, by preference
in the form of round discs or small tablets or biscuits, each containing
about as much as an ordinary-sized egg, which may be effected in
moulds or dies for the purpose by any ordinary compressing and stamping
mechanism, as screw, lever, or roller presses, and such as those used for
compressing semi-dried clay tiles; and these cakes so compressed can be
packed in small tin or strong cylindrical paper cases to hold one or two
dozen each, from which they could be taken out and used as required
by breaking up and moistening with water and beating up for use for.
making cakes and other fancy cookery and purposes of food for which
Fresh eggs are used. Although the white and yolk have been described
as mixed and treated together, yet still it is to be understood that they
may be separated when breaking the eggs, and kept and treated so
throughout the process in the same manner as when combined, and
have the yolks made into cakes for the purposes of food, and the
whites for these and other uses to which albumenous substances are
applied. And although only the contents of eggs have been named and
described, it will be obvious that this mode and means of preserving the
white and yolk of eggs may be applied to the preparation of preserved
minced meats containing much moisture or watery matter, as of flesh,
vegetable, or fruits, either mixed or not with gelatinous or fatty edible
substances to assist their cohesion in compressing them into cakes of
preserved food;, and these cakes might be coated with albumen or
gelatine on their outer surface, which, with any slight moisture that had
been left to insure adhesion of the particles, might be dried out of them
after being compressed and finished.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Otto Engholm in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd October 1869.
1
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, OTTO
ENGHOLM, of the City and County of Edinburgh, North Britain,
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Otto Engholm, Her special licence that
I, the said Otto Engholin, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Otto Engholm, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVING OF ARTICLES OF
FOOD, AND IN THE MECHANISM OR APPARATUS. EMPLOYED THEREFOR OR CON-
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Otto Engholm, 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.
NECTED THEREWITH,"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Otto Engholm, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and numerals marked thereon, that is to
say:
My said Invention consists essentially in new or improved modes or
methods of treating the matters forming or contained in eggs without the
shells, so as to preserve the same fresh and sweet for almost any
necessary length of time for the uses of food or other purposes to which

page_text: fresh eggs are applied, mainly by a simple process of stirring or mixing
and spreading these semi-liquid substances, namely, the whites and
yolks, either separately or combined, in thin layers over surfaces, as
plates of metal, glass, porcelain, wood, or other non-injurious substance
which would not be chemically acted upon by the matters, and there and
then subjected to or acted upon by a current or blast of pure and dry
air, or otherwise air heated to such a low temperature as would carry off
all the watery matter or moisture and useless and unimportant volatile
odours or gases given off therewith, so as thereby to thoroughly dry or
desiccate the useful solid matters in a granular state with all their rich
oleaginous and albuminous and other useful matters in the elementary
contents and proportions substantially as in the fresh eggs themselves,
only dried fresh and sweet, in which granulated state as removed from
the drying plates the substance can be kept for any ordinary length of
time, as for months, or even a few years, if kept dry and unexposed to
the air, as in sealed cases, or compressed into small cakes, which is
preferable, as the substance in this state is not so liable to be acted on by
the atmosphere, though not enclosed in such air-tight cases.
One modification of practically performing this Invention consists in
mixing the whole useful contents of eggs, that is, both the white and
yolk without the shell, and then causing a number of large thin circular
discs to revolve in and take up a coating of the same, which is then
separated from the vessel and subjected to a strong current of pure dry
air, or by preference air heated to a temperature of from 80° to 150°
Fahrenheit, produced, heated, and regulated by any ordinary apparatus,
as by a fan blast, and a coil or number of heating steam or water pipes
in the close vessel, through which the air is forced; or otherwise this
current of heated air may be produced by the use of a duplex nozzle
fluid current producing or inducing and forcing apparatus, through one
of the nozzles or ducts of which a smaller current of air is forced at a
considerable pressure and velocity by any ordinary air forcing apparatus.
by preference a current of heated air forced through the close heating
pipes (which heating would increase the force of the current passing
through them), this heated current escaping at the one nozzle, being
made to draw, intermingle with, and force a greater body of ordinary air
at and through the other nozzle, and its suction and forcing ducts leading
to and from the nozzle apparatus, the openings of the respective nozzles
and ducts being regulated to give the proper force and temperature of

