IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF MEAT FOR ITS PRESERVATION AND PREPARATION AS FOOD
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Imray, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF MEAT FOR ITS PRESERVATION AND
PREPARATION AS FOOD."-A communication from abroad by Jules
Armengaud. of Boulevard de Strasbourg, Paris, France.
Sealed the 28th April 1876, and dated the 16th December 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Imray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th December 1875.
I, JOHN IMRAY, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF MEAT FOR ITS PRE-
SERVATION AND PREPARATION AS FOOD," to be as follows:-
According to this Invention an ox or any other animal is treated
immediately on. its being. felled,, the. bones and offal are removed, and

page_text: .
the rennet, pancreas, and other parts which are connected with digestion
are put aside. The muscular tissue is cut up, and the other tissues, fat
or lean, are crushed and immediately exposed to a temperature of
about 200° Fahr., which is enough to prevent any beginning of
fermentation. The fat is then poured off, the meat is removed from the
action of the heat and is mechanically rubbed so as to open all its
pores; further the rennet, pancreas, liver, and other digestive parts are
bruised raw together so as to form a sort of cream along with the juice
that has flowed from the heated meat. This vital juice, seasoned if
desired, or coloured by the aid of known salts or spices, is then mingled
with the whole of the meat. After a brief soaking this digestive juice
is absorbed, and the mass is then powdered with crude gluten or meal,
rich in nitrogenous principals. When the mass, well worked, has
assumed a regular colour and good consistence it is put in a very strong
cylindrical vessel, provided at bottom with an opening of the size and
shape of a fillet of beef or other desired piece of meat. When the
vessel is filled the surface of the mass-is-pressed upon by a piston fitting
the vessel, so as to be squeezed through the bottom orifice. When a
sufficient length is squeezed out it is cut off, and so on till the vessel
is empty. These pieces of meat on issuing from the press are placed in
metal cases containing a portion of the fat that had been poured off.
The cases are soldered and heated in water in the usual manner.
During this, heating, which may be at temperatures from 170° to
212° Fahr. according to the time during which the meat is to be
preserved, the physiological agents rapidly restore the meat to the
condition of raw meat, and afterwards they preserve its principals from
decomposition, so that when removed from the case the meat resembles
roast beef, tender, savory, and suited for any seasoning or sauces usually
employed.

page_text: which readily combines with oxygen, such as a sulphite. The case or
cask when filled is soldered or closed hermetically.
The above described process is also applicable to the production of a
substance known as "meat bread." For this purpose all the suitable
operations above described are carried out, only the bruising is carried
farther, and ordinary flour is employed to bring the mass to the con-
dition of a stiff paste. In this way the meat bread produced, instead of
being dried, remains in fresh condition, and the vegetable matter
animalised becomes highly nutritive.
If it is not desirable to employ the means above described the animal
paste may be prepared in the manner usually employed for making
meat bread, but the paste so made may be divided, cooked, and pre-
served by the means described above. A product is thus obtained
which may be of great use, and which softened and diluted in water,
soups, or vegetable liquors, gives a result superior to extracts of meat.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Imray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
IMRAY, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of December, in the
ycar of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Imray, Her special
license that I, the said John Imray, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Imray, 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 terni
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

page_text: THE TREATMENT OF MEAT FOR ITS PRESERVATION AND PREPARATION AS FOOD," a
communication to me from abroad by Jules Armengaud, of Boulevard
de Strasbourg, Paris, France, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said John Imray, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 Imray, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
Heretofore the flesh of animals has not been successfully prepared for
preservation, except at the expense of its nutritive qualities. When an
animal is just killed its flesh possesses its highest alimentary power,
because it contains intact the nitrogenous, phosphoric, and other
principles, destined to repair the strength of the consumer. On the
other hand flesh when cooked loses the greater portion of its alimentary
power, because these reparatory principles are decomposed by fermen-
tation and heat.
Flesh preserved by dessication, salting, smoking, or other antiseptic
processes undergoes the same decompositions, and besides it produces
under the action of the air compounds prejudicial to health. It is
therefore, according to the best scientific authorities, necessary in meat
which is to be consumed or preserved to unite two conditions. These
two conditions, which are difficult of combination, consist in giving the
meat all the qualities which cooking produces whilst it is so cooked,
that the composition of the meat in its raw state is not affected, or
briefly cooked meat is to be produced having all the alimentary power
of raw meat.
Magendie has proved that vegetable flesh becomes as nutritive as the
flesh of animals when it is seasoned with the aromatic juice of cooked
meat. Spallanzani, Claude Bernard, and other celebrated physiologists,

page_text: have made experiments as to the influence of digestive action upon pure
or deteriorated nutritious substances. M. Chevreiel states that the
digestive actions restore cooked meat to the conditions of raw meat; and
other experiments prove that this physiological action preserves meat
from the decomposing action of the heat during cooking and gives it
remarkable preservative qualities. On these theoretical data is founded
the process, the practical application of which will now be described.
An ox or any other animal is treated immediately on its being felled,
the bones and offal are removed, and the rennet, pancreas, and other,
parts which are connected with digestion are put aside. The muscular
tissue is cut up, and the other tissues, fat or lean, are crushed and
immediately exposed to a temperature of about 200° Fahr., which is:
enough to prevent any beginning of fermentation. The fat is then
poured off, the meat is removed from the action of the heat, and is
mechanically rubbed so as to open all its pores. Further, the rennet,
pancreas, liver, and other digestive parts are bruised raw together so as
to form a sort of cream along with the juice that has flowed from the:
heated meat. This vital juice, seasoned if desired, or coloured by the
aid of known salts or spices, is then mingled with the whole of the
meat. After a brief soaking this digestive juice is absorbed, and the
mass is then powdered with crude gluten or meal rich in nitrogenous
principles. When the mass well worked has assumed a regular colour
and good consistence, it is put in a very strong cylindrical vessel pro-
vided at bottom with an opening of the size and shape of a fillet of beef
or other desired piece of meat. When the vessel is filled the surface
of the mass is pressed upon by a piston
squeezed through the bottom orifice.
squeezed out it is cut off, and so on, till
pieces of meat on issuing from the press are placed in metal cases,
containing a portion of the fat that had been poured off. The cases are
soldered and heated in water in the usual manner. During this heating
which may be at temperatures from 170° to 212° Fahr. according to
the time during which the meat is to be preserved the physiological
agents rapidly restore the meat to the condition of raw meat, and
afterwards they preserve its principles from decomposition, so that when
removed from the case the meat resembles roast beef, tender, savoury,
and suited for any seasoning or sauces usually employed.
fitting the vessel so as to be
When a sufficient length is
the vessel is emptied. These

page_text: Third. Packing the pieces of prepared meat pulp in vessels from
which the air is excluded, or along with substances absorbent of oxygen,
substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Imray, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.