IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING BREAD
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Minne and Amand Colson, of Brussels, Civil
Engineers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING BREAD."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Minne and
Amand Colson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 21st June 1856.
We, CHARLES MINNE and AMAND COLSON, of Brussels, Civil Engineers, do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention of "IMPROVEMETTS IN MAKING
BREAD," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in the construction and employment of an improved
press kneading apparatus and oven, for the manufacture of bread.
The press has for object the extraction from the refuse of corn of all the
nutritive matters which adhere thereto after it has been ground, in order to use
them in the making of dough; it is composed of a platform fixed on supports,
on which is placed a vessel of a cylindrical or other form, the bottom of which
is pierced in the middle, and set upon a cylindrical basement, which forms a
reservoir. The vessel is pierced all round in its height with rows of small
holes, at regular distances apart. A piston of a suitable weight, adapted to the
diameter of the vessel, moved by a perpendicular screw above the vessel and
working in the middle of a cross piece, serves to compress the refuse matters.

page_text: The cross piece is supported by two lateral columns, having grooves in them
from top to bottom for the piston when lowered or raised. This screw can be
put in motion either by manual or steam power.
When the refuse of wheat are suitably moistened they are introduced into
the cylindrical vessel, when pressure is applied by means of the piston, and the
nitrogenous substances are expressed and run off through the holes at the cir-
cumference of the vessel, and through an opening in the back of the basement,
and falls in recipients on castors, to be used in making the dough. This sub-
stance is employed in the same quantity as water in the ordinary process of
kneading. The kneading apparatus consists of a trough or box of wood,
oblong at top, and circular at bottom. The upper part of this box has a
longitudinal opening which shuts hermetically. On the top are apertures for
the introduction of liquids and the flour. This box is provided longitudinally
with an axis, upon which are fixed transversally flat blades or teeth of iron,
at suitable distances apart, and of the some diameter as that of the box,
having somewhat the appearance and form of a comb, the two blades at the
extremities acting as scrapers on the sides of the box.
When the matters are introduced in sufficient quantities, they are kneaded
by giving the axis a rotary motion. To take the paste out of the kneading
trough, the longitudinal entrance is opened; an iron plate or collector is fixed
upon the iron teeth on each side of the axis, to prevent the dough from passing
through the teeth, so that by balf a turn of the axis, the collector plate takes
up all the dough in the box and brings it up to the entrance, where the dough
is taken upon a moveable plate placed in frout of the box, and received into
recipients on castors, to be carried to the oven. The oven is constructed on
brickwork. Right and left of the oven door are built in the brickwork, almost
on a level with the bottom of the oven, two furnaces, provided with grates,
doors, and discharge valve. Under each of the furnaces is an ash-pit, through
which the air is supplied. In each of the furnaces a coal fire is lighted, the
flames of which are directed to the bottom of the oven, or to the right or the
left, by registers. In the bottom of the oven is a large double register leading
to the main chimney, which is opened and shut by longitudinal rods above the
first arch, moved by handles. On each side, towards the middle of the oven, is
a register, performing the same function as the large register at the bottom.
When the registers at top and bottom are opened, the flames from the furnace
are driven into the centre part of the oven. When the register in the middle
on the left side is shut, by opening the register on the right side the flames are
made to spread over the whole surface of the oven in front, and the opposite
effect takes place when the register on the right is closed and that on the left

page_text: is opened. The valves in each furnace serve to stop the introduction of flames
into the oven. The valves of the furnace on the right draw and conduct the
heat into a channel, situated between the two arches above the oven; by this
means, the oven is heated at the upper part during the baking of the bread.
The valve which operates on the furnace on the left introduces also the heat
of the furnace during the baking of bread into a channel, which crosses the
whole extent of the under pavement; by this means the lower part of the oven
is also heated for the next baking during the time the bread is baking. On
cach side of the furnace door is an air box, in which a large volume of cold
air circulates, which prevents the framework from becoming heated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Minne and Amand Colson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th December 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHARLES
MINNE and AMAND COLSON, of Brussels, Civil Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by ler Letters
Patent bearing date the Twenty-first day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Iler reign,.
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Charles Minne and Amand Colson, Iler special license that we, the said Charles
Minne and Amand Colson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Charles Minne and Amand Colson, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING BREAD," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Charles Minne and Amand Colson, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal
of one of us, should particularly 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 the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Charles Minne and Amand Colson,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manuer the

