IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES FOR MANUFACTURING PURPOSES, AND FOR THE PRODUCTION OF FOOD FOR MAN AND ANIMALS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Dewar, Doctor of Medicine, in Kirkcaldy,
in the County of Fifc, North Britain, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES FOR
MANUFACTURING PURPOSES, AND FOR THE PRODUCTION OF FOOD FOR MAN AND
ANIMALS."
Sealed the 9th June 1871, and dated the 22nd March 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Dewar at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition; on the
22nd March 1871.
I, JAMES DEWAR, Doctor of Medicine, in Kirkcaldy, in the County
of Fife, North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
FOR MANUFACTURING PURPOSES, AND FOR THE PRODUCTION OF FOOD FOR MAN AND
ANIMALS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in an improved mode of treating wheat
potatoes, and other farinaceous vegetables by subjecting them to the

page_text: action of sulphurous acid, whereby fermentation is prevented, and the
substances are bleached and rendered suitable for manufacturing purposes
in dressing calicoes and other textiles, and for food for man and animals.
For the purposes of my Invention, the sulphurous acid must be
thoroughly mixed with the substance treated, and the juice of such
vegetables as potatoes, apples, and the like must be expressed before
the application to them of the acid. In consequence of the use of
the sulphurous acid and the avoidance of fermentation, the gluten of
certain vegetables such as wheat, or Indian corn, after being detached
from the starch is preserved in a condition suitable for food, while the
starch is preserved in a condition suitable either for manufacturing
purposes or for food.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Dewar in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th September 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
DEWAR, Doctor of Medicine, in Kirkcaldy, in the County of Fife, North
Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS. Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said James Dewar, Her special
licence that I, the said James Dewar, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Dewar, 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 THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES FOR MANUFACTURING
PURPOSES, AND FOR THE PRODUCTION OF FOOD FOR MAN AND ANIMALS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Dewar, 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

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 .I, the said James Dewar, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists in an improved treatment of potatoes, wheat,
and other farinaceous vegetables by subjecting them, in manner herein-
after specified, to the action of sulphurous acid, whereby fermentation
is prevented, and those portions of the vegetable substances which are
applicable to the manufacturing purposes of dressing calicoes and other
textiles, or to the purposes of food for man and animals, are rendered
more suitable for those purposes.
The manner in which my Invention is to be performed I now proceed
to describe, premising that the treatment of the farinaceous vegetables
is different according as those vegetables contain on the one hand
natural juices, or on the other hand gluten, in such quantity or of
such description as to make the removal thereof necessary before the
substances can be properly applied to manufacturing purposes.
While my Invention is applicable to farinaceous vegetables generally
with more or less advantage according to the amount of farina con-
tained in them, still those vegetables which I find most suitable for the
application of my Invention are:-
(Class First.) Potatoes, apples, carrots, turnips, parsnips, and Jerusalem
artichokes.
(Class Second.) Wheat and Indian corn..
I will, in the first place, specify the manner in which vegetables of
the class first above mentioned (containing natural juices which should.
be removed), are to be treated according to my Invention, and I will
take potatoes as the leading instance of this class, the treatment of other
vegetables of the same class being similar. When the potatoes are to.
be prepared for manufacturing purposes as well as for food I remove-
their skins, and reduce the decorticated substance to a pulp. by squeezing
in a mill, pounding, or other mechanical means.. A portion of the juice-
may be got rid of during this process,, but, for its effectual removal

