IMPROVED PROCESSES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF ARTICLES OF FOOD
Year: 1874

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Bristow Hunt, of Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn,
in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED PROCESSES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF ARTICLES OF FOOD."
A communication from abroad by Alvaro Francisco Carlos
Revnoso, of Paris, France, Chemist.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bristow Hunt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd June 1874.
I, BRISTOW HUNT, of Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVED PROCESSES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF ARTICLES OF
Food," (a communication to me from abroad by Alvaro Francisco Carlos
Reynoso, of Paris, France, Chemist,) to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to preserve animal and vegetable
matters (intended for food) from decay, and the Invention consists of
the following processes :-

page_text: alimentary matters being placed in a vessel suitably arranged; gas or
gases compressed to several atmospheres is admitted thereto (either
oxygen, hydrogen, azotic, carbonic acid, oxide of carbon, a mixture of
the two latter, illuminating gas, pure proto-carbonized hydrogen, pure
bi-carbonized hydrogen, protoxide of azote, sulphurous acid, or other
suitable gas or gases), and the whole is kept at a very low temperature
by means of an artificial refrigerating machine or by natural ice,
according to circumstances.
Secondly. The preservativé action of a low temperature combined
with a perfect vacuum, or simply with a diminution of pressure, and a
modification of the atmosphere which surrounds the matters intended to
be preserved. The articles or matters to be preserved are placed in a
suitable vessel in which a vacuum is produced, or electric sparks are
passed through the same, or sulphur, charcoal, alcohol, phosphorus, or
illuminating gas is burned therein, or a disengagement of nitrous vapors
is, caused to take place by means of copper and fuming azotic acid..
The whole is kept at a low temperature by natural or artificial means,
according to circumstances.
'
Thirdly. The matters to be preserved are placed in water, and the
latter is frozen by means of a freezing machine. The matters are taken
and surrounded in this manner by the ice, and are thus submitted con-
tinually and immediately to the action of cold, which is maintained at
the same degree by the action of the freezing machine, and also by non-
conducting coverings or cases constructed for that purpose.
Fourthly, The process consists in the employment of sulphurous acid
compressed to one atmosphere, or more, so as to liquify it. The use of
compressed sulphurous acid mixed with oxide of carbon, carbonic
acid, illuminating gas, proto-carbonized hydrogen, bi-carbonized hydrogen,
protoxide of azote, hydrogen, and other gases may be useful under.
certain circumstances. Instead of compressing gaseous sulphurous acid.
it may be liquified beforehand by a special apparatus, and placed in
that state in the vessel containing the alimentary matters, which is then
immediately closed. Thus the sulphurous acid slowly evaporating will
fill the space at the desired pressure.
Fifthly. To preserve alimentary matters by means of illuminating gas a
or proto-carbonized hydrogen or bi-carbonized hydrogen at the ordinary
pressure instead of creating a vacuum in the vessel, and then filling it.

page_text: completely with these gases, the gas may be first lighted to consume the
oxygen in the vessel; and when the gas is extinguished the burner is
left open until the temperature of the vessel is equal to that of the
surrounding medium, when the communication with the gasometer is
closed.
Sixthly. To the gases mentioned in the Specification of previous
Letters Patent granted to me, and dated 30th July 1873, No. 2582, as
suitable for the preservation of alimentary matters at a high tempera-
ture, I wish to add pure proto-carbonized hydrogen and bi-carbonized
hydrogen. All gases being susceptible of being compressed to several
atmospheres with more or less advantage, as opposed to putrefaction, it
will be advantageous to mix them in various proportions, according to
circumstances, to constitute by these means atmospheres most suitable
from a physical, chemical, or economical point of view.
Seventhly. When gases are compressed to several atmospheres in
vessels containing alimentary matters intended to be preserved from
putrefaction, it will be advantageous sometimes to place at the bottom.
of this vessel a small quantity of pure water.
Eighthly. Carbonic acid dissolved in water at
possesses very remarkable antiseptic properties.
several atmospheres.
It is also the same
with the solution of protoxide of azote in water at several atmospheres.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bristow Hunt in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st December 1874.
°
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRISTOW
HUNT, of Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Bristow Hunt,
Her special licence. that I, the said Bristow Hunt, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Bristow
4
L

