CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND PREPARING AMYLECIOUS SUB- STANCES FOR THE PURPOSE OF STIFFENING
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Roberts and John Dale, of Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemists, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND PREPARING AMYLECIOUS SUB-
STANCES FOR THE PURPOSE OF STIFFENING."
Sealed the 15th April 1856, and dated the 23rd October 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Roberts and'
John Dale at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 23rd October 1855.
We, THOMAS ROBERTS and JOHN DALE, of Manchester, Manufacturing
Chemists, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND PREPARING AMYLECIOUS
SUBSTANCES FOR THE PURPOSE OF STIFFENING " to be as follows:-
In the ordinary process of starch-making wheaten flour is generally used,
but when rice or any of the inferior grains are used it has been found
necessary to introduce an alkali or acid to separate the gluten. To obviate the
necessity of this alkali or acid, or treating with large quantities of water, is the
object of our Invention, and the process is as follows as we practise on rice :-
We take rice in the grain, but instead of grinding it in the ordinary manner
we wash and soak it in water until it is cleaned and partially softened; it
then grinds more readily, and the meal is necessarily produced in a damp state:

page_text: The damp meal is then placed in heaps, where it is allowed to heat and
ferment, such fermentation producing a chemical change, so that the separation
or disintegration between the starch and the gluten is at once effected, the
mass yielding when boiled in water. a paste equal to ordinary starch. This
process may be slightly varied for other grain, and we are aware that the same
result may be obtained by fermenting the rice or other grain previous to
grinding, but with our present experience we prefer the fermentation to take
place in the state of meal.
T
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Roberts and John Dale in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
ROBERTS and JOHN DALE, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manu-
facturing Chemists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said Thomas Roberts and John Dale, Her special license, that
we, the said Thomas Roberts and John Dale, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Roberts and John Dale,
our 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING AND PREPARING AMYLACEOUS SUBSTANCES FOR THE PURPOSE OF STIFFEN-
ING," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Roberts
and John Dale, by an instrument in writing under our 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Thomas Roberts and John Dale, do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following Specification, that is to say:-
In the ordinary process wheaten flour is generally used, but where rice or
any of the inferior grain is used it has been found necessary to introduce an
alkali or acid to separate the gluten. To obviate the necessity of this alkali
or acid, on treating with large quantities of water, as heretofore practised, is the
object of our Invention, and the process is as follows as practised on rice:-
We take rice in the grain, but instead of grinding it in the ordinary manner
we wash and soak it in water until it is cleaned and partially softened; it then
grinds more readily, and the meal necessarily produced in a damp state. The
damp meal is then placed in heaps, where it is allowed to heat and ferment,
such fermentation producing a chemical change, so that the separation or
disentegration between the starch and gluten is at once effected, the mass
yielding when boiled in water a paste equal to the ordinary starch. This
process must be slightly altered for other grain, and we are aware that
the same result may be obtained by fermenting the rice or grain previous to
grinding, but with our present experience we prefer the fermentation in the
meal.
We also find that a starch of superior quality may be produced by adopting
first the process of fermentation in the meal or grain, and so soon as a
vigorous fermentation in the meal or grain has set in, transferring the same to
water, the temperature of which shall have been brought up to that of meal or
grain, completing the fermentation in the water, and subsequent washing to
separate the pure starchy matter.
What we claim as our Invention is, the fermentation of grain, or meal, or
flour in a damp state, as also the continuation of such fermentation in water
heated to the required temperature, for the purpose of producing stiffening.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Roberts and John Dale, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-second day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
THOMAS ROBERTS. (L.S.)
JOHN DALE.
(L.S.)