Improved Process and Apparatus for Sterilising and Preserving We
Year: 1898

page_text: 66
Improved Process and Apparatus for Sterilising and Preserving
We, SOCIÉTÉ
Milk."
LE LAIT," of 4 Passage Saulnier, Paris, France, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The milk of commerce is always a more or less contaminated milk, and all the
processes employed in recent times for preventing the decomposition of the milk and
enabling it to be preserved for a length of time, having only given more or less
negative results. The sterilisation by heat greatly affects the flavour of the milk and
its digestive qualities.
The process which forms the subject of the present invention is based on the fact
that the raw milk contains aerobic and non-aerobic microbes which it is absolutely
necessary to destroy, under penalty of rendering the sterilisation of the milk
impossible. Among these microbes there must be cited in the first instance the
bacillus lacticus, which transforms the lactose into lactic acid, and consequently causes
the lactic fermentation which may be termed normal. If the conditions of
temperature are favourable this bacillus can produce rapidly such a quantity of
lactic acid that the milk coagulates as soon as it is heated, or even spontaneously.
It is this condition which constitutes turned milk.
In pasteurising the milk in a closed vessel under pressure of carbonic acid we
prevent the development of the bacillus, lacticus, and aerobic microbes which develop
so rapidly in exposed milk heated in the air that after a few hours after treatment one
can count up to 100,000 bacteria per cube centimetre, after fifteen hours at 25° C their
number may attain 72,000,000.
The action of compressed oxygen has for its object to destroy all the anaerobic
organisms and among them the butyric vibrion which appears when the whole of the

page_text: oxygen has been absorbed by the aerobic organisms. The bacillus butyricus is a
species of anaerobic type, being the cause of the butyric fermentation.
Lastly, the pathogenic microbes which the milk may contain are completely killed
by the pasteurisation effected under pressure.
The analyses have shown that our sterilised milk did not cultivate in phenic bouillon
even at 42° C.
We will add that by our process our milk can be preserved for several months while
retaining the flavour and aroma of fresh drawn milk, and that moreover (a very
important point, and which marks its incontestible superiority over the milk sterilised
at 107° C) it preserves all its digestive properties, as it has no coagulation of
albumen nor destruction of lactose and that the protein matters remain soluble
therein.
We proceed in the following manner. As soon as possible after milking we place
the milk in sheet iron reservoirs capable of supporting a pressure of several
atmospheres. The interior is enamelled, tinned or silvered at will.
These reservoirs are completely filled. They are connected with a carbonic acid
reservoir a certain quantity of milk being allowed to flow off and replaced by carbonic
acid.
The cock of the reservoir is then closed and it is plunged into a reservoir of hot
water or in a chamber heated by steam SO as to produce a temperature
of 60 to 65° C.
The reservoir is then placed in cold water or in a refrigerator, and when sufficiently
cooled, the reservoir is subjected to oxygen under pressure. After a longer or shorter
time the cock is closed and the reservoir is ready for transport.
.
The milk being treated and transported in one and the same reservoir, all the
manipulations of transmission from one vessel to another, which always cause some
contamination, are avoided.
Our reservoirs ready for transport allow for preservation of several months, owing
to air tight closures obtained by means of screw stoppers pressing upon flexible
washers.
The reservoirs serve for wholesale trade for ships, hospitals &c.
For the retail trade, the milk being brought to the place of consumption, it is
supplied to the customers by placing it in supply vessels which allow of the preservation
and render fraud impossible.
For this purpose in profiting by our treatment which places several atmospheres at
the service of the preservation, we sell the milk in retail by means of vessels allowing
of the preservation of the pressure, such as siphons, bottles with ball stoppers or
champagne bottles with which fraud is impossible.
The siphons are constructed so as to allow of a ready internal cleansing even by
means of the machines for washing bottles.
For this purpose a metal socket is fixed on the neck of the siphon bottle, and onto
this socket is removably screwed the siphon head. This is provided firstly with a
valve of ordinary form actuated by an external lever, and the upper end is closed by
a screwed cap for a purpose to be presently described.
The valve lever has an external hinge joint, so that when the vessel is filled, the
lever can be turned up close against the said cap, and be secured in that position by
a wire loop passed through a hole in the lever and through an eye on the side of the
cap, and secured by a lead seal. By this means all fraudulent tampering with the
charged siphon is prevented.
