OR IMPROVED COMPOSITIONS FOR PRESERVING GREEN BACON AND HAMS AND PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Page Geary, of No. 52, Tudor Road, South Hackney,
in the County of Middlesex, Provision Dealer, for an Invention of "NEW OR
IMPROVED COMPOSITIONS FOR PRESERVING GREEN BACON AND HAMS AND
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Page Geary at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th October 1880.
JAMES PAGE GEARY, of No. 52, Tudor Road, South Hackney, in the County of
Middlesex, Provision Dealer. "NEW OR IMPROVED COMPOSITIONS FOR PRESERVING
GREEN BACON AND HAMS AND PREVENTING SLIME THEREON, AND
PRESERVING EGGS."
FOR
The object of this Invention is to preserve green bacon and hams, and thus
enable the same to be conveyed to the place where the same can be smoked in
stoves or otherwise in the usual way without the same becoming covered with
slime, which usually occurs through the lapse of time occasioned by conveying the
same to the place of being smoked, and to preserve eggs without affecting the
taste or flavour thereof, and without continually turning them, whereby breakage
is usually occasioned, and also to preserve fresh meat.
I make a solution composed of the ingredients and quantities following, that is
to say :-
Salycilic acid
Benzoic acid
Borax -
Nitric of potash
Corrosive sublimate
Water
12 drachms.
4
1 lb.
"
1/4"
40 grains.
9 quarts.
or another solution composed of the ingredients and quantities following, and with
equally good results, viz. :-
Salycilic acid
Benzoic acid
-
Nitric potash
Corrosive sublimate
Water
-
-
12 drachms.
-
-
-
3
19
3/lb.
44 grains.
8 quarts.
:-
or another solution composed of the ingredients and quantities following :-
Salycilic acid
Benzoic acid
Chloride of potash
Water
12 drachms.
3
1 lb.
33
& Quarta

page_text: The method I employ is to soak the green bacon and hams in either of the
before mentioned solutions for the period of two hours, I then hang the same up
to dry for several hours, and when the drying process is completed
place upon
the parts which are most likely to become slimy some powdered charcoal or bran
and borax well mixed together and in a dry state in the proportion of one
quarter of a pound of borax to one quarter of an ounce of charcoal or one half of a
pint of bran.
The green bacon and hams so treated can then be packed in cases or bales and
are ready for shipping.
The placing of the powdered charcoal or bran and borax as before described is
only necessary when the articles soaked in the aforesaid solution are likely to
be kept a long time, as, for instance, when shipped from from America to England,
but when shipped for a short journey, say, from Ireland or Hamburgh, this is not
necessary.
The course at present adopted is to cover the green bacon and hams with borax,
which is more costly than my Invention, and when the bacon arrives at the place
of smoking or drying it is necessary to well wash it, thereby causing labour
and expense, and causing a loss of the flavour, virtues, and properties of the
bacon and also the preservative qualities of the borax, and then to hang it up
to dry for twelve hours before it can be smoke dried, thereby causing delay and
expense.
By my Invention I effectually prevent slime, I obviate the necessity of washing
as the solution I use is not detrimental but beneficial to health, and I thereby
save a great amount of time, labour, and expense, and the preservative solution
not having been washed off the bacon it continues to preserve it after it has been
smoked.
With regard to eggs dip the eggs in the solution and then place them in an
ordinary egg rack, when they will be preserved fresh for any length of time without
requiring the frequent turning required by the methods now in use. My Invention
thereby saves the labour and expense of turning the eggs, also the expense of bran
in which the eggs are usually placed, and the great loss through breakage caused
by the necessary turning.
Either of the compounds before set out can be used without the corrosive
sublimate if the weather is not more than fifty degrees Fahrenheit, and the length
of time the bacon or hams have to be kept is not more than fourteen days.
The proportions of all these compounds can also be reduced in accordance
with the heat of the weather and the length of time the bacon and hams are likely
to require to be kept.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said James Page Geary in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th April
1881.
