IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING FOOD
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's, Inn Fields.
in the County of Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of
Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PRESERVING FOOD."-A communication from Poe Edouard Lemetteus
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th April 1857.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON; of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING FOOD," a communication from Poe Edouard
Lemetteus and Michael Boniere, both of Rouen, in the Empire of France,
to be as follows, that is to say:
This Invention relates to a simple, economic, and effective mode of pre-
serving food of all kinds, whereby the article preserved is kept perfectly fresh,
and its appearance unaltered by the process of preservation.
According to this Invention it is proposed to preserve animal or vegetable
food by perfectly excluding the air therefrom, which is effected by coating the

page_text: article to be preserved with a solution of gutta percha, caoutchouc, or other
similar impervious material. This may be accomplished either by immersing
the article in a solution of 'the materials herein-before referred to, or by coat-
ing them over with a brush. Before being subjected to this process, however,
if the article to be preserved be a piece of meat, it should be dried in a current
of warm dry air, so as to rarify slightly the air which may be contained in the
meat, and any small insects which may be upon the meat should be carefully
removed. In order to prevent the covering being attacked by insects it is
proposed to mix with the outer coating some poison, which will be destructive
to insects, yet inoxious to man, such as camphor.
In preserving fruit or vegetables, it will be found more advantageous to
paint them over with the preservative solution, in place of steeping or im-
mersing them therein.
In some cases the article to be preserved having been previously partly dried
may be envelloped in a thin sheet of gutta percha or caoutchouc, in which
case should there be cavities therein likely to contain air, as in poultry, for
example, it is proposed to destroy the oxygen, which is so antagonistic to
preservation, by placing therein substances which have a great affinity for
oxygen, such as iron, sodium, potassium, &c., whereby the oxygen is rapidly
absorbed. Any one or more of these substances, in the form of powder, with
an addition of powdered charcoal, is placed in small permeable bags, and
inserted inside the cavities. The whole is then coated with the preservative
solution, and the process is completed. The articles thus preserved may
either be hung up or packed in sawdust, sand, or powdered charcoal, the
main object being to prevent the coverings from being injured by rubbing
against each other.
In some cases, as in the preservation of fish, for example, when the above
process is not always certain, it is proposed to surround the article to be pre-
served by an atmosphere of gas of a preservative nature, such as nitrogen,
hydrogen, and their combinations, carbonic acid, &c.
This is effected by placing the articles in an air-tight case, filled with water
or other fluid, which is then plunged mouth downwards into a vessel contain-
ing fluid, and the gas is conducted into the interior of the case, at the same
time displacing the fluid therein. The case being now full of gas is her-
metically closed, so as to exclude entirely the air therefrom.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 3rd October 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,.
and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North Britain;
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Henry Johnson, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING FOOD," a communication from Pou Edouard
Lemetteus and Michael Boniere, both of Rouen, in the Empire of France,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson,
by an instrument 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 John Henry Johnson, 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:-
This Invention relates to a simple, economic, and effective method of
preserving all kinds of articles of food, whereby the article treated is
kept perfectly fresh, whilst its appearance is unaltered by the process of
preservation.
The principle of this Invention consists in the application of an air-tight
envelope or covering of gutta percha, caoutchouc, or other similar impervious
material, thereby perfectly protecting the article to be preserved from the
action and contact of the atmosphere.

page_text: Gutta percha, caoutchouc, or other similar air-proof material is dissolved in
any inexpensive yolatile solvent, such as sulphuret of carbon. This solution
is placed in a closed vessel, the cover of which is removed for the purpose of
immersing the articles desired to be preserved.
In the case of butchers' meat, it should be first exposed to the action of a
current of dry heated air, in order to dry the exterior parts, and at the same
After undergoing
time rarify the portions of air contained in the interstices.
this operation, it should be dipped into the solution and withdrawn immo-
diately, and allowed to dry in a current of air. This will occupy only a few
minutes; when ready, the same operation must be repeated, until the proper
thickness of coating has been obtained. In the majority of cases 2 or 3 im-
morsions will be found amply sufficient. When the article to be preserved
has become dry, after applying the last coating, it may be either kept suspended
in the air, or placed in a box containing sawdust, sand, or charcoal, or a
mixture of these substances.
The only object of this last operation is to lessen the risk of the preserved
articles coming into contact with each other or any hard substance, and thereby
injuring the applied coating.
The same process may be likewise employed to vegetables, fruit, and other
şimilar articles; but instead of immersing them in the solution, they may be
coated with it by means of a hair pencil. In this way truffles, pears, peaches,
and other fruits may be preserved, care being taken that their whole surfaco
is completely enveloped with a coating of proper thickness. The thickness
may be varied according to the length of time the article is intended to be
preserved, and the circumstances under which it will be kept. In order to
keep insects from attacking the coating, it will be proper to add to the solu-
tion some body, which, though quite innocuous to man, would be sufficiently
powerful to destroy or at least drive away insects. Camphor is one of the
materials which may be employed for this purpose; but it may be observed,
that it is desirable that the first coating of the solution should be free from
this body, in order that no odour may be imparted to the article operated upon.
The more delicate fruits may be covered, if thought desirable, with the
protecting coating whilst on the tree, so that all their freshness may be
preserved, and even their bloom. After the application of the first coating
the fruit might be gathered, and the remainder of the process completed, as
before described.
In certain cases it is proposed to cover the objects to be preserved with a
thin sheet of gutta percha or caoutchouc, after subjecting them to a current

page_text: of heated air, in place of dipping them in a solution of these substances, as
before mentioned.
In those cases where the article to be operated upon presents great in-
equalities of surface, and it is impossible to prevent a certain amount of
atmospheric air being enclosed by the exterior coatings, it is proposed to
neutralize the ill effects of the oxygen of such enclosed air by introducing
some substance, such as iron, sodium, or potassium, which has a strong affinity
for that gas. By these means the oxygen will be absorbed, and its decaying
properties prevented. A small quantity of charcoal may also be added, for
this substance has great antiseptic properties.
Fish or poultry to be treated by this process should be first thoroughly
cleansed and trussed; the substance having a strong affinity for oxygen is then
to be introduced therein in a state of fine powder, such powder being contained
in closed packets. The application of the preserving solution is then made as
before described.
It is evident that this process is applicable to all kinds of alimentary sub-
stances, whether salted or fresh, without regard to size. Chololate, sweet-
meats, and potted meats and fish may be more effectually secured from the
action of the air by this plan, than by the usual method of covering them with
sheet metal, gold beater's skin, paper, &c.
As the process before described may not be altogether effectual for preserving
fish under peculiar circumstances, it is proposed to use vessels of gutta percha,
caoutchouc, metal, or other suitable material, in which the substances to be
preserved (say live fish) should be placed. The vessel should then be covered,
leaving only a small opening by which it is to be filled with water. This
vessel, with the opening turned downwards, should then be plunged into a tub
or receptacle filled with water. The vessel containing the fish is then to
be filled with some antiseptic gas (carbonic acid, for instance,) so that the
substance to be preserved is kept surrounded with an atmosphere highly
preservative, when the vessel is hermetically sealed.
Milk, vinegar, oil, mineral waters, &c., may also be treated by this
method.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of the said Invention; but what

page_text: I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the
general system or mode of preserving articles of food by covering them with
an air-tight coating, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Second day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)