page_text: Hunt, 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.
"IMPROVED PROCESSES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF ARTICLES OF FOOD," (a com-
munication to me from abroad by Alvaro Francisco Carlos Reynoso, of
Paris, France, Chemist,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I.
the said Bristow Hunt, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-.
vention, 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 Bristow Hunt, do hereby declare.
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is to preserve animal and vegetable 2
matters (intended for food) from decay; and the Invention consists of
the following processes:
-
First. The preservative action of a low temperature combined with
gas or gases compressed to several atmospheres. The vegetable or
alimentary matters being placed in a vessel suitably arranged, gas or 2
gases compressed to several atmospheres is admitted thereto (either
oxygen, hydrogen, azotic, carbonic acid, oxide of carbon, a mixture of
the two latter, illuminating gas, pure proto-carbonized hydrogen, pure
bi-carbonized hydrogen, protoxide of azote, sulphurous acid or other
suitable gas or gases), and the whole is kept at a very low temperature 3
by means of an artificial refrigerating machine or by natural ice,
according to circumstances.
Secondly. The preservative action of a low temperature combined
with a perfect vacuum, or simply with a diminution of pressure and a
modification of the atmosphere which surrounds the matters intended to 3
be preserved. The articles or matters to be preserved are placed in a
suitable vessel in which a vacuum is produced, or electric sparks are

page_text: passed through the same, or sulphur, charcoal, alcohol, phosphorous, or
illuminating gas is burned therein, or a disengagement of nitrous vapors
is caused to take place by means of copper and fuming azotic acid.
The whole is kept at a low temperature by natural or artificial means,
according to circumstances.
Thirdly. The matters to be preserved are placed in water, and the
latter is frozen by means of a freezing machine. The matters are taken
and surrounded in this manner by the ice, and are thus submitted con-
tinually and immediately to the action of cold, which is maintained at
the same degree by the action of the freezing machine, and also by
non-conducting coverings or cases constructed for that purpose.
Fourthly. The process consists in the employment of sulphurous acid
compressed to one atmosphere, or more, so as to liquefy it. The use of
compressed sulphurous acid mixed with oxide of carbon, carbonic
acid, illuminating gas, proto-carbonized hydrogen, bi-carbonized hydrogen,
protoxide of azote, hydrogen, and other gases may be useful under
certain circumstances. Instead of compressing gascous sulphurous acid
it may be liquefied beforehand by a special apparatus, and placed in that
state in the vessel containing the alîmentary matters, which is then
immediately closed. Thus the sulphurous acid slowly evaporating will
fill the space at the desired pressure.
Fifthly. To preserve alimentary matters by means of illuminating gas;
or proto-carbonized hydrogen, or bi-carbonized hydrogen at the ordinary
pressure, instead of creating a vacuum in the vessel, and then filling it.
completely with these gases, the gas may be first lighted to consume the
oxygen in the vessel; and when. the gas is extinguished the burner is
left open until the temperature of the vessel is equal to that of the
surrounding medium, when the communication with the gasometer is
closed.
Sixthly. To the gases mentioned in the Specification of previous
Letters Patent granted to me, and dated 30th July 1873, No. 2582, as
suitable for the preservation of alimentary matters at a high tempera-
ture, I wish to add pure proto-carbonized hydrogen and bi-carbonized
hydrogen. All gases being susceptible of being compressed to several
atmospheres with more or less advantage, as opposed to putrefaction, it
will be advantageous to mix them in various proportions, according to
circumstances, to constitute by these means atmospheres most suitable
from a physical, chemical, or economical point of view.

page_text: Seventhly. When gases are compressed to several atmospheres in
vessels containing alimentary matters intended to be preserved from
putrefaction, it will be advantageous sometimes to place at the bottom
of this vessel a small quantity of pure water.
Eighthly. Carbonic acid dissolved in water at several atmospheres
possesses very remarkable antiseptic properties. It is also the same
with the solution of protoxide of azote in water at several atmospheres.
To preserve alimentary matters by means of sulphurous acid a certain
weight of sulphur in powder, or in the form of matches, is placed in a
vessel containing the alimentary matters intended to be preserved. The
vessel is then closed, and the air compressed to several atmospheres.
Then by means of electricity the matches or the sulphur must be lighted,
and in burning will produce sulphuric acid, and consume the oxygen.
The weight of sulphur will be in proportion to the quantity of air com-
pressed, the capacity of the vessel, and the proportion of sulphurous acid
desired to be obtained at a certain pressure. Notice must also be taken
of the property which sulphur possesses of not burning, at least with
facility, in an atmosphere containing at the same time oxygen and
sulphurous acid beyond a certain measure.
Instead of lighting the sulphur after compression it may be lighted
before, and the air then compressed till the desired effect is produced.
When it is desired to employ liquid sulphurous acid to be intro-
duced with certain precautions into the vessel, where it should be
distributed, the air may be extracted, and a vacuum formed, or sulphur
may be first burned in the vessel.
In any case the alimentary matters are constantly kept in closed.
vessels surrounded by atmospheres of sulphurous acid.
Amongst the compressed gases capable of being very advantageously
employed the binoxide of azote must be placed. The different remarks
which have been made with regard to the other gases, and sulphurous
acid in particular, apply also to the use of the binoxide of azote. The
binoxide of azote may be mixed with other gases, such as the oxide of
carbon, carbonic acid, and others.
The binoxide of azote introduced into a confined atmosphere in the
presence of sulphurous acid, or other absorbents of humidity, or a

