IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL SUBSTANCES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Medlock, of No. 22, Tavistock Square, in
the County of Middlesex, Analytical Chemist, and William Bailey of
Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturing Chemist, for
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Medlock and
William Bailey at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 27th June 1866.
We, HENRY MEDLOCK, of No. 22, Tavistock Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Analytical Chemist, and WILLIAM BAILEY, of Wolverhamptou,
in the County of Stafford, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
The object of the said Invention is to preserve animal substances, such as
meat, poultry, game, and fish, for a long time in a fresh state, so that when
eaten they cannot be distinguished from the same when recently killed, and
for the preservation of hides. For this purpose we dissolve the ordinary
commercial gelatine in boiling water, using, about two pounds of gelatine to
ten pounds of water. We then add while hot a volume equal to the volume
of the solution of gelatine of a solution of bisulphite of lime (usually expressed
by the formula Ca O, 2 S O₂) in water, of about the specific gravity of
1070. While the solution of gelatine and bisulphite of lime is still warm
and liquid we coat the substance to be preserved with it, either by dipping
the substance into it or by brushing it over with two or three coats of the

page_text: solution. If the substance has to be transported any distance in wooden
vessels the vessels should be saturated with some of the before-mentioned
solution of bisulphite of lime in water, and when dry brushed over with the
said solution of gelatine and bisulphite of lime. When the solution of gelatine
and bisulphite of lime has firmly solidified on the surface of the animal
substance the latter may be packed, the vessel being closed as air-tight as
possible. For the preservation of hides the interior surface only requires to
be coated with the solution of gelatine and bisulphite of lime. The coating
on the hides and the hides must be dried before they are packed. Before
treating the animal substance other than hides as above, the viscera must be
removed and the inside washed free from blood; it is then to be coated
internally and externally as above described, and before it is cooked the coating
of gelatine and bisulphite of lime must be removed by soaking it for a sufficient
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Medlock and William Bailey in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 26th December 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, HENRY
MEDLOCK, of No. 22, Tavistock Square, in the County of Middlesex, Analytical
Chemist, and WILLIAM BAILEY, of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford,
Manufacturing Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, hearing date the Twenty-seventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Henry Medlock and William Bailey, Her special licence that we,
the said Henry Medlock and William Bailey, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Henry Medlock and
William Bailey, 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
PRESERVING ANIMAL SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst other's) that we,
the said Henry Medlock and William Bailey, or one of us, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or one of our, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain

page_text: 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 we, the said Henry Medlock and William Bailey,
do hereby declare the nature of our 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 :-
The nature of our said Invention is to preserve animal substances, such as
meat, poultry, game, fish, and other animal substances for a long time, and
so that the same substances when so preserved, and although the animals
from which the same are derived have been killed for a considerable time,
cannot be distinguished when cooked from the like substances derived from
similar animals which have been recently killed, and also for the preservation
of hides.
The manner in which our said Invention is performed is as follows:-We
employ a solution herein-after distinguished as solution No. 1, being a solution
of bisulphite of lime (usually expressed by the formula CaO,2SO,, in water of
about the specific gravity of 1050, which specific gravity we find preferable
to that of 1070. We sometimes form a solution, herein-after distinguished as
solution No. 2, by dissolving the ordinary commercial gelatine in boiling
water using from one part to two parts of gelatine in ten parts of water, and
adding ten parts of solution No. 1. In determining the proportion of gelatine
to be used we increase such proportion in inverse ratio to the decrease
of the temperature of the place at which the solution is to be applied, using
a larger proportion of gelatine when the temperature is low, and a smaller
proportion of gelatine when the temperature is high. Solution No. 2 is
adapted for coating animal substances intended to be preserved, such as
joints of meat, animals which have been skinned, poultry and birds which
have been plucked, fish, and also the internal surfaces of hides. For
this purpose the viscera of the animals, birds, and fish, and also the gills
of fish, should be removed, and the inside washed so as to be thoroughly
cleansed from blood and offensive matter. We then apply solution No. 2
while still warm and liquid to coat such animal substances either by dipping
such substances into such solution or by brushing such substances over with
two or tree coats of such solution. Such solution is then allowed to dry and
solidify, and if required we pack such animal substances in casks or other
suitable vessels rendered as air-tight as may be. As to hides, we first
cleanse the same by washing the inside thereof; we then apply solution