page_text: the respective currents, and the combined main discharge current would
be made to impinge on the coating of the plates as described, so as to dry
and carry off the moisture from the substance of the eggs; and although
in this arrangement the heated current has been described as the forced
and actuating current to the ordinary air current induced, which is heated
and dryed, yet still it will be obvious that the cold or ordinary air
current might be made the forced and actuating current through the
nozzle apparatus, and thus be made to draw in the heated air, which
would at the same time equalize and produce the discharge current at the
temperature and force required. This heated current of air at these tem-
peratures would thus only drive or carry off the watery moisture from
the egg, and not cook or volatilize any of the oily and nutritive sub-
stances, but leave all these solid and dry in a hard granular film on the
plates, which is scraped off and compressed into small cakes, by
preference in the form of round dises or small tablet or biscuit, each
containing about as much as an ordinary sized egg, which may be
effected in moulds or dies for the purpose by any ordinary compressing
or stamping mechanism, as screw, lever, or roller presses, or such as
those used for compressing semi-dried clay tiles, and these cakes so com-
pressed-can-be-packed-in-small-tin-or-strong-cylindrical-paper-cases-to
hold one or two dozen each, from which they could be taken out and
used as required (by breaking up and moistening with water and
65 beating up
"for use) for making cakes and other fancy cookery and
purposes of food for which fresh eggs are used. Although the white
and yolk have been described as mixed and treated together, yet still it
is to be understood that they may be separated when breaking the eggs,
and kept and treated so throughout the process in the same manner as
when combined, and have the yolks made into cakes for the purposes of
food, and the whites for these and other uses to which albumenous
substances are applied. And although only the contents of eggs
have been named and described, it will be obvious that this mode and
means of preserving the white and yolk of eggs may be applied to the
preparation of preserved minced meats containing much moisture or
watery matter, as of flesh, vegetables, or fruits, either mixed or not with
gelatinous or fatty edible substances to assist their cohesion, in com-
pressing them into cakes of preserved food, and these cakes might be
coated with albumen or gelatine on their outer surface, which, with any
slight moisture that had been left to insure adhesion of the particles,
might be dried out of them after being compressed and finished.

page_text: Having thus so far described the nature and objects of my said
Invention, and the modes and means of performing the same in writing,
I shall now proceed to describe the several illustrative Figures on the
Sheet of Drawings, which I have hereunto appended for the purpose of
more fully showing the modes, means, and apparatus for practically
carrying my said improvements into effect or practice, the same
reference letters and numerals indicating the same or equivalent parts in
all the Figures.
Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section, Figure 2 a transverse
vertical section, and Figure 3 a plan of a machine constructed in
accordance with and illustrative of one mode and means of treating and
preparing the contents of fresh eggs, so as to produce the same in the
form of a dry meal or granular state for preservation, all in accordance
with my said Invention. The main framing of the machine is formed in
wood of a sole or basement frame A, centre platform A¹, and top frame A³,
all bound together by the four main standards A³. The liquid contents a
of the fresh eggs after removal from the shells, either yolks and whites
together or separately, as it is preferred to preserve them, is filled into the
mixing portable vessel B set on the framed platform C, which is raised
at will by the winch handle shaft C' and two toothed pinions C and
racks C¹¹ at its back and held at any desired height by the retaining
pall C³ of one pinion C, all so that when raised the angle vanes or
arms D¹ on the lower end of the vertical shaft D revolves in and "beats
up or breaks and mixes up the mass within the vessel B into a
homogeneous liquid. The switching" or mixing shaft D is carried
in the bearing brackets D secured between the two guiding standards B¹
of the raising and lowering box B and its frame C, and is actuated at
top by the bevel wheels D" by the motion of the horizontal shaft E,
actuated at the other end by the wheels E' from the short shaft F
carried in the bearing brackets F" and actuated by the first moving shaft G
by the belt f passed over the respective pulleys F' and G' on these
shafts. The egg moisture a after being well mixed to a thick liquid
is removed or poured from the box B into the segmental trough or
coating cistern H of the carriage H', which is run forward on its wheels
and rails H³, H", on the platform A¹ below the central and transverse
revolving shaft I, carrying the set of coating, drying, and evaporating
surfaces or discs I ranged at short intervals apart, which are then
lowered down so as to revolve in the vessel H and be covered or coated

