An Improved Process and Apparatus for Preserving Meat, Fish, and other Perishable Substances.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Apr., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 25th Jan., 1893-Accepted, 22nd Apr., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Process and Apparatus for Preserving Meat, Fish, and
other Perishable Substances.
A communication to me from FÉLIX GROGNET, of Courbevoie (Seine), in the
Republic of France, Engineer.
I, EDMUND EDWARDS, of the firm of Edwards and Co., Patent Agents and
Engineers, of 35, Southampton Buildings Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In order to preserve meat, fish, or other perishable articles according to this
invention, the following method is adopted:
1. A bath is prepared of the following materials.

page_text: A sufficient number of revolving fans are driven by bevilled toothed wheels
upon the outer driving shaft, and draw dry air from a drying column or cylinder
into which air is admitted from below and is dried thoroughly by gas jets or other
source of heat, the dry air being delivered by the fans through openings in the
side of the case, and upon the food carried by the revolving supports in the cage.
Lest the drying action should be more complete at the outer part than at the
centre, a sufficient number of other similar fans are arranged so as to deliver dry
air through openings at the bottom of the case, so that a regular current upwards
is produced, which thoroughly dries the food near the centre of the supports.
The apparatus is driven by any suitable means.
Food, such as meat or fish, prepared in the manner described is rendered more or
less tender according to the purpose for which it is intended and the degree to
which it is dried.
It is essential that the coating with which the foods are surrounded should be
homogeneous, completely de-hydrated, and protected from all external germs, spores,
and microbes, and moreover that the coating should be sufficiently elastic to resist
the mechanical action resulting in carriage or in work.
11100
EDWARDS & Co.,
35, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Process and Apparatus for Preserving Meat, Fish, and
other Perishable Substances.
A communication to me from Félix Grognet, of Courbevoie (Seine), in the
Republic of France, Engineer.
.
- 1, EDMUND EDWARDS, of the firm of Edwards and Co., Patent Agents and
Engineers, of 35, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, 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 and accompanying drawing, that is to say :-
In order to preserve meat, fish, or other perishable articles according to this
invention the following method is adopted
1. A bath is prepared of the following materials,
Ordinary cooking salt
Pepper
Bay leaves
4 kilogrammes
250 grammes
Cinnamon
Cloves
Ginger
Nutmeg
Acetate of potash
25
"
125
"
50
"
250
"
-
50
"
150
"
These materials are infused or dissolved as the case may be in a hundred
kilogrammes of vinegar, of 3 or 4 degrees of strength or in a hundred kilogrammes
of water containing a hundred grammes of salicylic acid.
The food cut into pieces or left whole as in the case of fish are immersed in this
bath until their impregnation is complete.
When the food is thoroughly saturated, it is dried in the following manner.
A mixture is prepared of talc or Craie de Briançon, or maize flour, or of steatite
and ordinary flour, or of whitening mixed with any flour, or lastly, one of the
products above mentioned mixed with one of the others, or with powdered charcoal.
The food is then sprinkled completely with this mixture which adheres to it and
the whole is then treated with water containing salicylic acid and the meat or

page_text: food so prepared is placed in drying apparatus of the kind illustrated in the
accompanying drawing.
This consists of open plates A arranged one above the other and surrounded by
a grating which forms a kind of cage into which the materials to be preserved are
introduced through suitable doors B. The plates and cage are carried upon a
central shaft C to which they are fixed, and the whole is surrounded by an external
metallic case D, having a door by which access is obtained to the interior.
The top of the case is closed by a series of vanes and openings arranged so that
air is withdrawn during the working of the apparatus, whilst the entrance of
impurities is prevented.
The central vertical axis C is made to revolve by means of a driving pulley E
upon a vertical shaft F outside the apparatus, and driving by a cord a corresponding
pulley fixed upon the central axis C first described.
The axles e of a sufficient number of revolving fans I are driven by bevilled
toothed wheels H (Figure 2) upon them driven by corresponding bevilled toothed
wheels G upon the outer driving shaft F which is shewn driven by toothed gearing
and a driving shaft Ļ.
The fans I draw dry air from a drying column or cylinder J into which air is
admitted from below and is dried thoroughly by gas jets or other source of heat
the dry air being delivered by the fans through openings in the side of the case
and upon the food carried by the revolving supports in the cage.
Lest the drying action should be more complete at the outer part than at the
centre, a sufficient number of other similar fans are arranged so as to deliver dry
air through openings at the bottom of the case, so that a regular current upwards
is produced, which thoroughly dries the food near the centre of the supports.
The apparatus is driven by any suitable means.
Food such as meat or fish prepared in the manner described is rendered more or
less tender according to the purpose for which it is intended and the degree to
which it is dried.
It is essential that the coating with which the foods are surrounded should be
homogeneous, completely de-hydrated, and protected from all external germs,
spores, and microbes, and moreover that the coating should be sufficiently elastic
to resist the mechanical action resulting during carriage or in work.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The novel method of preserving food such as meat and fish, in the open air.
2. The composition substantially as described, of the bath into which the articles
of food are immersed.
3. The composition, substantially as described, of the anhydrous material with
which the food is covered.
4. The treatment of the material described in Claim 3, with water containing
salicylic acid.
5. The apparatus, substantially as described and illustrated, for obtaining a
complete and rapid desiccation of the foods treated as described.
Dated this 25th day of January 1893.
EDWARDS & Co.,
35, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.