IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, of the
General Patent Offices, 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the Empire of
France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF PRESERVING ANIMAL AND
VEGETABLE ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES."-A communication from Monsieur
François Xavier Escofet, residing at Paris, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 7th February 1865, and dated the 17th August 1864:
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand le Comte
de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 17th August 1864.
I, PETER ARMAND LE COMTE DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of the General Patent
Offices, 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 4, South
Street, Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF PRESERVING
ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES," to be as follows, that is
to say:-
My Invention consists in an improved mode of preserving meat and other::
animal and vegetable alimentary substances.

page_text: The meat is first cut into narrow strips and placed in a ventilator made to
revolve by centrifugal force at a speed of about 15 to 20 rotations per second,
taking care from time to time to prick the meat with fine needles in order to
permit of the air contained under the cuticle of the flesh to escape, tho
operation merely consisting in inserting and withdrawing the needles. When
the meat has lost from 5 to 10 per cent. of its weight it is placed in superposed
layers separated by a kind of grating, and is then arranged in zinc troughs or
cases, which are afterwards filled with oil, care being taken to striko the sides
to expel tho air; this being effected the box is hermetically closed, it is then
inverted and put in a trough of oil up to the part where an opening is mado
in the lid of the box, through which opening a current of carburetted hydrogen
gas produced by the decomposition of the oil is introduced into the box until
all the oil contained in it is expelled; the opening in the box is then closed
by means of a stopper which has been steeped in pitch, or which is soldered;
the meat thus prepared will be preserved for a great length of time. The
same process is applicable to other articles of food to be preserved.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance. of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand le Comte do Fontaine Moreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 8th February 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND LE COMTE DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of the General Patent Offices,
10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, sond greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, Her special license that
I, tho said Peter Armand le Comte. de Fontaine Moreau, my, executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Armand le
Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my executors, administrators, or 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.

page_text: IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE ALIMENTARY,
SUBSTANCES," communicated to me from Monsieur François Xavier Escofet,,
a person resident at Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition.
(amongst others) that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my
band and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, 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.
-7
i
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Armand le. Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, 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, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in an improved mode of preserving ment and other
animal and vegetable alimentary substances.
-
The meat,..for. instance,. is first cut into narrow-strips, and placed in a
ventilator made to revolve by centrifugal force at a speed of about fifteen to
twenty rotations per second, taking care from time to time to prick the meat
with fine needles in order to permit the air under the cuticle of the flesh to
escape, tho operation merely consisting in inserting and withdrawing tho
needles. When the meat has lost from five to ten per cent. of its weight it is
placed in superposed layers, separated by a kind of grating, and is then
arranged in zinc troughs or cases, which are afterwards filled with oil or with
any other suitable fatty substance, care being taken to strike the sides of the
troughs or cases to expel the air. This being effected, the casing is soldered;
it is then inverted in a trough of oil up to the part where an opening is made
in the lid of the casing, through which opening a current of carburetted
hydrogon gas produced by the decomposition of the oil or fatty substance
is introduced until all the oil or fatty substance contained in it is expelled;
the opening in the casing is then closed by means of a stopper which has
been steeped in pitch or is soldered; the meat thus prepared will be preserved
for a great length of time. The same process is applicable to other articles of
food to be preserved.
And having now described the nature of the Invention, and the best
manner to put the same into execution, I declare that I do not confine myself
to the precise details herein-before described, or modus operandi, as they may
be varied without deviating from the principle of the Invention; but what I

page_text: claim and wish to be protected is, the means of expelling the air from the
casings containing the substances to be preserved by the introduction of fatty
substances and carburetted hydrogen gas, as horein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of
February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-five
Witness,
HY. GILBEE,
.10, Rue de la Fidélité,
Paris.
6th February 1865.
L. DE FONTAINEMOREAU. (L.B.)