AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE
SUBSTANCES."-A communication from abroad by Mr. Jules Réné Lion,
of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris.
Sealed the 24th October 1862, and dated the 29th April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th April 1862.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the preservation of all kinds of vegetable and
animal alimentary or other substances by drying them when in a perfect
or partial vacuum. The method of operation is as follows:-I place the
matters to be preserved in chambers, forming part of an oven or stove,
heated by steam or otherwise. In order to obtain a vacuum, I make use
of an apparatus termed "Pelletan's jet," on the principle of the blast pipe
of a locomotive engine, consisting of a cone which injects water into a
tube for exhausting the air in the chambers in which the vacuum is to be
produced. The matters are more or less baked at a suitable temperature
according to their nature.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th October 1862.
.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of 53 Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer
and Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Clark, Her special licence that
I, the said William Clark, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Clark, my
executors, 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 METHOD OF PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES," a com-
munication to me from abroad by Mr. Jules Réné Lion, of 29, Boulevart
St. Martin, Paris, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Clark, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Clark, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement, reference being had to the five Sheets of Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):-
This Invention relates to improvments in the preservation of all kinds
of animal and vegetable substances, by the use of steam or other method
for producing a vacuum, whether the alimentary substances may be used
as human food or for feeding animals. The methods of operation are
of two kinds, accordingly as the animal or vegetable substances are to
be preserved without being previously prepared or are previously dried
for that purpose. In order to preserve alimentary substances in their

page_text: natural state without being previously desiccated, I employ air-tight
reservoirs, surrounded on the exterior with impervious materials, such
as india-rubber, gutta percha or other substance, these reservoirs are
provided with doors opening easily and luted so as to be perfectly air-
tight when closed. Grapes, plums, peas, chesnuts, nuts, or eggs, may
be preserved without producing a vacuum, it being only necessary to
completely fill the reservoir, care being taken to fill the interstices with
powdered charcoal, coke, schistous or bituminous black or tissue paper.
The preservation is effected as much by the insulating matters and the
air-tight reservoir, as by the gases which disengage from the alimentary
matters, which combine with the oxygen to form gas of an essentially
preservative nature. Other substances for the most part require the
withdrawal of air, as the first condition of success in preserving them,
an obturator or valve acting under pressure being used at same time
for the escape of the gases which form, the apparatus is also provided
with a tube for the extraction of the air. Green vegetables, plants, and
flowers, fruit, meats, and fish, are preserved by desiccation. I concen-
trate and evaporate the albumen contained to dryness, at the same time
retaining its solubility, and the same for milk, soup, or broth and gravies.
The apparatus for drying the substances, which I term the preserver,
is formed of two parts, the first acting in a vacuum I name the boiler,
and the second which acts in the open air I term a dryer.
In some cases, and according to the nature of the matters to be pre-
served, the two operations are necessary, while in the other one opera-
tion is sufficient. The desiccation of alimentary substances necessitates
two operations. The first operation destroys the cells by lowering the
temperature in a vacuum obtained by the simple use of steam. For this
purpose I use the apparatus known as Pelletan's injector, which is only
employed by the Inventor for evaporating liquids and concentrating
sugar syrup in a vacuum.
The second operation, which is effected with the drying apparatus,
completes the operation which the previous one had only commenced.
Wood may be dried by means of a vacuum, with or without extracting
the wood spirit, acetic acid, or pyroligneous acid; the retorts for con-
taining the wood are of cast iron, and furnished with doors luted with
loam or otherwise, so as to be kept air-tight.
Wheat, barley, grain in general and flour may be dried by the drying
apparatus with great rapidity, which operation may be effected in malt-
houses where there are steam engines employed; the matters may thus
be preserved for a great length of time, and be suitable for transporta-
tion to long distances. Certain kinds of meats, fruits, and certain vege-
tables, especially sallads, may be preserved by being dried at a low tem-

