A NEW MODE OF OBTAINING AN ARTICLE RESEMBLING HONEY, AND TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE THEREFOR
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Stevens, Manager of the British & Foreign
-
Office for Patents, 1B, Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "A NEW MODE OF OBTAINING AN
ARTICLE RESEMBLING HONEY, AND TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE THEREFOR."-
A communication from abroad by François Vachon, of 42, Rue Laffitte,
Paris in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 14th June 1861, and dated the 18th December 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Stevens at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
December 1860.
I, CHARLES STEVENS, Manager of the British & Foreign Office for Patents,
1B, Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW MODE OF OBTAINING AN
ARTICLE RESEMBLING HONEY, AND TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE THEREFOR," (& that
it has been communicated to me from abroad by François Vachon, of 42, Rue
Laffitte, Paris, in the Empire of France,) to be as follows:-
The object of the present Invention is to obtain a substitute for honey by
means of the following compound :-To 250 parts of distilled water we add
100 parts of fecula of potatoes, wheat, rye, barley, oats, rice, maize, peas,
beans, chestnuts, or other vegetables. Care must be taken that the fecula is
unadulterated with carbonate or sulphate of lime; or, when this is the case, it
must be restored to a state of purity. This mixture being made it must be
agitated for some time while cold, to prevent the formation of lumps, and cause
the whole of the fecula to become moistened. The compound is then divided
into two equal parts, which are placed in tinned or enammelled copper basins

page_text: heated by a water bath, which is obtained either by means of steam or a fire.
One of these two liquids is then brought into contact with 2000 of diastase
for as many amylaceous parts. This liquor is continually agitated & main-
tained at a temperature of 70° Centi. When it has cleared itself it is tested
with iodine to ascertain if it has entirely passed into the condition of sugar,
and the mixing is continued for some time.
In the second division of the liquor above mentioned, 2000 of diastase is put
to 2,000 parts of fecula, and the mixture is agitated in the same way as the
preceding liquid, but care must be taken that it does not entirely pass into the
condition of sugar, in order that it may not be transparent.
The two liquors are then united and well mixed, and a certain quantity of
bees-wax or honey is added. The bees-wax must first be melted at a very
slow fire, and the agitating and mixing is continued for some time, after which
the imitation honey is ready to be placed in casks.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Stevens in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th June 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
STEVENS, Manager of the British and Foreign Office for Patents, 1B, Welbeck
Street, Cavendish Square, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles Stevens, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Stevens, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others, as I, the
said Charles Stevens, 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 "A NEW MODE OF
OBTAINING AN ARTICLE RESEMBLING HONEY, AND TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE
THEREFOR," a communication to me from, abroad by François Vachon, of 42,
Rue Laffitte, Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Charles Stevens, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under or their, or one of their hands and seals

page_text: 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 Charles Stevens, 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, that is to say :-
The object of the present Invention consists in obtaining a substitute for
honey by means of the following compound :-To two hundred and fifty parts
of water, a hundred parts of the fecula of potato (or fecula procured from
other vegetables) is added, and in this or its equivalent in sprouted & malted
barley, diastase to the amount of 2000 of the above quantity of fecula, is well
mixed. The composition is then exposed to heat, which is gradually increased
from 70° to 75° Reaumur, in order to obtain saccharisation.
In order to act with greater celerity, and also with more precision as to the
saccharisation, instead of having but one operation, as above described, the
mixture is divided into two equal parts, each of which undergoes heating, but
the saccharisation of one is made more complete than the other. The two are
then united, and the whole is subjected to evaporation till it has acquired the
consistancy of honey, and is bleached by animal charcoal, bullock's blood,
albumine, or other similar and suitable means.
Thick sirop of fecula obtained by acids perfectly neutralized may be sub-
stituted for the first liquid, in which while boiling a small quantity of polenta
of potatoes is mixed. This is kept stirred till cool, and to it is added of
the entire quantity of honey or honey-comb, and a little thyme or other perfume
to suit the taste.
Having thus described my Invention, what I claim and desire to secure by
Letters Patent is, a combination of the various ingredients, as above set forth,
to be used as a substitute for honey.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Stevens, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
CHARLES STEVENS.
(L.S.)