page_text: .
-lowering of temperature facilitates the desiccation of the alimentary
matters, and yields a product doubly preserved from putrefaction.
Besides this all bodies capable of absorbing the oxygen of the air in a
confined atmosphere in presence of means for eliminating the water
facilitate the desiccation of alimentary matters. Thus the combustion of
charcoal, alcohol oils, sulphur, phosphorous, illuminating gas, bi-car-
bonized hydrogen, proto-carborized hydrogen, and the presence of
sulphuric acid facilitate desiccation the same as the means of combining
oxygen with azote (electric sparks).
The whole apparatus is to be filled with hydrochloric acid gas; all the
air being expelled, and then, at the expiration of a certain time, this acid
must be absorbed by water or by some base so as to create a vacuum.
Other gases may be added to the hydrochloric acid gas, in order to
maintain the alimentary matters in atmospheres of such gases. .
After having absorbed the hydrochloric acid gas the dessiccation of
alimentary matters in presence of means of eliminating the water is
very rapid; and in presence of sulphuric acid it is as regular as it is
rapid.
The hydrochoric acid gas may be mixed with other gases, and com-
pressed with them. It is also possible to keep the alimentary matters in
an atmosphere of this gas at the ordinary pressure.
In all cases, if it be desired to obtain the desiccation in a confined
space, it will be convenient according to circumstances to provide means
for agitating the gaseous residue, the renewal of the absorbing or con-
densing surfaces, and even a certain amount of movement in the
apparatus containing the alimentary matters.. All these means have for
their end the hastening of desiccation, a very essential circumstance in
certain cases. Even in a vacuum it is best to agitate the sulphuric acid
otherwise the desiccation is slow. Or the process may be conducted as
follows:―The alimentary matters are first submitted to the action of
the sulphurous acid in the state of gas, or in solution in water, and they
are then dried or pressed. Or before drying or pressing them they may
be submitted to the action of the binoxide of azote.
Lastly. They may be submitted to the action of sulphurous acid, or of
binoxide of azote, or of ammoniacal gas after having been dried or
nressed

page_text: Air having been purified by the means indicated is not afterwards
liable to cause fermentation.
These processes are based on the purification of the air by cold, and
the destruction of the germs which it contains. To put them into
practice it is possible to employ various means.
- A. To commence, the air must be purified by causing it to remain in
a vessel surrounded by a refrigerating mixture, or arranged in such a
manner as to be exposed to the action of cold produced by a machine,
and then caused to pass into the vessel containing the alimentary
matters; or in cases where it is desirable to increase the chances of
success it may be compressed. The vessel containing the air com-
pressed on the alimentary matters may also be cooled for a longer
or shorter period, which operation may be renewed as required.
B. The vessel containing the matters is simply submitted for some
time to the action of cold, below eighteen degrees, an operation which
may be repeated more or less often, according to circumstances.
C. The alimentary matters are to be placed in water, either pure or
containing sugar, gum, sulphurous acid, ammonia, sulphite, or bi-
sulphite of ammonia, and the like, and then submitted to congelation in
a refrigerating mixture, or by a refrigerating machine.
D. Place in the bottom of the vessel containing the alimentary-
matters, ammonia, or sulphurous acid dissolved in water, close the
vessel, and submit it to the action of very intense cold.
E. Air containing very small quantities of ammonia, sulphurous gas,
or lighting gas, and surrounding the alimentary matters if it is desired
to cool them below eighteen degrees. The vessel containing the whole
is capable of preserving alimentary matters.
F. Another variation of the process consists in previously freezing the
alimentary matters before introducing them into the vessel in which
they are to remain, and then to submit them to the various operations
indicated above (Note First)..

page_text: remark in conclusion that I claim as the Invention communicated to
me by the said Alvaro Francisco Carlos Reynoso, the improved processes
to be employed in preserving animal or vegetable matters for food, sub-
stantially as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bristow Hunt, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.