IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND MEANS FOR PRESERVING FRUIT AND OTHER PERISHABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International Patent
Office," No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MODE OF AND MEANS FOR PRESERVING FRUIT AND OTHER PERISHABLE
SUBSTANCES."-A communication from abroad by Benjamin Markley
and States of America
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th November 1865.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8,
Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND MEANS FOR PRESERVING FRUIT AND OTHER
PERISHABLE SUBSTANCES," a communication, to be as follows:-
The said Invention relates to preserving fruits, vegetables, and other
organic perishable substances, and consists chiefly in a dark chamber with
walls proof against atmospheric changes from without, and having aa
insulated ice reservoir above. The moisture within is brought by chemical
agitation of the contained air in contact with absorbents, such as waste
bittern, or the chlorides of calcium, magnesium, or other absorbents, whereby

page_text: the chamber is kept free from moisture and at a uniform temperature of about
thirty-four degrees Fahrenheit. The preserving chamber is contained within
a double casing filled with shavings, dry chaff, or other like material; the
ground floor of the said chamber, which rests firmly upon and level with a
suitable foundation, being rendered impermeable to air and moisture by a
covering of tar or asphaltum or other like substance. This chamber has also
another floor of plank covered with zinc, and is provided with double air-
tight doors. The ice chamber, which has a floor of galvanized iron, is
situated above the preserving chamber, and over the ice chamber is another
floor covered with dry chaff or other bad heat-conducting material. The
outer casing of the chamber may be of brick plastered inside, and coated
with cement or other air-tight material, lined outside with sheet iron, or may
be entirely of sheet iron or other air-tight substance. Still air being one
of the poorest conductors of heat, and solid substances being commonly
good conductors in proportion to their density, no more shavings should be
placed between the casings than are necessary, and they should be packed
only close enough to keep the air still. The outer covering of the outside
casing must be air-tight, or the warm moist air of summer will enter, and
mingling with the cold air near the inside casing will deposit moisture,
generate fermentations, create heat, raise the temperature of the chamber, and
waste ice. The inside air-tight casing and heatand moisture tight doors when
shut make the chamber air-tight. As the fruit gradually ripens the oxygen
of the contained air unites with the hydrogen and carbon, and forms water
and carbonic acid, which in a few days is entirely consumed. Six pounds of
carbon and one pound of hydrogen from the fruit consume the oxygen of one
hundred and twenty pounds of air. The fruit is thus immersed in an atmo-
sphere composed of nitrogen and carbonic acid, the great agent of decomposi-
tion, oxygen, being absent. The absorbents take up the moisture and the air
is dry. One square foot of exposed surface of chlorides is generally sufficient
for from six to ten bushels of fruit. The water-tight ice floor prevents contact
of the ice with the air of the chamber, and secures free and equal conduction
of heat to the ice. The heated air of the chamber, created by the fermenta-
tion of the slowly ripening fruit and the action of the chlorides, ascends to the
ice floor, chills, and falls to the ground floor, where the absorbents spread out
on sufficiently extended surfaces take up the moisture. The air is now dry
and cold, composed of nitrogen and carbonic acid, and no element of destruc-
tion or foreign impurity is present. The cheapest and best absorbent
known to me is the refuce bittern of salt and chemical works.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th May 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
l'atent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special licence that I, the
said William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Robert Lake, myexecutors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND MEANS FOR PRESERVING
FRUIT AND OTHER PERISHABLE SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention,and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the saine 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 Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings making a part of this Specification:-
The said Invention relates to preserving fruit, vegetable and other organic
perishable substances, and consists chiefly in a dark chamber with walls proof
against atmospheric changes from without, and having an insulated ice
reservoir above. The moisture within is brought by chemical agitation of the
contained air in contact with waste bittern, the chlorides of calcium, mag-
esium, or other absorbents, whereby the chamber is kept free from moisture
nd at a uniform temperature of about thirty-four degrees Fahrenheit.

