IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF PRESERVING MEAT, FISH, AND ANALOGOUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Harvey, of the Firm of Sir Charles Price and
Company, of Upper Thames Street, in the City of London, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF PRESERVING MEAT, FISH, AND ANALOGOUS
SUBSTANCES"
Scaled the 6th February 1877, and dated the 29th November 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Harvey at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th November 1876.
JOHN HARVEY, of the Firm of Sir Charles Price and Company, of Upper Thames
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF PRESERVING
Street, in the City of London.
MEAT, FISH, AND ANALOGOUS SUBSTANCES."
This Invention relates to an improved process of preserving meat and other
animal substances in which sulphurous acid gas is employed as the preservative
agent. The preservative properties of this gas have long been known, but as
hitherto obtained it has had a bad effect on the meat or other substance submitted
to its action, imparting thereto an unpleasant taste and smell, due it is believed to
the impurities inseparable from the gas as ordinarily manufactured.
According to my Invention I employ sulphurous acid gas produced by the
combustion of bisulphide of carbon, and I thus obtain a gas free from the impurities
above referred to.
The mode of applying this gas admits of various modifications, but a simple and
efficient method is to hang the meat up round a moderate sized chamber and burn
in an open vessel placed in the centre of the same bisulphide of carbon until the
desired effect is produced on the meat.
When applying this Invention on board ship for preserving meat during a long
voyage, this operation may be repeated from time to time as occasion may require.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Harvey in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th May
1877.
JOHN HARVEY, of the Firm of Sir Charles Price and Company, Upper Thames
Street, in the City of London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF PRESERVING
MEAT, FISH, AND ANALOGOUS SUBSTANCES."
This Invention relates to an improved process of preserving meat and other
animal substances in which sulphurous acid gas is employed as the preservative
agent. The preservative properties of this gas have long been known, but the
source from which it has been derived has rendered it difficult of application,
besides which it has had a bad effect on the meat or other substance submitted to
its action, imparting thereto an unpleasant taste and smell, due it is believed to
the impurities inseparable from the gas as ordinarily manufactured.
According to my Invention 1 employ sulphurous acid gas produced by the com-
bustion of bisulphide of carbon, and I thus obtain a gas free from the impurities
above referred to.
The simplest mode of using the bisulphide of carbon for the production of
sulphurous acid gas is to ignite a quantity of the same in a shallow cup or saucer in
the chamber or receptacle in which the meat, poultry, game, or fish intended to be
subjected to the preservative action of the gas is placed. Owing to its great com-
bustibility the whole of the bisulphide will burn out clear when once it is set on fire,
and the sulphurous acid produced during this burning will impregnate the air of
the chamber and be brought in contact with all the meat, poultry, game, or fish
contained therein.
According to my experience and judgment one ounce of bisulphide will produce
enough sulphurous acid to impregnate a chamber about fourteen feet square, and
ten feet high; but no exact proportion need be laid down as to the quantity of the
gas to be thrown into the air, because an excess of gas will not injure the meat,
and experience may prove that a much smaller quantity than that named may be
sufficient.
Another convenient though less simple plan than that described is to burn the
bisulphide of carbon in a common spirit lamp, using the liquid as the aliment of the
lamp, and burning it from a wick like spirits of wine. In that case the lamp can
be introduced into, the chamber in which the meat, poultry, game, or fish is
suspended or placed and left to burn for a certain tine. By means of a preparatory
experiment the approximate rate of consumption of bisulphide in the lamp may be
ascertained once for all, and so the quantity burned at any given time will be known
with sufficient exactness.
When the quantity of bisulphide of carbon is known the quantity of sulphurous
acid which it will produce can very easily be calculated from the chemical
equivalents of the substances, taking for the basis of the calculation that one
hundred grains of bisulphide will produce in burning about one hundred and sixty-
eight grains of sulphurous acid which measure about two hundred and forty-five
cubic inches. Whether the bisulphide be burned from a cup or flat open vessel, or
from a lamp such as that described, the quantity of sulphurous acid gas produced
by a given quantity of bisulphide is theoretically the same.
The meat, fish, game, or poultry may remain in the chamber until it is required for
use, or it may be removed soon after treatment and replaced by other animal
substances requiring such treatment.
Supposing the Invention to be applied to the contents of a butcher's shop, it will
be convenient when the shop is closed in the evening to stop the free access of air
thereto, and then to fill the apartment with the sulphurous acid vapour and leave
it undisturbed until the morning. If a tendency to taint or decay had shewn itself
this would be found to have been arrested and the meat would prove as sweet as
when it was just killed.

page_text: For preserving meat on board ship I propose to fit up a chamber in any con-
venient part of the vessel to receive the fresh meat and to burn bisulphide of carbon
therein, as above explained, so soon as the meat has been placed in the chamber.
This operation I propose to repeat from time to time, say at intervals of a week or
more, taking care that the gas shall have free circulation over and around the
several joints or carcasses. By this means I am enabled to transport fresh meat
from distant countries in a state and at a cost which will enable the meat to
compete in the home market with meat of home growth.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in the
Means of Preserving Meat, Fish, and Analogous Substances," and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under
the above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim, the application to meat, fish, and
other animal substances of sulphurous acid gas obtained from the combustion of
bisulphide of carbon for the purpose of preserving the same from deterioration or
decay.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Harvey, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
JOHN HARVEY. (L.S.)