USRE14489E - Method of preserving fruits and other organic substances - Google Patents

Description

UNITED -stm'rns PATENT" (names.

HELEN CECIIJA IABGARET 11mins, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGN BY ABSIGWTS, TO FBANKEQ CO., INC., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

IE'I'HOD Of PRESEBVING FRUITS AND OTHER ORGANIC SUBSTANCES.

Specification of Retained Letters Patent. Reisgued June 25, 1 918.

80 Drawin ori am- Io. imma'ama m a, 1917, Serial 110. 184,120, filed April 24, 1917. Application for reissue fled Iarch 18, 19 18. Serial No. 223,248.

To all'whmnitmay concern:

Be it known that I, Hnmx C. M; FRANKS, agnbject of the King of Great Britain, re- Si in Broo l borough of'Kings, State of New York, ave inventedcertain new and useful Improvements-in Methods of Preserving Fruits, Fruit Products, and Vegetables and other Organic Substances, Fresh and Unchanged, fully described and represented in the follow' specification.

The object 0 'this invention is to treat fruits, fruit products, vegetables and such perishable articles and other organic substances, with a germ destroying or inhibit- .ing gas. as carbon dioxid (CO in such a practical and economical manner, that at a relatively small expense, the articles may be preserved from decay indefinitely, and retain their original appearance and flavor; without which their food value would be materially diminished.

Where it is required to keep the articles fresh for a relatively short time, as a month or two, and at a more or less even temperature and humidity, a charge of CO gas is applied once under a considerable pressure to the articles, and the pressure repeated after a gradual exhaustion of the rst charge.

No heat is used in my method of preserving, as the very object of my methods is to preserve the naturalqualities of the articles unchanged.

When. it is required to preserve the fruit for a long time, as one voyeage or a journey in which it will be earn through va rious latitudes, and thus exposed to difierences of tem erature and humidity, the first char 'artic es by a partial vacuum before the sec- 0nd char e of CO is' applied; and other.

charges 0 .OO, and of nitrogen are a plied to the articles at. carefully gradua pressures, which charges completely remove any tendency to decag or fermentation under any conditions. uring the treatment, the

articles are packed in suitable separate per manently charged containers of any suit-' able size and material. Each container has an independent open communication with the atmosphere, and uired number ofsuch containers is in a of a suitable any 7 incl temporarily at 1529 Pacific St.,-

. to hermeticall of 0, gas is extracted from the.

size and strength to receive them, and to sllllstgin the pressure at which the gas is app e Each container is provided with means seal it in a partial vacuum or any desire pressure at the close of the treatment, and means is provided within the chamber to seal all the containers before they are brought into the air.

I am aware that it has been proposed to use CO as a preserving agent, but its successful or eifective use requires that the pressure of its application should be great,

but applied in such a manner as to not crush the fruit; and its withdrawal efiected in such a manner as to not expand and rupture the fruit, and the mere suggestion of its use is of no real value.

To be effective, the dpresent invention ineludes various specific steps, practised in a prescribed manner, which long experiment has shown are essential to the practical and successful preservation of the fruit, fruit products or the vegetables or other organic substances. The mere immersion of the article in the gas of CO is valueless, as the pores in the interstices of the article must be penetrated by the gas, to completely eliminate the oxygen-or-air and obnoxious germs, and effectively preserve the fruit.

Too low a pressure is therefore inadequate, and too high a pressure is injurious and expensive to generate; wherefore repeated experiments were necessary to determine the lowest ellicient pressure, and the safe mode of appl ing it.

. By such means pressure of lbs. per square inch for C0,, applied in a certain manner, is nry to protect such articles efiectively To commercial requirements, the

havedetermined that a r from change, and that such pressure may ich were also ascertained by sesfromits; 5 a

itional treatments, which will preserve the fruit or vegetable articles indefinitely.

.The method for a partial preservation of the fruit I call Method A, and practice it as follows:

The containers permanently charged with the fruit or vegetable to be' treated, being thus arranged in the chamber the CO gas is introduced and the pressure gradually increased, for a period of ten or twenty minutes, to 'a pressure of 60 or 70 lbs., per

square inch, which minutes.

This pressure is very to atmospheric pressure, a lowing twenty to thirty minutes for the CO gas in the articles to escape.

is maintained. for twenty This step removes from the chamber much of the air or oxygen first contained therein: but a partial vacuum (one half of the atmospheric pressure or 16 inches of mercury) to remove the air or free oxygen more completely, and I therefore generate such vacuum within the chamber very pressure, and then very, ve

gradually for a s ace of ten or twenty minutes, thus avoi ing any rupture of the skin of for instance delicate fruit, as ripe peaches. I then again supply ('30 to this exhausted chamber, carrying the pressure very gradually for twenty minutes to lbs.

per square inch, as before.

