IMPROVE- MENTS IN PRESERVING MEAT AND OTHER ARTICLES OF FOOD.
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Paul Egide Marie Koch, of Anvers, in the
Kingdom of Belgium, at present residing at the Charing Cross
Hotel, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PRESERVING MEAT AND OTHER ARTICLES OF FOOD.'
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Paul Egide
Marie Koch at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 11th December 1873.
I, PIERRE PAUL EGIDE MARIE KOCH, of Anvers, in the Kingdom of
Belgium, at present residing at the Charing Cross Hotel, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING MEAT AND OTHER ARTICLES OF FOOD," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in preserving meat
and other articles of food.
In preserving meat according to my Invention the meat is cut into
slices or pieces of convenient size. The slices or pieces of meat are laid

page_text: upon sieves and the meat is powdered with an antiseptic substance, say
sulphite, hypo-sulphite, or bi-sulphite of soda, or all or any of them in
combination, in the proportion of 7 parts of the salt to 1,000 parts of the
meat. The sieves thus loaded are placed one over the other in a pile,
and they are covered with an air-tight iron or other metal bell, or other-
wise they are placed in an air-tight vessel. The air is exhausted from.
the bell or vessel, and afterwards there is forced into the bell or vessel
to a pressure of several atmospheres air which has been caused to pass
through highly heated pipes containing iron or copper filings or
turnings, or charcoal. This air, after it has been drawn through the
highly heated pipes is cooled by passing it through a long worm pipe
immersed in cold water, or otherwise cooled. The pressure is maintained
in the bell or vessel for some time and then the meat is removed and
packed in tins or packages which are closed air-tight.
Other articles of food can be similarly preserved.
The process above described has the following advantages,-
1st. The use of liquid, which always tends to render the meat
flavourless, is avoided.
2nd. The process can be worked at all seasons of the year and without
artificial refrigeration.
3rd. The preserved meat simply requires to be packed in close or air-
tight vessels; it is not necessary to exhaust the air from these vessels
or to exclude it by filling the tins or vessels with gravy or fat as is now
frequently done.
4th. The meat is fit for use immediately when it is unpacked, it

page_text: sustained a little while in order to cool the meat and to absorb its
external humidity. There is introduced afterwards under a pressure of
several atmospheres deoxygened air obtained by the simple aspiration of
atmospheric air through tubes heated red hot containing iron or copper
turnings, coke, or charcoal. This highly heated air is, before entering
into the bell or vessel, cooled either by its passing through a tube
immersed in cold water, or in any other way. The pressure is maintained
in the bell or vessel during a time more or less long according to the
thickness of the meat. Then the meat is taken away and put in tin
boxes or other well closed vessels.
sustained a little while in order to cool the meat and to absorb its
external humidity. There is introduced afterwards under a pressure of
several atmospheres deoxygened air obtained by the simple aspiration of
atmospheric air through tubes heated red hot containing iron or copper
turnings, coke, or charcoal. This highly heated air is, before entering
into the bell or vessel, cooled either by its passing through a tube
immersed in cold water, or in any other way. The pressure is maintained
in the bell or vessel during a time more or less long according to the
thickness of the meat. Then the meat is taken away and put in tin
boxes or other well closed vessels.
Other alimentary substances can be preserved in the same way.
I claim as my Invention,—
I. The use, without any solution whatever, of bi-sulphite of soda, or
of its derivatives either singly or combined, with phosphate of soda in
a natural and dry state in small doses, with
II. The atmospheric pressure in the stated conditions, and
III. The general way of operating, allowing the practical application
of the system in all countries and in all seasons without any artificial
refrigeration, without solutions, apparatus, or complicated manual
labour, without any elimination of the nutritious parts, even the
accessory ones of the food, allowing besides the direct packing of the
article without extracting the air from the recipient or replacing it by a
gas, or without the interposition of any body whatever; allowing in fact
the preservation, in its absolutely natural fresh and raw state, of the food
during an indefinite period and under all temperatures, and their imme-
diate use as soon as the recipient is opened without requiring any
washing or any particular manipulation.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Paul Egide Marie Koch,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four