page_text: further operations are necessary, and the mode which I prefer to employ
for the purpose is to enclose the more solid portion of the pulp in
wrappers of cotton, linen, woolen, or hair cloth (I prefer woolen cloth),
and to subject it, so enclosed, to such an amount of pressure as will
expel as nearly as may be the whole of the juice from the pulp. I then
mix the pulp, which has been so freed from juice, with sulphurous acid
diluted with water. The sulphurous acid which I employ, by preference,
is the aqueous solution of ordinary commercial strength, say of specific
gravity about 1·012. The acid solution of that strength, diluted with
nine times its bulk of cold water, forms an advantageous mixture. I
prefer soft water, such as is usually met with in streams and natural
springs. The pulp is to be thoroughly mixed with the diluted acid, so
that the latter may permeate the whole mass intimately. I find one
gallon of the acid mixture to ten pounds weight of the squeezed pulp
to be sufficient for this purpose. When the mixing is completely
effected I remove any of the acid which can be poured or drawn off,
and again inclose the pulp in wrappers in like manner as before directed,
and subject it to pressure sufficient to expel the remainder of the
moisture as far as may be, after which I take off the wrappers and dry
the pulp by exposure to a temperature sufficiently high to dry it, say
from 100 to 130 degrees of Fahrenheit, according as the drying is wished
to be produced less or more rapidly; (I prefer a moderate temperature,
say 115 degrees.) Although not indispensable it will be found to be con-
venient to reduce the dried pulp to flour. After being treated as before
directed the pulp, though containing a small portion of fibrous matter,
will be found to afford a material fitted for employment by the manų-
facturer for making a high class of dressing for textiles as well as an
excellent article of food. Owing to the preservative power of the acid it
is not necessary to dry the pulp at once after having been pressed as last.
above directed; it will bear delay in that condition without fermentation
or decomposition, and may even be stored for a considerable length of
time in that condition without injury to the farina either for manu-
facturing purposes or for food. The acid has also the useful effect of
bleaching the farina which is, subjected to its action.
In treating apples, carrots, turnips, parsnips, and Jerusalem artichokes,
I do not find it necessary to, remove the skins previous to pulping.
When I desire to treat potatoes for the purposes of food merely, and
not of dressing for textiles, I find that the skins of the potatoes need

page_text: not be removed previously to pulping. In other respects the treatment
is to be as above described.
I will next describe the manner in which vegetables of the class
secondly above mentioned (containing gluten which should be separated
from the farina,) are to be treated according to my Invention; and I
will take wheat as the leading instance of that class, the treatment of
Indian corn being similar. I grind the wheat into flour, or take wheaten
flour (I prefer it to be of the best quality), and wash it in cold water
in the manner usual in preparing farina from such flour, employing
about 28 gallons of water to each quantity of 65 pounds weight of flour,
and mix the water thoroughly with the flour in a tank or other vessel
for the purpose. I allow the mixture to remain without disturbance for
about 24 hours, and then remove the supernatant water from the flour,
which will be found to have settled to the bottom of the vessel, and
replace the water so drawn off by a similar quantity of sulphurous acid
diluted with water. The aqueous solution of sulphurous acid, hercin-
before mentioned, say, of specific gravity 1.012 mixed with water in the
proportions of one part of the acid to six parts of water, affords a proper
liquor for the purpose; and with that liquor I mix the flour thoroughly
by stirring or shaking. When this has been done I allow the mixture
to rest for a period of about 24 hours; at the end of that period the
liquor should be drawn off and preserved. It holds in solution the gluten
extracted from the flour, which gluten is valuable for the purposes of
food when treated as herein-after explained.
The residuum of the flour which has been treated as above directed
and freed from gluten will, after it has been subjected to the mani-
pulatory process usual in preparing wheaten farina for dressing, be found
to be in a condition fit for the use of the manufacturer in dressing
textile fabrics.
By the treatment with sulphurous acid above described, while the
farinaceous portion of the flour is rapidly rendered suitable for the
manufacturing purposes before mentioned, all offensive and noxious.
putrefactive exhalations from the farina and the gluten are prevented.
The farina may, after treatment with the acid as above directed, be
preserved for the purposes of food, either in its moist condition or dried
by the action of air as before explained with reference to potato farina.
For the purpose of employing for the production of food the gluten
separated from the farina, and remaining, suspended in the acid liquor

page_text: which has been drawn off, as before directed, I mix that liquor with dry
articles of food of man, such as potato farina, and if the food be intended
for cattle, horses, pigs, and such like animals, with chaff, straw, or hay,
or other food suitable to them in sufficient quantity to absorb the liquor.
The food thus prepared may be used in its moist state or dried. Or
otherwise I recover the gluten by evaporating the liquid portion of the
liquor. In either way the gluten is made available as an excellent
article of food for man and other animals.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I do not
claim as my Invention the application of the farinaceous substances of
vegetables to the manufacturing purposes before mentioned, or to the
purposes of food, or of sulphurous acid, except when treated and used
according to and for the purposes of my Invention; but I hereby declare
that I claim as my Invention the treatment of farinaceous vegetables,
pulped or ground, with sulphurous acid for the purposes and in the
manner herein-before described.
In witness whercof, I, the said James Dewar, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.