IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC OR OTHER VESSELS USED TO PRESERVE, COOK, OR CONTAIN ARTICLES OF FOOD, AND PARTLY AVAILABLE FOR ́ OTHER SUBSTANCES.
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Clark, of No. 10, Craven Buildings,
Drury Lane, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC OR OTHER VESSELS USED TO PRESERVE,
COOK, OR CONTAIN ARTICLES OF FOOD, AND PARTLY AVAILABLE FOR´ OTHER
SUBSTANCES.
Scaled the 22nd July 1873, and dated the 24th January 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Clark at tho
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th January 1873.
I, GEORGE CLARK, of No. 10, Craven Buildings, Drury Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC OR OTHER VESSELS USED TO PRESERVE,
COOK, OR CONTAIN ARTICLES OF FOOD, AND PARTLY AVAILABLE FOR OTHER SUB-
STANCES," to be as follows:-
=
"
This Invention relates to the closing and scaling of inetallic vessels
used to contain preserved animal and vegetable articles of food, and
especially meat, fish, and soup, preserved in tinned iron cannisters,
usually called "tins," or vessels made of other metals or materials.
The ordinary mode in use for closing those vessels, namely, to solder

page_text: the covers on them after they have been filled involves the practice of
cutting open the tops of the vessels so soldered when the contents aro
intended to be consumed, and thereby practically destroying the tin,
and rendering it valueless. The result is that each tin on this plan
being used only once the whole cost of the vessel is added to the price
of the contents, and in the case of small tins containing from 1lb. to 5 lbs.
the price of preserved meat is enhanced by from one penny to thirco
pence per pound, a heavy augmentation when the object is to supply
clicap food.
The mode of closing the vessels in question and which forms the object
of my Invention, is to fasten the cover to the body of the tin by means
of a band or ribbon of thin metal soldered round the rim of the cover
and round the top edge of the vessel either inside or outside. A con-
venient plan of applying this Invention is to solder half (in width) of
the band or ribbon of thin metal, which may be ½ to 1 inch in width,
more or less, according to the size of the vessel) to the upper rim of the
tin before placing the food to be preserved in the vessel, and the other
half to the rim of the cover of which one mode is illustrated by the
annexed diagrams, of which the following is a description :-
Fig. 1 is the cover of the tin, with a rim about ½ inch deep; Fig. 2
is the tin, with a bead round its top about ½ inch deep & about the
same distance from the top of the rim; Fig. 3 shows the mode of con-
necting the tin and its cover; Fig. 4 represents a metallic band for
closing the joint between the tin and its cover.
The same letters represent the same parts in cach diagram respect-
ively.
(a, a,) is the rim of the cover; (b, b,) is the bead round the top of the
vessel. The external diameter of both the rim of the cover and the
bead on the tin are exactly the same. The depth of the rim of the vessel
above the bead is slightly deeper than the rim of the cover, so that when
the latter is placed on the former a circular cleft is formed between tho
rim of the cover and the top of the bead round the vessel. The total
width of the rim of the cover and that of the bead when in place will be
about an inch. Over these two surfaces a metallic band is soldered,
hermetically closing the vessel and leaving under the band the narrow 3
cleft above mentioned into which the point of a knife may be inserted
through the band, & by cutting round the cover will be separated

page_text: from the vessel without injury to either; (c) is the band soldered
externally in half its width to the bead at the top of the vessel; (d) is
the narrow cleft or slit running round the tin between the bead and the
cover.
I do not confine myself to this plan; other modes of forming a steam-
tight joint between the vessel and its cover by means of a metallic band
on the principle of my said Invention may be used. This metal band
joiut may be used to cover & close the top or bottom of the vessel, or
both, and may be applied to close in the way above described all or any
vessels containing food or other substances whether preserved, or cooked,
or not.
The advantages of this method of closing and scaling vessels are that
the vessels containing preserved food and their covers may be used again
and again if made of suitable strength for durability, so that the tins
may be returned to the vendor, and the price allowed to the buyer in thic
same way as is practised with wine and beer bottles. Thus the price of
preserved food will not be materially enhanced by the cost of the tin,
and the vessels can be manufactured much stronger, thereby aiding the
process of preserving meat by the application of heat inasmuch as
internal steam pressure and external atmospheric pressure may be better
resisted.
Referring to my Invention for "Improvements in Preserving Animal
and Vegetable Articles of Food and in Vessels, Apparatus, and Appliances
for such Preservation," described in my Provisional Specification, No.
3393, dated 14th November 1872, I wish it to be understood that the
Invention described in the present Specification is applicable as an
improvement in vessels for preserved food, in addition to those described
in the former, and I also intend that the false bottoms to be placed in
vessels used to preserve animal and vegetable food, as described in my
above-mentioned Invention (No. 3393, dated the 14th November 1872),
for the purpose of steaming the contents of such vessels, shall be applied
to ordinary saucepans and other cooking vessels for the purpose of
steaming meat and vegetables, in place of the combination of two vessels
(as now in use), onc containing water for the production of steam, the
other containing the food to be cooked by steaming. The effect of so
applying a false bottom, perforated with holes, and supported at a
suitable distance above the true bottom, in the manner described in the
Provisional Specification of my aforesaid Invention, No. 3393, dated

