CERTAIN IMPROVE. MENTS IN IN THE MODE OF PREPARING THE VEGETABLE MATTER COMMONLY CALLED PEARL BARLEY, AND GRITS OR GROATS, MADE FROM THE CORN OF BARLEY AND OATS, BY WHICH MATERIAL, WHEN SO PREPARED, A SUPERIOR MUCILAGINOUS BEVERAGE MAY BE PRODUCED IN A FEW MINUTES
Year: 1823

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I. MATTHIAS
ARCHIBALD ROBINSON. of Red Lion Street. in the Parish of Saint George the
Martyr, in the County of Middlesex. Grocer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did. by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster. the
Twentieth day of August. One thousand eight hundred and twenty-three, in
the fourth year of His reign. give and grant unto me. the said Matthias
Archibald Robinson, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Matthias Archibald
Robinson, my exors, admors, and assigns, during the term of years therein
mentioned. should and lawfully might make. use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad. my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE.
MENTS IN IN THE MODE OF PREPARING THE VEGETABLE MATTER COMMONLY CALLED
PEARL BARLEY, AND GRITS OR GROATS, MADE FROM THE CORN OF BARLEY AND OATS,
BY WHICH MATERIAL, WHEN SO PREPARED, A SUPERIOR MUCILAGINOUS BEVERAGE
MAY BE PRODUCED IN A FEW MINUTES;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso that if 1, the said Matthias Archibald Robinson, shall
not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed. by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent,
ם

page_text: and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly
cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same, relation being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Matthias Archibald Robinson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are parti-
cularly described and ascertained in the following description thereof (that is
to say):-
My invention of Certain Improvements in the Modes of Preparing the
Vegetable Matters commonly called Pearl Barley and Grits or Groats," consists
of a peculiar mode of drying and otherwise treating the grain, by which
process its vegetative properties are destroyed, and a meal is produced divested
of rawness and freed from the impurities of husk or fibre, which meal, when so
prepared, is soluable in water, and will make a fine musilage in a few minutes.
Any quantity of pearl barley or groats intended to be operated upon is taken in
the state it is usually sold; and the first process in preparing is to cleanse
it by winnowing from seeds, husks, dirt, dust, and other impurities; after this
the grain is carefully looked over, and any extraneous matters which have not
been separated by the winnowing are then picked out. In this cleansed state
the grain is put into sieves and spread over their bottoms in level layers, about
three quarters of an inch thick; the sieves are then deposited on ledges in
closets heated by steam boxes or steam passages, the temperature of which
should be gradually increased to one hundred and sixty or one hundred and
Under this temperature the
seventy degrees of Faranheites thermometer.
grain must be suffered to remain, drying gradually, for about four hours, the
acquious parts evaporated being drawn of by suitable pipes leading from the
hot closets. By these means the vegetative properties of the grain will be
destroyed, and the raw taste removed, without parching or roasting it. When
the grain has been thus sufliciently dryed it is spread out in hoppers or throughs
to cool, and when that is effected it is to be passed through funnels to the hoppers
down to steel mills, if ground by stone, they are liable to gritty substances,
where it is ground by steam or any other efficient power; and sliders must be
introduced into the funnels for the purpose of regulating the supply. The
meal falling from the steel mills is received into boxes or receivers, and is
thence removed for dressing into bolting machinery of the ordinary construc-
tion. The cylinders of the bolting machines should be made of fine wire
gause, from twenty-four to forty-eight in the inch. and when the meal has
passed through the finest of these it may be considered to be completely fit for
A table spoonful of the prepared barley meal may be mixed up in two
use.

page_text: WWW
spoonsful of cold water, and when perfectly smooth one quart of boiling water is
to to be poured upon it; this being suffered to boil for ten minutes will produce
the mucelage called barley water, which should be then strained through
muslin if required, flavored with lemon peal or juice, and sweeten with
honey, refined sugar, or sugar candy. An excellent food for infants may
be made by mixing the above proportion with milk and water, instead of
water alone. It will also be found to be a very desirable material for thick-
ning broaths. It may be mixed and introduced into the broath half an hour
before it is taken off the fire. Puddings of an excellent quality may also be
made from the prepared barley meal. The powder of the prepared groats is
to be mixed in the same way, and a gruel may be produced in ten minutes of a
quality very much superior to any other gruel made from any preparation
of grits or oatmeal heretofore introduced to the public.
I am aware that several variations may be made in the process above
described, but I wish it to be understood that I rest my claim of Patent right
in a method or methods of drying the grain under a regular temperature with-
out roasting or parching it so as to destroy its vegetative properties, and at the
same time retain its nutritive qualities unimpaired, and of clearing it from its
fibrous and lusky parts after grinding, leaving only the pure and fine meal, by
which preparation the meal is brought into a condition that will enable it to
keep perfectly good in any climate.
In witness whereof, 1. the said Matthias Archibald Robinson, have here-
unto set my hand seal, the Third day of February, in the year of our
MATTS A. (L.S.) ROBINSON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of February, in the
year of our Lord 1824, the aforesaid Matthias Archibald Robinson came before.
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that pur
STEPHEN.
Inrolled the Fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.