page_text: perature in the above apparatus. White of egg, which may be spread
out in a very thin layer on plates or vessels lined with metal or earthen-
ware, pipe-clay, porcelain, or other similar mineral substance; these
plates may be placed in layers in the furnace of the drying apparatus,
whereby the influence of a current of heated air is made available for all
kinds of albuminous substances, which may be dried or concentrated
in a solid state, at the same time being kept permanently soluble.
As albumen is susceptible of injury, when the drying is too leng-
thened, it will be of advantage to make use of the method herein
described, which only requires two or three hours instead of twelve or
fifteen, which is indispensable by the ordinary means. The operation
of a vacuum as far as regards substances containing much albumen,
requires a lengthened vacuum and a proportionate decrease in tempera-
ture in the vessels in which the substances are contained, they should
be heated from 300° to 390 and even to 560 degrees Fahrenheit, accord-
ing to the quantity of albumen contained in said substances. By strictly
observing these directions, and especially if operating at a temperature
below 140 degrees Fahrenheit in the boiler as well as in the drying appa-
ratus, any vegetable or animal substance will be neither hardened nor
dried. The failure heretofore of operations of this kind have proceeded
from operating at two high a temperature, the effect of heat applied in
too energetic a manner is very clear, especially when acting on substances
in which albumen exists in a liquid state in large proportions, while the
fibrous and albuminous parts of vegetables and the azoted and albumi-
nous parts of meat and fish also become changed. I have before men-
tioned that I destroy the cells at a temperature of about 140 degrees,
Fahrenheit, (from 15 to 18 degrees of atmospheric pressure, more or
Jess) so as not to coagulate the albumen. I have also mentioned that
in certain cases I may even proceed with a still lower vacuum. This
system operates well on many substances of delicate nature, but it hap-
pens that when acting on matters of a certain degree of hardness having
tenacious fibres or cells, that the water of vegetation contained in said
cells, or the juices of meat on being separated from the molecules, do
not act with sufficient energy on the tissues when forming into steam,
the water extracted by the effect of the vacuum having passed out by the
capillary fibres is a long time in returning, when the dried matters are
required to reassume their original proportions, whence results great
difficulty in cooking said matters. I obviate these disadvantages by
submitting the substances to a vacuum almost at the same pressure as
the atmosphere; for example, the interior of the boiler may be from
about 176 to 206 degrees Fahrenheit, or 35 to 70 degrees of pressure,
while the matters may remain in only a very short time, varying from

page_text: one to four minutes or more. I may also operate above the pressure of
the atmosphere and subject the matters to more than 100 degrees pres-
sure during from one to four minutes. The effect of the vacuum is the
immediate formation of vapours, and the regulation of the caloric action
throughout the apparatus, whence it results that the temperature is
equalized instantaneously with the destruction of the radiating action.
Many experiments have proved to me that there are no fixed rules on
which to base the operation of drying in the boiler, which must be
effected according to the nature of the substances, and experiments
made with each kind. I may employ water as a means of drying in
ordinary, which is applicable only for certain substances on which the
above described operation does not produce a good effect. In the
improved boiling apparatus, the retorts containing the products to be
preserved are placed direct in the gas and vapours of the furnace, which
allows of the possibility of attaining a heat of from 300°, 400°, 600°, to
700° degrees Fahrenheit, if necessary; plates of sheet-iron are so dis-
posed as to preserve the retorts from injury in stoking. This arrange-
ment may, however, be replaced by any other means, for example, by
having tubes making numerous circuits, and applying a smoke box or
otherwise. The injection of steam into the retorts is effected with Pelle-
tan's injector, which consists of a forked tube furnished with cocks, the
retorts are also furnished with spring valves, rising at one and a half
or two atmospheres. I employ a thermo-syphon for heating the drying
apparatus by means of tubes suitably disposed, one of which conducts
hot water into one or other of the drying apparatus at will, the other
tube returns the water to the thermosyphon.
This arrangement permits of heating several drying apparatus with
a single worm, (condensing the steam in the interior of the thermo-
syphon,) which simplifies the operation and diminishes the size of the
apparatus. The drying is effected with great rapidity by means of dry-
ing apparatus in hot water ovens, in which the several retorts are sur-
rounded with hot water, and have each a special discharge apparatus.
The retorts both of the boiler and drying apparatus may be made of
any suitable material, but preferably of tinned sheet iron, copper, or
cast iron, These apparatus may also be surrounded with a double
casing, the interstices being filled up with non-conducting materials,
such as sand, earth, charcoal, blacksmiths' refuse, schistous black, cin-
ders or other matters. Smoked and salted provisions may be treated
in the same manner as meat or fish, that is to say, when these substances
have, under the influence of heat, lost almost the whole of the 75% of
water they contain, the proportion of salt to be employed is very small
and exercises no influence on the quality of the products. In order to