page_text: 14 November 1872, will be to convert any cooking vessel into a
culinary steamer at a small expense.
It is obvious that the improved method of closing and hermetically
sealing vessels containing articles of food or other substances by means
of a band of metal, which constitutes my aforesaid Invention, is appli- 5
cable to vessels of any size that may in practice be used, and is especially
available for large and strong iron casks, to be repeatedly re-used after
the contents have been disposed of.
And although I have mentioned soldering as a good plan for fastening
the bands of metal to the vessel and its cover I mean to avail myself of 1
any other means that will answor the purpose of fastening these bands
of metal to the material of which the vessels and covers are made, such
as brazing or any adhesivo varnish or material of a suitablo kind.
.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
CLARK, of No. 10, Craven Buildings, Drury Lanc, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Clark, Her special
licence that I, the said George Clark, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Clark, my exccutors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any timo 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, excrcise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
METALLIC OR OTHER VESSELS USED TO PRESERVE, Coox, OR CONTAIN ARTICLES OF
FOOD, AND PARTLY AVAILABLE FOR OTHER SUBSTANCES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George Clark, my executors or

page_text: administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and scals, 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 Scal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
dato of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Clark, do hereby declaro
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :—
This Invention relates to the closing, scaling, and opening of vessels
used to contain preserved animal and vegetable articles of food, and
especially meat, fish, and soups preserved in tinned iron canisters
usually called "tins," and is applicable to vessels made of other metals
or substances. The ordinary mode hitherto in use for closing preserved
meat tins, namely, to solder the covers or lids directly on to the bodics
after the latter have been filled involves the practice of opening the tins
by cutting through the body or cover of the vessels so closed when the
contents are intended to. be consumed, and thereby so mutilating as
practically to destroy the vessel and render it valueless. The result of
closing and opening vessels containing preserved food in the way just
described is that cach tin being used only once the whole cost of the
vessel is added to the price of the contents, and in the case of small tins
containing from 5 lbs. to 1 lb. cach the price of preserved meat is enhanced
by from 1d. to 3d. per lb. to pay for the tin.
The mode of closing the vessels in question, which forms the object of
my said Invention, is to fasten the cover to the body of the tin by means
of a band or ribbon of thin metal, interposed as a joint or junction
between those two parts, and soldered at its upper edge to and all round
the rim of the cover, and at its lower edge to and all round the top edge
or rim of the vessel, and either inside or outside of either, with the ends
of such band overlapping each other and soldered together. Or any two
or more parts of the body of a vessel may be fastened together by inter-
posing between them a thin metal band to form a joint or junction
between such parts, in the manner above described.
This process of
fastening the metal band to the separate parts of a vessel is effected in
such a way that a narrow slit or cleft being left between the rim of the