page_text: K
over the whole surfaces with a thin layer of the mixture a, when the
shaft I and dises I are then raised by the two toothed racks I attached
to the two end bearing bushes 1", which slide up and down in guides 1
secured to the four frame standards A for the purpose within the open
discharge mouth J of the air heating chamber J. Thus the heated air
forced or discharged through the duct and mouth J impinges on the coating
of egg mixture a (and surface of the discs 1') :
so as to gradually evaporate
and carry off all the watery moisture and unpleasant and unwholesome
volatile gases from it; and when the coating a is thus thoroughly dried
the trough and carriage H, H', are rolled back, and the set of scrapers
are pulled down by the cord K' so as to scrape all the coating a so dried
off the surface of the discs 1', which as removed falls down through the
hopper L in the platform A' into one of the portable and removing
boxes L' carried and sliding in the arms of a small swing jib" I below,
which facilitates their being turned out from below the hopper and
removed when full, a fresh empty box L' being inserted in its stead,
and turned round on the jib L below the hopper until filled in
like manner to the first with the scrapings of egg film from off the
dises, which fall down in a granulated state or in the form of the "meal of
eggsa², which-so long as it is kept dry or unexposed much to the action
of the air, as by being put up in packets or tins, which could be sold by
weight in the form of a flower or meal, as shown inFigured, or this preserved
egg meal
a'
may be compressed into small cakes a", as shown in edge
and side views, Figure 5, each containing the substance of an average sized
fowl's egg, which may be put up in millboard or tin cases in dozens or
so, as indicated in Figure 6, for general transit and sale. To use this new
or improved preserved substance of eggs, which preserves nearly all its
useful qualities for food and cooking or confectionery and other useful
purposes for any necessary length of time for which preserved foods
are required generally, the meal or broken up cake is soaked in suflicient
water to dissolve it, when it is then mixed up into a thick liquid and
ready for use for all the purposes for which "beat up
"fresh eggs are
used generally. The drying discs l' are each preferred to be formed of
two thin domed or hollow discs soldered or otherwise attached together at
their outer thin edge with the hollow faces together, so as to form hollow
drying discs easily heated and retained at the temperature of the drying air,
which are each placed on the shaft I with washers between them. The
whole set of scrapers K are fulcrumed on one spindle K, and drawn up
by the cord K" and down by K', both attached to the bolt K¹ passing

page_text: through a wide open hole in them, so that each works freely down
between two discs and scrapes their adjacent sides, the scrapers K being
formed by preference of an inverted U-shape (n) to give a little elasticity
to the lower scraping edges. The shaft I and racks 1, after the discs
are scraped, are again lowered and raised (so as to be recoated and dried)
by the winch handle shaft M and intermediate shaft N geared together
by the pinion and wheel M' and 'N' respectively, the shaft N having
the two pinions N2 working into the racks 1, which are held at any
height desired by the pall N" acting in the teeth of the wheel N'.
Motion is given to the shaft I and dises by the shaft F and the clastic
india-rubber band O passing over the pulleys and on the respective
shafts.
The air forcing and heating apparatus in this modification of me-
chanism consists of a pair of ordinary fanners P' actuated by the prime
motion shaft G through the open belt ? passed over their respective
pulleys P and G. The course of the air from the fanners P as well as
the direction of the motion of the shafts are indicated by the arrows at
the respective parts of the machine. The cold air is forced by the
fanners P up through the widening, conical, distributing ducts and out-
lets P, P, and the centre of the horizontal screw or bevel bladed fan Q,
which further distributes the current and causes it to take and keep a
twisting and screw motion up through the annular and radial spaces
q and q of the casing Q' of the fan Q and the body of the heating
chamber J, in the centre of which the coil of heating steam pipes R are
placed. The steam from any ordinary steam boiler or generator is led in at
the top branch pipe R' and drawn off at the branch and cock R" at the
bottom, and both the inlet steam pipes R' and air ducts P' are controlled
by a cock Rand valve P respectively for the more perfect regulation
of the current, and its temperature, which must not be so hot as to cook
the film of eggs on the discs. When the white of the eggs is kept and
treated separately it will not be granular, but be produced in the form
of flakes, which will preserve perfectly as isinglass or glue so long as
kept dry, and need not be made into cakes, as herein-before described
and considered better for the preservation of the yolks.
In treating other substances, such as flesh, meats, fruits, and vegetables,
they may be first minced into the granular form, and then dried and
preserved under these improvements by being fed into the central
part of discs, or the upper end of a vertically or angularly disposed

