IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING MEAT AND OTHER ANIMAL MATTERS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING MEAT AND OTHER ANIMAL MATTERS."-A
communication from abroad by Charles Edward Richardson and
George Thatcher Waterman, both of Boston, in the State of
Tit States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 29th April 1868.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
5 of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING MEAT AND OTHER ANIMAL
MATTERS,' a communication to me from abroad by Charles Edward
Richardson and George Thatcher Waterman, both of Boston, in the
State of Massachusetts, United States of America, to be as follows:-

page_text: The object of this Invention is to overcome an objection which has
hitherto proved practically fatal to the pickling and preservation of
beef, pork, and other meats during seasons of the year when the
temperature is very high, and to render the process of preserving meats
in brine or other liquids as safe and as certain of success during the
summer months and in tropical climates as during the winter.
According to this Invention the meat when fresh killed is cut into
pieces of the usual size and shape (the bones remaining in their natural
positions) and placed in a metallic vessel, care being taken to leave
small openings between the contiguous pieces. This metallic vessel
or freezer is provided with a suitable cover, and is placed within a larger
vessel, which may be of wood; the space between the two vessels is
now filled with any suitable freezing mixture, a mixture of pounded
ice and common salt as practised in the ordinary mode of making
iced cream will answer well in practice; the air is then excluded, the
mixture of ice and salt takes the temperature of zero, Fahrenheit, and
the meat remains subject to this cooling process until it is frozen, every
piece of meat being frozen as hard and solid at the centre as it is on
the outside. Great care must be taken that the meat remains long
enough in the inner vessel to become solidly frozen throughout. The
effect of this freezing of the blood, water, serum, and other liquids
contained in the meat is to increase. their bulk or volume and distend
all the pores and cavities within the. meat. Whilst the pores. are filled
with ice and distended as above stated, the pieces of meat are removed
from the freezer and immediately immersed in saturated brine. The
frozen meat begins to thaw immediately, and the solution of salt that.
surrounds it on every side is absorbed and penetrates every part until
the whole of the meat is completely impregnated. The meat after being
thus fully salted, as herein-before described, is packed in barrels in the
usual manner for-use or transportation.
* It is obvious that the same process may be applied to the curing of
fish and other animal matter, and that solutions of other chemical
substances may be used and varied in any required, manner.

page_text: •
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th October 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN:
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty, Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in
the thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs, and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her
special license that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I; the said. John
Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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 PRESERVING MEAT AND
OTHER ANIMAL MATTERS," a communication from abroad by Charles
Edward Richardson and George Thatcher Waterman, both of Boston,
in the United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Henry Johnson, 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, that is to say:-
The said Invention has for its object the overcoming an objection
which has hitherto proved practically fatal to the pickling and
preservation of beef, pork, and other meats during seasons of the year
when the temperature is very high, and the rendering the process of
:

page_text: preserving meats in brine or other liquids as safe and certain of success
during the summer months and in tropical climates as during the winter.
Although great care may be observed in treating meat under high
temperature by the processes heretofore known it is very liable to
spoil in the brine, generally while it is in the first pickle, or before
the salt can strike through and thoroughly permeate it. The reason
why meat cannot be cured by salting during warm weather or in hot
countries is that it is decomposed before the salt has time to permeate
the vessels and pores and reach the centre of the mass. If the meat
be cooled by artificial means down to the freezing point, but not
absolutely frozen, the pores and vessels are not enlarged, and the meat
may remain a long time in the brine without absorbing more than a
small quantity of the brine or seasoning matter; but if the meat can
be preserved perfectly sweet throughout until the salt can strike through
it the process will be successful. This is accomplished as follows:-
The meat when fresh killed is cut into pieces of the usual size and shape
(the bones remaining) in their natural positions) and placed in a metallic
vessel, care being taken to leave small openings between the contiguous
pieces. This metallic vessel or freezer is provided with a suitable cover,
and is placed within a larger vessel, which may be of wood; the space
between the two vessels is now filled with any suitable freezing mixture,
a mixture of pounded ice and common salt as practised in the ordinary
mode of making iced cream will answer well in practise; the air is
then excluded, the mixture of ice and salt takes the temperature of
zero, Fahrenheit, and the meat remains subject to this cooling process
until it is frozen, every piece of meat being frozen as hard and solid
at the centre as it is on the outside. Great care must be taken that
the meat remains long enough in the inner vessel to become solidly
frozen throughout. The effect of this freezing of the blood, water,
serum, and other liquids contained in the meat is to increase their bulk
or volume and distend all the pores and cavities within the meat.
Whilst the pores are filled with ice and distended as above stated, the
pieces of meat are removed from the freezer and at once immersed in
saturated brine. The frozen meat begins to thaw immediately, and
the solution of salt that surrounds it on every side is absorbed and
penetrates every part until the whole of the meat is completely
impregnated. The liquid resulting from the melting of the ice occupies
less space than the solid ice, and this space is at once filled by the
brine in which the meat is submerged. The brine may be prepared

page_text: by dissolving one bushel of salt in sufficient water to form a saturated
solution, and adding thereto about half an ounce of saltpetre (nitrate
of potassa) with about one and a half pounds of sugar, but these
proportions may be varied. The meat after being thus fully salted, as
herein-before described, is packed in barrels in the usual manner for
use or transportation.
With reference to the economy of this process it may be mentioned
that the salt, which mixed with the broken ice forms the freezing
mixture, is subsequently used for making the brine in which the meat
is salted.
It is obvious that the same process may be applied to the curing of
fish and other animal matter, and that solutions of other chemical
substances may be used and varied in any required manner.
I are aware that many attempts have been made to preserve meat
during warm weather by subjecting it to low temperatures, but at or
or above the freezing point, and that the process of salting has been
conducted in artificially cooled apartments, also that very cold brine
has been used, also that meat has been partially cooked before putting
it into the brine; but these processes are found to be of little practical
value.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the curing and
preserving of meat and other animal substances by completely freezing
the meat, and subsequently thawing it whilst immersed in brine or other
antiseptic solutions.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day
of October One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)