page_text: Figure 1 is a vertical transverse section of the preserving chamber;
Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section; and Figure 3 is a horizontal
longitudinal section of the said chamber. Like letters refer to corresponding
parts in cach of the Figures.
A represents the ground floor of the chamber; B, the foundation wall;
C and C, the outer and inner air-tight casings; D, the filling; E, the
asphaltum or tarred covering of the ground floor; H, H', the sheet-iron
linings of the outer and inner casings; I, the plank floor of the preserving
chamber; J, the preserving chamber; K and K', the outer and inner heat.
tight doors; L, the galvanized or zinced iron floor of the chamber; M, the
galvanized iron ice floor; N, the absorbents spread upon the floor; O, the
discharge pipe from the ice floor; P, a plank walk through the aisles over
the absorbents; R, an hygrometer for measuring the moisture; S, the ice
chamber; T, a loose floor above the ice covered with filling; U, iron bars
resting upon joists V, on which bars the ice floor rests. Chamber J is made
as follow:-C is an outside and an inside air-tight casing, about three
and a half feet apart, filled in with dry chaff or short shavings or other poor
heat-conducting materials. The outside casing may be of brick, plastered
inside and coated with roofing cement or other air-tight material, or of sheet
iron with painted edges, nailed closely together to upright studding, or of
other air-tight substances. The ground should be firm and level with the
foundation walls, and covered with tar, pitch, asphaltum, or other substance
impermeable to air or moisture. Still air being one of the poorest conductors
of heat, and solid substances being commonly good conductors in proportion to
their density, no more shavings should be placed between the casings than are
necessary, and they should be packed only close enough to keep the air still.
The outer covering of the outside casing must be air-tight, or the wam moist
air of summer will enter, and mingling with the cold air near the inside casing
will deposit moisture, generate fermentation, create heat, raise the temperature
of the chamber, and waste ice. The inside air-tight casing C and heat and
moisture tight doors K, K', when shut make the chamber air-tight. As the
fruit gradually ripens theoxygen of the contained air united with the hydrogen
and carbon, and forms water and carbonic acid, which in a few days is eutirely
consumed. Six pounds of carbon and one pound of hydrogen from the fruit
consume the oxygen of one hundredand twenty pounds of air. The fruitis thus
immersed in an atmosphere composed of nitrogen and carbonic acid, the great
agent of decomposition, oxygen, being absent. The absorbents take up the

page_text: moisture and the air is dry. One square foot of exposed surface of chlorides
is generally sufficient for from six to ten bushels of fruit. The water-tight
ice floor M is of sheet metal, having a slight descent towards the discharge
pipe O. This floor prevents contact of the ice with the air of the chamber,
and secures free and equal conduction of heat to the ice. The heated air
of the chamber, created by the fermentation of the slowly ripening fruit
and the action of the chlorides, ascends to the ice floor, chills and falls to
the ground floor, where the absorbents spread out on sufficiently extended
surfaces take up the moisture. The air is now dry and cold, composed of
nitrogen and carbonic acid, and no element of destruction of foreign
impurity is present.
The cheapest and best absorbent known to me is the refuse bittern of
salt and chemical works.
Having thus fully described my Invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, I wish it understood that I do not confine myself to
the exact details herein set forth and illustrated; but I claim,-
First, a dark air, heat, and moisture tight chamber kept cool throughout
to a uniform temperature of thirty-four degrees, thirty-five degrees, thirty-six
degrees, or thirty-seven degrees Fahrenheit by ice on a metal floor above,
and kept dry to any extent desired by waste bittern or other absorbents
spread on extended surfaces within, having thereby, when closed and supplied
with fruit, grain, or other vegetable matter, an atmosphere of nitrogen and
carbonic acid without oxygen, constructed substantially as described, to save
from decay for a long period perishable organic substances.
Second, the use of refuse bitterns of salt and chemical works as absorbents
in air-tight fruit preserving houses and vessels.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this
Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-six.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)
Witness,
GEORGE HASELTINE,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.