CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURING MUSTARD
Year: 1808

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SHOTWELL, of the City of New York, in North America, late residing in the
Parish of Saint Mary, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, and now of the
City of York, in that part of the United Kingdom called England, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourteenth day of June, in
the forty-seventh year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said William
Shotwell, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Shotwell, my exors,
admors, and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, an Invention communicated to me by a
certain foreigner, of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURING MUSTARD;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the
said William Shotwell, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
to cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months after the date of the
said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto
had, may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Shotwell, do hereby declare that the said Invention is described in
manner following, that is to say :-
I take mustard bran, or the offal of mustard; after as much mustard flour
has been taken out as is done by any of the modes now or hereafter used; I
wet this bran or offal with water, then grind it between horizontal stones or
triturate it any other way at pleasure, after which I immerse this in a consider-
able quantity of water, stirring it well; then I suffer the bran which is the most
ponderous to subside. When this is done and whilst the flour is yet suspended,
I draw off all that is above the bran into a flannel or other suitable strainer
placed over a vat, which vat is to have a luch at its bottom; this strainer
serves to filther the mustard, and prevents any particles of bran or other foreign
In this vat I suffer the mustard flour to
substance from passing into the vat.
precipitate; I then draw off the water from above the flour as close as possible;
when this is done I draw off all I can from below the lunch, making use of the
same water for succeeding parcels as often as it is found to answer. My
mustard now being of the consistency wished, I preserve it in the common
mode. The bran left in the first vessel will still contain a considerable
portion of flour, and should have a second water put to it, then be well
stirred and suffered to settle, and should undergo the same processes as last;
or the water, whilst the flour is suspended in it, may serve to wet a second
parcel of bran. I have varied the mode of separating the flour from the
bran, but have found none so simple and effectual as the above. During
the above processes I endeavour to keep the air from the mustard, and to
compleat the operations as speedily as possible, to prevent the pungency from
escaping.
To make dry mustard from bran after as much mustard flour has been taken
from it as is done by any of the modes now or heretofore used, I take the coles
of India corn, break them small, mix them with mustard bran, grind it is a corn
mill, or comminute it in any other way. I then sift it, and afterwards repeat
these processes as often as I find it profitable. I have used a great variety of
other substances to mix with the bran; I have likewise taken wheat flour, or,
at pleasure, other appropriate substances, and mixed this with mustard bran
previously worked as above, which I have comminuted and sifted as often
as I have found it advantageous. I have sometimes taken those products,
mixed them with fresh bran, and worked this mixture in the aforesaid manner.
The product now obtained possesses a considerable degree of pungency. I
have taken fre-b flour or other appropriate substance, and mixed with this last
bran, then operated on it as before; this latter product I have passed through

page_text: fresh bran in the same way, when it will have acquired a considerable degree
of pungency. The quantity of flour or other appropriate substance to be used
must be in proportion to the richness of the bran, and can only be ascertained
by a little observation. I have also taken white mustard flour, meal, or bran
and worked it with brown mustard bran in the same way, and have found the
product possessing a considerable portion of the pungency of the brown. I
have also put among the bran small portions of flour or other appropriate
ingredients, previous to comminution and sifting, and so repeatedly added flour,
&c., for a number of times, generally working the bran over after I have done
adding flour, or other appropriate ingredients, once or oftener. I have also
adopted a more simple and expeditious mode of sifting mustard :-I prepare a
frame about six and a half feet in length, twenty-six inches in width, and five
inches deep, into which I fix another frame or frames with silk bottom or
bottoms; this frame is suspended with one end a little higher than the other,
and under it is fixed a chest; from about the middle of each of the sides of
this frame projects a piece of iron or wood, about fourteen inches from the
side, which is to run between two upright pieces; these projections are
intended to keep the seive frame steady in its motion backwards and forwards,
it being propelled with sufficient velocity to cause the meal to have sufficient
motion on the bottom of the seive; on each side of the seive is placed mallets
or hammers, having handles that spring, which the seive frame is intended to
strike against. I then prepare a hopper, generally similar to those used in corn
mills, having a shoe under it, which is so contrived that by the motion of the seive
it has sufficient motion to deliver down its contents, which hopper is fixed over
the highest end of the seive. I have sometimes annexed to the upper end of
the seive a box open at top, to receive the meal, and having a hole at bottom so
as to let the meal pass from it to the seive. This hole is contracted or enlarged
by means of a slide. I have had a hopper placed above the seive, with the
conductor of cloth or leather affixed to the bottom of the hopper, having
the lower end of it to touch the seive, and having a string round its mouth to
contract it. The motion of the seive causes the conductor to deliver the meal
into it. The bran is to pass through the lower end of the seive into an
apartment separate from the flour.
The improvement of supplying the seive by means of the above or any other
kind of hopper is what I claim as a new improvement on sifting. The seive
should be so hung that it may conveniently be brushed under the bottom,
or brushes may be fixed the length of the seive, to be moved by crank,
by machinery, or any other way at pleasure, which 1 also claim as an
improvement.

page_text: The peculiar advantages arising from the above improvements are the
following:
In the first place, I obtain a considerable quantity of genuine mustard by a
simple and easy process from the bran or offal, which is deemed to be of but
little value.
In the second place, I obtain an article possessing a considerable degree of
the pungency of the brown musturd seed at a small expence, which may
either be used in the state thus procured or be mixed with genuine mustard.
In the third place, by connecting a hopper or other apparatus with the upper
end of the scive, the labour of supplying the seive with meal is very much
lessened, and the supply is more regular than when done by hand; and by
fixing long brushes under the seive, to be moved by crank or otherways, the
labour of brushing is lessened.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Shotwell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eight.