IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF GELATINE, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN FINING AND CLARIFYING LIQUIDS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GERARD
ANDREW ARNEY, of Mare Street, Hackney, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twentieth day of January, in the ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Gerard Andrew Arney, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Gerard Andrew Arney,
my exors, admiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Gerard Andrew
Arney, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands
of Guernsey, Jersey, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PREPARATION OF GELATINE, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN FINING AND CLARIFYING LIQUIDS;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Gerard
Andrew Arney, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,

page_text: as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Gerard Andrew Arney, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, to be fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists,―
First, in a method of preparing gelatine by treating it in the manner herein-
after described, so as to reduce it to powder, and mixing the gelatine so pre-
pared with various articles, such preparations of gelatine being applicable for
the quickly preparing therefrom jellies and blanc-manges, and for the various
other purposes mentioned therein.
Secondly, my Invention consists in a certain mode or certain modes of fining
or clarifying liquids.
In describing that part of my Invention which relates to the preparation of
gelatine, I would first say that the essential difference between my preparations
of gelatine and others consists in this, that they are in powder, and that there
is no water in combination with them, so that being dry compounds they are
not liable to turn mouldy, as watery preparations of gelatine are apt to do,
while the gelatine is reduced to that state that it readily dissolves in water upon
the application of heat. In carrying out my Invention, I first take ordinary
gelatine and reduce it to powder by grinding it in a mill, similarly to corn
or rice or coffee; but for this purpose it is essentially necessary that all its
moisture should be expelled. This I effect by subjecting it for several bours
to the heat of a stove, room, or current of air, the temperature of which I
prefer to have ranging from one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit to two
hundred and twelve degrees Fahrenheit. The time required to accomplish this
will depend upon the thickness of the substance of the gelatine and the
quantity of water to be expelled; it may, however, be judged of by the degree
of brittleness of the gelatine. When the gelatine has entirely lost its moisture
and has become perfectly brittle it must be crushed or broken into pieces
sufficiently small to enable it to enter the mill which is to reduce it to powder.
This simple operation may be effected either by the hand or by any suitable
apparatus. Care must be taken not to expose the gelatine to the slightest
moisture, which would render a second drying necessary; but being now in a
perfectly dry state it may be readily reduced to powder by grinding it in a
similar manner to corn, or rice, or coffee; and the description of mill which I
prefer to use for this purpose is an ordinary grocer's horizontal coffee mill, and
if the gelatine be thoroughly devoid of moisture it may thus be easily reduced

page_text: to powder. The gelatine being reduced to powder may be further prepared for
the various purposes for which it is intended. Thus when it is intended for
the making of jellies, it is to be mixed with sugar, citric acid, and essence of
lemon, mixing the essence with the sugar before applying the sugar to the
gelatine; and the proportions in which I usually apply these are as follows:-
Gelatine, nine pounds; refined sugar, eighteen pounds; citric acid, ten ounces;
essence of lemon, three ounces. And when intended for the making of blanc-
manges it is to be mixed with sugar, carbonate of potash, essential oil of
almonds, and essence of lemon, mixing the essences with the sugar before
applying the sugar to the gelatine; and I usually apply to every nine pounds
of gelatine fifteen pounds of refined sugar, five drachms of carbonate of potash,
five drachms of essential oil of almonds, and one ounce of essence of lemon.
In each case the ingredients are to be well mixed together, after which I put
them into bottles or packages for sale, and six ounces of the first-named com-
position or powder is sufficient to make one quart of jelly, and five ounces of
the last-named composition or powder is sufficient for a quart of blanc-mange.
And I also make a preparation of this powdered gelatine to be employed for
the purpose of thickening, enriching, and flavouring of soups, gravies, hashes,
and other made dishes, and also to serve as a portable soup; and when the
prepared gelatine is to be so employed, it is to be mixed with farina or
faranaceous vegetable flour, in the proportion of seven pounds of farina to every
ten pounds of gelatine; and this composition or powder is to be flavoured with
any suitable essence of meat, culinary herbs, or essences of such herbs, such as
The
celery, mint, parsley, thyme, &c., and also with any suitable spices.
description of herbs to be employed and the proportions will, of course,
wholly depend upon the description of dish the preparation is intended for,
and upon taste.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I. do not confine myself to
the exact quantities, degrees of heat, culinary herbs, essencies, or essential oils
within mentioned, as these may be varied according to taste and circumstance.
But what I claim is,―
First, the preparing gelatine by reducing it to powder by the operations of
stove drying and grinding; and,
Secondly, I claim the application of gelatine in a powdered state when
sweetened and flavored in the way set forth, for the purpose of forming com-
positions from which may be quickly prepared jellies and blanc-manges by
solution in water for jellies, and in milk for blanc-manges. And I also claim
the application of this powdered gelatine when mixed with farina or starch, or

