IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING MEAT AND ANIMAL MATTER AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Millward, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRESERVING MEAT AND ANIMAL MATTER AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR
THAT PURPOSE."-A communication from abroad by Thomas Sim, of
Charleston, South Carolina, United States of America, Doctor of
Medicine.
Sealed the 4th June 1869, and dated the 12th December 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Millward at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th December 1868.
I, JOHN MILLWARD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING MEAT AND ANIMAL MATTER AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in subjecting the meat or animal matter to be
preserved to the following process or method of treatment:-The meat
either in whole carcasses or in parts is suspended within a vat or receiver

page_text: from which the air is then exhausted as completely as practicable by
an air pump or other means. The vat is then rapidly filled with
gaseous bi-sulphide of carbon, proto-sulphide of carbon, carbonylic
sulphide, or some equivalent gas either alone or with phenic acid,
methyl, or other product of the destructive distillation of wood or coal.
The sulphides of carbon may be produced by any of the well known
methods. When such phenic acid or methyl is used I employ it in
the proportion of about one ounce thereof to every one hundred cubic
feet of sulphide of carbon gas, but I do not limit myself to these
proportions, and the phenic acid or methyl may be dispensed with
entirely. The gas is conducted through a pipe into a gas holder of
suitable known construction, the lower part of which is in the first
instance filled with water for the purpose of excluding air, the said
water being afterwards drawn off and replaced by the gas. At the
time of introducing the gas into the exhausted receiver both the gas
and the receiver or vat should have a temperature of from 90° to 120°
Fahrenheit (averaging 104°), and to guard against the danger of cooling
the meat to an injurious extent by the expansion in vacuo of the gas
within the vat I provide a supply of gas equal to about double the
capacity of the vat and admit it to the latter instantaneously, applying
pressure by means of a suitable pump in the gas supply pipe to make the
influx of gas more rapid, and by continued pressure the curing process
may be hastened. The gas holder and the vat can be heated by hot
water circulated through pipes connected with a reservoir from which
the water passes to and through a furnace to be heated and back to
the reservoir. Chambers around the vat receive hot water from the
reservoir for the purpose of heating the interior of the vat, and any
known vacuun and heat gauges may be employed to indicate the
internal state of the vat. The methylic or other vapour above referred
to may be applied by placing an open vessel of suitable liquid within
the vat. The great distinction between this process and others by
which it has been attempted to preserve meat by chemical agents is
the use of the sulphides of carbon (either with or without phenic acid,
methyl, or other product of the destructive distillation of wood or coal),
by which is effected a complete dialysation of the gases contained within
the meat, which otherwise would produce putrefaction. The application
of the sulphides in a gaseous form while it effects the dialysation of
deleterious matter does not remove or injure any portion of the meat
which it is desired to preserve, and when the process is completed no

page_text: sulphide remains within the meat, but it is all cither driven off or
changed by dialysation, and meat treated by this process is permanently
preserved from decomposition, and is not materially affected by
atmospheric changes. The effects of this process in these respects
are much more lasting than those of other known processes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,.
filed by the said John Millward in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 7th June 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MILLWARD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Millward, Her special
licence that I, the said John Millward, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Millward, 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 PRESERVING
MEAT AND ANIMAL MATTER AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE,",
(a communication to me from abroad by Thomas Sim, of Charleston,
South Carolina, United States of America, Doctor of Medicine,) upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John, Millward, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Millward, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to he

page_text: following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that
is to say:
This Invention consists in subjecting the meat or animal matter to
be preserved to the following process or method of treatment:-The
meat either in whole carcasses or in parts is suspended within a vat
or receiver from which the air is then exhausted as completely as
practicable by an air pump or other means. The vat is then rapidly
filled with gascous hi-sulphide of carbon, proto-sulphide of carbon.
carbonylic sulphide, or some equivalent gas either alone or with phenic
acid, methyl, or other product of the destructive distillation of wood
or coal. The-sulphides-of-carbon may-be-produced by any of the well
known methods. When such phenic acid or methyl is used I employ
it in the proportion of about one ounce thereof to every one hundred
cubic feet of sulphide of carbon gas, but I do not limit myself to these
proportions, and the phenic acid or methyl may be dispensed with
entirely. The gas is conducted through a pipe into a gas holder of
suitable known construction the lower part of which is in the first
instance filled with water for the purpose of excluding air, the said
water being afterwards drawn off and replaced by the gas. At the
time of introducing the gas into the exhausted receiver both the gas
and the receiver or vat should have a temperature of from 90 to 120°
Fahrenheit (averaging 104°), and to guard against the danger of cooling
the meat to an injurious extent by the expansion in vacuo of the gas
within the vat, I provide a supply of gas equal to about double the
capacity of the vat and admit it to the latter, instantaneously applying
pressure by means of a suitable pump in the gas supply pipe to make
the influx of gas more rapid, and by continued pressure the curing
process may be hastened. The gas holder and the vat can be heated
by hot water circulated through pipes connecting with a reservoir from
which the water passes to and through the furnace to be heated and
back to the reservoir. Chambers around the vat receive hot water
from the reservoir for the purpose of heating the interior of the vat,
and any known vacuum and heat gauges may be employed to indicate
the internal state of the vat. The methylic or other vapor above
referred to may be applied by placing an open vessel of suitable liquid
within the vat. The great distinction between this process and others

