IMPROVE- MENTS IN CURING AND PACKING HAMS AND BACON
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Taylor Davies, of Liverpool, in the County
of Lancaster, Provision Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CURING AND PACKING HAMS AND BACON."-A communication
from abroad by Isaac Atkinson, of Hamilton, in the County of
Wentworth in the Province of Ontario, Canada.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Taylor Davies
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 2nd October 1872.
I, JOHN TAYLOR DAVIES, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
Provision Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CURING AND PACKING HAMS AND BACON," a commu-
nication to me from abroad by Isaac Atkinson, of Hamilton, in the
County of Wentworth, in the Province of Ontario Canada (to be as
follows) :-

page_text: Hogs after being killed and dressed are hung in a cooling room with
temperature at about forty degrees Fahrenheit, where they are allowed
to remain for about thirty-six hours. The hams and bacon are then laid
singly on the floor of a large tank or vat (from which water can drain)
d covered with small broken ice and salt mixed; this is covered with
alte layers of meat and broken ice and salt until the tank or vat is
full. The hams and bacon are allowed to remain in this state for about
wenty-four hours, at the expiration of which time they are moved and
placed in pickle of full strength, in which they are allowed to remain
for about twenty-four hours. They are then drawn out and laid in rows
on the floor of a cellar cooled to about forty degrees Fahrenheit, having
been sprinkled lightly with saltpetre and well covered with coarse salt.
After lying in this position for about seven days they are removed,
freshly covered with salt, and allowed to lie in a similar position for
about seven days longer, when they are again removed, resalted, laid
down, and left for about sixteen days more, at the expiration of which
time (thirty days from the period of first going into salt) the hams or
bacon may be considered fully cured.
To prepare the meat for packing, and this is a novel feature of my
Invention, it is well brushed in clean cold water and allowed to drain
for twenty-four hours, then weighed and all moisture carefully wiped off
with a dry cloth, after which it is sprinkled well over with fine ground
alum, or rubbed over with it. The hams are put into paper bags,
or rolled in best quality of Manilla paper, or what is better rolled
tightly in straw boards, made pliable by being soaked in a solution of
alum so as to conform to the exact shape of the meat, thereby excluding
the air and rendering them impervious to moisture after becoming dry.
The hams are finally packed in boxes and well pressed down, each box
containing about five hundred pounds. The bacon is packed with either
a sheet of straw board, double thickness of paper, or what is known as
American cheese board, and treated in a manner similar to the hams.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Taylor Davies in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd April 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Joun
TAYLOR DAVIES, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Provision
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Taylor Davies, Her special
licence that I, the said John Taylor Davies, my executors, adminis
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Taylor Davies,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agreo
with, and no others, from time to time and 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
Freland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CURING AND PACKING HAMS AND. BACON," a communication
to me from abroad by Isaac Atkinson, of Hamilton, in the County of
Wentworth, in the Province of Ontario, Canada, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Taylor Davies, 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 same 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 John Taylor Davies, do hereby
declare 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, that is to say :—
This Invention relates (1) to a complete method or process of curing
and packing hams and bacon; and (2), to a novel method of preparing
and packing such articles.
First part. Hogs after being killed and dressed are hung up in a
cooling room with temperature at about forty degrees Fahrenheit, where

page_text: they are allowed to remain for about thirty-six hours. The hams and
bacon are then laid singly on the floor of a large tank or vat (from which
water can drain) and covered with small broken ice and salt mixed.
Alternate layers of meat and mixed broken ice and salt are packed in a
tank or vat and allowed to remain in this state for about twenty-four
hours, at the expiration of which time they are moved and placed in
pickle of full strength, where they are allowed to lie for about twenty-
four hours. They are next laid in rows in a chamber maintained at a
temperature of about forty degrees Fahrenheit, having been first lightly
sprinkled with saltpetre and afterwards well covered with coarse salt.
After lying for about seven days they are moved, freshly covered with
salt, and allowed to lie in a similar position for about seven days
longer, when they are again moved, resalted, laid down, and left for
about sixteen days longer. At the end of this time (thirty days from
the period of first "going into salt") the hams and bacon may be
considered fully cured.
Hams and bacon cured as above described are packed for transport in
the following manner:-They are first sprinkled or rubbed over with
alum, preferably finely powdered, then rolled in or packed in alternate
layers with paper, calico, or other fabric, strawboards or matting
steeped in alum to make them pliant, thin boards of timber known in the
trade as American cheese boards, or other thin material. When rolled
or enclosed in the said coverings air is excluded, and the articles are,
after becoming dry, unaffected by atmospheric moisture. It will be
evident that after being rolled or enclosed in the said coverings the
hams and bacon may be sprinkled or rubbed with alum for greater safety
in their preservation. When the transport occupies only a short time,
not more than, say, fifteen days, the fabric, matting, boards, or other
enclosing or separating material may be dispensed with.
Second part. To prepare hams and bacon for packing under the
second part of the Invention, the treatment now to be described is
followed. If cured by the method or process specified under the above
first part of the Invention they are first well brushed in clan cold
water, then allowed to drain for about twenty-four hours, afterwards
wiped or rubbed dry, and finally sprinkled or rubbed over with alum. ;
If cured by any ordinary or other process they are, when wiped or rubbed
dry, or if dry by exposure or otherwise, sprinkled or rubbed with alum.
The packing under this second part of the Invention is the same as that

page_text: described under the foregoing first part. In cases where the time
occupied in transport does not exceed fifteen days, the hams and bacon
may be packed in cases, mats, or bulk after being prepared as described,
and the rolling or enclosing or the separating materials dispensed with.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and par-
ticularized the same in such manner that others will be enabled to carry
my improvements into practice, I claim, under the first part of the
Invention,―
(A.) Curing hams and bacon by the method or process substantially as
described.
(B.) Curing and packing hams and bacon by the method, process,
treatment, and materials substantially as described under the second
part of the Invention.
(A') Preparing hams and bacon by the treatment, and especially the
use of alum, substantially as described.
(B'.) Preparing and packing hams and bacon substantially by the
treatment and materials described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Taylor Davies, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, at New York, in the United States of
America, the Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
In the presence of
WILLIAM LADE.
JOHN TAYLOR DAVIES.
(L.S.)