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereto
annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in the construction and employment of an improved
press, kneading apparatus, and oven, for the manufacture of bread.
Kneading Apparatus.-The apparatus consists of a cylinder, Figure 3, fixed
to a framework, Figure 2, Drawing I. In the interior there is an axis,
Figures 7 and 8, which axis receives its movement either by hand or from a
steam or hydraulic engine or by horse power. This axis is provided with
blades, Figures 7 and 8, which perform the same functions on the paste as
those by hand; half way from the cylinder is a board, which works the paste;
when the paste is made, this board is taken away and replaced by an inclined
sheet-iron plate, Figure 5, above the axis over which the paste slides on
leaving the cylinder, when it falls into a trough; this iron plate is put in close
communication with an iron plate, Figure 9, which is placed on the blades,
Figure 8, of the axis, to collect the paste. When the open blades covered
with the iron collector, Figure 9, are brought into a horizontal position, a rake
or scraper, Figure 11, comes out from the back part of the cylinder, where it
fits into a recess and pushes the paste out of the collector, when it falls into
the trough, where it should be allowed to rise a certain time before being
divided, weighed, and put into baskets. At the upper part of the kneader is a
hole o and a tube, communicating with a reservoir, Figure 3, having an index
to measure the liquid which enters the cylinder. The liquid, before entering
the cylinder, may be raised to the required temperature. At the top of the
kneader there is a flap or cover on a moveable iron frame, Figure 10; when
the flap is drawn up and the frame taken away, the charges of flour already
weighed are introduced through a pipe. When it is wished to knead two
kinds of bread at the same time, we employ a partition similar to that shown
at Figure 12.
Figure 1 represents the framework, wheel-work, fly wheel, &c.; Figures 2
and 4, sections of the same. By this arrangement the kneading of the paste
is effected in a regular manner, without manipulution. This machine cau
make about three hundred to three hundred and fifty pounds of leaven per
minute, and from two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds of dough in
about twelve minutes.
Press. The press serves to extract the nutritive parts which adhere to the
refuse of the corn after being ground, which may afterwards be employed in
the manufacture of bread. No. 6, receiver, in which the maceration of the
This receiver, by means of a crane shewn in
refuse of the corn is effected.

page_text: Figure 2, No. 1, is placed in the vessel, Figure 1, No. 4. The receiver is
placed on the rack frame, Figure 3, No. 3, and is pressed by the ram, Figure 1,
No. 5. The reservoir has small perforations in it, through which, by tho
pressure of the ram, (the force of which is equivalent to about ten tons,) all
the feculent parts of the refuse are caused to pass. This press may be used
for rice and for all kinds of vegetables employed in the manufacture of bread.
The ram is put in motion by a screw, Figuro 1, No. 1, in two grooved
guides, No. 2. The receiver is placed underneath the pressing ram by means
of a small rack, Figure 3, No. 3, placed on the platform of the framework at
the bottom of Figure 1. At the bottom, in the circumference of the receiver,
is a circular canal or reservoir, Figure 2, No. 3, which allows the matters,
extracted from the refuse to run off into a trough, whence they pass into the
kneading machine and combine with the dough. This apparatus can be.
worked by hand or by a steam engine.
Mechanical Pressure Ovens heated with Coal.-This oven is capable of
holding about five hundred pounds of bread, and is provided at the centre with
an opening or mouth, No. 4, Drawing II., furnished with an improved door
and eye hole, Figure 7. At the right and left of the mouth of the oven are
two furnaces furnished with grates and bars, Figure 11, doors, Figure 8, and
valves, Figure 14. In each furnace the coal is introduced and lighted. The
fire is made to heat either the right, left, or centre of the oven, according to.
the direction in which the registers are moved, as in No. 4; these registers are
shown at the right and left, and are worked by the pieces, Figures 9, 12, and 13.
In front of each furnace, in the interior of the oven under the floor, is a reser-
voir, with orifices W, No. 3, for the introduction and escape of steam, which
steam is produced by the furnace fire and serves to moderate the heat of the
hearth. This steam is discharged into the ash-pit and mixes with the flame,
which it throws off. At the bottom of the oven is a large double register,
which we call an aspirator, Figure 9; its working is regulated by cross pieces
placed in front of the oven, No. 4. This register communicates with the main
chimney, and has at top a cap or cover closing air-tight, and is worked by rods,
Figure 23, the handles of which are similar to those herein-beforé described.:
By means of this double register and rods, the flames are drawn to the end of.
the oven, also the gas and ashes allowed to escape.. At right and left, towards
the middle of the oven, is placed at each side a vent hole Z, No. 3, and a
register, Figure 13, having the same functions as the large double register,
but only serving to make the flames travel from right to left, and vice versa
These two registers are opened alternately, and when open the large register
at the bottom is closed. Near and at the bottom of the large register, and

