Improvements in the Manufacture of Food Products from Milk.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 12th May, 1898
Complete Specification Left, 10th Feb., 1899-Accepted, 22nd Apr., 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Food Products from Milk.
I, ALEXANDER BERNSTEIN, of 16, Claudius Strasse, Berlin, in the German
Empire, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to the manufacture of food products from milk.
In my former Application No. 29189 of 1897, I describe a process of making
an albuminous-casein curd from milk, which is brought to the consistency of a
thick paste by mechanical means.
This paste has proved very useful for baking purposes as a substitute for eggs;
but it has the disadvantage that it will not keep and must therefore be used
whilst fresh.
In order to produce a curd which will remain fresh it is necessary to evaporate
the water and to reduce the paste to the state of powder.
For this purpose I first separate the paste into small pieces which may be
effected by forcing the paste through a perforated metal plate by the pressure of
a piston in a cylinder or by means of a conical screw enclosed in a casing, the
end of which is perforated or by other suitable means.
The paste which passes out in small pieces, drops on a cloth which rests on a
wire screen where the pieces of paste are exposed to a draught of dry air, which
carries away the moisture and causes the said pieces to become hard and brittle.
They are then put into a mill and ground into powder.
If it is desired to bring the food product into a still more compact form, the
powder may be pressed into tablets by well known machines.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Food Products from Milk.
I, ALEXANDER BERNSTEIN,, of 16, Claudius Strasse, Berlin, in the German
Empire, Engineer, 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: ―
This incontion relates to the manufacture of food products from milk.

page_text: In the Specification of my former Patent No. 2918997 I have described a process
by which the protein matter of skim milk is converted into an article which
contains the albumen and casein of the milk and can be used as a substitute for
eggs in the preparation of articles of food, and I have shewn how the albuminous
casein curd is obtained in the condition of a soft paste.
My present invention has for its object the speedy and effective reduction of this
paste product to the condition of a dry powder.
The method I employ consists of three steps. Firstly finely dividing the paste;
secondly drying the finely divided product, and thirdly pulverising the dried
paste.
The appliances to be used for accomplishing these results may be of any
ordinary or preferred form of construction and are of such obvious and common
forms as to be apparent to anyone without the production of drawings.
It has been found that the nature of this particular product is such, that the
drying of the same in even moderately large masses or particles is not practicable.
In such cases the outside of the mass or lump will dry and solidify. This
prevents the evaporation of moisture from the interior, resulting in fermentation
being set up which rots or destroys the material affected thereby. When
the paste is so dried, it possesses an offensive odour, which pervades the whole
mass when reduced to powder.
To avoid this and to secure rapid and effective drying, of the paste is the object
of finely dividing the same before passing it to the dryer. I propose to convert
the paste into the finely divided condition by passing it through a perforated plate
or screen the perforations of which are preferably about one sixteenth of an inch
in diameter.
As the paste passes through the plate it falls upon a receiver which is composed
of a sheet of cloth or other material held in a frame or of a pan or plate of sheet
metal. When this receiver is sufficiently loaded with the finely divided paste,
it is removed to a dryer where it is freed from moisture. The perforated plate
may form the lower part of a cylinder, which is closed at one end and forms the
continuation of another cylinder, which contains a screw conveyor.
The latter cylinder is provided with a hopper, through which the material is fed.
The screw conveyor is made to revolve slowly and presses the paste into that part
of the cylinder, which is perforated at the bottom. The paste is forced through
these perforations and drops down in small cylindrical pieces.
I have usually employed currents of heated air to effect this drying and before
heating the air I prefer to reduce it to a very low temperature, to cause it to
deposit or give up its moisture, after which it is heated to a temperature of
about 90° Fahrenheit and is then passed into the drying chamber and in contact
with the paste particles. The drying chamber itself is not heated.
By this means I secure a very rapid evaporation of the moisture from the said
paste particles without necessitating the employment of a high temperature. The
particles are thereby dried without the production of any fermentation therein.
When the divided bits of paste are thoroughly dried, they are then reduced
to powder by grinding, any preferred form of mill may be used, but it is essential
that the powder should be ground very fine, because the finer the powder the
better it answers the purpose for which it is designed.
This powder is readily and easily used in the preparation of food articles by
simply mixing it with the meal or flour of which such article is to be prepared.
I have found by experiment that an ounce of this powder is equivalent to
about 5 eggs.
Having now particularly described and, ascertained the nature, of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. The herein described process of reducing albuminous casein paste to a state of
powder, which consists in finely dividing the said paste then. drving the 'said.

page_text: finely divided particles and then grinding the dried particles into a fine powder,
substantially as described.
2. The manufacture and use of albuminous casein powder, substantially in the
manner herein before described.
Dated this 10th day of February 1899.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.