18 



History and Devklopmunt 



The American, Gail Borden, the inventor of the manufacture 

 of condensed milk, is said to have experimented some ten years 

 before he finally decided that a semi-fiuid state, produced by evap- 

 oration in vacuo, was the best form of preservation. He first 

 applied for a patent in 1853, but it was not until three years later 

 that the Patent Oflice appreciated the originality and value of his 



Fig. 2. Gail Borden 



claim sufficiently to grant him a patent. In August, 1856, he was 

 awarded a patent on his process both by the United States and by 

 England. 



In his application j\Ir. Borden says :^ 



"I am aware that sugar, and various extracts, have been and 

 are now concentrated in vacuo under a low degree of heat, to pre- 

 vent discoloration or burning. I do not claim concentrating milk in 

 a vacuum pan for such a purpose, my object being to exclude the 

 air from the beginning of the process to the end, to prevent incipient 

 decomposition. This is important and I claim the discovery." 



1 "A Brief Sketch of Gail Borden" by S. L, Goodale, Secretary Maine State 

 Board of Ag-riculture, 1872.— Courtesy of Borden's Condensed Mill-; Company. 



