IMPROVEMENTS' IN THE PREPARATION OF CERTAIN VEGETABLE
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ETIENNE.
MASSON, of Place St. Michel, Paris, Gardener to the Central Society of Horti-
culture of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twelfth day of November,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty, in the fourteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Etienne
Masson, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that. I, the said Etienne Masson, my exors, admors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Etienne Masson, my exors, adñiors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the terin of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark,
and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS' IN THE PREPARATION OF CERTAIN VEGETABLE

page_text: ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES FOR THE PROVISIONING OF SHIPS AND ARMIES, AND OTHER
PURPOSES WHERE THE SAID SUBSTANCES ARE REQUIRED TO BE PRESERVED;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that, I, the said Etienne Masson.
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at-large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that; in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Etienne Masson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :—
7.
My Invention relates to the preparation of those descriptions of vegetable
alimentary substances which are obtained or gathered in a green, succulent, or
or moist state, such as leaves, roots, fruits, and some descriptions of unripe
seeds, as distinguished from those which are obtained in a dry state, such as
ripe wheat or other ripe grain. My Invention is applicable to a great
variety of vegetable substances, and amongst others to cabbages, cauli-
flowers, spinach, sorrel and green vegetables generally carrots, turnips, beet
root, asparagus, french beans, peas, potatoes, apples, pears, cucumbers, melons,
mushrooms, truffles, and many others will first proceed to describe my
general method of proceeding; and then describe the modifications suitable for
particular substances.
My general method of proceeding consists in drying the substances at a
moderate temperature, and compressing them into hard:solid masses or cakes;
in which state they may be preserved for a great length of time, inclosed in
suitable cases, and when required for use they are moistened or soaked in water,
and then cooked in the ordinary manner, or used without cooking, according to
their nature; The means which Itémploy to produce the desiccation consist
generally in the application of artificial heat obtained bychot'air, steam, or hot
water, or by currents of hot air. The different apparatus at present in use for
similar purposes in various manufactures, such as hot chambers, ovens, stoves,
furnaces, or boilers heated by coal; coke peat, charcoal or wood, or by gas are
suitable to-be employed in carrying out my Invention; and the desiccation may
be accelerated, when required; by the natural ventilation produced by the ascent
of the hot air, or by a more rapid ventilation produced by mechanical means,
or by introducing lime, or chloride, or calcium, or other absorbent substance, to

page_text: D
absorb the moisture, or even by withdrawing the air and forming a vacuum
when practicable: "It is sufficient to submit the various vegetable substances
which are to be preserved to artificial heat, produced by any of the before-
mentioned apparatus, at a temperature and during a time varying according to
the nature of the substance and the quantity operated upon The time will
also depend upon the nature of the apparatus and the efficiency of the ventila-
tion; whether natural or mechanical. The temperature which I generally
employ varies from seventy-five degrees to one hundred and forty-five degrees
of Fahrenheit's thermometer, and I find that cabbage leaves are dried in from
twenty to thirty hours, but I do not confine myself to those particular tempe-
ratures and times; las I have already stated that the same will vary considerably
according to circumstances. The desiccation may be accelerated by a higher
temperature, but there is more risk of injuring the flavour of the substances
operated upon The substances are supported on shelves of wickerwork or
canvas or other open material. The vegetable substances thus dried are next
Submitted to a 'strong pressure by means of a 'hydraulic press, so as to reduce
them to the form of liari-dry flat cakes, which are then enveloped in' tinfoil
and packed in air tight cases of tin or zine: In place of an hydraulic press,
a screw press or other press may be employed, or heavy weights may be used;
or 'the substances may be passed between a pair of rollers, or any other similar
means may be employed to forcibly compress them. By these means T'am
enabled to obtain a large quantity of vegetable substance in a very small space
and-weight, which is thus admirably adapted for the provisioning of ships and
armies and similar purposes. At the same time the hard solid nature of the
cakes prevents the free access of air to the interior, even when the 'cakes are
partially exposed to the air. Tlie inode of using the vegetable substances thus
prepared consists in moistening them or steeping them in tepid water for thirty
or forty minutes, and then employing them in the sand manner that fresh
Vegetables would be employed.It is convenient to form the cakes with grooves
mitheni to facilitate their separation into rations. This is done by forming
corresponding projections or indentations in the plates of the press or dies, or
on the rolls employed in compressing them.
a
.:
I will now proceed to describe some particularities in the preparation of
different substances. In preparing cabbages by my process, I first remove the
leaves from the stalks and then submit the leaves to the before-mentioned' pro-
cess, either alone, or after first watering them with vinegar diluted with ten times
its bulk of water. The stalks are dried in a similar manner; but in place of
being pressed, they are ground in a mill, and reduced to the state of flour,
and

page_text: then placed in these vessels. Potatoes either entire, or which are first cut into
small pieces or slices, and placed for eight or ten minutes in boiling water, and
then drained and placed in the stove or drying chamber. Peas and beans are
placed in woollen bags without removing the shells, and are dipped for five or
six minutes in boiling water. They are then dried, and removed from their
shells, and preserved in close vessels; when mixed with other substances they
are pressed, but when alone are preserved in the whole state. French beans
are treated in the following manner :-The smaller ones are taken whole, and the
larger ones are divided into strips; and the whole, being enclosed in a cloth, are
dipped in boiling water for five or six minutes, then allowed to drain, and spread
on the shelves in the drying chamber, and afterwards pressed. Scarlet runners
are treated in a similar manner. In forming the substances into cakes accord-
ing to my Invention, it is not necessary to keep each substance separate, but two
or more different substances may be united in the same cake. Thus a cake may
consist of green and red cabbages, and carrots, or of other mixtures of vege-
tables. In this way various mixtures of vegetables suitable for being cooked
together, as for instance for making soup, may be prepared so as to facilitate
the operations of the cook. I have ascertained by experiment that cabbages
and other vegetable leaves lose by drying about three quarters of their bulk,
and seven eighths of their weight, so that the fresh leaves may be considered
to consist of one part of dry leaf and seven parts of water. The dried leaves
again take up water when immersed previous to use. By the action of the
press I am enabled to reduce the bulk of cabbage leaves, so that a package
one foot square and four inches thick will contain sixteen pounds weight of dry
leaves, equivalent to four hundred rations of about one third of a pound of
fresh leaves each. The great advantage of my combined process of drying
and pressing is, therefore, at once evident, especially for the provisioning of
ships and armies, and in reducing the cost of transport.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim
generally the preserving of vegetable substances by drying them. But I claim
as my Invention―
Firstly, the combined process or processes of drying and forcibly compressing
such substances for the purposes of my Invention as herein described.
Secondly, I claim the preparation of the stalks of cabbages and of similar
vegetables, by drying them and then grinding them into flour or powder as
herein-before described.
Thirdly, I claim the preparation of peas and beans by the combined process

page_text: or processes of immersion in boiling water, and subsequent desiccation, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Etienne Masson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
ETIENNE (L.s.) MASSON.
Taken and acknowledged by Etienne
Masson (party hereto), at Paris, in the
Republic of France, this Sixteenth day"
of April 1851, before me,
Consul's
Seal.
THOMAS PICKFORD,
Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Paris.