IMPROVEMENTS IN PRE- PARING FLOUR
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ROBERT SEWELL, of Carrington, in the Parish of Basford, in the County of
Nottingham, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighteenth day of January, in the eleventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Robert Sewell, His especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Thomas Robert Sewell, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Thomas Robert Sewell,
my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRE-
PARING FLOUR;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Thomas Robert Sewell, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to, cause the
same to be enrolled 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Robert Sewell, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
.marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is to produce certain marketable preparations
of flour which will admit of being kept or transported from place to place for
several weeks without deterioration in their quality, and subsequently of being
made into bread without the use of yeast. It is known to chemists that hydro-
chloric acid contains one equivalent of, bydrogen combined with one equivalent
of chlorine, and that bicarbonate of soda contains one equivalent of sodium and
one equivalent of oxygen (forming soda) combined with two equivalents of
carbonic acid. When hydrochloric acid is added to bicarbonate of soda the
play of affinities effects a mutual decomposition, the chlorine combines with
the sodium to produce common salt, and the hydrogen with the oxygen to pro-
duce water, carbonic acid gas being liberated. If these actions be permitted
to take place in the midst of a mass of dough, and under favorable circum-
stances, the effect is to render it light or spongy; but whenever these ingre-
clients have been heretofore employed to lighten dough, they have been used
in such a state and in such a manner that, in order to secure a favorable
result, no time could be allowed to elapse between the mixing and making
them into articles, of food, consequently each individual intending to employ
them has been under the necessity of procuring the ingredients separately,
thereby risking the difference of strength and quality, besides the great incon-
venience arising from mistakes in weighing and measuring on every occasion
on which even the smallest quantities were to be used. It is well known that
the flour which is employed as human food, whatever may be the grain it is
obtained from, contains a considerable quantity of fecula or starch, which in
its perfect state consists of minute elastic vesicles filled with a fluid which is
the stiffening principle of starch. Now, I have found, after a number of
careful experiments, that hydrochloric acid, which has a powerful affinity for
moisture, is, when brought into contact with these molecules of fecula, imme-
diately absorbed by them, and retained in a chemically inactive state until
required to be brought into action for the purposes of my Invention.
In consequence of these ingredients possessing the properties above
described I am.enabled to accomplish the object desired, namely, to produce
certain marketable preparations of flour which will admit of being kept or
transported from place to place for several weeks, and subsequently of being
made into bread without the use of yeast..

page_text: To this end. I proceed in the following manner (namely):-I take of good dry
flour two hundred and eighty pounds avoirdupois weight, and place it in a tub
or circular vessel similar to that shewn in plan view and vertical section at
Figures 1 and 2 in the accompanying Drawing. This tub is provided with a
central shaft A, which carries a boss having two curved arms or sweeps B
and C attached to its periphery; and when the shaft is rotated by any first
'mover, these arms will effectually disturb the flour, and continually present a
fresh surface, in the manner and for the purpose to be presently described.
Between the sweep B and the boss.is an opening or free passage for the flour,
and at the outer end this sweep is formed by a flexible substance; such as sheet
iron, which, from its curvature, will have a tendency to keep in contact with
the inner periphery of the tub or circular vessel, and thus, as it rotates, drive
or sweep the flour forwards. The sweep C, which is shorter than the sweep B,
is in immediate connection with its boss, and is intended, by its rotation, to
drive the flour from the centre of the vessel that it may come in contact with
the sweep B. When, therefore, the apparatus is put in motion, the flour will
be continually receding from and returning towards the centre of the vessel,
and thus a fresh surface will be exposed. The depth of the sweeps should
always be less than that of the flour in the tub. Immediately above the
shaft A, a glass vessel D is suspended from a vertical glass tube pendant from
a reservoir E, which is supported in any convenient way. This reservoir is
intended to contain the hydrochloric acid which is to be incorporated with the
flour. At the lower part of the vessel D a series of radial tubes communi-
cating with the interior of that vessel are provided. The diameter of these
tubes I prefer to be about one eighth of an inch, and their outer ends are
made conical, in order to reduce the bore to about one hundredth part of an
inch, and approximate them to a point. An amount of acid is poured into
the reservoir E sufficient to produce the required pressure on the acid which is
to be given off and become incorporated with the flour, and also to supply that
amount of acid. Before thus charging the reservoir E, the flour is put in motion,
while thus actuated, the acid will, by its own gravity, fall upon the changing
surface of the flour in the form of a light spray. But in order effectually to
prevent the falling of drops of the acid (if such should accumulate upon - the
under surface of the vessel D), I apply, above the top of the shaft A, a dish
F, which, being immediately under the vessel D, will receive such droppings
of the acid, and prevent them from falling into and coagulating the flour.
The amount of hydrochloric acid which I thus combine with the flour is about
forty-five ounces avoirdupois weight, of the specific gravity 1.14, which contains
about twenty-eight per cent. of real acid. When the proper quantity of acid