I subjectthe articles to this gas for a period of one hour after it has attained that slowly dis: charge this gas, with any mingled air'or oxygen, and exhaust the chamber to a vacuum of at least sixteen mercury inches.

It is exceedin ly needful that this exhaustion of thee amber be effected steadily at a uniform rate, as any pulsations in the atmosphere of the chamber, which a vacuum pump may produce, is very detrimental to the substance from which the gas and air a are being extracted during such exhaustion.

Sudden pressure may crush the substance,

but the danger from pressure is not half so serious as that from sudden or uneven or too quick evacuation. When the final vacuum or pressurehas been gradually attained or introduced, the containers are sealed in such vacuum the chamber in a rarefied atmosphere of CO or such desired pressure while protected fro glass jars adually reduced .phere. or at any desired pressure.

In anygex posure to the outer air; and the two pres: sures of the CO will be found sufiicient to preserve such articles for one or two months, as the treatments, by the gas and exhaustions', operate-to displace nearly all the air or oxygen or other gases in the tissues of the articles, and replace themfiviththe preservative or inert gases.

The Method A .bove described for the partial preservation of fruit I have found valuable'for application to fruits and like substances pac ed green or immature and permitted to ripen or mature, as the treatment displaces free oxygen or air sufiicient to efl'ect the preservation from rapid processes of fermentation or decay, and yet does not so affect the gaseous content of the fruit or other substances as to inhibit or prevent ri ening or maturing thereof.

urther treatments may be applied when the articles are to be kept for along period or indefinitel and in such case I call the process Met 0d B. 1

In Method B, which is a specific form of the invention, I charge'a third time with the CO, at 60 pounds per sq. inch, and then with nitrogen gas at about 20 lbs. per sq.

inch, such method embracing the following stelps:

irst, the treatment with CO gas maintained for not less than 20 minutes; second, the production of a vacuum of about 16" of mercury Third, the treatment with CO continued for about an hour;

Fourth, the production of a vacuum of at least 16 inchesof mercury;

Fifth, the third treatment with 00 at 60 lbs. pressure continued for several hours; Sixth, the production of a partial vacuum to exhaust such gas from the articles; and,

Seventh, the treatment of the articles with v nitrogen gas at about 20 lbs. for a period of 3 hours, and this gas is then very slowly drawn off the chamber exhausted to 16 inches of mercury, and the containers sealed in the remaining nitrogen or other atmos- This treatment insures the fruit from alteration or decay under any and all conditions.

This Method Bsubjects the articles to gas pressure four times; three times to CO at60 lbs. pressure, and once to nitrogen gas at about 20 pounds pressure; but substantiall the same efiicient result can be secured in tlie third method by using nitrogen gas in both thelast two treatments, with a complete evacuation of the chamberintermediate to the two. This method I call Method C. It will be observed that in the treatments for preserving the article a moderate length of time, the two gas-pressures are exerted for periods of 20 minutes and one hour, respectivel but that for preserving. the article indefinitely two further treatments. are bplied and the pressure in each maintained or three hours. Such treatment under pressure for a total of six hours obviously produces a far greater efiectupon the article than the two treatments of one hour andtw'enty minutes applied for the preserving the article for use within a month or so.

The sealing of the containerswhile inclosed in the chamber is effected by providally applicable to the preservation of all organic substances subject to fermentation or deca by chemical or physiological or biologica changes brought about or subject to the presence in the substance of free oxygen or air. In the above description of the treatments, fruit and fruit products, and vegetables have been selected only as specific subjects for illustrative descri tion.

In the treatment of ot er organic substances the method is substantially'as above described, the fact being always in mind that the'object of the treatment is to displace or remove all contained oxygen or'air in the substance to be preserved and for such purpose the treatment with CO gas under pressure is that the gas may be forced into the v substance to be treated and in the container to displace the free air or oxygen, and that the bringing on of the so called vacuum or low pressure is 'to extract and remove the contained air or oxygen, whereupon the succeeding introduction of CO, may further penetrate into the substances treated and replace any air or oxygen held therein. 7 After such treatment with CO, that all free air and oxygen -has been removed the substance ma be sealed or preserved in an atmosphereo CO at any desired pressure, or any inert gas or gases, nitro gen and CO,,may be's'ubstitu at any da siredpressure. Having thus set forth thenature of the invention .what is claimed herein is:

1. The process of preservin fruits and ve etables and-other organic su ces in a suitable container b means of introducing therein COLsatsuc' -pressure suflicient to make the su tance give up substantially all oxygen or air on or in the particles and molecules of such substance and container, driving off such eliminated oxygen and re.-

lacir ig therefor substantiallypure C0,.

