AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PREPARING AND PRESERVING HOPS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BEER AND FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES.
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PREPARING AND PRESERVING
HOPS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BEER AND FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES.”.
A communication from abroad by David Addison Clarke, of
Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Brewer.
Sealed the 22nd March 1872, and dated the 1st February 1872.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 1st February 1872, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 1st February 1872, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
DA
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
of the Tiem of Hasalting Lake & Co Patent Agents.
T
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
nied by bile Ban
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 1st February 1872, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF PREPARING AND PRESERVING HOPS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BEER
AND FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant
unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters
Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that it has
been communicated to me from abroad by David Addison Clarke, of
Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, Brewer.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement:-
:―
Hitherto various modes have been adopted of putting up and
preserving hops in their natural or leafy condition for use in the
manufacture of malt liquors as well as for medicinal purposes. Accord-
ing to one method, they have been placed in air-tight packages to
protect them from the action of the atmosphere for domestic and
marketable uses, but in this condition the hops lose in a very great
degree their active principle, and their flavor becomes damaged and
changed. Fresh hops therefore command always in the market two or
three times the price of hops of the previous year's growth. Hops are
also required to be kept perfectly dry, as the least dampness injures them,
and there is more or less risk always in their traffic, and especially in
shipping them by water to remote places. Moreover hops have hitherto
been used in the manufacture of beer in their leafy condition by cooking :
them in the liquor. In the method heretofore practised there are many
disadvantages attending the use of hops in their natural condition.
This Invention has for its object the overcoming of these disadvantages,
and the said Invention consists in using ground or pulverized hops in
the process of making beer, and in packing the hops so reduced to
powder in air-tight packages, bottles, or vessels, as a new article of
manufacture and trade both for brewing and medicinal purposes.
In this new article of manufacture many beneficial results are
obtained, among which may be mentioned that pulverized hops possess
many advantages over hops in the leaf, because leaf hops when sub- a
jected to a long boiling process in the beer wort suffer a very material

page_text: deterioration in their flavor, but a long boiling is necessary to extract
the active principle from the leaf and bud of each flower. This difficulty
has not hitherto been remedied. Moreover, hops boiled in this condition
are not under long boiling even divested of their active principle, and
a larger quantity is therefore required to give the proper flavor and
degree of strength to the liquor than is necessary under my process.
Hops when reduced to powder do not require nearly so much boiling,
and the active principle is much more readily extracted than when in
their leafy and clotted condition. Pulverized hops however soon part
with the whole of their essence, whereby a smaller quantity may be used
and under a much shorter period of boiling, so that under these two
essential advantages I am enabled to obtain not only the full strength
from the granular hops, but I accomplish this without injuring the
flower of the liquor. In this way also the brewer can render the quality'
of the liquor uniform, as the ground hops can be kept with their full
natural flavor and strength for a long time, and the quantity of liquor
more accurately determined. It is plain therefore that as hops reduced
to powder and used as such will under a given weight yield a much
larger per-centage of the active principle than leaf or bud hops, there
must necessarily be a very material economy in using the hop powder.
Another very great advantage in the use of powdered hops in the
process of making all beers is that the hops so pulverized need not be
subjected to the boiling at all (except in brewing fermented beers), but
simply treated with cold water, which will extract all the essence from
the grains in a comparatively short time. It is also obvious that hops
reduced to powder and put up in vessels or packages may be shipped
without risk of damage from becoming wet or damp by water carriage.
Also the labour and expence of their carriage will be very materially
reduced. The weight and flavor of the hops so reduced to powder and
packed in packages or vessels can be preserved for an indefinite time.
Powdered or ground hops will occupy much less room in bulk in
packing them than hops dried in the leaf. Hops may be ground,
packed, and shipped as a marketable article direct from the place of
growth in a comparatively green as well as dry state without danger of
spoiling in transportation.

page_text: handled more easily and conveniently. The article can be stored in a
smaller space, and a year's supply kept without deterioration in weight,
quality, or flavor, and the large consumer will be relieved of a serious
difficulty heretofore experienced in this respect. Hops so reduced to powder
are to be packed in cans, bottles, or packages holding a pound more, or
less and in this respect, for the purpose of retail trade, my Invention is
of the highest importance, while for breweries and wholesale dealers a
whole bale may be reduced to one-fourth its size, and is thus attended with
less expense in handling and transportation. Again, hops preserved in
this way are equally as good from year to year as fresh hops, and they
may therefore be held in store for a favorable market.
The ground article may be put up in any quantities to suit any
regular or irregular demand. Another very material advantage of my
Invention is that when reduced to powder the hops may be put up
under a degree of pressure which would in their leafy state destroy
them. The package in which the powder is put may be sealed or
enclosed in any suitable articles or materials for the purpose, such as
cans and bottles and impervious materials. In this way under my
Invention hops may be sold in flour in any store, and for medicinal
purposes the hop flour is very superior to the leaf.
In the manufacture of root or tonic beer the hop flour is used entirely
without boiling with other articles in a ground or pulverized state, such
as ginger and southern prickly ash and glycerine as a substitute for
sugar, cold water only being used for the purpose, the glycerine serving
to effect a more perfect preservation of the beverage, and allowing it to
be kept for a longer time without spoiling.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I claim,-

page_text: Third. Ground or pulverized hops put up in sealed vessels or packages
s a new article of commerce and merchandize, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this First day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
Witness,
W. J. LOWE.
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)