Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Nov., 1898-Accepted, 23rd Sept., 1899
I, MAX MARX, of 124, Marktstrasse, Krefeld, in the German Empire, Forward-
ing Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:—
My invention relates to improvements in the method of preserving eggs.
The value of eggs as articles of food is proved by the continuously increasing
import thereof, thus for instance the home production of Germany last year
amounted to 3,500 millions, whereas the consumption of eggs amounted to
4,000 millions during the same period, so that 500 million eggs were imported
from other countries, especially from America.
Attempts have been made to discover a process which will protect the eggs
against going bad, and at the same time will render them better adapted for
transport by some outward protection, without causing any injury to the fresh
flavour of the eggs, or damage to the structure of the shell.
Egg shells contain, in addition to carbonate of lime, also phosphate of lime,
traces of iron salts, and organic matter.
The methods of preservation hitherto in use have consisted in general in the
use of means which were adapted to exclude the air from the egg, but without
taking the before mentioned facts into consideration. For instance, eggs have been
dipped into hot solution of gum, then taken out and coated with powdered
gypsum. Such eggs are suitable for transport on account of the hard covering,
but they have a disagreeable flavour on account of the hot solution causing the
gum to penetrate the thin egg shell. Eggs have also been preserved in wood-
ashes, sawdust, chopped straw, sand, salt, or powdered charcoal, and have been
covered with wax or fat. But all these methods satisfy the requirements made
as little as the following method, which is that most usually preferred for
transport.
Milk of lime is made, and the eggs are covered with this fluid, and disposed in
layers one over the other, and kept in a dark place. For the purpose of transport
the solution is made as strong as possible. But this process is not satisfactory
for preserving eggs, for on the one hand the shell is rendered brittle, and on the
other hand many eggs are lost when they are being taken out. In addition to
this the eggs acquire an earthy disagreeable flavour, although they are preserved
tolerably well.
My improved process is conducted essentially as follows:
-
One-eighth of a litre of water glass, and five grammes of powdered alum are
dissolved in four litres of boiling water. The mixture is well stirred, and then
allowed to cool, and poured over the eggs.
This preparation which is easily and cheaply obtained serves for preserving
100 eggs. The eggs possess after treatment with this preparation a thin invisible
coating, and are hardly distinguishable from fresh eggs. Further, the eggs
need not be washed in warm water, but require only to be allowed to dry, and

page_text: then be packed or kept in the dark. Eggs thus preserved have remained fresh
for a year and longer.
The alum compounds well with the water glass prepared from powdered quartz
and carbonate of soda or potash, so that the eggs are covered with a hard scale,
and rendered very suitable for transport. The preparation, moreover, has not
the slightest action upon the shell, and the absence of any flavour in the prepara-
tion is a further advantage, so that the flavour of the eggs cannot be affected by
that of the preserving medium.
The application of alum as an antiseptic for the preservation of skins and hides
is a proof of its usefulness for this purpose in such a combination as that set
forth. Further, water glass has been well-known as a preservative for protecting
wood against rotting, and worms, and it is largely used for this purpose. The
special combination of both these means in the present process results in a distinot
technical progress in the preservation of eggs, the more so as this process is
not only adapted to render the eggs correspondingly resistant for transport, but
also avoids any injurious influence upon the structure of the shell, and the taste
of the egg, so that it forms a most desirable and satisfactory preserving medium
for the purpose.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this 'said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
.I claim is:-
1. Improved process for preserving fresh eggs, substantially as hereinbefore set
'forth.
2. For preserving fresh eggs, the combination of a fluid containing one-eighth
of a litre of water glass, and five grammes of powdered alum dissolved in four
litres of boiling water and thoroughly mixed, which compound is then after
cooling poured over the eggs, and gives the same a hard outer protective coating
resistant to outside influences, and not injurious to the shells.
1
1000
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
322, High Holborn, London, W.C., Patent Agents for the Applicant.