page_text: starchy vegetable flour, and flavored with essence of meat, culinary herbs, and
spices, in the way set forth, for the purpose of thickening, enriching, and
flavoring of soups, gravies, and made dishes, also as a portable soup.
I will now proceed to describe the second part of the Invention, which relates
to the fining of liquids; and in order that this may be clearly understood, I
will first describe the ordinary fining process. In liquors requiring fining or
clarifying the thickness is owing to minute atoms of insoluble matter being
mechanically suspended, and which have not alone a sufficient specific gravity
to cause their deposition. The process of fining consists in the diffusion of
additional atoms of insoluble matter through the liquid, which attract and
unite with the floating feculencies, which before this union were of the same
specific gravity with the liquor, and therefore could not subside alone, but
having now acquired additional weight precipitate as a flocculent magma.
The ordinary method by which this is effected is by the use of isinglass soaked
and diffused in vinegar or sour beer till it acquires the consistence of thin
treacle, after which it is added to the liquid to be fined. The action of the
isinglass is owing to the presence of tannin in the liquor, which combines with
it, forming an insoluble compound of a flocculent character, which envelopes the
muddy particles present in the liquor, and carries them with it to the bottom
of the vessel. Now in practise it is found to be highly objectionable to employ
any acid in the finings, and I will now proceed to describe my improvements
in the foregoing process. I first take ordinary isinglass or gelatine of a fair
quality, and dissolve it in water by the aid of heat; or, in common language, I
make a jelly of it. The proportion of water to be employed will depend upon
the quality of the gelatine and the temperature of the atmosphere, but I prefer
to have the jelly rather weak. I allow it to cool or solidify, and then beat
it well with a bundle of rods, and add a proportion of the liquor to be fined till
it acquires the consistence of thin treacle; I then pass it through a fine sieve
to equalize it more fully. This I call finings, and it has this important advan-
tage, that it contains no acid, while its chemical composition in other respects
is exactly similar to the ordinary isinglass finings, being a diffusion of gelatinous
fibres, which are insoluble in all liquors of the same temperature. It is to be
applied to the liquor for fining exactly similar to ordinary finings. This, how-
ever, is only adding the fining material to the liquor, but the fining process
requires its full developement, the presence of a precipitating agent, and in the
ordinary process this precipitating agent is found in the tannin which the
liquor contains, and the abstraction of the tannin from the liquor causes injury
to the liquor. Now as it is desirable to have the liquor merely fined or
cleansed without the abstraction of any of its component parts, I add (pre-

page_text: viously to the addition of the finings) a given quantity of a solution of tannin,
a substance well known to chemists) sufficient to precipitate a given quantity
of gelatine; and after the addition of the finings I agitate the liquor well, and
leave it to precipitate. The proportion of tannin to be employed will depend
upon circumstances, such, for instance, as the quality and quantity of the
gelatine employed; the specific gravity of the liquor under fining it must not,
however, be so large as to cause a very rapid precipitation. I have usually
found that a proportion of half a dram to a dram of tannin to one ounce of dry
gelatine has a very good effect with vinous liquors. When, however, the
liquor abounds in tannin, or whenever it is desirable to "fine down" upon the
old system, the finings may be employed alone, and will be found to have a
superiority in not containing acid. The tannin which I prefer to use is that
obtained from the substance known to chemists under the name of "catechu."
I claim as this part of my Invention,-
First, the mode of applying gelatine or isinglass in the form of jelly, as herein
described.
Secondly, the supplying tannin to the liquor under fining, so as to act as a
precipitating agent.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gerard Andrew Arney, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this 17th day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-six.