page_text: cover and body, and covered by the aforesaid band and the thin metal
thereof, can be easily cut through with a knife or scissors, penetrating
through it into the slit or cleft, and the cover be thus severed from the
body without injury to cither. A convenient plan of applying this
Invention is to solder about half (in width) of the band or ribbon of thin
metal intended to form the joint between the body & the cover (such
band being ½ to 1 inch in width, more or less, according to the size of
the vessel) to the rim or upper edge of the body of the tin before placing
in the vessel the food to be preserved or kept therein and then to solder
the other part of the width of the band to the rim of the cover leaving a
narrow slit or cleft between the body and cover, as aforesaid, covered
and protected by the band of thin metal, through and round which an
incision can casily be made and the cover be thereby separated from the
body of the tin, in the manner and with the result heroin-before
described.
One mode of carrying out the object of the said Invention is illustrated
by the annexed Diagrams, Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, of which the following is a
description. Fig. 1 is the cover of the tin like a saucepan lid, with a
rim about ½ inch deep; Fig. 2 is the body of the tin, with a bead
swaged round it and near to the top about ½ inch deep, and the same
distance from the top edge or rim of the body; Fig. 3 shows the mode
of connecting the tin and its cover; Fig. 4 represents a metallic band
forming a joint, connecting the body of the tin and its cover and closing
the space between both. The same letters represent the same parts in
cach Diagram respectively.
(a, a,) is the rim of the cover; (b, b,) is the bead, swaged round and
near to the top of the body. The external diameter of both the rim of
the cover and the head on the body are exactly the same; the rim of the
body above the bead is slightly deeper than the rim of the cover, so that
when the latter is placed on the former, the cover resting on the top of
the rim of the body, a circular cleft (d, d,) is formed or left between the
rim of the cover and the top of the bead round the vessel; the total
width of the rim of the cover and that of the bead when in place may be
about, an inch. Over the two surfaces of the bead, on the body and
the rim of the cover, a metallic band (c, c,) is soldered externally,
hermetically closing the vessel and leaving under the band a narrow
cleft (, ) as above mentioned, the dotted lines indicating the position
of this cleft, into which the point of a knife, or scissors, or any cutter may

page_text: be inserted through the band, which being cut round into the cleft it
(the band) will be severed and the cover separated from the body of the
vessel without injury to cither.
Other modes of applying my said Invention for fastening together and
separating the body and cover of any vessel, for the purpose above
referred to, are illustrated by the annexed Diagrams, No. 5 and 6. In
Fig. 5 (e, e,) is the top rim of the body of the vessel, such rim being
turned outwards over a wire after the manner of the rim of a tin sauce-
pan; (f) is the band of thin metal, soldered at its lower edge inside
the rim of the body with a soldered joint (9,1,) outside running round,
the wire of which the convexity well set out forms a narrow channel
between it and the metal band externally, into which channel the solder
is floated forming a good joint; inside the metal band at a little distance
(about 1th of an inch) above the wired rim of the body a wire (h, h,) is
soldered to the band, the object and use of such wire being to support
the rim of the cover when the latter has to be soldered over the body of
the tin inside the top edge of the metal band in order to close and scal
the vessel after it has been filled with the food or other substance to bo
preserved or contained in it; the cover, Fig. 6, has a narrow rim (i, i,)
set out at an angle, as shown in the Drawing, and of such diameter that
its edge resting on the wire (h, h,) a channel is left or formed inside the
metal band between the metal band and the upper side of the rim of the
cover, into which channel solder being run and properly floated a secure
joint between the body and the cover through the medium of the band is
formed; the dotted line (k, k,) indicates the narrow space, about th
inch wide, more or less, between the wired rim (e, c,) of the body and
the wire (h, h,) such narrow space being the slit between the body and
the cover, into which a cutting instrument being inserted by penetrating
through the thin metal of the band the former will by cutting all round
through the said slit open the tin, separating the body and the cover in
the manner herein-before described.
A modification of the above last mentioned plan is illustrated in
Diagram, Fig. 7. In place of turning the top rim of the body over a
wire the upper part of the body may be swaged all round about ½ inch
or thereabouts from the said top rim of the body, so as to form a bead or
projecting ledge (1, 2) externally under the top rim, to which the under
side of the metal band (m, m,) may be soldered, and instead of affixing
a wire inside the metal band to support the cover, as shown in Diagram

