AN IMPROVED MODE OF PRESERVING ANIMAL SUBSTANCES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jules Jean Baptiste Sylvain Martin de. Lignac,
Gentleman, of Paris, in the Empire. of France, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF PRESERVING ANIMAL SUBSTANCES
"
,
Sealed the 1st April 1856, and dated the 30th October 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jules Jean Baptiste
Sylvain Martin de Lignac at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 30th October 1855.
I, JULES JEAN BAPTISTE SYLVAIN MARTIN DE LIGNAC, Gentleman; of Paris,
in the Empire of France, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PRESERVING ANIMAL SUBSTANCES" to be as follows:
The processes hitherto employed for the dessication and concentration of
meats present the serious inconvenience of hardening the muscular fibre to
such an extent as to render its ulterior hydration very difficult, and to render
the divers products obtained by various modes of treatment tough and dis-
agreeable. To remedy this defect, I carry the dessication of the raw meat
merely to such a point that I retain a sufficient quantity of aqueous juices to
prevent toughness, while I ensure the preservation, and at the same time
reduce the volume of the product.
The raw meat is first cut into cubes, and submitted to a current of hot air,
until it has lost about fifty per cent. of its weight. It is to be then powerfully
compressed in cylindrical tin boxes, in such a manner that a vessel capable of

page_text: holding about a quart shall receive eight rations. The operation is concluded
by filling with concentrated liquor any spaces left in the box by the meat
which has been compressed: therein; the cover is then soldered on, and the
box and its contents are submitted in a cooking vessel (or digester) to a
temperature sufficiently high to produce steam in the box.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jules Jean Baptiste Sylvain Martin de Lignac in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 26th April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JULES
JEAN BAPTISTE SYLVAIN MARTIN DE LIGNAC, Gentleman, of Paris, in the
Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth 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 me, the
said Jules Jean Baptiste Sylvain Martin de Lignac, Her special license that
I, the said Jules Jean Baptiste Sylvain Martin de Lignac, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jules Jean Baptiste
Sylvain Martin de Lignac, 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 "AN IMPROVED
MODE OF PRESERVING ANIMAL SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Jules Jean Baptiste Sylvain Martin de Lignac, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Jules Jean Baptiste Sylvain. Martin
de Lignac, 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):
The processes hitherto employed for the purpose of preserving animal sub-
stances, by the desiccation and concentration of the same, present, the serious.

page_text: inconvenience of hardening the muscular fibre to such an extent as to render
its ulterior hydration very difficult, and to render the divers products obtained
by such modes of treatment tough and disagreeable to eat.
The object of the present. Invention of an improved. mode of preserving.
animal substances is to effect. the desiccation of the raw meat merely to
such a point that it may still retain a sufficient quantity of aqueous juices to
admit of its being prepared for food, without imparting to it that toughness and
disagreeable taste hitherto so objectionable in desiccated meats. The preser-
vation of the animal substance is thereby effected, and at the same time the
volume of the product is reduced by compressing it in boxes made sufficiently
strong to resist the strain to which they would be submitted. It is preferable
to make these boxes of a cylindrical form, and when the substance is placed.
therein they should be immediately closed, and submitted to such a tempera-
ture as will prevent. ulterior spontaneous change or deterioration.
In order to prepare the animal substances for enclosure.in.the.cases.above
mentioned, the raw meat is first to be cut into cubes of: about an inch square,.
and subjected in stoves or hot-air chambers to a current of. air, heated. to a
temperature of from twenty-five degrees to thirty degrees centigrade, until by
the continuous and energetic action of this current of hot air the meat has.
lost about fifty per cent. of its weight. It is to be then powerfully compressed
in, cylindrical tin boxes in such a manner that; a vessel capable of holding
about a quart shall receive eight rations, the whole (vessel, liquor, and meat)
weighing from two,pounds to two, pounds and a half, and representing five
pounds weight of fresh meat. The operation is concluded by filling with con-
centrated liquor any spaces left in the box by the meat which has been com-
pressed therein. The cover is then to be soldered on, and the box and its
contents are submitted in a cooking vessel (or digester) to a temperature
sufficiently high to produce steam in the box.
It will be understood that by this cooking operation in a close vessel the
water remaining in the meat will be partially converted, into steam, and will
expand the tissues, and render them fit for the ulterior absorption of the water
when immersed therein, causing them readily to assume their original volume,
and to be more promptly acted upon by the subsequent cooking operation.
Meat thus compressed and preserved may either be consumed directly on
being taken from the air-tight box, or it may be immersed in cold water and
made to boil, thereby producing excellent broth or soup and good boiled
meat.
The dimensions of the boxes and their cylindrical form will allow of their
being placed upon the soldier's knapsack, and the provisioning of troops may
:

page_text: be thereby greatly facilitated, as each soldier will be able to carry eight days'
rations. It will be seen that this process differs materially from the plans
formerly in use, inasmuch as, according to the present improved system,
the meat loses about fifty per cent. of its weight, or about two-thirds of the
water which it contained before being compressed in the boxes; moreover,
it is placed and compressed therein in the raw, state, and may be finally
'cooked therein in a close vessel, and will the better preserve its aroma and
juices unaltered. Besides the above advantages, this process offers an economy
of fifty per cent. in the cost of the tin boxes, and fifty per cent. in packing and
transport..
Having now described my improved mode of preserving animal substances,
and the manner of carrying the same into effect; I claim as of my Invention,
submitting animal substances to the action of a current of warm or heated air,
whereby a certain portion of the aqueous or watery particles may be carried off,
and then compressing the partially dried meats in boxes or vessels of suitable
size and shape, so that the bulk or volume of the animal matters may be
reduced, and subsequently submitting the compressed meats, to the action of
heat, whereby steam may be generated in the boxes, and the vesicles or pores
of the meat be thereby opened to such an extent as will greatly facilitate the
subsequent cooking of the meats, as above explained.
In witness whereof; I, the said Jules Jean Baptiste Sylvain Martin de
Lignac, have hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of
April, in the year of our Lord. One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-six
Witness,
A.. PERPIGNA.
J. J. B. S. MARTIN DE LIGNAC. (L.s.)