page_text: render the Invention well understood, 1 have represented the improved
preserving apparatus in the annexed Drawings.
Fig. 1, Sheet 1 of which shows a sectional elevation of the whole appa-
ratus complete; Fig. 2 shows details of the trays of metal gauze; Fig. 3.
shows a three-way cock in section; Fig. 4, Sheet 2, shows a plan of the
apparatus; Fig. 5 shows a plan of the cock represented at Fig. 3, Sheet
1; Fig. 6 shows a second kind of a three-way cock; Fig. 7, Sheet 3, shows
a section of a centrifugal apparatus for the drying operation; Fig. 8
shows a water-purifying apparatus, in order to obtain the steam in a dry
state and with a maximum amount of pressure in the Pelletan jet.
Sheet 4 shows the interior of the drying apparatus; Figs. 9 and 10 with
the retorts, and Fig. 11 without the retorts; Figs. 12, 13 and 14 also
show trays, carriages and rails; Fig. 15, Sheet 5, shows a section of Pelle-
tan's jet; and Fig. 16 an improved steam drying apparatus. In all the
Figures the same letters and figures of reference indicate like parts seen
in different positions.
a, boiler of cast or other iron enclosed in brickwork and bedded in
the ground; b, furnace and ash-pit for directly heating the retorts of the
boiler, c, retorts of metal or other substance, they are furnished with
pressure screws, d, and doors closing air-tight; e, jet or Pelletan's injec-
tor, composed of a round or square box having an inlet and outlet pas-
sage for the steam; j, conical union in the interior of a box of the jet
through which a jet of steam passes, which is introduced into a channel
the diameter of which is double that of the injection orifice. This jet
carries away with it the air & vapours contained in the retorts, and,
but for its influence, the vacuum is produced and maintained at from
17 to 20 inches, according to the power of the steam, while a pressure
guage placed for the purpose will only indicate a pressure of from 5 to
9 inches. g, condenser or reservoir with a double casing of metal or
brick; h, worm tube of the condenser for heating the water of said con-
denser by means of the steam; i, second condenser furnished with worm
tubes j and j', these are disposed in the same manner as the preceding
and serve to supply the heated air to the drying apparatus; k, first
arrangement of drying apparatus forming several horizontal furnaces
superposed and surrounded with water at all parts The products to
be operated on are placed on trays of metal gauze, running on rollers
or on carriages mounted on suitable rails. i, second arrangement of
drying apparatus, in which the substances are placed in retorts instead
of in the furnace as at k; the condenser i furnishes hot air to the retorts
by means of cocks, this hot air which may be obtained in any suitable
manner, escapes by the chimney, after having passed through the
matters in course of preservation; m, steam pipe; n, steam take for pro-

page_text: ducing pressure for raising the water from the first condenser to the dry-
ing apparatus; o, pipe for the introduction of water into the first con-
denser, p, pipe for conveying hot water into the drying apparatus by
the action of the thermo-syphon; q, return water pipes; ", three-way
cocks, seen in detail in Figs 3 and 5, for distributing the steam either
into the condenser or into the chimney, for producing a draught; s, cock
for producing a vacuum when the jet of steam is in action; t, overflow
cocks; u', cocks for regulating the action of the thermo-syphon; v, trays
or shelves of metal gauze placed one above the other in the drying appa-
ratus; y, carriages of the retorts; 2, feed-water reservoir; 1, emptying
cock of condenser i; 2 second arrangement of three-way cock for dis-
tributing steam into the several pipes.
The turbine or centrifugal apparatus for effecting the drying is con-
structed as follows:--3, metal case in which circulates either hot water
or steam; 4, inlet pipe for the water or steam; 5, escape orifice; 6, axis
or pivot having a rotating movement, and which at same time serves
as a tube for the passage of the water or steam above mentioned; 7,
plates heated by the steam or hot water which circulates in contact
therewith; 8, chimney; 8', inlet air passage; 20, water-purge cock of
the steam, 9, crank handle of Pelletan's jet, shown at Fig. 15, Sheet 5,
for regulating the admission as desired; 10, stuffing box; 11, steam take;
12, hot-air pipes for conveying the heated gases into the retorts; 13,
cold air or atmospheric passages; 14, tube for obtaining a vacuum; 15,
pipe for the passage of the steam.
The drying apparatus represented at Fig. 16, Sheet 5, is composed of
a body, 16, of brickwork, in the interior of which are placed metal
plates, 17, slightly inclined and connected together by pipes, 18, for
the flow of the condensed steam to purge cock 19. The steam enters
at opening 21, and traverses the whole of the shelves 17, and finally
escapes at chimney 22.
All the apparatus before described are constructed so as to be used in
the dark, in order that the vegetables and fruits to be preserved may
retain their natural color, which has never hitherto been attained.
Experiments I have made on this subject have entirely succeeded and
have prooved that the light, exercising its action concurrently with the
air, changes the colors, and hence the preference I give to operating in
the dark.
Having described the nature of this Invention and the manner of per-
forming the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First, the application of the injection or jet herein described for the
preservation and desiccation of animal and vegetable matters.

page_text: Secondly, I claim the arrangement of the retorts with or without
means of heating, and in which a vacuum is produced as before described.
Thirdly, I claim the use of the thermo-syphon apparatus for effecting
the drying of the matters, employing waste steam for the purpose, or
by other steam vacuum.
Fourthly, I claim the arrangements of heating apparatus, drying
stoves, and the accessory parts, such as herein-before described and
represented, heating them at a low temperature or otherwise
Fifthly, I claim the method of preserving the natural color of the pro-
ducts as before explained, which consists in effecting all the operations
in the dark or in dark places.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
JAMES DAISH,
53, Chancery Lane,
London.
W. CLARK. (L.S.)