page_text: No. 5, the upper side of the band (1, 1,) may be swaged so as to form a
projecting bead or narrow ledge (n, n,) inside and near to the upper edge
of the said band, on which bead or ledge (n, n,) the cover may rest and
be soldered in the same way as when making use of a wire inside the
metal band, as above described and shewn in the Diagrams, Figs. 5 and 6,
for the same purpose.
I do not confine myself to any or cither of the plans above mentioned
or referred to; other modes of forming a steam-tight joint between the
vessel and its cover by means of a metallic band on the principle of my
said Invention may be adopted. This metal band joint may be used to
cover and close the top or bottom of the vessel or both, and may be
soldered inside or outside the body or the cover, as may be desirable,
according to the circumstances of its application in cach case, or as
before mentioned to connect any two parts of the body of a vessel,
and the said band joint may be applied to close all or any vessels:
containing food, whether preserved or cooked or not, or other
substances.
The severed band and the solder used to fasten it to the body and
cover of the vessel may be removed with a hot iron, or by dipping them
into a pot of melted solder, thus saving the solder used to fasten the
band to the vessel and its cover, and another band may be applied in
any manner as before described at a small expense, thus admitting of
the same tin being renewed and made use of to preserve or contain food
or other substances repeatedly.
The advantages of this method of closing, scaling, and opening vessels.
for the before mentioned purposes are that they may be easily opened
without injury to the body or cover, and that the bodies and covers of
such vessels may be used again and again if made of suitable strengthi
for durability, and so that the empty vessels may be returned to the
vendor in good condition, and a price be allowed to the buyer for
empty tius in the same way as is practised with emptied wine and beer
bottles.
Although I have mentioned soldering as a good plan for fastening the
aforesaid bands of metal to the bodies of the vessels & their covers for
the purpose of forming a severable joint between the two I reserve the
right to use any other means that will answer the same purpose of
fastening these bands, such as brazing, or the use of any adhesive
varnish, mastic, or substance of a suitable kind.

page_text: The essential principle of my said Invention is as before said the use
of a band of metal in the way and for the purposes herein-before
described without reference to any special method of fastening and
securing such band of metal provided it be hermetically sealed so as to
render its joints air and steam tight in all their parts..
My said Invention being applicable to vessels of any size that may
in practice be used it is especially available for large and strong iron or
other metal casks (capable of containing large quantities of food or other
substances) to be repeatedly reused after the contents have been dis-
posed of. But necessarily in applying the aforesaid method to closc
and scal such large and strong vessels, the band of metal used to form
the joint after the manner before described must be thicker and stronger
than for smaller vessels, and fastened and secured in a substantial way
to the body and cover respectively in one or other of the ways herein-
before described or referred to, or any other suitable way.
With reference to the mention made in the Provisional Specification
of this Invention of my former Invention for "Improvements in
Preserving Animal and Vegetable Articles of Food, and in Vessels,
Apparatus, and Appliances for such Preservation," No. 3393, dated
the 14th November 1872, I do not intend in any way to combine the
improvements described in such last mentioned Provisional Specification
with that which forms the object of this Specification, and I disclaim
the application and use of those improvements as forming part of my
said Invention described in this final Specification.
For some articles of food, such as sardines and others in flat boxes it
may be convenient to place the band joint of thin metal at the top round
and near to the edge of the cover of the vessel. Under this arrangement
a turn-over rim may be fitted inwards to the top of the body forming
all round and inside the top of the body a narrow ledge on which may
be soldered a ring band of thin metal previously soldered to a metal
plate about ½ inch less in diameter than the circular opening inside the
ledge at the top of the body, so that a space about th inch wide covered
by the band will be left between such metal disc and ledge, and the top
may be easily opened by cutting through the band.
Annexed is a Diagram, Fig. S, of this last mentioned plan shown as
applied to a sardine box; the same mode of applying a band joint at the
top of the cover of any preserving vessel will be suitable for soup, milk,

page_text: lobster, oyster, vegetables, fruit, or other tins of which the contents are
wholly or partially liquid, or do not require to be turned out whole
and unbroken. In all its forms of application it admits of the cover
and band joint being renewed so that the vessel may be used several
times.
(a, a,) is the outer edge of the top of the body; (b, b,) is the ledge
formed on the top of the body and turned inwards; (c, c,) is the plate
of metal smaller than the opening inside the ledge and fitted to the top
of the body by means of the thin metal forming the band joint, which
is fastened on one side to the said metal plate and on the other side
thereof to the ledge (b, b,) as shewn by the dotted lines; (d, d,) is the
slit or cleft running round the cover and forming the band joint to be
cut through for the purpose of opening the box; (e, c,) is a continuation
of the metal plate, which being fastened to one end of the top of the box
will form a hinge to close and open the box when in use.
In cases where it may be useful or desirable to form the body of any
vessel of the kind herein-before described or referred to in two or more
parts the aforesaid band joint of thin metal may be interposed between
and fastened to any two of such parts, so as to form an easily severable
joint to the said parts, and any such metal band will be secured to the
said two parts respectively, and the joint will be opened and the new
joint formed by means of another band of metal after removing the
remnant of the severed band when it has been divided, and the contents
of the vessel removed, the whole substantially in the same manner and
by the same means as hercin-before described with reference to the
bodies and covers of any such aforesaid vossels.
In witness whereof, I, the said Georgo Clark, havo hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Twenty-third day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-thircc.