Improvements in the Treatment of Pepper.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Sept., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Nov., 1893-Accepted, 17th Mar., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by the Firm trading as BAN HENG HIN, of
No. 195, Beach Street, Penang, Merchants.]
Improvements in the Treatment of Pepper.
I MAX KIRCHBERGER of No. 4 St. Mary Axe in the City of London, Merchant
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in the treatment
of ordinary black pepper of commerce for the purpose of converting it into white
pepper and in the treatment of white pepper of commerce coloured with lime such
as the ordinary white pepper of Penang for the purpose of bleaching it.
In the treatment of ordinary black pepper of commerce according to this inven-
tion dust and other extraneous matters are first separated therefrom by winnowing.
The pepper is then placed in water and those of the grains which float are thrown
aside as being unfit for further treatment. Those of the grains which sink are
removed from the water and placed on a stone floor in a well ventilated chamber
and watered at intervals until the outer coverings are rotten. The pepper is then
removed and placed in an iron pan of suitable form and size and sprinkled with
powdered alum or a solution of alum in water and trodden under foot until the
husks and the black oily matter attached to the grains have been removed. The
skins oil and dirt are then separated from the grains. by washing with clean fresh
water after which the grains are placed in a solution of hypochlorous acid or of
chloride of lime and alum and well stirred. After this operation the process is
completed by thoroughly washing the pepper in a solution of alum in order to free
it from the hypochlorous acid or chloride of lime.
In the treatment according to this invention of ordinary white pepper of commerce
coloured with lime the lime is removed from the pepper by thoroughly washing it
with dilute acetic acid or other acid. The said pepper is then treated with a
solution of hypochlorous acid or chloride of lime and alum and afterwards washed
with solution of alum as hereinbefore described with reference to black pepper.
Dated the 8th day of September 1893.
Improvements in the Treatment of repper.
I MAX KIRCHBERGER of No. 4 St. Mary Axe in the City of London Merchant
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement ;-
This invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in the treat-
ment of ordinary black pepper of commerce for the purpose of converting it into
white pepper and in the treatment of white pepper of commerce coloured with lime
such as the ordinary white pepper of Penang for the purpose of bleaching it.
In the treatment of ordinary black pepper of commerce according to this inven-
tion dust and other extraneous matters are first separated therefrom by winnowing.
The pepper is then placed in water and those of the grains which float are thrown
Prine Bill

page_text: aside as being unfit for further treatment. Those of the grains which sink are
removed from the water and placed on a stone floor in a well ventilated chamber
and watered at intervals until the outer coverings are rotten. It is usually
sufficient to water the pepper once a day for about a fortnight. A quantity of the
pepper is then removed and placed in an iron pan about three feet and a half in
diameter and having a concave bottom and about one pound weight of powdered
alum or a solution of alum consisting of about one pound weight of alum in one pint
of water is sprinkled on the pepper which is then trodden under foot until the
husks and the black oily matter attached to the grains have disappeared or have
been quite removed the removal of which black oily matter is due to the use of the
alum. The skins oil and dirt are then separated from the grains of pepper by
washing with cleau fresh water after which the grains of pepper are placed in a
vessel containing a strong solution of hypochlorous acid (which is produced by
dissolving chloride of lime in water mixed with a little sulphuric acid or other
acid) or a strong solution of chloride of lime and alum and well stirred. About
four pounds weight of alum dissolved in one gallon of water is sufficient for about
eight hundred weight of pepper and about one hour and a half usually suffices for
the operation. The stirring of the pepper while in the solution may be effected by
means of wooden instruments of the shape of an ordinary spade.
By the treatment of pepper as hereinbefore described it is rendered much whiter
and the surface of the grains is left much smoother than where alum is not used.
Consequently pepper treated as herein before described commands a higher price
in the market than that bleached by the ordinary processes in which alum is not
used.
After the last described operation the process is completed by thoroughly
washing the pepper in a solution consisting of about twenty pounds weight of alum
in about thirty gallons of water in order to free it from the hypochlorous acid or
chloride of lime.
In the treatment according to this invention of ordinary white pepper of commerce
coloured with lime the lime is removed from the pepper by thoroughly washing it
with dilute acetic acid or other acid. The said pepper is then treated with a
solution of hypochlorous acid or chloride of lime and alum and afterwards washed
with a solution of alum as herein before described with reference to black pepper.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents, and in what manner the
same is to be performed I wish it to be understood that I make no claim to the
separation of extraneous matters from the pepper by winnowing nor to the method
herein before described for separating the light grains from the sound grains but I
declare that I claim ;-
First. The treatment of pepper substantially as hereinbefore described for the
purpose of bleaching it.
Secondly. The use of alum in the treatment of pepper substantially as herein-
before described for the purpose of bleaching it.
Dated the Twenty-cond day of November 1902
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.