2. he process of preserving fruits and other organic substances comprised in suc-.

cessively subjecting thearticle to CO, under pressure, alternatin with the withdrawal of the pressure to low atmospheric until substantially all free oxygen or air on or in or nitrothe particles of such organic substance and inacontainer thereof is displaced by substantially pure CO 3. The process of preserving fruits, vegetables and other organic substancesconsisting in subjecting the substances to successive charges of CO gas at pressures of substantially '60 poundsper square inch and intermediate such charges exhausting the pressure to below atmospheric.

4. In the preparation of fruits and vegetables to' preserve the same, the process herein. descri ed, consisting in twicesubjecting the fruits or vegetables to C0, as at a pressure between and poun s per square tively, and after each application .of the 1 CO subjecting the fruits or vegetables to a vacuum of 16 inches of mercury and finallysealing them in a vacuum.

5. The process of preserving fruits and vegetables, which consists in inclosing in a tight chamber a container charged permanently with the fruit, the container having 1 an open communication with the atmosphere of the chamber and means adapted for hermetically sealing the same, forcing CO,

the fruit for at east one hour, then very slowly discharging the gas and mingled air from the chamber, and excluding the air therefrom, and sealing the container within the chamber before removal therefrom.

6. In the treatment of fruits and vegetables in a plurality of containerssimultaneousl within a single chamber, the containers ing permanently charged with the ar-.

ticles to be treated and constructed to be sealed, and having independent open communication with the atmosphere in the chamber, that process which consists in subjecting the entire contents of the chamber tween 60 and 70 pounds per square inch, maintaining such pressure not less than ten minutes, slowly discharging such gas and air mingled therewith, very slowly exhausting the chamber to a vacuum of-16 inches of mer then supplying ()0 to this exto CO at a slowly generated pressure be- 4 80 inch for twenty mmutes to one hour respec chamber before removal therefrom, to protect their contents from the atmosphere.

7. The process of preserving fruits and vegetables, which consists in subjecting the fruits and vegetables in a tight chamber, first, to an atmosphere ofCO under apressure of about 60 pounds per square inch and afterward discharging such pressure and subjecting the fruit to nitrogen gas at a pressure of not less than pounds.

.8. The process of preserving fruits and vegetables, which consists in inclosing the container, permanently charged with the fruit, in a tight chamber, forcing CO into the chamber to a pressure of 60 to 70 pounds and maintaining such pressure for three hours, discharging the CO and mingled air from the chamber and exhausting the chamher to at least one-half the atmospheric pressure, then forcing nitrogen at not less than 20 pounds pressure per square inch into the chamber and maintaining such pressure of nitrogen gas for three hours, then discharging the ,nitro en gas and partially exhausting the sham er,"a'nd sealing the receptacle in such partial vacuum before removal from the chamber.

9. The process of preserving fruits and vegetables, which consists in inclosing in a tight chamber a container permanently charged with the fruit, the container having an open communication with the atmosphere of the chamber and means adapted for hermetically sealing the same, forcing CO, into the chamber to a pressure between 60 and 70 pounds per square inch, maintaining -such pressure for ten or twenty minutes, then very slowly discharging-CO and the air mixed therewith to atmospheric pressure, then exhausting the chamber .very

gradually to 16 inches mercury then very a period of fifteen min-.

gradually durin utes renewing t e CO to a pressure between 60 and 70 pounds per square inch and maintaining the pressure of such CO upon the fruit for one hour, then for a period of a,

fifteen minutes slowly discharging the gas and mingled air to atmospheric pressure,

the reduction in pressure being steady and uniform to prevent injury to the tissues of the fruit, then renewing the CO at a pressure of to pounds per square inch and maintaining such pressure to operate upon the fruit three hours, then'discharging the gas and mingled air, and forcing nitrogen gas into the chamber to a pressure of '20 pounds per 5 uare inch and maintaining such pressure or three hours, then removmg themtrogen gas and creating a vacuum of sixteen inches of mercury and sealing the container in such.vacuum.. y v

In testimony whereof I have hereuntoset my hand. l I

, HELEN CECILIA MARGARET FRANKS.