AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PRESERVING FRUIT, VEGETABLES, EGGS, AND OTHER SIMILAR SUBSTANCES
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Kellogg Hubbard Loomis at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th August 1875.
I, KELLOGG HUBBARD LOOMIS, of the City and State of New York,
United States of America, now of No. 8, Southampton Buildings,
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF PRESERVING FRUIT, VEGETABLES, EGGS, AND OTHER SIMILAR
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
My said Invention relates to the preservation of fruit, vegetables,
eggs, and other similar substances or articles, and consists in the
application to the same of a coating or covering of paraffin, or the white
solid substance obtained by the distillation of coal oil, tar, wood, beeswax,
and other materials.
The said Invention affords the means whereby fruit, vegetables, eggs,
and other substances or articles of food which have naturally a skin,
rind, or shell, may be protected from the destructive effects of the
atmosphere and other external_causes of decay, and may be preserved in

page_text: their natural form and condition, and with their natural appearances for
a very long time.
The said Invention does not impair the delicacy of flavour, which is so
desirable in fruit and vegetables, and which is so difficult to retain by
any of the present known methods of preserving such materials. It
does not give them any unpleasant odour. It affords protection not
only against the ordinary causes of decay or loss of freshness in fruit
and similar perishable articles, but also against the effects of acids and
other substances. A when the fruit or vegetables are packed in cases,
barrels, or boxes for transportation, or carriage, or for keeping, it
prevents the contamination. of the entire quantity, or any considerable
portion of the same by contact with any decayed or injured articles that
may have accidentally found admission with the others.
In practising my Invention I take the fruit and vegetables in their
natural condition, that is to say, with their skin, rind, or peel on them,
and apply over the same a coating of the paraffin. This coating of
paraffin may be applied by immersing the articles to be preserved
therein, or by a brush, or by other suitable means. But the method of
application I prefer is as follows: —I provide a pan or vat of suitable
size and form, and partially fill the same with water hot enough to
dissolve the paraffin. I introduce a sufficient quantity of the latter
substance to form a continuous layer upon the top of the water in the
pan, the difference of specific gravity between the water and melted
paraffin being such as to insure the floating of the latter. I then take
a cage formed of metal, wire, or other suitable material, and place 2
therein the fruit or other articles to be preserved. I suspend the said
cage over the said tank or pan by cords or chains passing over pulleys
or by other suitable apparatus, which will allow the said cage to be
quickly and easily lowered and raised. And I lower the said cage into
the pan, allowing it to pass completely through or under the layer of a
paraffin, and quickly withdraw the said cage from the pan. The fruit
or other articles in thus passing through the melted paraffin will be
evenly coated or covered therewith; and when removed from the cage
will be ready for packing.

page_text: line the interior of the barrels or cases in which they are packed with a
lining or coating of the paraffin.
Other substances resembling paraffin such as beeswax might answer
to some extent for the purpose of my Invention; but paraffin is the
only substance known to me which is sufficiently cheap to be used
commercially for preserving fruit, vegetables, and the like.