AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR PRESERVING MILK, AND ITS APPLICATION TO SEVERAL ORGANIC PRODUCTS AND ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES
Year: 1853

page_text: Sealed the 12th December 1853, and dated the 16th June 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand
Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commis-
sioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th June 1853.
I, PETER ARMAND LE COMTE DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 39, Rue de
l'Echiquier, Paris, France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR PRESERVING MILK, AND ITS APPLICATION TO
SEVERAL ORGANIC PRODUCTS AND ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES," to be as
follows:-

page_text: The Invention consists in expelling the atmospheric air from milk
and other alimentary substances.
I obtain that result either by exhausting air from them, or by raising
their temperature, or by the combination of the two means.
I put in communication the tube fixed on the top of the vessel full
of milk, with a recipient containing a smaller quantity of that liquid,
which I cover with oil to prevent contact with the atmospheric air; I
then adapt an exhaust pipe to effect the expulsion of the air contained
in the milk
When I operate with a small number of vessels I place on each of
them a metal tube sufliciently strong for containing a column of milk,
and through which the air is expelled. In this case the layer of oil
may be dispensed with. When the temperature is raised by means of
a hot water or steam bath I close the tube air-tight at a specified
moment, when the vessel remains completely full.
Solid or liquid alimentary products are treated by the above process;
but, if solid, they must previously be mixed with liquids.
When I operate on solids they are placed in vessels composed of two
parts which are united when filled, and the necessary liquids for their
treatment, as before stated, are introduced afterwards by means of the
tube.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau in
the Great Seal Patent Office, on the 16th December 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, S
PETER ARMAND LE COMTE DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 39, Rue de
l'Echiquier, Paris, France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Morean,

page_text: Her special licence that I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fon-
taine Moreau, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my exe-
cutors, 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 Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
PROCESS FOR PRESERVING MILK, AND ITS APPLICATION TO SEVERAL ORGANIC
PRODUCTS AND ALIMENTING SUBSTANCES," communicated to me from a
foreigner residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and scal, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte de
Fontaine Moreau, 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:
The Invention consists in an improved method of treating milk and
other organic and alimentary substances for the purpose of preserving
them. Organic substances are subject to modifications both from the
action of atmospheric air and reaction of their own constituent
elements.
These modifications not only change their peculiar properties, but
often transform them into a variety of products far different to the
bodies first constituting them. To preserve them it is necessary to
protect them from the destructive influence of external atmospheric air,
and to expel the air they may contain; and these objects are attained
by forming a vacuum within the substances by an exhaust pump, by
raising their temperature, or by these two means combined.
To operate upon milk I exhaust the air it contains by using a tube

page_text: which is filled with milk, and put in communication with a reservoir
containing a convenient quantity of that liquid, and covered with a
layer of oil to preserve its exposed surface from contact with the
atmospheric air. When the operation is carried on with a larger
number of vessels it is more convenient to place them one upon
the
other, and to put the layer of oil over the milk in the upper reservoir.
To effect the expulsion of air from the milk I adapt an air ex-
hausting pump either to one reservoir or to two reservoirs. The con-
necting pipes must be directly under the reservoirs containing the milk,
and not have any bend, which might prevent the free egress of the air
therefrom.
When operating on a small number of vessels it will be merely
necessary to add to each of them a lead or tin pipe of sufficient length
for containing a column of milk, through which the air can be expelled
without causing the liquid to overflow, and in this case the layer of oil
can be dispensed with. When the desired temperature is obtained
either by a balneum mariæ or by steam, and when sufficiently sustained,
I close the tube air-tight by means of pincers and solder, care being
taken beforehand to have the vessel entirely full.
To avoid the danger of the vessels bursting when the preserved sub-
stances are to be exported to hot climates, the pipe must be closed
when the contents are at the same degree of temperature as that of the
climate whither they are to be taken.
The vessels I employ for preserving may be of tinned or enamelled
iron, but when the nature of the substances allows of glass being en-
ployed, it is to be preferred.
Solid and soft alimentary substances must be introduced into a reser-
voir containing a certain quantity of liquid covered with a layer of oil,
as before described, to prevent the contact of the air with the liquid.
Meat, for example, cooked in gravy, and fruits boiled in syrup, can
be preserved by this process with great facility.
The aperture of the tube is sufficiently large to allow the introduction
of liquid matters, but when the substances are of a solid or heavy
nature I introduce them into vessels composed of two parts, which must
be afterwards joined together.

page_text: And having now described the nature of the said Invention com-
municated to me, and the manner of putting the same into execution,
I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise
details herein laid down; but what I claim as new, and intended to be
protected by the said in part recited Letters Patent, is,--
The process of preserving milk and other organic alimentary sub-
stances, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte de
Fontaine Moreau, have hereto set my hand and seal, this
Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty-three.
(L.S.) L. DE FONTAINE MOREAU.