IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTERS
Year: 1842

page_text: BENJAMIN AND GRAFTON'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ПIENRY
BENJAMIN, of Saint Mary at Hill, in the City of London, Fish Factor, and
HENRY GRAFTON, of Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Philosophi-
cal Instrument Maker and Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Henry Benjamin and Henry Grafton, Her especial licence, full power, sole pri-
vilege and authority, that we, the said Henry Benjamin and Henry Grafton,
our exors, adiňors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Henry Benja-
min and Henry Grafton, our 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, our
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTERS;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that we, the said Henry
Benjamin and Henry Grafton, or one of us, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be enrolled 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, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Henry Benjamin and Henry Grafton, do hereby declare that the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof (that is
to say):-
Our Invention relates to preserving of animal and vegetable matters by
freezing or cooling them by the aid of freezing mixtures; and in order that
our Invention may be fully understood and readily carried into effect we will
describe the means pursued by us; and as our Invention is particularly appli-
cable to preserving fish, we will first describe the means we pursue for
preserving fish according to our Invention. The fish intended to undergo the
process is subjected to .a. freezing mixture composed of ice, pulverized and
mixed with common salt; and we use for such mixture about one part of salt
and six parts of ice; and when. such fish, has undergone the process, and has
become completely frozen, it will remain preserved. We place the fish
intended to be frozen in a copper or other metallic vessel, and fill up with cold
water, and the vessel containing the fish and water is deposited in a mixture of
pulverized ice and salt, as before mentioned; the said mixture being in a
wooden trough. The fish, thus prepared, may be kept in a pure state for a
considerable length of time, by the application of the freezing mixture in order
to keep the same frozen. In those cases where the fish is only required to be
kept preserved for a short time I employ freezing mixtures to cool the air of
a close room, made of brick or other suitable material, sufficiently excluding
the heat of the sun; and the fish to be preserved being placed in such room
or chamber, in baskets or on slabs, we cause the air to circulate against the
surfaces of metal vessels containing freezing mixtures, by means of revolving
fans or other suitable means within the room or chamber, the object being to
keep the air of the room in constant movement; by which it will be found that
the moisture taken up by the air will, from time to time, become frozen on the
surfaces of the metal vessels containing the freezing mixture; and the same
must be brushed off continually, in order to keep the surfaces clean, as the
frost on the vessels would otherwise retard the effect of cooling the circulating
air. By this arrangement the fish will be kept cool, and preserved; and if it
has been previously frozen, as before described, the keeping it in a room or
chamber, as here described, would retain it in a frozen state. In preserving
meat or vegetables, we treat those matters in the same manner as described
for fish; and it only remains to be stated, that although we have only described
ice and salt in particular quantities, we do not confine ourselves thereto, as
salt may be used in larger or smaller quantities; in respect to the ice, the

page_text: larger quantities of salt encreasing the degree of cooling effect. And we would
state that, although we prefer ice and salt as the freezing means, we do not
confine ourselves thereto, as other well-known freezing mixtures may be
resorted to; at the same time we would have it understood that we make no
claim to such freezing mixtures, when separately considered, but only their use
and application for freezing or cooling animal and vegetable matters to pre-
serve them. And we would state, that we are aware that ice alone has been
used for cooling animal matters to preserve them; but, when alone, ice is of
comparitively little use; we do not therefore claim the use of ice when
uncombined with other material or materials for obtaining a freezing mixture.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Grafton, have hereunto set my]
hand
and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.