IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF DOUGH FOR BREAD, PASTRY, CAKE, AND OTHER FARINACEOUS ARTICLES OF FOOD
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough Park,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE PREPARATION OF DOUGH FOR BREAD, PASTRY, CAKE, AND OTHER
FARINACEOUS ARTICLES OF FOOD."-A communication from James Perry
and Elisha Fitzgerald, both of New York.
Sealed the 8th January 1858, and dated the 15th August 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th August 1857.
I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF DOUGH FOR BREAD, PASTRY, CAKE, AND OTHER
FARINACEOUS ARTICLES OF FOOD," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is so to prepare dough or paste that in the
process of preparing and baking, it will rise without the necessity of mixing
therewith yeast or like agents, the presence or consequence of which are
deleterious; and to this end the said Invention consists in means of mixing
the dough in a close vessel under gaseous pressure. And the Invention also
consists in means of discharging the dough or paste which has been mixed
under gaseous pressure from the vessel in which it was so mixed by the
pressure of the gas, so that it can be taken in quantities of the required size
directly from the discharge to the oven
to the oven or other cooking apparatus. A

page_text: vertical vessel is used with a closed bottom, provided with a discharge pipe
baving a cock or valve. The said vessel has a moveable head at top, formed
with a rebate all around the under surface thereof and near its edge, and
provided with suitable packing to make a perfectly air-tight joint when the
said head is forced down, by means of screw nuts and bolts or other equivalent
means, on to the edge of the vessel. Within this vessel there is a vertical
rotating shaft turning on a pivot at the bottom, and formed with a journal at
top, that passes through a stuffing box in the head or top that it may carry a
pulley at its upper end and outside of the vessel, by which motion may be
imparted. Radial blades or arms project from different parts of the length
of the shaft, and of such length as just to clear the inner surface of the vessel.
The face of the blades are from the shaft outward, oblique to the plane of
motion, so that their under surfaces shall act on the dough to gradually force
it downward towards the bottom of the vessel as the shaft rotates. And there
are corresponding blades or arms projecting inward from the inner surface of
the vessel, and extending to within a short distance of the surface of the shaft,
and so located that the blades on the shaft pass between them.
The vessel is provided with a receiving cock and an exhaust cock at the top
or at the side. The receiving cock is to be connected by suitable pipes with
a gasometer or other apparatus containing carbonic acid gas under high
pressure, which said apparatus may be such as is used when preparing soda
water, and therefore does not require to be described. The other cock is to
be connected with any suitable apparatus for exhausting the vessel of air.
For working the said process the top is taken off and the required quantity
of flour, previously mixed with salt and water, is put in the vessel, the top is
then put on, the air exhausted, and then the connection with the gasometer
is opened that the gas may be forced in under heavy pressure, and then put
the shaft in motion that the blades on the shaft and vessel may thoroughly
mix the ingredients; the continued rotation of the shaft causes the blades
to thoroughly mix the flour with the water and to work the dough, which
thus becomes charged with gas under heavy pressure.
When the operator thinks that the dough has been sufficiently worked he
has only to open the cock or valve of the discharge pipe and the pressure
inside will force out some of the dough for inspection. If it has not been
sufficiently worked, the cock or valve is to be reclosed and the working con-
tinued, but if sufficiently worked, as the dough is forced out of the discharge
pipe by the pressure inside, the operator cuts it off in pieces of the required
size to form loaves, cakes, and other articles which are immediately put into
the oven to bake.

