IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF PACKING AND PRESERVING BUTTER AND IN APPARATUS, FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Kyte Collett, of Pilton Cottage, Canton,
near Cardiff, Glamorganshire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE METHOD OF PACKING AND PRESERVING BUTTER AND IN APPARATUS,
FOR THAT PURPOSE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Kyte Collett
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 25th April 1872.
I, JOHN KYTE COLLETT, of Pilton Cottage, Canton, near Cardiff,
Glamorganshire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF PACKING AND PRESERVING BUTTER, AND
IN APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
Whereas butter packed as it is at present in casks, tubs, or boxes
soon deteriorates in quality unless much salted because it comes into
contact with the external atmosphere through the medium of the cloth
and wood in which it is packed, and whereas well made butter com-.

page_text: :
mences its deterioration from its outside, and the said deterioration or
impairing of quality is thence continued towards its centre, it follows
that the preservation of the whole mass of butter is accomplished if the
outside is properly protected from the air.
To the best of the Inventor's knowledge no successful method of
doing this has yet been employed, the nearest approach to its accom-
plishment being the plan adopted for sending butter from Cork to
Australia; this plan simply consists in filling in the space between the
top of the cask and the surface of the butter with strong brine; the
space between the bottom of the cask and the surface of the butter is
also filled in in a similar manner. It is necessary in this case that the
butter should also be much salted.
Another plan which has been proposed for preserving butter, but
which is totally distinct from the method which forms the subject of
this Invention is described in the Specification No. 1942 of the year
1867. The said plan consists in retaining the butter free from contact
with the sides of those vessels in which it is or may be enclosed, and
the Invention further relates to apparatus to be used for that purpose,
and also to the surrounding of butter with purified or distilled water, or
with water containing in solution certain combinations able to generate
carbonic acid. The apparatus consists of rectangular boards or frames
or other varieties of framing.
As will be perceived in the description of the present Invention the
butter is placed in wooden containing vessels, and not retained free
from contact therewith, these containing vessels being surrounded with
brine and not with merely water or with any combination capable of
generating carbonic acid.
It is also important to observe that the Inventor of the present
method of preserving butter always uses casks and not simply a box as
the outer containing vessel.
According to the method of protecting the surface of the butter from
the action of the external air which forms the subject of this Invention
the butter is placed in certain vessels which are entirely surrounded
with brine (except the mere points of contact of the vessels with each
other, with the stays, and with the interior of the external cask presently
to be mentioned), and the said vessels are enclosed in an external cask,
vessel, or box, the space between the said vessels containing the butter
and the said external cask being entirely filled with strong brine. It is

page_text: not necessary that the butter itself should be at all salted in order that
it may be preserved by this new method, but. for the taste of the
consumer it should be slightly salted.
The shape of the wooden vessels containing the butter which the
Inventor prefers is that of a prism with a rhomboidal base, the rhomboid
being formed by dividing a regular hexagon into three equal rhomboids
by radial lines. This construction enables the boxes to be packed
together in the cask so that there is very little waste of space. Wooden
stays or struts inside the outer cask are employed to keep the boxes in
their places.
Another shape which forms a portion of this Invention is that of a
cylinder. These are packed in the cask without stays, and the centre
cylinders are made of equal sizo so that they can be first removed and
thus afford free egress to the external cylinders.
A third shape which forms a portion of this Invention is that of a
hexagonal prism or of a prism having a regular hexagon for a base.
These can be packed without waste of room in the external cask.
Cubical boxes may also be employed to carry out the objects of this
Invention ; also small casks or tubs may be placed concentrically to the
external cask and resting on the top of one another, the casks being
nearly the diameter of the outer one but shorter.
Any of the shapes above mentioned may be used as ordinary recep
tacles for butter and allowed to pass into the hands of the consumer.
as such.
5 SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Kyte Collett in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd September 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
KYTE COLLETT, of Pilton Cottage, Canton, near Cardiff, Glamorgan-
30 shire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the. Twenty-fifth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the

page_text: thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Kyte Collett, Her
special licence, that I, the said John Kyte Collett, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Kyte
Collett, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 THE METHOD OF PACKING AND PRESERVING BUTTER,
AND IN APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Kyte Collett, 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 John Kyte Collett, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:
Whereas butter packed as it is at present in casks, tubs, or boxes soon
deteriorates in quality unless much salted, because it comes into contact
with the external atmosphere through the medium of the cloth and wood
in which it is packed; and whereas well made butter commences its
deterioration from its outside, and the said deterioration or impairing of
quality is thence continued towards its centre, it follows that the better
preservation of the whole mass of butter is accomplished if the outside
is properly protected from the air.
To the best of the Inventor's knowledge no successful method of
doing this has yet been employed, the nearest approach to its accom-
plishment being the plan adopted for sending butter from Cork to
Australia. This plan simply consists in filling in the space between the
top of the cask and the surface of the butter with strong brine, the
space between the bottom of the cask and the surface of the butter is

