USRE5648E - Improvement in processes and apparatus for preserving animal and vegetable - Google Patents

Description

v 2Sheets- Sheet1'., C. ALDEN.

Processes and Apparatusfor Preserving Animal and Vegetable Substances.

No. 5,648. ReissuedNov.H,1873..

2 Sheets--Sheet 2.

ALDEN. Processes and Apparatus for Preserving Animal M mM M Reissueti Nov. 1.1;1873-\ and Veg etahle Substances.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\ I CHARLES ALDEN, or NEWBURG, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT m PROCESSES AND APPARATUS FOR PR sEnvme ANIMAL-AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

specification formin part of Letters Patent No. 121,569, dated December 5, 1871 reissue No. 5,648, dated November 11, 1873; application filed November 1, 1873.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, CHARLES ALDEN, of

Newburg', in the county of Orange and State of New York, have invented a new and use ful Improvement in Process and Apparatus for Preserving Animal and Vegetable Substances; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make'and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, in which drawing- Figure 1 represents a vertical section of the apparatus which I use in carrying out my in- .vention. Fig. 2 is a partial section of the same.

,Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the same in the plane a: m, Fig. 1.

Similar letters indicate corresponding parts. This invention consists, substantially, in the application to the substances to be treated of a current of air characterized by certain de-.

grees or stages of temperature, humidity, and force, so adapted as to effect the following results: r

I First, chemically, an artificial maturing of the amylaceous contents of the material treated without impairing the texture and other prop erties of the material by undue heat or by parchin'g dryness of air; without driving off the fixed water, the essence, and the aroma; without reducing amylaceous or saccharine ingredients to gum or caramel, and without incrusting or hardening the material-treated to the condition described by the terms dried or desiccated)? Third, economically, a product proof against decay or change, enhanced in ripeness, sweetness, richness, and solubility, characterizedby its natural structure, color, and fresh aroma,

and, by virtue of the fixed moisture or hydrate occupying its pores, incapable of being, on' the one hand, penetrated and injured, as dried substances are, by the moisture of damp weather or damp places or climates, .or, on the other hand, of being reduced, in a dry atmosphere,

to a parched and brittle consistency, except' ing in the case of substances, such as esculents, replete with amylaceous and silicious matter, which necessarily assume a brittle con I sistency when exhausted of free moisture.

The process whereby these results are efl'ected is generally carri'edon in an apparatus which consists .essentially'of an elongated chamber or shaft,square or, oblong, or of any' other form,- in -crosssection, and, set vertically, as

sh'ownin the drawing, or in any other po'sitionfound advantageous forparticular purposes. 1 This may be designated :as the nem;

matic shaft. In one end'of this pneumatic shaft is placed asteamcoil, the pressure. and heat in'which are regulated tosuit the'prodnot in hand. Next the steam-coil is placed 'a I deflector to distributethe-current of air. more uniformly throughout the shaft; This deflector may be adapted to hold a deposit of water,

which is sometimes desirable for giving a degree of humidity to the current of air atits.

first entrance to the shaft; or deposits of water may be arranged at other points and in other modes to supply the humidity, which is an essential element in the process WhicliI claim to have invented as an improvement on all former modes of preserving organic products employed by myself and others. Behind or beneath the. steam-coil is an air-chamber,

intowhich air is forced by a suitable apparatus, such as a'fan-blower.

The material under treatment,having been first divided, so as to expose the most ex-';

tended surface possible to the current of I air, is spread on a screen, and may be introduced into the pneumatic shaft at the end near the steam-coil. After remaining here exposed to the current of air for a suitable time, according to its nature, .it is passed onward by a movement of the carrying apparatus on which it rests, and a fresh screen is introduced into the place thus vacated. The current of air, in passing through these screens covered with f:esh material, now carries with it an increased burden of moisture derived from said material as it strikes upon the screens that have gone on before. With every forward movement of the carrying apparatus fresh screens are introduced, and the moisture of the current of air is increased thereby. When the pneumatic shaft is filled with the series of loaded screens they begin to be taken out at the terminus of the shaftin a perfect condition of the material as fast as the erudematerial is introduced at the entrance.