page_text: As the dough is thus mixed and worked it becomes thoroughly charged
with gas, and so soon as the dough is discharged from the vessel and its
exterior surface thereby relieved of the pressure under which it was mixed,
the compressed gas expands, and in expanding swells the dough, and continues
to swell it under the action of the heat in the oven during the process of
baking, leaving the bread thoroughly raised.
It is obvious, from the foregoing, that a sufficient degree of lightness may be
imparted to the dough by regulating the degree of pressure under which it is
mixed, but care should be taken not to manipulate or work the dough after
it is relieved from such pressure, which working or manipulating we avoid by
discharging the dough from the vessel by the force of the gaseous pressure,
so that as it comes out of the vessel it can be cut off in quantities of the
required size, and be taken immediately to the oven without manipulation,
which manipulation would have a tendency to force out of the dough a part of
the gas, and cause the bread or other article to be heavy; care should also
be taken not to diminish the pressure under which the dough has been mixed
until the dough has been discharged from the vessel, as such diminution of
pressure also has a tendency to cause the bread to be heavy.
Although we have stated that a soda water apparatus may be used for
containing and supplying the carbonic acid gas as a means of producing the
required pressure in the process of mixing the dough, and although we have
also described a construction of apparatus for mixing the dough under pressure,
we do not wish it to be understood as limiting the Invention to the use of
such special means, as it will be obvious that any other apparatus for supplying
the gas and for mixing or kneading dough or paste under gaseous pressure
in a similar manner in a closed vessel may be substituted. And although it
has been found more convenient to introduce the water and gas separately,.
it will be obvious that the water previously charged with carbonic acid gas
may be introduced instead, but in that case, care should be taken, to exhaust
the atmospheric air from the vessel and charge the vessel with carbonic acid
gas, under sufficient pressure to prevent the escape of gas from the charged
water as it is being forced into and mixed with the flour in the vessel.
And it will be also obvious that instead of carbonic acid gas any other gas
which is not deleterious may be substituted, although preference is given to
carbonic acid gas.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 15th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Fifteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Tomlinson Bousfield, Her special licence that I, the said George
Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my 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
night 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 THE PREPARATION OF DOUGH FOR BREAD, PASTRY, CAKE, AND
OTHER FARINACEOUS ARTICLES OF FOOD," a communication from James Perry and
Elisha Fitzgerald, both of New York,) upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
Figure 1 is a plan of the machine employed in the working of the process;
Figure 2 is a vertical section thereof; and Figure 3 is a separate view of the
central shafts and blades or arms.
the Figures.
The same letters indicate like parts in all
The object of this Invention is to prepare dough or paste in such a way,
that in the process of preparing and baking it will be raised or leavened
without the necessity of mixing therewith chemical agents, the presence or
consequences of which are deleterious; and to this end the said Invention

page_text: consists in mixing the dough in a close vessel under gaseous pressure. And
the said Invention also consists in discharging the dough or paste which has
been mixed under gaseous pressure, from the vessel in which it was so mixed
by the pressure of the gas, so that it can be taken in quantities of the required
size directly from the discharge to the oven or other cooking apparatus.
In the accompanying Drawing, a represents a vertical vessel with a closed
bottom b, provided with a discharge pipe c, having a cock or valve, by opening
which the dough will be allowed to be forced out, and as the dough is forced
out the attendant works the cock or valve to cut off in quantities required
for the determined size of loaves. The section of the passage through the
plug of the cock may be varied in form as may be desired. The said vessel
has a moveable head d at top, formed with a rebate e, all around the under
surface thereof, and near its edge, and provided with suitable packing to make
a perfectly air-tight joint, when the said head is forced down by means of
screw nuts and bolts f, f, or other equivalent means on to the edge of the
vessel; within this vessel there is a vertical rotating shaft g, turning on a pivot
at bottom, and formed with a journal at top, that passes through a stuffing box
h in the head or top d, that it may carry a pulley i at its upper end and
outside of the vessel a, by which motion may be imparted. Radial blades or
arms project from different parts of the length of the shaft, and of such
length as just to clear the inner surface of the vessel a; the face of the blades
are from the shaft outward oblique to the plane of motion, so that their under
surfaces shall act on the dough, to gradually force it downward towards the
bottom of the vessel as the shaft rotates, and there are corresponding blades or
arms projecting inward from the inner surface of the vessel a, and extending
to within a short distance of the surface of the shaft, and so located that the
blades on the shaft pass between them. The vessel a is provided with a re-
ceiving cock 7, and an exhaust cock m at the top or at the side as seen in
Figure 2, one of which is to be connected by suitable pipes, with a gasometer
or other apparatus containing carbonic acid gas under high pressure, which
said apparatus may be such as is used for soda water, and therefore does not
require to be described or represented; the other cock m is to be connected
with any suitable apparatus for exhausting the vessel of air.
For working the said process, take off the top d, and put into the vessel a
the required quantity of flour previously mixed with salt and water, and then
put on the top, and exhaust the vessel of atmospheric air, and then open the
connection with the gasometer that the gas may be forced in under heavy
pressure, and then put the shaft in motion that the blades on the shafts and
vessel may thoroughly mix the ingredients; the continued rotation of the shaft