page_text: by which it has been attempted to preserve meat by chemical agents
is the use of the sulphides of carbon (either with or without phenic
acid, methyl, or other product of the destructive distillation of wood
or coal) by which is effected a complete dialysation of the gases con-
tained within the meat which otherwise would produce putrefaction.
The application of the sulphides in a gascous form while it effects
the dialysation of deleterious matter does not remove or injure any
portion of the meat which it is desired to preserve, and when the process
is completed no sulphide remains within the meat, but it is all either
driven off or changed by dialysation, and meat treated by this process
is permanently preserved from decomposition and is not materially
affected by atmospheric changes. The effects of this process in these
respects are much more lasting than those of other known processes.
Having thus set forth the nature and object of this Invention, I shall
now in order that the Invention may be fully understood proceed more
particularly to describe the manner of performing the same and for
that purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the accompanying
Drawing in which the same letters of reference indicate corresponding
parts throughout all the corresponding Figures.
Figure 1 is a plan, partly in horizontal section, of the apparatus under
one of the various forms in which it may be made or arranged; Figure 2
is a vertical section thereof, in the plane indicated by the line a, x,
on Figure 1; Figure 3 is a vertical section in the plane indicated by
the line y, y, on Figures 1 and 2; Figure 4 is an elevation of the vat
3 and its accessories hercin-after described.
The meat which is to be preserved either in whole carcasses or in
parts is suspended from hooks within a vat or receiver A from which
the air is then exhausted as completely as practicable through a pipe b
by means of an air pump B or other means. The vat A is then rapidly
filled with gaseous bi-sulphide of carbon, proto-sulphide of carbon,
carbonylic sulphide, or some equivalent gas, either with or without an
admixture of phenic acid, methyl, or other product of the destructive
distillation of wood or coal. If these are used I employ them in the
proportion of about one ounce thereof to every one hundred cubic feet of
5 the sulphide of carbon gas, but I do not bind myself to these proportions.
The sulphides of carbon may be produced by any of the well known
methods, under the present illustration I employ for this purpose a
retort c, which is charged with charcoal and heated to redness, sulphur

page_text: is then introduced through the pipe D conducting down to a well d
in which the sulphur is burned. The sulphur vapor passing through
or in contact with the incandescent charcoal is converted into bi-sulphide
of carbon according to the well known process, this gas is conducted
through a pipe e into a gas holder E, of common construction, the
lower part of which is in the first instance filled with water for the
purpose of excluding air, the said water being afterwards drawn off and
replaced by the gas. At the time of introducing the gas into the
exhausted receiver both the gas and the receiver or vat should have a
temperature of from 90 to 120° Fahrenheit (averaging 104°), and to
guard against the danger of cooling the meat to an injurious extent hy
the expansion in vacuo of the gas within the vat, I provide a supply of
gas equal to about double the capacity of the vat, and admit it to the
latter, instantaneously applying pressure by means of a suitable pump. P
in the gas supply pipe e¹ to make the influx of gas more rapid, and by
continued pressure the curing process may be hastened. The gas
holder and the vat can be heated by hot water circulated through the
pipes G, H, connecting with a reservoir I from which the water passes
to and through the furnace F and back to the reservoir through the
pipe or pipes J, J; chambers H' around the vat A receive hot water
from the pipe H for the purpose of heating the interior of the vat; M
represents a barometer to indicate the extent of the vacuum within the
vat A; N is a thermometer to indicate the temperature.
The methylic or other vapor may be applied by placing an open
vessel of suitable liquid within the vat A.
This Invention is applicable to the preserving of animal food of all
kinds as well as fish and fish waste for the manufacture of fertilisers,
or any animal matter which it may be desired to keep fresh.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details of the process or to the precise details
in the arrangement and construction of the apparatus herein-before
described as these may be variously modified without departing from
the nature and object of the Invention, but what I claim as new and
desire to be secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,

page_text: First. The employment or use for preserving meat or animal matter
of sulphides of carbon applied in a gaseous form and made to permeate
the matter to be preserved after the latter has been exhausted or
partially exhausted of air.
Second. I claim the usc in combination with sulphides of carbon of
phenic acid, methyl, or other product of the destructive distillation of
wood or coal.
Third. I claim the apparatus arranged and constructed to operate
substantially as herein-before described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Millward, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
JOHN MILLWARD. (L.S.)