IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CULINARY VESSELS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Theodore Dann, of 43, Cowley Road,
North Brixton, in the County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CULINARY
VESSELS."- -A communication from abroad by Alexis Gervais, of
9, Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, Paris, in the Republic of France,
Gentleman.
Sealed the 29th June 1875, and dated the 11th May 1875.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Joseph Theodore Dann at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 11th May 1875, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
THEODORE DANN, of 43, Cowley Road, North Brixton, in the County of
Surrey, Civil Engineer, send greeting.

page_text: Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns.
Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn
Declaration that it has been communicated to me from abroad by
Alexis Gervais, of 9, Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, Paris, in the Republic
of France, Gentleman.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Theodore Dann, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the
following statement and accompanying Sheet of Drawings :—
The object of this Invention is to provide a simple, portable, and
compact appliance for cooking food, boiling water, and performing other
culinary operations in divers manners, in accordance with the kind of
fuel that may be at hand. To this effect I construct an apparatus which
may be used either as a cooking vessel combined with a portable stove,
or wholly or partly moveable hearth, or may serve as a fire-pot, saucepan,
or other culinary utensil upon an ordinary kitchen or camp fire. In
doing so I fit a pot, saucepan, or other cooking vessel of any one of the
usual shapes, made by preference of tinned iron, with a longitudinal
casing at the bottom, open at one end, and communicating at the other
end with a vertical flue, and which may also communicate at the sides
with lateral flues. At the bottom of this casing I provide a hearth or
fire-place proportionate to the size of the vessel itself, and which may
either be fixed thereto, or may be made to slide in or out upon a pair of
rails fixed to the vessel, the former arrangement being by preference
designed for kitchen or household purposes, and the latter for camp use
or for use in the open air. I construct the hearth or fire-place so as to
form an ash fall, and upon or within it I.place a fuel recipient made
either of wire, perforated tinned iron, or other suitable material, by
preference of prismatic shape and open at the top. Within, this
recipient, herein-after called the basket, I place the fuel adapted for the
purpose, such as coke, charcoal, or other combustible matter, which may
be made to burn without a flame. Instead of filling the basket with
such fuel I prefer in some cases to place therein, upon a substratum of
cinders, an iron similar in shape to the irons used by tailors or laun-
dresses for pressing and flattening cloth or linen, so that, having
previously brought up the temperature of this iron to red heat, the
radiation alone may keep the contents of the vessel warm for an

page_text: indefinite space of time. I so construct the vessel that whenever it is
intended to use the same over an ordinary kitchen or camp fire the
basket as well as all the other separable fittings at the bottom of the
vessel may be readily removed.
Upon a small scale an apparatus constructed according to my Inven-
tion may be used for military purposes and for field purposes generally,
in which case I prefer to put cloth, felt, or other non-conducting material
around the vessel, and so fit a lid thereon by means of set screws or
other suitable appliances as to keep the vessel firmly closed, and enable
the culinary operation to proceed while the soldier or bearer of the
vessel is on the march or moving about. For such purposes I also
furnish the apparatus with a shoulder strap or other suitable means of
suspending the vessel to the body of the wearer, whilst on the larger
scale designed for domestic, family, or naval purposes I provide a
suitable handle attached to the vessel for carrying the same from place
to place.
TC Sane letters of reference
denote identical parts in all the various Figures.
In Figure 1 I have shewn a longitudinal section; in Figure 2, a cross
section; and in Figure 3, a plan of a portable vessel constructed in
accordance with my Invention, and intended for preparing and heating
food upon a camp fire, or else heating the same and keeping it hot while
on the march.
.
In Figure 4 I have shewn a separate plan view of the moveable.
hearth. A is the body of the vessel, made in this instance of elliptic
shape; B, the lid thercof, closed down by means of a longitudinal
fastening C pivoting upon a hinge E, fitted to a fixed staple F at one
end, whilst the other end is held by a staple G, which may be turned
down after unfastening the set screws D, D, so as to enable the cover or
lid B being removed or replaced as occasion may require; H, H, are a
pair of rails fixed beneath the body of the vessel. Upon these rails slide
the longitudinal guide pieces a, a, fastened on the sides of the casing I.
This casing has an opening J in the rear, whereas its front is formed by
a plate K closing up the entire aperture of the hearth. Within the

page_text: Secondly. The use or employment of the recipient of fuel called
basket in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth and illus-.
trated in the annexed Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Theodore Dann, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Witness,
EBEN. EVE,
10, Albion Road,
(L.S.)
JOSEPH THEODORE DANN.
Clapham,
S.W.