page_text: also filled in in a similar manner. It is necessary in this case that the
butter should also be much salted.
Another plan which has been proposed for preserving butter, but
which is totally distinct from the method which forms the subject of the
present Invention, is described in the Specification of Letters Patent,
No. 1942 of the year 1867. The said plan consists in retaining the
butter free from contact with the sides of those vessels in which it is
or may be enclosed, and the Invention further relates to apparatus
to be used for that purpose, and also to the surrounding of butter with
purified or distilled water or with water containing in solution certain
combinations that are able to liberate carbonic acid. The apparatus
consists of rectangular boards or frames or a cage or other varietics of
framing and the butter may be enveloped in linen.
As will be perceived in the description of the present Invention the
butter is placed in wooden containing vessels or boxes and not in an
open framing, these containing vessels being surrounded with brine and
not with mercly water or with any combination capable of generating or
liberating carbonic acid.
It is also important to observe that the Inventor of the present method
of preserving butter uses casks and not simply a box as the outer con-
taining vessel, and the butter is not entirely enveloped in linen in the
present Invention.
According to the method of protecting the surface of the butter from
the action of the external air, which forms the subject of the present
Invention, the butter is placed in certain containing vessels or boxes
which are entirely surrounded with brine (except the mere points of
contact of the vessels with cach other, with the stays, and with the
interior of the external cask presently to be mentioned), and the said
vessels or boxes are enclosed in an external cask or vessel, the spaces
between the said vessels or boxes containing the butter and the said
external cask being entirely filled with strong brine.
The shape of the wooden vessels or boxes containing the butter which
the Inventor prefers is that of a prism with a rhomboidal base, the
rhomboid being formed by dividing a regular hexagon into three equal
rhomboids by radial lines.
Another form of box which is preferred in some instances consists
of a prism with a base of the shape shown in Fig. 7 of the accompanying

page_text: Drawings. These constructions enable the boxes to be packed together
in the cask so that there is very little waste of space. Wooden stays or
struts inside the outer cask may be employed to keep the boxes in their
places.
Another shape for the said boxes, in order to carry out the above- 5
mentioned principles, which forms a portion of this Invention, is that
of a cylinder. Boxes of this form are packed in the cask vertically
without stays.
A fourth shape for the said boxes which forms a part of this Invention
is that of a hexagonal prism, or of a prism having a regular hexagon 1
for a base. These prismatic boxes can be packed in the external cask
with but little waste of room.
Cubical boxes may also be employed to carry out the objects of
this Invention, also small casks, or tubs, or half casks may be placed
concentrically to the external cask, and resting on the top of one 1
another, the casks being nearly the diameter of the outer one, but
shorter.
Any of the shapes above-mentioned may be used as ordinary recep-
tacles for butter, and allowed to pass into the hands of the consumer
as such. It is preferred to have the sides of the said wooden boxes 2
fastened together with wooden pegs and with or without fillets or angle
pieces. As the said boxes may be made in a variety of ways to suit the
purposes of this Invention, the method of making them forms no part of
the Invention. The boxes need not be water-tight.
The Drawings that accompany this Specification show the method of 2
packing the boxes within a cask, as well as certain shapes of boxes that
are amongst the number that may be used to carry out the purposes of
the Invention.
Fig. 1 is the vertical section of a cask packed with three tiers of
boxes each of the form of a prism with a rhomboidal base, mentioned 3
above as one of the forms preferred by the Inventor; Fig. 2 is a hori
zontal section along the line A, B, of Fig. 1. This Figure shows how
the boxes in the middle tier fit into one another, so as to form a
compact whole in the cask, and so as not to move from the position in
which they were originally placed in the cask; Fig. 3 is a plan of one
of the boxes that are shown collectively in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2; Fig. 4
is a vertical section of a cask containing cylindrical or drum shaped

page_text: boxes; Fig. 5 is a horizontal section along the line C, D, of Fig. 4;
and Fig. 6 is a plan of a single cylindrical box.
The general principle upon which the boxes are formed is that they
are all prismatical or nearly so, and that their bases are determined by the
compound figure, that when they are packed is able to be inscribed
in a circle; this will be made evident by Fig. 7 and Fig. 8; Fig. 7 shows
a system of three boxes with curvilinear bases that may be used; Fig. 8
shows a system of five boxes, four of them having pentagonal bases of
the shape shown, and the centre one having a square base.
In addition to these forms this Invention includes wooden boxes of
any other figure or figures, which. either by themselves or in combi-
nation with one another can conveniently be packed in a cask, and when
packed can be retained by their own figures or by means of stays from
touching the internal surface of the cask with parts other than their
angles, or (in the case of cylindrical or elliptical boxes) with certain
points on their circumferences. The boxes may be made slightly to
depart from the pyramidal form (being made to taper) in order to allow
the butter to be taken from them without destroying the box.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I do not limit myself to the
precise means herein described, as the same may be varied without
departing from the nature of the Invention; but I claim the method
or methods herein-before described of packing butter, and the apparatus
set forth above and shown in the Drawings for that purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Kyte Collett, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
TATT
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JOHN KYTE COLLETT. (L.S.)