JAMES PAGE GEARY, of No. 52, Tudor Road, South Hackney, in the County of
Middlesex, Provision Dealer. "NEW OR IMPROVED COMPOSITIONS FOR PRESERVING
GREEN BACON AND HAMS AND PREVENTING SLIME THEREON, AND
PRESERVING EGGS."
FOR
The object of this Invention is to preserve green bacon and hams, and thus
enable the same to be conveyed to the place where the same can be smoked in
stoves or otherwise in the usual way without the same becoming covered with slime,
which usually occurs through the lapse of time occasioned by conveying the same
to the place of being smoked, and to preserve eggs without affecting the taste or
flavour thereof, and without continually turning them, whereby breakage is usually
occasioned, and also to preserve fresh meat. I make a solution composed of the
ingredients and quantities following, that is to say-Salycilic acid, twelve
drachms; benzoic acid, four drachms; borax, one pound; nitric of potash, one
quarter of a pound; corrosive sublimate, forty grains; water, nine quarts. Or
another solution composed of the ingredients and quantities following, and with
equally good results, videlicit :-Salycilic acid, twelve drachms; benzoic acid, three
drachms; nitric potash, three quarters of a pound; corrosive sublimate, forty four
grains; water, eight quarts. Or another solution composed of the ingredients and
quantities following:-Salycilic acid, twelve drachms; benzoic acid, three drachms;
chloride of potash, one pound; water, eight quarts. The method I employ is to
soak the green bacon and hams in either of the before mentioned solutions for the
period of two hours, I then hang the same up to dry for several hours, and when
the drying process is completed I place upon the parts which are most likely to
become slimy some powdered charcoal or bran and borax well mixed together and
in a dry state in the proportion of one quarter of a pound of borax to one quarter
of an ounce of charcoal, or one half pint of bran. The green bacon and hams so
treated can then be packed in cases or bales and are ready for shipping.
The
placing of the powdered charcoal or bran and borax, as before described, is only
necessary when the articles soaked in the aforesaid solution are likely to be kept a
long time, as, for instance, when shipped from America to England, but when
shipped for a short journey, say, from Ireland or Hamburgh, this is not necessary.
The course at present adopted is to cover the green bacon and hams with borax,
which is more costly than my Invention, and when the bacon arrives at the place
of smoking or drying it is necessary to well wash it, thereby causing labour and
expense, and causing a loss of the flavour, virtues, and properties of the bacon,
and also the preservative qualities of the borax, and then to hang it up to dry
for twelve hours before it can be smoke dried, thereby causing delay and expense.
By my Invention I effectually prevent slime; I obviate the necessity of washing,
as the solution I use is not detrimental but beneficial to health, and I thereby
save a great amount of time, labour, and expense, and the preservative solution not
having been washed off the bacon it continues to preserve it after it has been
smoked. With regard to eggs I dip the eggs in the solution, and then place them
in an ordinary egg rack, when they will be preserved fresh for any length of time
without requiring the frequent turning required by the methods now in use. My
Invention thereby saves the labour and expense of turning the eggs, also the
expense of bran, in which the eggs are usually placed, and the great loss through
breakage caused by the necessary turning. Either of the compounds before set out
can be used without the corrosive sublimate if the weather is not more than fifty
degrees Fahrenheit, and the length of time the bacon or hams have to be kept is

page_text: not more than fourteen days. The proportions of all these compounds can also be
reduced in accordance with the heat of the weather, and the length of time the
bacon and hams are likely to require to be kept.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention for "New or Improved Com-
positions for Preserving Green Bacon and Hams, and Preventing Slime thereon,
and for Preserving Eggs," and explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim the peculiar method of preserving green bacon and hams, and
preventing slime thereon, and preserving eggs by means of the compositions, as
herein shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Page Geary, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty one.
J. P. GEARY. (L.S.)