The discharge nozzle of the siphon has a shoulder beyond which it is made of an
oval section and with notches in its end face for the purpose of ensuring an accurate
fit in the socket of the charging apparatus.
When ordinary bottles closed by ball stoppers are employed these are also provided
with a nozzle of the same shape as that of the siphons, for fitting the filling sockets.
The portable main reservoirs in which the milk has been sterilised have at their
upper and lower ends openings in which are fixed metal sockets having a valve seat
and ball valve; above the valve seat the socket has an internally threaded extension,

page_text: for the reception of a screw stopper, screwing tight down on to a washer, so as to
provide a second hermetic closure in addition to the ball valve closure, during
transport.
At the locality where the contents of the reservoir are to be transferred to the
siphons or bottles, there is provided firstly a reservoir of oxygen, charged from an
ordinary oxygen bottle through a reducing valve, and secondly at a lower level a pipe
having a number of branch sockets into which are fitted the before mentioned nozzles
of the siphon vessels to be filled.
The top and bottom screw stoppers of the milk reservoir having been removed
there are screwed in their places in the two sockets two tubular plugs having firstly a
screwed stem passing through them, by screwing which inward, the ball valve is
removed from its seat; secondly they have a branch nozzle, of which the upper one
is connected to a pipe leading from the top of the oxygen reservoir while the lower
one is connected to the before mentioned pipe with the filling sockets.
From the oxygen reservoir a second pipe leads down into a water tank, where the
pipe terminates in an upward bend. A second reducing valve being interposed
between the upper and lower part of this pipe, so that only oxygen at a lower pressure
than that of the reservoir can be discharged.
The siphon vessel to be filled, having its cip removed, is first filled with pure water,
in the water-tank and is then inverted over the mouth of the oxygen pipe, so as to
become filled with oxygen at a low pressure; the siphon valve being then allowed to
close and the cap screwed on, the vessel is removed and fitted with its nozzle on the
charging socket. The upper and lower ball valves of the milk reservoir being forced
open, the oxygen at higher pressure will then force the milk through the lower
valve and pipe into the siphon vessel, compressing the charge of oxygen therein.
The vessel being charged, the valve lever is locked as described and the siphon is
ready for being supplied to customers.
When the milk reservoir has thus been emptied of milk it will be filled with
oxygen; this is then forced back into the oxygen reservoir, by connecting the pipe
leading from its lower valve opening with a water supply under pressure so as to fill
the reservoir with water, this being forced in by a pump if the pressure of the service
main is not sufficient.
The milk reservoir thus filled with water is then detached and conveyed back to
the farm to be again filled with milk.
Dated this 16th dor of Contembam 1900
ABEL & IMRAY
Agents for the Applicants.
£6
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (AMENDED).
Improved Process and Apparatus for Sterilising and Preserving
Milk."
We, SOCIÉTÉ "LE LAIT, of 4 Passage Saulnier, aris, France, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner th same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
:
The milk of commerce is always a more or ess contaminated milk, and all the
processes employed in recent times for preventir g the decomposition of the milk and
enabling it to be preserved for a length of time, have only given more or less negative
results. The sterilisation by heat greatly a ects the flavour of the milk and its
digestive qualities.
The process which forms the subject of t e present invention is based on the fact.
that the raw milk contains aerobic and no -aerobic microbes which it is absolutely

page_text: necessary to destroy, under penalty of rendering the sterilisation of the milk
impossible.
Among these microbes there must be cited in the first instance the bacillus lacticus,
which transforms the lactose into lactic acid, and consequently causes the lactic
fermentation which may be termed normai. If the conditions of temperature are
favourable this bacillus can produce rapidly such a quantity of lactic acid that the milk
coagulates as soon as it is heated, or even spontaneously. It is this condition which
constitutes turned milk.
In pasteurising the milk in a closed vessel under pressure of carbonic acid we
prevent the development of the bacillus lacticus, and aerobic microbes which develop
so rapidly in exposed milk heated in the air that after a few hours after treatment
one can count up to 100,000 bacteria per cube centimetre. After fifteen hours at
25° C their number may attain 72,000,000.
The action of compressed oxygen has for its object to destoy all the anaerobic
organisms and among them the butyric vibrion which appears when the whole of the
oxygen has been absorbed by the aerobic organisms. The bacillus butyricus is a
species of anaerobic type, being the cause of the butyric fermentation.