page_text: between it and the vent holes, right to left (at the part X, No. 2), are small
auxiliary vent holes, which enable the flames to be directed as desired and
heat the intermediate loaves. The valves, Figure 14, which are placed in each
furnace, serve to draw back the flames when the bread is in the oven, that is
to say, when the furnaces are opened no heat enters the oven. The beat then
proceeds to heat the top of the vault and the under part of the floor (during
the time the bread is baking); by this means all the heat is economised for the
subsequent baking. These parts are heated by pipes leading to the top of the
door, placed above the large double register, at the bottom in the main chimney.
Each furnace is provided with ash-pits, marked R, at No. 4, with two bed
plates, Figure 10, on which the grate bars, Figure 11, rest; of two bed plates
at the side, Figures 4 and 6, which are placed in the fittings, Figures 15
and 16. The two bed plates at the side are mounted with vaults, Figures 1, 2,
if desired; these parts may be made of fire clay. The mouth of the oven is
provided internally at the top with a ventilator, Figure 30, which communicates
with a pipe connected with the canal Z, No. 3. Underneath the oven is a
recess for tho baking tools, Figure S, No. 4. On each side of the frame of the
furnace are peculiar shaped receptacles for containing atmospheric air, in which
a continuous circulation of cold air is kept up suflicient in quantity to prevent
the framework from becoming overheated. The cold air being projected with
great force, gives to the flames very great velocity, by which means the dis-
persion of the heat is accelerated through the interior of the oven.
.
Figure 17 to 29 arc tools and utensils for bread making of improved con-
struction; Figure 28 is an obturator, which, for greater security, is placed
opposite the furnaces when the bread is baking, to separate with greater
certainty the bread from the oven; this obturator may, however, bo dispensed
with, as the aspirator in the space A set in the vault, Figure 2, permits it
with safety. This oven can bake about five hundred pounds of white bread in
twenty to twenty-two minutes, with a consumption of sixteen to twenty pounds
of ordinary coal per two hundred pounds of bread, when the work is performed
regularly. Ordinary bread requires as large a consumption of fuel, and should
remain in the oven twenty-threo to twenty-six minutes. Sea biscuits are baked
admirably in this oven. When the oven is employed exclusively for biscuits
the heat must be increased by means of the mechanism herein-before described.
With this oven bakers' charcoal can be made in an economical manner.
t
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, we would have it understood, that we do not
confine ourselves to the precise details herein laid down so long as the peculiar
character of our Invention be retained; but what we claim is, the method of

page_text: constructing the kneading apparatus, press, and oven for manufacturing bread,
as herein-before described and shewn in the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said Charles Minne and Amand Colson, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
CHS MINNE.
(L.S.)
AMAND COLSON. (L.S.)