Improvements in the Method of and Apparatus for the Production and Preservation of Sterilised Milk.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Jan., 1890-Accepted, 1st Mar. 1830
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Method of and Apparatus for the Production
and Preservation of Sterilised Milk.
I, ADOLF SCHMIDT-MULHEIM of Wiesbaden in the Kingdom of Prussia and German
Empire, Doctor of Medicine 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:—
The object of this invention is to produce apparatus which will serve for the pro-
duction and storage of sterilised milk in manner sufficient for household use and in
which the milk will be preserved secure from decomposition by means of covering caps
which shut out the air.
In the accompanying drawing several forms of apparatus which are specially
suitable for holding milk are shown with the covering caps fitted in position.
In fig. 1 is represented, in section, an apparatus consisting of a bottle a in which
the milk is boiled and which is covered with a ground cap 6 having on the top
a round opening in the middle. This opening is bored to receive a small stopper e
which is best made of some porous substance, such as cotton. The stopper should be
shaped conically and be fashioned above like a button so as to prevent it falling into
the bottle. For further protection of this stopper there is formed a hollowed or plate-
like recess round the bored hole as shown.
In use the bottles are filled about with the milk to be sterilised, and the cap is
then fixed on and the stopper fitted loosely in the bored hole. This is done for
the reason that the milk in boiling not infrequently bubbles up so violently that
tightly closed glasses are barst. Even should the loosely fitted stopper occasionally
be displaced by unusually violent bubbling of the milk, no milk will flow out of
the apparatus; and the stopper will simply fall into the plate-like recess where it
will remain until the boiling process is over.
The boiling itself is carried out by means of steam jets according to Koch's principle,
and is continued about 15 minutes from the time the milk begins to bubble.
After the boiling process is completed the stopper is pressed tightly into the
opening and the milk is in this way shut off from the air and kept secure from
decomposition.
In the arrangement shown in section at fig. 2 the neck of the bottle a¹ is cut off
obliquely, as indicated by the line A B. The bottle is closed by means of a ground
cap 6 which is pierced at e' in the side wall. This hole c' is arranged at such a
height that, when the cap is suitably fitted in one position it lies higher than A, as
shown, whereby communication between the inside of the bottle and the outer air is
established, and, that, when the cap is turned to right or left, the hole c' is brought to
the back of B and so suffices to immediately shut off the contents securely from the
germs in the air and thus preserve the milk from decomposition. The boiling takes
place with the hole open. After completion of the boiling process the glasses are
allowed to cool, conformably to the process of sterilization, and the air is then shut off
by turning the cap.
As shown in section in fig. 3 the milk-boiling bottle may have a hood shaped
stopper cap b. The narrow part of the hood fits closely round the neck of the bottle.
The cap bas on the contact surface a system of vertical ribs d-see fig. 3ª which is a
cross section on the line a-x fig. 3. These ribs leave between each other hollow
spaces d, which, whilst sufficiently wide to prevent the bursting of the glass when
the milk bubbles up violently are still so narrow as to hold back the condensed water
which is formed by the boiling of the milk in the hollow spaces and so shuts off the
contents of the glass from the air and thus secures the contents from decomposition.
Fig. 4 shows, in section, another arrangement which, in practice, secures fully

page_text: sufficient success, although, from a theoretical point of view, it cannot be said to form
a stopper absolutely securing the contents from air germs. The ground cape is in
the form of a bent tube gradually lessening at one end and straightened out at the
other.
sterilised by boiling in such
Experience shows that milk in this apparatus is
manner that it will keep undecomposed for several days even in high summer
temperature.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The method, with the relative apparatus for producing sterilised milk, which is
characterised by the use of covering caps which are fixed closely to the neck of the
apparatus and have at the side or in the middle a bored hole, which is closed by a
stopper of porous material or by turning the cap itself, substantially as herein before
described and illustrated at figs. 1, 2 and 2ª of the annexed drawing.
2. The modified arrangement consisting of a hood shaped cap fitting closely to the
neck of the bottle and furnished with vertical ribs on the contact surface, substantially
as described with reference to figs. 3 and 3 of the annexed drawing.
3. The modified arrangement consisting of a ground stopper cap forming a bent
tube gradually lessening at one end and straightened at the other, substantially as
described with reference to fig. 4 of the annexed drawing.
Dated this 24th day of January 1900
H. D. FITZPATRICK,
70, Wellington Street, Glasgow, Agent.