The process is now in full operation. The current of air which enters the shaft with a slight degree of humidity and a temperature of from 200 to 350 Fahrenheit, according to the article, gains moisture and loses heat at every loaded screen through which it passes, and finally leaves the perfected material at the-terminus reduced in temperature to, say, 100, and yet throughout its progress does not cease to act at once as a hydratic mediator in the conversion of the amylaceous ingredients to grape-sugar, and also as a mechanical evaporator and absorbent, with such effect that the amount of free moisture left in the material at the terminus is of no practical consequence, and never produces fermentation or decay.

This novel discovery I here claim in distinction. from my process formerly patented, namely: That of employing humidity, ,and even increasing humidity, as an auxiliary both to supermaturation and evaporation, carrying the material forward, if preferred, in the same direction with the current of air, and

perfecting the material in that stageof the current of air when the same has most hunudity and least heat, instead of drying it off,

as was formerly thought necessary, at the drycst and hottest (initial) stage of the current of air, with the result, by the new process, of not only perfect evaporation,with perfect security against decay or change, aided by humidity of the current of aira result heretofore unexpected, incredible, and therefore an important scientific and practical discovery-but also with the further novel and important discovery of a supermaturation, OIjI'tiflOifil ripening, of organic matter from amylaceous to a saccharine condition, under the stimulus of the tepid, humid, and rapid current of air. The product comes out, under the circumstances, fresh, intact in its most delicate tissues, soft, pliable, rich, and sweetened.

In the drawing, A designates a tunnel or tower, the cross-section of which is square or oblong, as shown in Fig.3. On two sides of the tower are placed shafts B B, which have their bearings in suitable journal-boxes fastened to the tower, and on the ends of which are mounted worm -whecls a a, which engage with endless screws or worms 1) I), mounted on the driving-shaft 0. On the shafts B B are mounted chain -wheels 0 c, and corresponding shafts D I),with chain-wheels d d, are secured to the sides of the tower at a suitable distance-,

the tower, as shown in'Fig. 2. In Fig. 2* I have shown a cross-section of the chain, so as to explain the connection between the fingers g and the links of the chain. In one of the sides of the tower A is an opening, h, through which the screens E are introduced, and each screen, on being inserted, is caught by fourof the fingers g, and then carried up through the tower, the motionof said chains being in the direction of the arrows marked near them in Figs. 1 and 2. For the purpose of facilitating the operation of introducing the screens, a table, K, is secured on the outside of the opening 11., which table supports the screens, so that they can be readily pushed into the tower. The opening h can be closed by suitable doors. In the upper part of the tower is a discharge opening, 2', through which the screens are withdrawn after the same have traveled up tothe top of the tower. In the bottom part of the tower is situated a steam-coil, F, which is supplied with steam from a suitable generator, and beneath this coil is an air-chamber, G, into which air is forced by means of a fan-blower,-

H, or any other suitable air-forcing apparatus. The air thus injected into the air-chamber rises up through the steam-coil, where it is heated to the requisite temperature before it comes in contact with the articles spread on the screens E. In order to distribute the air uniformly throughout the tower, a deflector, I, is placed over the steam-coil, as shown in Fig. 1.

The tower A is generally made from sixteen to twenty feet high, and the movement of the chains is so regulated that it takes from two to three hours to raise a platform or tray from the bottom up to the top.

The temperature of the air in the lower part I of the tower is from 200 to 350, and as the air rises it gradually cools off, so that in the top part of the tower the temperature is fl'om 100 to 130. These temperatures are maintained in fruit, such as apples, peaches, tomatoes, &c.; but for other substances the temperature must be varied, as experience will dictate.

By introducing the green articles in the bottom part of the tower, and moving them in the same direction in which the air moves, the scorching or burning of such articles is efl'ectually avoided, since an article in its moist state, when exposed to a high heat, gives up its moisture; and as the heat is absorbed or rendered latent by such moisture, the article is prevented from being overheated, and as it moves from the high to the low temperature it becomes gradually deprived of all its free moisture, as previously stated.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The within-described process of maturing and preserving animal and Vegetable substances, in part through evaporation, and in part through chemical binding of their organic moisture, by exposing the same to a current of heated and humid air, increasing in humidity and decreasing in heat as the evaporation proceeds, said current of air moving in the same direction with the articles to be treated, substantially as herein set forth.

2. The arrangement of a fan-blower, H, airchamber G, heating-coil F, and tunnel A, containing a series of rising or falling screens, E, substantially as shown and described. I

This specification signed by me this 9th day of October, 1873.

CHARLES ALDEN. VVitnesse's:

W. HAUFF, E. F. KASTENHUBER.

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