IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF GRAIN AND ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES "
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand le Comte de Fontainemoreau, of
London, Paris, and Brussels, Patent Solicitor, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF GRAIN AND ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand le Comte
de Fontainemoreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 6th May 1857.
I, PETER ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINEMOREAU, of London, Paris, and..
Brussels, Patent Solicitor, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF GRAIN AND ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES
IN GENERAL," to be as follows, that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me consists, first, in the employment of
anasthetic agents, such as the ethers, chloroform, sulphuret of carbon, and
other agents possessed of similar properties for preserving corn and other
grain, and alimentary substances, by destroying the insects which attack them,
and by retarding or preventing fermentation.
Secondly, in the method of applying the said agents, which method consists
in placing the 'substances to be treated in well closed vessels or chambers,.
and afterwards introducing the preservative agent in the liquid state, or in
the state of vapor.
The proportions of the above-stated agents may vary, according to the
nature of the agent, and of the substance to be treated, the hermeticity of the
chamber, the time of exposure, and the amount of action which it may be
wished to obtain.
For dry grain contained in hermetically closed chambers, I use about three

page_text: ounces (apoth.) of chloroform or sulphuret of carbon per cubic yard of
contents. Twenty-four hours' exposure in this case suffice to destroy the
insects, and render the substances treated susceptible of being afterwards
preserved. One and a half ounce (apothecaries' weight) of either of these
agents are sufficient to produce the same result, when the products treated are
kept in contact with their vapors. The proportions necessary when the other
agents are employed may be estimated on the same basis, according to the
circumstances of each case.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontainemoreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 28th October 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND le Comte, DE FONTAINEMOREAU, of London, Paris, and Brussels,
Patent Solicitor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by. Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of May, 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
'Peter' Armand le Comte de Fontainemoreau, Her special license that I, the
said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontainemoreau, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de
Fontainemoreau, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
THE PRESERVATION OF GRAIN. AND ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES IN GENERAL,"
communicated to me from a foreigner residing abroad, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine-
moreau, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine-
moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The Invention consists in the employment of ether, chloroform, sulphuret
of carbon, and other anaesthetic agents, for destroying insects in corn, and
other grain and alimentary substances, and which agents have also the
property of retarding and preventing fermentation in the said grain and
substances.
The grain or substances to be treated are first introduced into well closed
vessels or chambers, and afterwards the anesthetic agents. The anaesthetics
I employ, by preference, are sulphuret of carbon and chloroform, on account
of the energy with which they operate. The proportions may vary according
to the nature of the substance, the time of exposure, and the effect required.
In operating upon dry grain previously introduced into hermetically closed
chambers, I employ three ounces by weight of chloroform or sulphuret of
carbon per cubic yard of contents. About twenty-four hours' exposure of the
grain to one of these agents suffices to destroy the insects contained in it.
The grain thus treated is susceptible of being preserved in the chambers until
required for use. One ounce and a half of either of these agents in the
state of vapor will produce the same result if the grain be kept in contact
therewith..
The proportions necessary when other anæsthetic agents are employed
may be estimated on the same basis, according to the requirements of each
case.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine
myself to the precise agents or proportions thereof; but what I claim as new
and useful, and desire to be secured by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent, is the employment of ether, chloroform, sulphuret of carbon,
and other anæsthetic agents, for the destruction of insects, and for retarding
and preventing fermentation in corn and other grain and alimentary substances,
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine-
moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of
October, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-seven.
L DE FONTAINEMOREAU. (L.S.)