page_text: causes the blades to thoroughly mix the flour with the water, and to work the
dough, which thus becomes charged with gas under heavy pressure.
When the operator is under the impression that the dough has been suffi-
ciently worked and charged, he has only to open the cock or valve of the
discharge pipe c, and the pressure inside will force out some of the dough for
inspection. If it has not been sufficiently worked, the cock or valve is to be
reclosed and the working continued, but if sufficiently worked, as the dough
is forced out of the discharge pipe by the pressure inside, the operator cuts it
off in pieces of the required size to form loaves, cakes, &c., and which are
immediately put into the oven to bake.
As the dough is thus mixed and worked, it becomes thoroughly charged
with gas, and so soon as the dough is discharged from the vessel a, and its
exterior surface thereby relieved of the pressure under which it was mixed,
the compressed gas expands, and in expanding swells the dough, and continues
to swell it under the action of the heat in the oven during the process of
baking, leaving the bread thoroughly raised or leavened.
It is obvious, from the foregoing, that a sufficient degree of lightness may be
imparted to the dough by regulating the degree of pressure under which it is
mixed, but care should be taken not to manipulate or work the dough after it
is relieved from such pressure, which working or manipulating is avoided by
discharging the dough from the vessel a by the force of the gaseous pressure,
so that as it comes out of the vessel a it can be cut off in quantities of the
required size, and be taken immediately to the oven without manipulation,
which manipulation would have a tendency to force out of the dough a part
of the gas, and cause the bread or other article to be heavy, or unleavened;
care should also be taken not to diminish the pressure under which the dough
has been mixed until the dough has been discharged from the vessel a, as
such diminution of pressure also has a tendency to cause the bread to be
heavy or unleavened.
And although I have stated that a soda water apparatus may be used for
containing and supplying the carbonic acid gas, as a means of producing the
required pressure in the process of mixing the dough; and I have also
described a construction of apparatus for mixing the dough under pressure, I
do not wish it to be understood as limiting the Invention to the use of such
special means, as it will be obvious that any other apparatus for supplying the
gas, and for mixing or kneading dough or paste under gaseous pressure in a
closed vessel may be substituted.
And although I have found it more convenient to introduce the water and
gas separately, it will be obvious that the water previously charged with

page_text: carbonic acid gas may be introduced instead, but in that case care should be
taken to exhaust the atmospheric air from the vessel a, and charge the vessel a
with carbonic acid gas under sufficient pressure to prevent the escape of gas
from the charged water as it is being forced into and mixed with the flour, &c.,
in the vessel.
And it will be also obvious, that instead of carbonic acid gas, any other gas
which is not deleterious may be substituted, although I have given preference
to carbonic acid gas, having found it to produce the best results.
What I claim as the Invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,
the process of preparing dough or paste for making bread, cakes, or other
farinaceous articles of food, by mixing the materials with gas, under pressure,
in a closed vessel, substantially as described, as a means of leavening or
raising the same as set forth; and I also claim discharging the dough, &c., as
aforesaid from the vessel by the gaseous pressure, as it is required, substantially
as and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
0 Witness,
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (L.S.)
W. S. HARRISON,
New Court, St. Swithin's Lane.