We employ CO first on account of this extraordinarily rapid multiplication of the
aerobic germs: these germs being the first to develop in freshly drawn milk, it is
essential to attack them first. The treatment by carbonic acid before the treatment
by oxygen is thus an important feature of our invention.
Lastly, the pathogenic microbes which the milk may contain are completely killed
by the pasteurisation effected under pressure.
The analyses have shewn that our sterilised milk did not cultivate in phenic
bouillon even at 42° C.
We will add that by our process our milk can be preserved for several months while
retaining the flavour and aroma of fresh drawn milk, and that moreover (a very
important point, and which marks its incontestable superiority over the milk sterilised
at 107° C) it preserves all its digestive properties, as it has no coagulation of albumen
nor destruction of lactose and that the protein matters remain soluble therein.
We proceed in the following manner. As soon as possible after milking we place
the milk in sheet iron reservoirs capable of supporting a pressure of several atıno-
spheres. The interior is enamelled, tinned or silvered at will.
These reservoirs are completely filled. They are connected with a carbonic acid
reservoir a certain quantity of milk being allowed to flow off and replaced by carbonic
acid.
The cock of the reservoir is then closed and it is plunged into a reservoir of hot
water or in a chamber heated by steam so as to produce a temperature of 60°
to 65° C.
The reservoir is then placed in cold water or in a refrigerator, and when sufficiently
cooled, the reservoir is subjected to oxygen under pressure. After a longer or shorter
time the cock is closed and the reservoir is ready for transport.
The milk being treated and transported in one and the same reservoir, all the
manipulations of transmis ion from one vessel to another, which always cause some
contamination are avoided.
Our reservoirs ready for ti nsport allow of a preservation of several months, owing
to air tight closures obtained by means of screw stoppers pressing upon flexible
washers.
The reservoirs serve for whol ale trade, for ships, hospitals &c.
For the retail trade, the milk being brought to the place of consumption, it is
supplied to the customers by plat ng it in supply vessels which allow of the preserva-
tion and render fraud impossible.
.
For this purpose in profiting by or treatment which places several atmospheres at
the service of the preservation, we st the milk in retail by means of vessels allowing
of the preservation of the pressure, such as siphons, bottles with ball stoppers or
champagne bottles with which fraud 1 impossible.
The siphons are constructed so as to allow of a ready internal cleansing even by

page_text: means of the machines for washing bottles, as we will describe with reference to the
accompanying drawing.
The head of the siphon shewn in sectional elevation at Fig. 2 and in plan at Fig. 3,
is formed of a socket D which is fixed on the upper part of the glass or other vessel,
and of the valve-cap A which is screwed on to the socket D. The hand lever L is
made moveable for enabling it to be raised as shewn in dotted lines in Fig. 2, and to
be applied against the cap C of the siphon; the lever has a small hole o and the cap
has an ear a also perforated. A piece of iron wire, passed through the holes in the
lever and ear and secured by a lead seal, serves to maintain the lever raised, which
enables a two fold object to be attained; it prevents the possibility of removing the
cap and emptying the milk, even accidentally, without breaking the wire. The lead
seal of the wire is marked with the date of filling, in order that siphons may not be
sold that have been charged too long a time.
The nozzle E of the siphon is oval and has a rim 6 and a notch cas shewn in the
end view Fig. 4, this notch, the rim and the oval form of the nozzle allows the matrix
which serves for the filling to effectually fix the siphon and to press the cap strongly
against it for filling the siphon under pressure.
The bottles with ball stoppers which we also employ for selling the milk, have a
head similar to this spout, for the same object.
For filling the siphons and bottles it is essential that the milk shall never be able
to come in contact with the air. For this purpose we operate as follows:-
Between two screw unions R, R¹ Fig. 5 we place the reservoir of treated milk Z.
One of these unions R is connected to a reservoir of oxygen which is supplied
from a vessel O¹ containing liquid oxygen through a reducing valve H. The other
union R¹ is fixed to a conduit F which conveys the milk to the siphons. On the
other hand, this union R¹ communicates with a conduit for water G; it is connected
to a pump P for obtaining the pressure which is desired if the pressure of the service
water mains supplied through G¹ is not sufficient.
