Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 15th July, 1887
Specification Accepted, 2nd Dec., 1887
Articles OI Food.
We, LUDWIG STOLLWERCK, and CARL STOLLWERCK, of the Firm of Gebr. Stoll-
werck, of Cologne-on-the-Rhine, in the Empire of Germany, Manufacturers to the
Court and FERDINAND BAUMER of Vienna in the Empire of Austria do hereby
declare the nature of this Invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
Our Invention relates to an improved method of preserving, in glass jars, fruit,
vegetables and similar articles of food, said method being as follows, that is to say;
the fruit or other articles of food, while in a hot state are put into glass jars provided
for their reception and which may be of the usual or any convenient form and con-
struction, or the fruit or other articles of food may be steamed within the said jars,
and the latter being thus heated, are then, and while yet in a hot state, covered up by
a plate or disc of glass or other suitable material entirely impervious to air, and
inflexible, the said dise being immediately thereafter sealed upon the upper surface of
the jar's neck by means of any suitable cement so as to close the jar and make it
completely air-tight.
When the contents of the jar thus closed become cool, a vacuum, or partial vacuum,
sufficient to prevent the contents of the jar from spoiling, is formed below the said
solid and impervious plate or disc. The methods of preserving fruit and other articles
of food as heretofore employed did not prevent the contents of the jars from spoiling
for the following reason; the vacuum, or partial vacuum, after boiling or heating the
contents of the jar, would be removed either in consequence of the elastic covering
(such as parchment and the like) being drawn or sucked and "bulged" into the jar
by reason of the rarefaction of the air below it, thus nearly, or entirely restoring the
former density of the atmospheric air, or the porosity of the materials used for such
coverings (such as cork, tin, etc.) or the fact that the rims thereof were not at once
sealed or cemented thoroughly, would admit atmospheric air into the jar, whereby
the vacuum, or partial vacuum would be likewise removed again to the disadvantage
of the fruit to be preserved.

page_text: The principal novel feature and the main difference of the present method, as
compared with those formerly employed, will thus be seen to consist in at once
closing, by means of a solid plate or disc of non-porous material, the said jar and at
the same time hermetically sealing or cementing the adjoining surfaces of both, this
being done while the fruit or other article of food in the jar is yet in a heated state
the object being thus to form and to maintain within the said jar, a vacuum or partial
vacuum sufficient to prevent the contents from spoiling. As the contents of the jar
become cool, the vacuum within the jar will draw the plate or disc so tightly against
the upper edge of the said jar, that it will even be found difficult afterwards to
remove the said disc or plate again from the top of the jar, this being rendered
possible often only by drawing or sliding the said plate or disc off in a lateral
direction.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
The method of preserving fruit and other articles of food by covering the jars
containing the said fruit or other article of food, while the latter is still in a heated
state, with a plate or disc of non-porous solid material and hermetically sealing or
cementing the one to the other so as to create and to maintain unchanged within the
said jar a vacuum or partial vacuum and thus to prevent the said fruit or other
article of food from spoiling, without any further manipulation, substantially as and
for the purpose specified.
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