AN IMPROVED METHOD OF TREATING COFFEE AND TEA FOR GENERAL USES
Year: 1866

page_text: the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 28th November 1866, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PIDDING, of The Cottage, Kensington Palace Avenue, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF TREATING COFFEE AND TEA FOR GENERAL USES," and have
petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, or my executors, adminstrators,
and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn
declaration that I am the true and first Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Pidding, 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 :--
My Invention consists of and comprises a mode or modes of treating coffee
and tea so as to preserve the aroma of the same.
Firstly, as to the treatment of coffee. I subject the green or unroasted berry
to a process by which it is cut up into small particles or grains, th.n.sub-
Price 8d.]

page_text: jecting the same to a process of desiccation and roasting. In some cases [
may prefer to swell the berry by subjecting the same to the contact of steam
at a low temperature, which I do in closed vessels; by this means I render it
more suitable for cutting into grains without crushing. For the purposes of
desiccating and roasting I use any known method or methods used for such
purposes. For the heat to be applied I do not confine myself to any par-
ticular method, using those appliances of heat most suitable for my purpose
or purposes. The coffee having been granulated and roasted I subject it to
a process of pressure, -with or without-humid-heat (as may be necessary),
between ceilularor indented plates or rollers, as described hereafter, producing
cakes or balls of various sizes and shapes. I then subject them to a coating
of gelatinous matter, whether composed of pure gelatine, gum, starch, or
starch gum, used either seperately or in combination. This coating I use as
a preservative,and to confine the aroma and purity of the coffee untill required
for use, such cakes or balls being by their coating of this gelatinous com-
pound air-tight, and therefore not subject to the action of the air externally.
In some cases I intend to use the various gelatinous matters in a dry state
or powder (or solution), mixing the same with the granulated coffee, and
subjecting the same to a humid heat and pressure to produce the same in
cakes or balls as before described. The cakes or balls being formed by either
of the before-named processes I subject them to a heat of a temperature
sufficient to harden them and render them portable.
The aforesaid process or processes of treating and compressing coffee in its
granulated state into cakes or balls I apply also to coffee when ground
in the ordinary way.
For the production of a cheaper article of beverage I purpose mixing
chickory in a granulated or other state as a mixture with my prepared coffee
in cakes or balls.
Secondly, my Invention as far as it relates to the treatment of tea is as
follows-I take the tea as imported into this country and subject it slight
humidity (heated or otherwise) sufficient to deprive the leaves of their
friability or brittleness; having done this I treat them precisely as I have
described as the treatment to which coffee is to be subjected in the production
of the same in cakes or balls. In some cases I purpose using a decoction or
fusion of the leaves of the black currant tree as a means of moistening the
tea leaves before subjecting to pressure, afterwards adding a coating of
either of the gelatinous matters, used singly or in combination, which I have
named as in reference to the coating or covering of the coffee in cakes or
balls.

page_text: For the purpose of granulating the coffee berry I use rollers, the surfaces
of which are indented or recessed, the indentations or recesses on the
surface of such rollers being of such shape or size internally as may be
necessary to press the green coffee berry into grains on their being passed
through the said rollers, such indentations or recesses being formed by
grooving the said rollers longitudinally and round their circumference in such
spaces apart and to such depths as may be desirable and necessary. In placing
the grooved or recessed rollers in the frame in which they are to be worked
I may fix two, three, or four rollers in the frame, and so place them that the
grooves or recesses on their surfaces are parralel or transverse to each other.
For the purpose of pressing the prepared coffee and tea into cakes I use plates
of metal or other suitable material with recesses formed on their surface, the
preparation of either (coffee or tea) being placed on the recessed plate; the
same is covered with a flat plate, and then subject to pressure. A series of
these plates and covers may be placed in a press of either hydraulic or screw
power.
Having herein described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention
I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to any precise modes
of manipulation, or to any details herein described, as I may prefer to vary
them; what I claim is, the descicating and roasting coffee in a granulated
state and the preparation of the same so as to preserve its aroma; as also the
preparation of tea so as to preserve its aroma.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Pidding, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of November One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-six.
WILLIAM PIDDING. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by
the said William Pidding, in
the presence of
ALFRED C. TATHAM,
'
Solr.,
11, Staple Inn, London,
A London Commr. to administer Oaths in Chancery.