Our reservoirs Z have an autoclave closure d allowing of the cleansing by passing
the arm into the reservoir. At each end of the vessel Z is a ball valve closure,
shewn in detail at Fig. 6. consisting of a special socket secured by screw nuts e e¹
pressing against flexible washers ƒ ƒ¹. The socket has an internal chamber g for
a ball which bears against the flexible washer i. The ball valve closure is completed
by the screw stopper B Fig. 1, which screws into k and presses against the flexible
washer j. This is the arrangement for transport. For emptying the reservoir,
the screw stoppers B are removed and to each end of Z is applied the apparatus
shewn in section at Fig. 6. This apparatus has a screwed piece L which is fixed by
screwing into the socket and a second branch which receives the connection with
the reservoir of oxygen O, or with the conduit F leading to the siphons.
A small stein which is pressed down by a screw K with button m, passes through
a stuffing box n; this stem allows, when the connections have been made, the
removal of the ball from the flexible washer i, thereby putting the reservoir Z in
communication with R and R¹.
After the apparatus above described has been fixed and the ball valves have been
removed, the oxygen of the main reservoir ◊ effects a pressure upon the milk in the
reservoir Z.
For filling a cleansed siphon, the cap C is removed, and the siphon
in a very clean vessel V.
filled with water
The siphon is then inverted and a cock r on a pipe supplying oxygen at low pressure
opened, a second reducing valve H₁ being provided between the reservoir O and the
pipe N. Oxygen is allowed to rise into the siphon, and when this is full, the cap is
screwed on while holding the opening of the siphon under water. The siphon being
thus filled with oxygen, the nozzle thereof is connected to the milk supply conduit F
connected to the milk reservoir Z. Under the pressure of the oxygen in O the milk
flows into the siphon in compressing the oxygen previously introduced.
When the milk has risen in the siphon to the mark indicating the volume to be
filled in, the filling is stopped. It suffices then to cause a small quantity of oxygen

page_text: to enter for giving to this gas a pressure which effectually insures the subsequent
discharge of the milk. The siphons are then placed in cases which maintain them
horizontal in order that the discharge openings may be covered with liquid whereby
loss of gas is avoided.
As will be seen, there can be no contact between the milk treated and the air.
When the reservoir Z of treated milk is empty of milk, it will be full of oxygen
under pressure, which is conveyed back into the main reservoir of oxygen O by very
simple means.
The communication of the conduit F leading to the siphons is closed, and the cock s
at the end of this conduit which communicates with the water service main through G
is opened. If the pressure in the service main is less than that of the main
reservoir O a pump P is used, worked either by hand or mechanically for forcing the
water into the milk reservoir Z, and thereby driving the oxygen back into the main
reservoir O.
When the milk reservoir Z is full of water, the cock t of the main reservoir O is
closed, as is also that s of the water supply, and the milk reservoir thus filled with
water is then removed.
The reservoir is emptied when it arrives back at the farm, and it is washed with
permanganate solution. There will thus be no oxygen lost, and the milk reservoirs are
maintained in a perfect state of cleanliness.
Besides the sterilisation and preservation, our process allows of the introduction
into the milk of mineral substances insoluble in ordinary water, but soluble in water
charged with carbonic acid under pressure.
Our process sterilises and preserves the milk during many months with the flavour
and qualities of freshly drawn milk and in addition it renders all attempt at fraud
impossible.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. Process for sterilizing and preserving milk which consists in subjecting the milk
to pasteurisation at a temperature of from 60° to 65° in a closed vessel under the
pressure of carbonic acid gas, substantially as described.
2. In combination with the process referred to in the first Claim, the further treat-
inent of the milk with oxygen under pressure after it has cooled, substantially as
described.
3. The special arrangements of apparatus herein described for carrying out the
processes referred to in the first and second claims, in combination with appliances
whereby the sterilized milk is discharged from the reservoirs into retail receptacles
with perfect exclusion of the external air.
4. The method of preserving milk in a sterilised condition in siphon vessels or
other hermetically closed vessel charged with oxygen under pressure, substantially as
described.
5. The use for storing sterilised milk for retail consumption, of siphon vessels con-
structed and operating as herein described so that the vessels can be readily cleansed
while the valve lever can be locked by a seal for preventing fraud, substantially as set
forth.
1
1000