page_text: No. 2 while still warm and liquid to coat the interior surface of such hides,
but such interior coating and also the hides themselves must be rendered
dry before the hides can be packed; the hides can then be packed in casks
or other suitable vessels, but if the hides are to be used within a short period,
say two months after the application of this solution, we do not find such
packing necessary.
For the preservation of animals without removing the skin or external
covering thereof, and without removing hoofs or horns, we find it advantageous
to employ a solution herein-after distinguished as solution No. 3, formed by
mixing one part of salt with ten parts of solution No. 1, and from six
to ten parts of water. We vary the proportion of water according to the
temperature of the place at which the solution No. 3 is to be applied, using
a larger proportion of water where such temperature is low, and a smaller
proportion of water where such temperature is high. For this purpose at
the slaughtering of the animal, as soon as the bleeding ceases, and while the
animal is still warm we (by any ordinary process of injection) force solution
No. 3 heated to a temperature of from 100° to 110° Fahrenheit into the
arteries and veins leading from and to the heart of the animal. We then
remove the viscera of the animal and wash the inside of such animal so as
thoroughly to cleanse the same from blood and offensive matter, and the
inside of the animal may be washed with solution No. 3. The animal can
then be packed in a canvas wrapper or in some other suitable packing.
For the preservation of fish we find it advantageous to employ a pickle or
solution herein-after distinguished as solution No. 4 formed by mixing ten
parts of cold water, one part of salt, and one part of solution No. 1. For this
purpose we first deprive the fish of the viscera and gills, and wash the inside
of the fish so as to cleanse the same from offensive matter; we then pack
the fish in casks or other suitable vessels, fill up such casks or vessels with
solution No. 4, and then close such casks or vessels so as to render the same
as air-tight as may be. Poultry and game may be similarly treated with
solution No. 4, having been first plucked or skinned and the viscera removed.
We find that solution No. 4 is also useful for preventing and arresting
decomposition in fresh butchers' meat, game, poultry, and fish. For this
purpose the animal substance to be treated may be dipped into the solution
or wrapped in a cloth saturated with such solution.
The proportions of the substances employed to form solution No. 2, solution
No. 3, and solution No. 4, are respectively reckoned by weight, and not by
volume.
When animal substances are to be transported dry in wooden casks or other

page_text: wooden vessels the interior of such casks or vessels should before use be
saturated with solution No. 1 and then allowed to dry, but for this we make
no claim.
Before any animal substance which has been coated or treated with solution
No. 3 or solution No. 4 is cooked the effect of the coating or solution should
be removed by soaking the substance for a sufficient time in water.
What we consider to be novel and improvements, and therefore we claim
as the Invention secured to us by the said in part recited Letters Patent
arc,-
Firstly, the use of solution No. 1 for preserving animal substances.
Secondly, the preservation of joints of meat, animals from which the skin or
feathers have been removed, fish, and hides by means of solution No. 2 in
manner herein-before described.
Thirdly, the preservation of animals without removing the skin by means
of solution No. 3 in manner herein-before described.
Fourthly, the preservation of fish, game, and poultry by means of solution
No. 4 in manner herein-before described.
Fifthly, the preventing and arresting decomposition in animal substances
by means of solution No. 4 in manner herein-before described.
But we do not claim the employment of gelatine or salt, nor of the processes
of cleansing or injection, nor of air-tight vessels, except in connexion with and
in aid of solution No. 1, and for the purpose of preserving animal substances,
nor do we claim the use of solution No. 1 except for the purpose of preserving
animal substances.
In witness whereof, we, the said Henry Medlock and William Bailey,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-fourth day of
December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
ciety civ
Signed, sealed, and delivered
ly the above-named Henry
Medlock, in the presence of
JOHN TURNER,
24, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
Solicitor.
HY. MEDLOCK. (L.S.)