IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF MEAT, FISH, AND OTHER PERISHABLE ARTICLES OF FOOD DURING THEIR CARRIAGE BY RAILWAY AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE WITH.
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Anderson Smith, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE PRESERVATION OF MEAT, FISH, AND OTHER PERISHABLE ARTICLES OF
FOOD DURING THEIR CARRIAGE BY RAILWAY AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED
THERE WITH.
Sealed the 27th July 1869, and dated the 2nd February 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Anderson
Smith at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 2nd February 1869.
I, WILLIAM ANDERSON SMITH, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF MEAT, FIRE, AND OTHER
PERISHABLE ARTICLES OF FOOD DURING THEIR CARRIAGE BY RAILWAY AND IN APPA-
RATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in the use of a closed chamber formed
as a railway carriage or truck in which the meat, fish, or other article

page_text: of food is placed, and through which a current of air cooled by a
refrigerating apparatus is caused to pass, whereby the said article of food
becomes frozen, or partially so. The refrigerating apparatus employed
may be upon those plans known for other purposes, as the sulphuric
acid, the ammonia, the compressed air, or upon other known principles,
but at present I prefer the first mentioned; and I cause a fan or pump
to pass a current of air in contact with the vessel containing the frozen
liquid from thence into the closed carriage or truck, and then back to
the refrigerator. The pumps or other apparatus which are required to
be actuated I drive by the motive power of the locomotive engine by
connecting them by means of ordinary apparatus to a running part of
the train,
Secondly. My Invention refers specially to the preservation of fish,
which I place in a case filled with water, after which it is subjected to
the action of a refrigerating apparatus whereby the whole contents
become frozen. To prolong this frozen condition the cases may be
wrapped in felt or other non-conducting material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Anderson Smith in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 31st July 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ANDERSON SMITH, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Anderson Smith,
Her special license that I, the said William Anderson Smith, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Anderson Smith, 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 Island and Isle

page_text: of Man, my Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF MEAT,
FISH, AND OTHER PERISHABLE ARTICLES OF FOOD DURING THEIR CARRIAGE BY RAIL
WAY AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition, amongst
others, that I, the said William Anderson Smith, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, 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 Anderson Smith, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, and accompanying Drawings,
that is to say :-
The first part of my Invention, according to my Provisional Specifi-
cation, consisted in the use of a closed chamber formed as a railway truck
or carriage in which the article of food was to be placed and through
which a current of air cooled by a refrigerating apparatus was caused to
pass, whereby the said article of food was frozen, or partially so. I also
proposed to drive the pumps or other apparatus required for the re-
frigerating apparatus by a running part of the train.
Since filing my said Provisional Specification I have found that the
arrangements above alluded to cannot be beneficially carried out, and I
therefore lay no claim thereto. The Invention which I now intend to
claim refers particularly to fish, and consists in a method of freezing or
chilling them, and keeping them in that condition during their transport}
and in order to carry out my Invention I use any ordinary refrigerating
apparatus, such as the " compressed air," the " sulphuric acid," the
"ammonia," or ether machines, the construction and use of all of which
are well known, but I prefer the first mentioned and known as A. O.
Kirk's machine, and I will in the first place proceed to point out how
my Invention may be worked with the assistance of that arrangement,
I take a tank of any convenient size capable of being covered and place
therein a number of cases made of tin, tinned or galvanized iron, copper,
or any such metallic substance, and having placed the fish therein fill it
up with water. After this the brine from the refrigerating apparatus
is caused to circulate round the cases, by which a solid frozen mass is
obtained enclosed in cases, which may be packed in wooden boxes for

page_text: transport, or placed one upon another in a railway van with felt, saw-
dust, or other non-conducting material between them if found necessary.
Or instead of that arrangement the cases nearest where the brine
enters may be removed from the tank and placed in the brine that
leaves the tank and which is necessarily of a higher temperature and
sufficiently so to slightly thaw the ice in immediate contact with the
cases, and thus admit of the entire contents being emptied out in a
solid block, and these blocks may be packed for transport as above
described.
Another variation in the operation may be made by filling the case
with water and subjecting it to the action of the brine, so as to obtain a
coating only of ice on the inside of the case. The unfrozen water being
then removed from the cases and the fish placed in the cavity the whole
may be subjected to another treatment of freezing, as above mentioned,
or this second freezing may be dispensed with, the surrounding coating
or case of ice being sufficient in some instances to partially freeze or
sufficiently chill and thus preserve the fish, but as an assistance it is
desirable to lower the temperature of the fish in the first instance by
placing them in an ice house or by similar means. In order to hasten
the operation of freezing the water in the cases it may previously be
cooled by floating ice therein.
In reference to the modifications of my Invention as above described,
I prefer removing the blocks or cases of ice and food from the metal
cases, and for such fish as herring to place them in the cavity from
which the unfrozen water has been removed, but in the case of more costly
fish, such as salmon, I prefer to adopt the first-mentioned plan by which
the fish and water become frozen in one solid mass. If the sulphuric
acid machine be employed as the freezing medium the case with the
article of food may be fitted on to the machine in the manner of a water
jug, and thus frozen up. With other machines the case may be placed
amid the water and treated in the ordinary manner of freezing water
by such machines. I have particularly referred to my Invention as
applied to the preservation of fish, but it is also applicable to the pre-
servation of other articles of food, such as meat and vegetables.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said In-
vention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire
it to be understood that I do not limit myself to the use of any par-
ticular refrigerating apparatus, or to the exact method of proceedings

page_text: above described, but claim as secured to me under the above in part
recited Letters Patent, the preservation of fish and other articles of
food by freezing or chilling them within cases, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Anderson Smith, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of July, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.