THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



191 



agitating it, and evaporating it in certain apparatus, con" 

 sisting of shallow pans with steam jackets. Where the 

 milk does not exceed the depth of one-tenth of an inch 

 in the pan, the evaporation may be effected by allowing 

 the dishes to remain in the open air. 



To John Bethel! a patent was granted (dated August 

 21st, 1848), in which he claims a method of preserving 

 corn and all sorts of grain by the use of heated steam. 

 This is obtained by " simply passing steam, generated in 

 the usual way, through a series of heated or red-hot 

 pipes ; or the grain may be made to pass through a re- 

 volving cylinder of perforated metal or wire-gauze, 

 placed in a close oven or chamber, heated in any way." 

 A machine is also described for drying grain, which con- 

 sists of a chamber, in which a series of endless cloths or 

 aprons traverse upon rollers. The grain is passed to the 

 first cloth at one end of the box, passed by the gradual 

 motion to the opposite end of the box, where it falls 

 into the second cloth, placed below the first, and moved 

 on to the opposite end of the box, where it is in like 

 manner delivered to the third cloth, and so onto the end 

 of the series. The grain, in its passage thus through the 

 chamber, is subjected to the action of currents of heated 

 steam. In the same patent, Mr. Bethell proposes to 

 preserve milk by first scalding it, and then impregna- 

 ting it with carbonic-acid gas in a soda-water machine, 

 and bottling it in the usual way. The milk, well 

 scalded, may be put into strong tin vessels, into which 

 the carbonic-acid gas may be forced. 



To James Murdoch, Jan. 30, 1851, a patent was 

 granted for preserving animal and vegetable substances, 

 by subjecting them in a close chamber to the action of 

 currents cf dry air. 



Provisional protection, under the new act of 1852, was 

 granted to Louis Constant Alexandre Vittrant, for a 

 method of preserving grain or seeds, or other matters, 

 by enclosing it or them in a chamber hermetically sealed, 

 either from light or contact with the atmosphere, with 

 the exception of one point or opening, which communi- 

 cates by means of a pipe with a chamber made in the 

 ground underneath the upper chamber. The air in the 

 lower chamber having by reason of coming in contact 

 with the earth, " a proper electrical condition," is led 

 to the upper chamber by means of the pipe of communi- 

 cation, and tends to preserve the grain. An " impor- 

 tant point" is to place the grain in thin layers in the 

 upper chamber. The air is mads to pass through the 

 upper chamber by exhausting it by means of a fan. To 

 destroy the noxious insects which maj' lodge in the 

 grain, carbonic-acid gas may be made to pass through 

 the upper chamber. Warm air may also be passed to 

 the upper chamber, being generated in the lower by 

 means of a furnace. This patent is void by reason of 

 notice to proceed not having been given within the time 

 prescribed by the act. 



To Julien Boilpsve a patent was granted (date Oct. 22, 

 1852,) for a method of preserving all kinds of vegetable 

 substances, and for destroying insects, by employing 

 chlorine or other sulphureous gas. The gases are al- 

 lowed to expand under a bell-jar, a box, or an air-tight 

 cloth, and directed to the chamber, in which are placed 



the substances to be operated upon. In the chamber 

 a number of sieves are superposed one upon another, so 

 as to allow vacant spaces between. The grain is placed 

 in these sieves, and the gases allowed to circulate under 

 and around them. A cylinder is proposed to be used, 

 provided with a sufficient number of holes, and which is 

 to revolve in an air-tight case ; as the grain traverses 

 along this cylinder, which has a rotary motion given 

 to it, it receives the effect of the ga^es. 



William Symington m his patenc of date Feb. 25, 

 1853, proposes to preserve milk, by obtaining a vacuum 

 in the vessel which is to contain it ; then to fill the ves- 

 sel well, to close it tight. The vessel is provided with a 

 tube of soft metal, which is capable of being easily 

 pinched close together, so as to form a tight joint; to 

 this short pipe a longer tube is fitted, and is led into the 

 vessel containing a quantity of milk. Heat is applied to 

 the small vessel which is to hold the preserved milk; a 

 vacuum is formed by the air passing out by the tube ; the 

 milk in the large vessel rushes up by the tube, and 

 fills the small one. The soft tube is then pinched to- 

 gether, and finally well soldered. 



June 10, 1853, is the date of the patent granted to 

 Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, for pre- 

 serving milk, " by forming a vacuum within the sub- 

 stance, by an exhaust pump, by raising the temperature," 

 or " by using a tube which is filled with milk, and put 

 in communication with a reservoir containing a conve- 

 nient quantity of that liquid, and covered with a layer 

 of oil." A pump is used for exhausting the air from 

 the milk, 



William Farmer, in his patent dated Sept. 21, 1853, 

 proposes to preserve provisions, by placing them in a 

 vessel contained within an outer one holding water. 

 The lid of the first vessel enters the water in the space 

 between the two, and forming a lute or water-joint, 

 which prevents the access of the atmospheric air to the 

 articles contained in the main vessel. 



October 12, 1853, is the date of the patent granted 

 to Charles Scott Jackson, for a method of preserving 

 seeds, potatoes, and other roots, from mildew, rot, 

 fungus, and worms, by subjecting them to, or applying 

 to their surfaces, salts of zinc, principally the sulphate 

 of zinc. " To prepare potatoes for seed they are first 

 washed clean, cut in the usual manner, and steeped in 

 a solution of the sulphate of zinc from eight to twelve 

 hours." 



Atmospheric air is proposed to be desiccated and 

 cooled for the purpose of preserving and drying grain in 

 air-tight reservoirs, by first withdrawing the moisture 

 by causing it in a heated state to pass into a vessel in 

 which are a number of pipes, the temperature of which 

 is kept low by the constant circulation through them. 

 The heated air, by coming in contact with the cold sur- 

 faces of the pipes and the interior of the vessel, deposits 

 its moisture by the condensation of its vapours. The 

 air, thus cooled and desiccated, is to be drawn through 

 the reservoir in which the grain is placed, by means of 

 an exhauster. The name of the patentee of this method 

 is Edward Acres, and the date of the patent April 30, 

 1855. R. S. B. 



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