Improvements in or relating to Butyrometers or like Fat Testing Instruments.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Aug., 1896-Accepted, 17th Oct., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Butyrometers or like Fat Testing
Instruments.
1, Dr. NICHOLAS GERBER of 29, Turnhallestrasse Zürich in the Republic of
Switzerland, Dairy Proprietor, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the saine is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The instrument which forms the object of the present invention serves for
ascertaining in the simplest, cheapest and most accurate manner the amount of fat
contained in milk, milk products, and other substances, and differs essentially from
the devices hitherto employed by the neck being cylindrical instead of conical in
shape, and also being provided with one or more recesses or grooves on its
periphery.
One form of construction of the improved instrument is shown in the
accompanying drawings. As may be seen therefrom, and as already mentioned,
the neck a of the instrument is cylindrical in form, and is provided with one or
more peripheral grooves or recesses in which an indiarubber plug 6 firmly fits so
that the plug cannot be expelled by the gases which are formed by the chemicals
on the decomposition of the milk or the like, and the operation may be carried out
much easier and with less danger than hitherto. The plugs may also be kept in
water if desired so that they are less likely to break or crack than when kept in a
dry condition as hitherto.
A further advantage of the improved instrument consists in that owing to the
cylindrical shape of the neck a and the corresponding cylindrical shape of the
plug b either end of the latter may be inserted, and thus only half is necessary, as
against the conical plugs, one end of which can only be inserted.
This improved instrument consists of a narrow pipe or tube having thereon a
scale divided to 0.1% of fat contents, which pipe or tube widens out into a conical
form at the top, and has at its lower end a body several times larger, which ends in
a cylindrical neck a provided with one or more annular grooves or recosses. The
cylindrical indiarubber plug b fits firmly iuto this latter.
Finally this improved instrument or butyrometer is protected from breakage
when placed in a vessel or during the process of centrifugalling, owing to its being
seated elastically and not resting directly on the glass. The separated layer
of fat may also if desired be completely forced into the neck of the scale of the
instrument by pressing the plug into the body, and the layer of fat may be fixed
at a given point for reading off the result of the test. By this means the reading
of the test is considerably facilitated and more accurately ascertained than is the
case with other fat testing instruments.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
A butyrometer or like instrument for determining the fat contents of milk, milk
products, and the like substances, in which instrument the neck holding the plug
or stopper is cylindrical in form and is provided with one or more grooves or
recesses in which the indiarubber plug fits firmly and cannot be expelled by the

page_text: gases formed, said plug being of such a form as to allow of its being insorted by
either end, substantially as herein before described and shown in the accompanying
drawing.
Dated this 17th day of August 1896.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicant.