AN IMPROVED METAL PACKAGE FOR THE PRESER VATION OF MEAT AND OTHER PERISHABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METAL PACKAGE FOR THE PRESER
VATION OF MEAT AND OTHER PERISHABLE SUBSTANCES."-A communication*
from abroad by Edwin Moorey, of Mansfield, Victoria, Australia,
Storekeeper.
Scaled the 2nd June 1874, and dated the 11th December 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th December 1873.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METAL PACKAGE FOR THE
PRESERVATION OF MEAT AND OTHER PERISHABLE SUBSTANCES," a communi-
cation, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improved metal packages for the preservation
of meat and other perishable substances such as preserves, spices, teas,
coffees, powders, and others, usually packed in metal vessels.

page_text: 1
My object is so to construct these vessels that it shall be practicable
after they have been emptied to return them to the meat preserver or
other person using them as packages for their goods. At present this
is impracticable by reason at least to a very great extent of the great
space which such packages would occupy, and their consequent cost of
transmission to the person originally filling them, for instance, the meat
tins sent to England would take up so much space that it would require
a large per centage of their value to pay their freight back again to
the colonies.
Now I propose to overcome this difficulty by making the tins or other
metal packages in such a manner that after being used and emptied
they can be packed one inside the other, and returned to the original
user at a mere fraction of the expense they would otherwise cost. This
could be done after the said packages had been emptied over and over
again, so that what is now a very material item in the expenditure of all
preservers could be considerably reduced.
The shape of these packages might be varied and yet all be capable of
fitting one inside the other when empty; for instance, they might be
made in the shape of a basin or of an inverted truncated cone. I prefer
however this latter shape with the cone sufficiently sharp to permit of
the packages fitting into each other without jamming, Number 2 resting
on the bottom of Number 1, and Number 3 on the bottom of Number 2,
and so on.
I do not propose to make any alteration in the method of
affixing the top and bottom of these metal packages or in the material of
which they are composed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th June 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, 3
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-

page_text: seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
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 METAL PACKAGE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF MEAT AND OTHER
PERISHABLE SUBSTANCES," a communication to me from abroad by Edwin
Moorey, of Mansfield, Victoria, Australia, Storekeeper, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, 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 William Robert Lake, 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 :-
:-
This Invention relates to improved metal packages for the preservation
of meat and other perishable substances, such as preserves, spices, teas,
coffees, powders, and others, usually packed in metal vessels.
My object is so to construct these vessels that it shall be practicable
after they have been emptied to return them to the meat preserver or.
other person using them as packages for their goods. At present this
is impracticable by reason at least to a very great extent of the great
space which such packages would occupy, and their consequent cost of
transmission to the person originally filling them; for instance the meat
tins sent from the colonies to England would take up so much space that
it would require a large per centage of their value to pay their freight
back again to the colonies.
Now I propose to overcome this difficulty by making the tins or other
metal packages in such a manner that after being used and emptied

page_text: they can be packed one inside the other, and returned to the original
user at a mere fraction of the expense they would otherwise cost. This
could be done after the said packages had been emptied over and over
again, so that what is now a very material item in the expenditure of all
preservers could be considerably reduced.
The shape of these packages might be varied and yet all be capable
of fitting one inside the other when empty; for instance, they might be
made in the shape of a basin or of an inverted truncated cone.
I prefer
however this latter shape with the cone sufficiently sharp to permit of
the packages fitting into. each other without jamming, No. 2 resting on
the bottom of No. 1, and No. 3 on the bottom of No. 2, and so on. I
do not propose to make any alteration in the method of affixing the top
and bottom of these metal packages or in the material of which they are
composed.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated
to me by foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same,
I wish it understood that I claim, the manufacture and use of metal
packages for the preservation of meat and other perishable articles in
such a manner that when empty they will fit into each other to a
greater or less extent, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four
Witness,
H. J. NOONE,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
W¼. ROB³. LAKE. (L.S.)
2