465,423. Cream. WILLMANN, J. Feb. 20, 1936, No. 5152. [Class 84] [Also in Group XXVIII] Cream, more particularly cream of relatively high butter fat content, is homogenized at low pressures of the order of 100 to about 300 lb. per sq. in. to break up the larger globules of butter fat into a limited range of sizes and is thereafter tempered by gradually heating to between 65 and 95‹ F. to increase the viscosity, a cream being obtained the viscosity of which is restored or increased, which will not separate when added to coffee or other hot liquids and which can readily be whipped. In the example given, cream which may have been previously pasteurized is mixed to a viscosity of 24 seconds in tank 1, raised to a suitable temperature for homogenization, usually 140‹ F., by rapid heat treatment in'a coil 3 surrounded by a hot water jacket 4, treated in a homogenizer 7 in which it is subjected to pressure and then released as a spray or thin film into a pipe 8 from which it passes through a distributing pipe 12 to a cooler 13. The pressure used in homogenizer 7 may for cream of relatively high butter fat content be about 150 lb. per sq. in. and for cream of relatively low butter fat content about 200-300 lb. per sq. in. The cooled cream is drawn off from the collecting trough 14 of the cooler 13 by a pump 15 the output of which is controlled by a variable drive 16, and delivered to the tempering device 17 which consists of a series of horizontal tubes 10 connected by curved pieces 18, Fig. 3, at alternate ends to make a continuous ascending path. The curved pieces 18 are pivoted at one side 19 so that they can be swung open for cleaning and are clamped in closed position by a screw 22 a gasket 21 being provided. At each end the tubes 10 pass through a header 23 each of which is divided by a series of walls into compartments each corresponding to a pair of tubes 10. Water jacket tubes 20 which surround tubes 10 open into the headers 23, forming a continuous circuit for the heating water which is supplied at the top 25 or other suitable point into one or more of the headers 23, being withdrawn from the bottom or at any intermediate point or points. The heating water may be supplied at 38-90‹ F. and after use may be reheated and returned to the system. The cream is supplied to the tempering device 17 at 33-40‹ F..and is heated therein to about the temperature of the heating water in about 18-20 mins. The tempered cream is passed through a bank of tubes 30 similar to tubes 10 in which it is chilled by means of a countercurrent flow of water at near the freezing point or 39-40‹ F. in jacket tubes 40 surrounding tubes 30. Alternatively the cooling water mav be circulated slowly or may not be so cold, the cream being held at the tempering range of temperatures, its viscosity continuing to increase. The holding effect may also be produced by adding more tubes to the tempering device 17 or pumping the cream more slowly therethrough so that it attains the desired temperature when part way through the device. The cream next passes to a cooling tank 41 having a coil 42 which may be rotated to keep the cream uniform and at 38-40‹ F. prior to running it through a pipe 43 to a bottling machine &c. Specification 386,259 is referred to.