IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS USED IN ROASTING AND TREATING COFFEE AND OTHER ORGANIC SUBSTANCES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Symington, of Market Harborough, in the
County of Leicester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS
OF AND APPARATUS USED IN ROASTING AND TREATING COFFEE AND OTHER
ORGANIC SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 11th September 1863, and dated the 18th March 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Symington at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th March 1863.
I, WILLIAM SYMINGTON, of Market Harborough, in the County of Leicester,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS USED IN ROASTING AND TREATING COFFEE AND
OTHER ORGANIC SUBSTANCES," to be as follows, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in an arrangement of apparatus whereby the aroma
or volatile oil evolved during the process of roasting coffee, and which is allowed
to escape and be wasted in the process at present in use, is saved and utilized,
and I carry my Invention into effect by roasting the coffee in cylinders or
vessels which can be made either to communicate with the open air or with a
series of closed chambers or vessels at pleasure. In these chambers or vessels
I place cold roasted coffee, or nibbed or dried chicory, or other suitable substance,
either powdered or otherwise, and in a dessicated or dried state. These sub-
stances I place upon shelves or trays or in such other manner that the vapour,
volatile oil, and aroma evolved during the process of roasting coffee passes over

page_text: or through them, and is absorbed and rendered available. It is known that a
very large proportion of the aroma or volatile oil, which gives the specific
flavor to coffee, is wasted during the process of roasting, and I propose not
only to save this by causing it to be absorbed by dried chicory or other sub-
stance, but I also propose to pass these volatile products evolved during the
process of roasting the best coffees through roasted or dried coffees of
commoner quality, thereby improving their flavor and preventing a waste
which has bitherto amounted to a large per-centage of the whole quantity
contained in the berry. I may mention that in roasting coffee by my improved
process I prefer to allow the products which are evolved during the early part
of the process, or until the berry begins to change color, to escape or pass into
the open air, as they consist principally of vapor of water and an acid product
which is not at present of any value.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Symington in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th September 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SYMINGTON, of Market Harborough, in the County of Leicester, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Symington, Her special licence that I, the said William
Symington, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Symington, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and all times.
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
nse, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS USED IN ROASTING AND TREATING COFFEE
AND OTHER ORGANIC SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Symington, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particu-
larly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in

page_text: the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Symington, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists in an arrangement of apparatus whereby the aroma,
volatile oil, and other products evolved during the process of roasting coffee,
cocoa, chicory, and other substances, and which is allowed to escape and be
wasted by the method at present in use, is saved and utilized, and I carry my
Invention into effect by roasting the coffee or other substance in cylinders
or vessels which can be made either to communicate with the open air or
with one or more closed chambers or vessels at pleasure. In these closed
chambers or vessels I place cold roasted coffee, or nibbed or dried chicory, or
other suitable substance, either powdered or otherwise, and in a dessicated
or dried state. These dessicated substances I place, by preference, upon
shelves or trays or in such other manner that the vapor, volatile oil,
aroma, or other product evolved during the process of roasting coffee or other
substance passes over or through them, or is brought into as close contact as
possible with them, and is absorbed by them and thereby fixed and rendered
available. In order also to prevent the waste of that portion of the aroma or
volatile oil which remains in the cylinder or other vessel in which the coffee or
other substance is roasted when the process of roasting is completed, and which
would be lost if the cylinders or vessels were immediately opened and dis-
charged, I introduce a portion of coffee or other substance which has been
previously roasted and become cold into the vessel with the hot roasted
materials. I allow this to remain in the cylinder or other vessel for a period
of from ten to fifteen minutes, and thoroughly mix it with the hot roasted
material, when it absorbs the last portions of the aroma or volatile oil which
remained, and the whole can then be discharged. It is known that a very
large proportion of the aroma or volatile oil, which gives the specific flavor to
coffee and other vegetable substances, is wasted during the process of roasting,
and I propose not only to save this by causing it to be absorbed by dried
chicory or other substance, but I also propose to pass these volatile products
evolved during the process of roasting the best coffees through roasted or dried
coffees of inferior quality, thereby improving their flavor and preventing a waste
which has hitherto amounted to a large per-centage of the whole quantity
contained in the berry. I may mention that in roasting coffee by my
improved process I prefer to allow the products which are evolved during the

page_text: early part of the process, or until the berry begins to change color, to escape
or pass into the open air, as they consist principally of vapor of water and an
acid product which is not at present of any value.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, I would have it
understood that I do not claim any particular form of apparatus for carrying
my Invention into effect, but what I do claim as my Invention secured to me
by the above in part recited Letters Patent is, the method of saving and
utilizing the aroma, volatile oil, and other products evolved during the process
of roasting coffee, cocoa, chicory, and other organic substances, by combining
the cylinder or vessel in which they are roasted with one or more receivers or
vessels containing cold roasted coffee, or nibbed or dried chicory, or other
suitable substance, either powdered or otherwise, and in a dessicated or
dried state, by which the aroma or volatile oil is absorbed and rendered
valuable.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Symington, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
WILLIAM SYMINGTON. (L.S.)