IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF MEAT EXTRACTS
Year: 1884

page_text: I FREDERICK WALTON of Heatham House Twickenham in the County of
Middlesex Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF MEAT EXTRACTS to be as follows:-
86
"
My improvements consist in the preservation of beef tea essences and other
meat extracts.
Beef tea extract which is made by reducing beef to a broth and then evaporating
the water until it becomes almost solid on cooling is usually sold in skins or as
they are technically called "wizens." These wizens are filled with the extract
whilst in a hot and fluid condition and the skin is then tightly tied with stout
thread or string at each end and also at intervals of a convenient length for sale
generally about five or six inches.
As now sold and without such treatment as I have invented these skins of
extract as is well known to the trade very soon become hard and therefore difficult
to cut and to dissolve becoming like horn-the skins at the same time loose
their shape becoming wrinkled and having a mildewed appearance which is not
agreeable to the eye. Owing to this liability to depreciation the retailer cannot
keep them in stock without risk of loss as buyers do not find them attractive.
I have found that these wizens are porous and that they loose the small amount of
water left in the extract which passes through the skin leaving the extract hard
and horny. This slight porosity of the wizens I find can be sealed by the
application of varnishes which are inodorous and innocuous and do not affect the
extract as an article of food.
The varnishes can be applied to the outside of the wizens before filling or after
the extract is put in.
This application effectually seals the pores and the result is that the skin does
not loose its water by evaporation or the round plump formn it has when first
filled and the extract does not diminish in bulk or become mildewed or grey in
appearance, but retains the rich brown color of the beef extract observed in newly
filled skins.
This is a great advantage as the retailer will not hesitate to keep a stock of an
article which does not depreciate.
One method I adopt is to dress or brush over the skins after the extract has
become almost cold, the glaire or white of an egg, when this is set I expose the

page_text: skin to steam from any convenient source-this coagulates the albumen and makes
it insoluble.
Many other varnishes such as spirit varnish made from pure gums such as copal
shellac & may be used, the film or varnish required is extremely attenuated. The
varnish however which I prefer is that made from a pale pure shellac dissolved in
pure alcohol in which there is no admixture of wood spirit.
This varnish is perfectly inodorous and the shellac so deposited is entirely
unobjectionable as it in no wise affects the flavor of the beef tea.
an
Beef tea lozenges made from sheets of solid extract cut into circular discs are
also liable to become mildewed. I treat the sheets before cutting by applying a
surface of albumen and steaming as previously described or I brush on
excessively thin film of an innocuous varnish which does not affect in any
appreciable degree the solubility of the lozenge but it is sufficient to stop the
mildew and keep the lozenge of a good color.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I FREDERICK WALTON of Heatham House, Twickenham in the County of
Middlesex, Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF MEAT EXTRACTS and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
7.
I
!. 1..
My improvements consist in the preservation of beef tea essences and other
meat extracts.
Beef tea extract which is made by reducing beef to a broth and then evaporating
the water until it becomes almost solid on cooling, is usually sold in skins, or as
they are technically called "wizens"-These wizens are filled with the extract
whilst in a hot and fluid condition and the skin is then tightly tied with stout
thread or string at each end and also at intervals of a convenient length for sale―
generally about five or six inches.
As now sold and without such treatment as I have invented these skins of
extract as is well known to the trade very soon become hard and therefore difficult
to cut and to dissolve becoming like horn--the skins at the same time loose their
shape, becoming wrinkled and having a mildewed appearance which is not
agreeable to the eye. Owing to this liability to depreciation the retailer cannot
keep them in stock without risk of loss, as buyers do not find them attractive.
I have found that these wizens are porous and that they lose the small amount of
water left in the extract which passes through the skin leaving the extract hard
and horny. This slight porosity of the wizens I find can be sealed by the
application of varnishes which are inodorous and innocuous and do not affect the
extract as an article of food.
The varnishes can be applied to the outside of the wizens before filling or after
the extract is put in.
This application effectually seals the pores and the result is that the skin does
not lose its water by evaporation or the round plump form it has when first
filled, and the extract does not diminish in bulk or become mildewed or grey in
appearance, but retains the rich brown color of the beef extract observed in newly
filled skins.
This is a great advantage as the retailer will not hesitate to keep a stock of an
article which does not depreciate.
One method I adopt is to dress or brush over the skins, after the extract has
become almost cold, the glaire or white of an egg, when this is set I expose the
skin to steam from any convenient source-this coagulates the albumen and makes
it insoluble.
Many other varnishes such as spirit varnish made from pure gums such as copal,
shellac &c may be used, the film or varnish required is extremely attenuated. The
varnish however which I prefer is that made from a pale pure shellac dissolved in
pure alcohol, in which there is no admixture of wood spirit.
This varnish is perfectly inodorous and the shellac so deposited is entirely
inobjectionable, as it in no wise affects the flavour of the beef tea.

page_text: The process which I prefer is to dissolve in the alcohol of commerce (free from
wood spirit) as much shellac as to thicken it to a consistency suitable to be
conveniently applied with a brush.
The skins having been filled as usual and the contents set and cold or nearly so
the wizens are hung in a warm room in order that the varnish when applied may
not be chilled. The shellac solution is then brushed over them. This varnish is
allowed to dry and say in an hours time a second coat is given; when this is
thoroughly set the operation is complete. I prefer this method to that by the use
of albumen as previously described.
Many liquids may be used in a similar way to form a preservative film over the
"wizens" but the alcoholic solution of shellac is the best with which I am at
present acquainted.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim as my improvements in the preservation of meat extracts is
Coating the skins or "wizens" in which the said extracts are contained with a
varnish or liquid which sets upon the skin or wizen forming upon it a film which
serves to preserve the plumpness and appearance substantially as described.
11.
. 1000