Improvements in Apparatus for Preparing Infusions of Coffee, and for Cooking and similar purposes.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Apr., 1891-Accepted, 30th May, 1891
Improvements in Apparatus for Preparing Infusions of Coffee, and
for Cooking and similar purposes.
I, LOUIS MALEN, of 95, Boulevard Beaumarchais, Paris, in the Republic of
France, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :--
My invention relates to apparatus for preparing infusions of coffee, and for
cooking and similar purposes.
The improved apparatus constructed according to my said invention, which,
although susceptible of numerous applications such as for use in schools, convents,
hospitals, prisons, and the like, is more specially constructed with a view to its
employment in barracks. This apparatus is constructed so as to fulfil all the con-
ditions of military kitchens and if needed to follow the troops in a campaign. The
part which comprises the fire-place and a heating chamber is independent of the
upper part containing the vessels, the roaster, the boilers and the coffee-pot. In
this manner the whole can be readily dismounted, which is very convenient for the
cleaning and for repairs. I have represented in the accompanying drawing a type
of my improved apparatus which will hereinafter be described in detail.
Figure 1 represents a vertical transverse section.
Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section.
Figures 3 and 4 are horizontal sections through the lower part and through the
upper part of the apparatus.
Figure 5 is a section of a coffee pot.
As shown in the drawing my aforesaid apparatus is composed of two independent
parts placed one upon the other. The lower part of the apparatus comprises a
fire-place A surrounded by the roaster B. The grate of the fire-place is at a level
with the sole of the roaster B and the ash-pan is placed below. The door of the
fire-place is provided at the rear of the apparatus, so that, if the latter is arranged
against a kitchen wall and an orifice is formed in this wall to correspond to the door
of the fire-place, the stoker may be outside the kitchen. By this means the
kitchen will not be encumbered with coal and it will be easy to keep the same in
a state of great cleanliness. A hinged partition P separates the two compart-
ments B and T. This partition can be turned to the front in the compartment T
which forms a heating chamber. Two doors afford access to the heating chamber
and also to the roaster after the partition P has been lowered.
For obviating loss of heat by transmission and radiation through the sides of the
roaster I have constructed a second internal wall F so as to maintain around the
roaster a layer of isolating air which ensures a better utilization of the heat pro-
duced by the fire-place. This lower part is provided with a flange or rim into
which fits the upper part, which, if needful, as for example in case of transport,
may be kept in its place by means of bolts. It is moreover constructed in such a
manner that it can be placed upon wheels for the purpose of enabling the same to
follow the troops in a manoeuvre or campaign.
The upper part of the apparatus has in front a roaster R, in the middle two
vessels E, and on the sides a boiler C designed for heating water for all uses and a
coffee-pot D of special construction.
A plate bent to a right-angle forms a heating chamber and a flue which
compels the hot gases from the fire-place to impinge against the roaster before they
can escape to the chimney.
The coffee-pot contains a small receptacle G. This receptacle is arranged im-
mediately above the fire-place so as to become heated very rapidly. It communicates

page_text: at its lower part with the whole of the coffee-pot through an orifice G', and a
tube H extends from its upper part and is provided with a branch I. The upper
part of this tube rises above the strainer containing the ground coffee, and the
branch I enters the middle part of the coffee-pot. At the bifurcation of the branch I
is arranged a three-way cock K. This arrangement has for its object to obtain an
uninterrupted circulation and a passage in two directions.
In the coffee-pots acting by circulation as heretofore employed the liquid rises
through a tube from the lower compartment of the apparatus for automatically
supplying it to the coffee placed upon a filter at the upper part of the apparatus.
As soon as the quantity of the liquid poured upon the coffee is deemed sufficient
it is necessary to arrest the circulation, from which results the inconvenience that
from the moment of this stoppage the coffee is liable to boil up and this has to
be obviated if good coffee is to be obtained. For producing continuous circulation
of the liquid, whether the latter is poured upon the coffee or not, I have devised
a coffee-pot in which the liquid is never interrupted in its circulation and is caused
to pass in two directions which enables the jet obtained by the circulation to be
directed either upon the ground coffee in the upper part of the coffee pot or upon
the liquid coffee in the middle part of this coffee-pot through the branch tube I.
When the circulation is once started and remains continuous the water cannot
commence to boil and, owing to the two directions given to the circulation by the
three-way cock K it is possible in the first place to allow the jet to flow without
interruption upon the ground coffee until the latter is prepared, and in the second
place to turn off the jet when the coffee is ready and let the circulation be
continued only to the liquid coffee obtained. As the coffee is supplied with water
only within the desired limits a limpid infusion is produced which obtains only the
tonic and aromatic qualities of the coffee, without any bitter flavour such as results
from coffee subjected to too prolonged a contact with the boiling water and giving
sometimes a thick beverage.
The circulation being established at will either in the upper part or in the middle
part I can, if deemed expedient, cause the jet to be raised and poured upon the
coffee by again establishing the circulation with the upper part again without
interrupting this circulation, and owing to this means I prevent the water reaching
at any time the boiling point, its highest temperature being only 95 degrees.
This improved arrangement of the coffee-pot may be employed independently of
cooking or similar apparatus as shown in Figure 5, in which a designates the lid ;
a sieve; ca filter containing the ground coffee; d the body of the coffee-pot;
e a plug with a return tube and handle for removing it for the cleaning; f the lower
compartment of the coffee pot; g an exterior or interior rising tube provided with
a three-way cock i enabling the ascending liquid to be poured either upon the coffee
or into the body d of the coffee pot; the fire-place and i the three-way cock.
The boiler and coffee-pot have at their lower part cocks through which water or
coffee is withdrawn. I provide the coffee-pot and hot-water boiler with graduated
floats which enable the level in these reservoirs to be ascertained. In case a large
quantity of coffee should be required I may through the medium of suitably
operated cocks, put the coffee reservoir in communication with the hot water
reservoir so as to convert these two reservoirs into a single coffee-pot, or cause any
desired quantity of water to pass from the water reservoir to the coffee-pot.
The vessels E are provided with ordinary lids N. But the coffee-pot and boiler
are closed by covers M inclined towards the exterior of the apparatus in such a
manner that if fat or the like should be spilled when filling the bowls this fat will
follow the inclination of the lids and cannot pass either into the coffee-pot or into
the boiler.
I may also observe that the door of the roaster may be arranged to open either
like folding doors, or upwards or downwards; in the latter two cases the open
doors may serve as tables for putting on the bowls at the moment when they
are filled.
It is evident that this apparatus may be made of round square or polygonal or

page_text: other suitable shape according to the arrangement of the kitchen in which it is to
be placed.
It may also be of any size varying with the number of persons for whom it is
designed. If for example it is designed for several distinct corps, say for two
companies or two battalions, each company or battalion will have its vessel and the
fire-places, roasters and coffee-pots can be divided by a partition into a number
of compartments equal to that of the separate bodies of soldiers who use the same
apparatus.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
First. The improved apparatus hereinbefore described which is adapted to be
arranged on wheels and formed of two parts placed one upon the other, the lower
part comprising a fire-place A surrounded by a roaster B which is separated from
a heating chamber T by an articulated partition P, and the upper part comprising
the roasters R, the vessels E E placed in the middle, the boiler C and the coffee-
pot D acting by uninterrupted circulation in two directions.
Second. The arrangement of the coffee-pot acting by uninterrupted circulation
in two directions, substantially as hereinbefore described.
0041 of 1901
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.