page_text: drying screw or hollow drum, with broad horizontal receiving surface
revolving in a hot-air chamber, or made so that the hot or dried air
impinges on it and the granular substance, so as to carry off all moisture
therefrom, and produce the preserved substance or substances, all sub-
stantially as otherwise herein-before described.
Figure 7 is a sectional elevation of an arrangement of duplex nozzle
for enabling or causing one current of heated air (by preference the
smaller and heated current) to induce or draw in and force another
current (by preference the larger and cold current) of air to mix with
it, and produce and regulate the main compound current of air at the
temperature required, so as to act on the heating and drying surfaces,
and the preserve substance being treated and dried on them. The one
current is highly heated, while the other is formed of the ordinary cold
air, so that in mixing the combined current is reduced and equalised in
temperature and force to that desired. The initial forcing current,
whether that of the heated current or the equalising or ordinary air
current, may be produced by any of the ordinary air forcing or blowing
apparatus heretofore in use; and whether the heated current of air
used is the forcing and inducing current or the induced current, it may
be heated to a high-regular temperature-by-being-forced-through-the-
set of tubes of a steam heating vessel or boiler, having the steam acting
on the outside of the tubes within the vessel at one regular pressure
and heat due to that pressure, or otherwise the steam may pass through
the tubes and the air be heated by the outside surface of the tubes,
all in either case as in heating apparatus heretofore in use for other
purposes.
In this nozzle arrangement, Figure 7, the forced inducing current of,
say, the hot (though it might be the colder atmospheric current) is
passed from the close pressure conduits or pipes of the air forcing
apparatus through the small nozzle 1 into the large discharge pipe or
duct 2, and across the annular conical opening 3 between these two
parts of the nozzle 1 and 2 opening out to the atmosphere, so that the
forced hot jet issuing at the nozzle 1 by its lateral action draws in the
outer cold air, in this case (though it might be the hot current
when the other was cold) through the conical opening 3, which
reduces and equalises the temperature of the combined hot current
discharged in great quantity through the pipe 2. The force and
temperature of the combined air current delivered through the duct 2

page_text: being made to act on and dry up the preserve substance being treated
is regulated to the greatest nicety and regularity by the pressure and
heat of the steam in the heating vessel, and the quantity and current
of air passing through the duct of the forcing apparatus to the heater
and through the duct and nozzle 1 regulated by valves on these ducts,
and by the regulating valve or lid 4 sliding on the nozzle 1 of the
conical openings 3 so as to admit more or less cold air as required.
Having thus particularly described the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is or may be performed or carried
into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had
occasion to describe and delineate, as many variations may be made
therefrom without departing from the main or essential features thereof;
neither on the other hand do I claim to have invented many of the
details of mechanism or their constructions or motions which I have
had occasion to describe for the purpose of making my said Invention
properly understood by themselves specially, as many of these have
heretofore been used in various forms of machines for other purposes,
except in so far as these are combined with and form part of my said
Invention; but what I consider novel and original, and therefore claim
as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is,-
First. The preserving of the contents of eggs and other articles of
food in the granular form and by, the means and mechanism all
substantially in the new or improved manner herein described and shown
in the accompanying Drawings, or any mere modification thereof.
Second. The preserving of the white and yolk parts of eggs, either
separately or combined in the granular or flaky form, and also in the
form of compressed cakes, all substantially in the new or improved
manner herein-before described and shown in the accompanying Drawings,
or any mere modification thereof.
Third. The coating and use of revolving drying surfaces and the use
of scrapers for removing the coating in the preservation of the contents
of eggs, all substantially in the new or improved manner herein
described and shown in the accompanying Drawings, or any mere
modification thereof.
Fourth. The modes, means, and apparatus for producing and regulating
the force and temperature of heated currents of air for desiccating and

page_text: preserving the contents of eggs and other articles of food, all substantially
in the new or improved manner herein described and shown in the
accompanying Drawings, or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Otto Engholm, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,
W. R. M. THOMSON,
Patent Agent,
20, Buchanan Street,
Glasgow.
OTTO ENGHOLM. (L.S.)