page_text: has fallen, the remainder is removed by inverting the vessels D and E; and
when the acid is thoroughly incorporated with the flour, the slide G of the tub
is drawn up, and the continued rotation of the sweeps, will force the flour
down the shute H into a proper receptacle, where it is collected, and afterwards
sifted through a fine sieve, put into flour barrels. or other receivers, and is
ready for sale. Thus a preparation of flour is produced ready to be combined
with other ingredients herein-after mentioned, and which will render it suit-
able to be made into bread without the use of yeast.
The flour prepared as above. I call the preparation No. 1, because it admits
of being kept for a longer period before it is used than the preparation No. 2,
which I will now describe.
In order to produce preparation No. 2, I take of good dry flour two hundred
and eighty pounds avoirdupois weight, and pursue the same course of opera-
tions with it as I adopted in producing preparation No. 1 up to the point at
which the hydrochloric acid is thoroughly incorporated with the flour as before
described; but instead of stopping the agitation at that point I continue it
until I have sifted into and thoroughly incorporated with the mixture of flour
and bydrochloric acid about thirty-nine ounces avoirdupois weight of bicar-
bonate of soda in a state of fine powder, in which state any other ingredients
known to improve the appearance and flavor of bread may also be added
(when such addition is thought desirable) according to the taste of the con-
sumer. When the mixture is completed, the whole is passed through a fine
sieve put into flour barrels or other receptacles, and is ready for sale or use.
To make preparation No. 1 into bread (which should be done within about
five weeks from the time it is produced) all that is required is to mix inti-
mately with each pound weight to be used sixty-three grains of bicarbonate of
soda in a state of fine powder, in which state also may be added (according to
the taste of the consumer) a portion of culinary salt, sugar, or any other ingre-
'dient known to improve the appearance and flavor of bread. After the mix-
'ture is completed it must be kneaded well and actively with cold water. It
may then be put into the oven either immediately, or, if kept cold, any time
within an hour or two.
To make preparation No. 2 into bread (which should be done within about
four weeks from the time it is produced) all that is requisite is to knead it well
and actively with cold water. It may then be put into the oven either inme-
'diately, or, if kept cold, at any time within an hour or two.
The quantities, proportions, and states of the ingredients and dimensions of
the apparatus which I employ admit of being varied within certain limits
without seriously affecting the results. I do not, therefore, confine myself to

page_text: the use of them in the exact quantities, proportions, states, and dimensions
above specified, although they are such as, by experience, I have found to
answer best.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood, that, under the above in part recited
Letters Patent, I do not claim the exclusive use of the ingredients above men-
tioned when applied during the process of bread-making; but what I claim is,
the exclusive right to unite hydrochloric acid with dressed or undressed flour
in such quantities, proportions, and states as to produce the marketable prepa-..
ration of flour which I have herein-before described as preparation No. 1; and
I also claim the exclusive right to unite hydrochloric acid and bicarbonate of..
soda with dressed or, undressed flour in such quantities, proportions, and states
as to produce the marketable preparation of flour which I have herein-before
described as preparation No. 2; and I claim the mode of effecting the intimate
mixture of the hydrochloric acid with the flour as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Robert Sewell, have hereunto
.set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of July, One thousand eight
handed and forts sight