AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR THE PREPARATION OF COFFEE OR TRA;
Year: 1822

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
BERNARD RABAUT, of Skinner Street, Snow Hill, in the City of London,
Gentleman, 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 West-
minster, the Twenty-sixth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and
twenty-two, in the third year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
Louis Bernard Rabaut, my exors, adñors, and assigns, His especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Louis Bernard Rabaut,
my exors, adñiors, 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 "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR THE PREPARATION OF COFFEE OR TRA;" in which said Letters Patent there
is contained a proviso, that if I, the said Louis Bernard Rabaut, 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

page_text: date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all
liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease,
determine, and become void, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto
bad) will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Louis Bernard Rabaut, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and in
the following.description thereof (that is to say):-
My Invention of an improved apparatus for the preparation of coffee or tea
consists of a cylindrical or other shaped vessel adapted to receive water, being
surmounted by another vessel having a perforated bottom and adapted
to receive the tea (or coffee in a ground or pulverized state); the upper vessel
is furnished with a screw passing through its cover or lid, so as to admit of
compressing the mass of tea or coffee between two perforated plates, viz*, the
perforated bottom of the upper vessel and a moveable perforated plate, which
is placed above the tea or coffee. The upper vessel has a conical tube or
funnel proceeding from its bottom, whose lower orifice reaches near to the
bottom of the lower vessel, beneath the surface of the water contained in the
same. The operation of this apparatus is as follows:-The tea or coffee being
put into the upper vessel and compressed by the screw above mentioned, and
a quantity of water being poured into the lower vessel through a cock or
screwed opening made for the purpose, a sufficient degree of heat is applied to
the lower vessel by a lamp or otherwise to boil the water and generate steam
or vapour, which being confined in the upper part, and having no means of
escape, exerts a pressure upon the surface of the boiling water, and causes it
to rise up through the tube or funnel before mentioned, and pass through the
perforated bottom of the upper vessel, and move slowly through the compressed
mass of tea or coffee, and then pass the upper or moveable perforate plate,
and rising into the upper vessel in the form of an extract, from whence it is
conducted off by a pipe or spout into another vessel or receiver in a fine clear
state, being fit for use; by this method I am enabled to obtain a superior
preparation or extract from tea or coffee than has been usually effected by the
methods at present known and in use, and I therefore claim as my Invention
the above-described apparatus for preparing tea or coffee, viz', by causing a
quantity of boiling water to pass slowly by the pressure of steam through tea
or coffee in a compressed state."
. And in order that my Invention may be clearly understood, I have hereunto

page_text: annexed a Drawing, which represents an apparatus for preparing coffee or tea
constructed upon my improved plan.
Fig. 1 shews the external appearance of the apparatus, with a small spirit
lamp placed beneath it; Fig. 2 shews a section, supposed to be taken nearly
through the centre of the apparatus, in order to explain its internal construc-
tion; and Figs. 3, 4, and 5 represent detached parts of the apparatus. (Note.-
The same characters or letters of reference are used to denote corresponding
parts upon all the Figs.) A, A, shews the lower vessel, into which hot water
is intended to be conveyed through the cock B, which is made to screw out
at for that purpose; this vessel should be filled about two-thirds full, and
then the cock B should be screwed into its place; C, C, represent the upper
vessel, which is adapted to contain the tea or coffee; it is soldered or otherwise
securely fixed upon the top of the vessel A, A, its bottom c, c, is perforated
with a number of small holes, and is encompassed by the base of the conical
tube or funnel D, d, which is secured by solder or otherwise so as to prevent
any communication between the interior of the vessel A, A, and the interior
of the vessel C, C, except through the said conical tube or funnel; E, E; re-
present the cover of the upper vessel, it is secured in its place by having-three
or more notches cut in its rim, of the form represented at e, e, in Figs. 1' and
these notches are adapted to hook under small metal pins or studs, fixed to
the upper part of the vessel C, C, as seen at two s, s, Figs. 1 and 2, so that
when the cover is put in its place and turned a short space round, it is secured
and prevented from coming off (in the same manner as the bayonet is fixed
upon the end of a musket barrel); the centre of the cover E, E, lias a metal
screw G passing through it, having a nob or button H fixed' by a nut upon a
square part formed at its uppermost end, being on the outside of the cover, so-
that the screw G may be turned round either way after the cover E, E; is
secured in its place; this screw works into a nut h, which is fixed 'upon a tube i,
projecting from the centre of a circular plate k, k; the plate k, k, is per-
forated with small holes, as represented in Figs. 4 and 5, which Figs. shew
the said plate with its tube i and nut h detached from the screw G. The
apparatus is mounted upon a tripod frame I, I, which serves also to support a
small spirit lamp L, or otherwise the apparatus may be placed over a common
fire, as may be found most convenient, in which case I should recommend a
small safety valve to be placed at the upper part of the vessel A, A, being
kept down with sufficient force by a small spring or weight. The vessel A, A,
is furnished with two handles, one of which is seen at a in Fig. 1, for the
3;

page_text: purpose of carrying the apparatus. P represents the spout or exit pipe, com-
municating with the vessel C, C, through which the extract of tea or coffee
is delivered into any proper receiver placed beneath its extremity. The
method of using this apparatus is very simple; first, remove the cover E, E,
of the upper vessel, and its screw G will draw out the perforated plate k, k,
along with it; then having placed a round piece of blotting paper or other
sort of unsized. paper upon the surface of the perforated bottom-c, c, so as
entirely to cover the same, proceed to introduce the coffee (in a ground or
powdered state) upon the said paper, and after laying the surface even and
level, cover the surface of the powdered coffee with a second or similar picce
of paper, then put on the cover E, E, with the perforated plate k, k, and
secure the cover in its place, as before mentioned; after which the nob or
button h must be turned round by the thumb and finger so as to force down
the plate k, k, and compress the coffee between the two papers and perforated
plates (sufficiently to obtain a good extract, as before mentioned), after which
the cock B is to be unscrewed at b, and hot water poured into the vessel A, A,
until it is about two-thirds filled, the cock B must then be replaced, the lamp
L lighted, and a proper vessel placed under the end of the pipe P, to receive
the extract. In this state, as soon as the water contained in the vessel A, A,
begins to boil, the steam which is generated, having no means of escaping at
the upper part of the said vessel, will press upon the surface of the water,
and thereby force the water up through the papers and mass of compressed
coffee till it rises above the perforated plate k, k, and is conveyed off by the
pipe P in the form of an extract; when a sufficient quantity of water has
passed through the coffee, the operation may be instantly suspended by opening
or turning the cock B, so as to permit the steam to escape freely; the circum-
stance of its passing through the two pieces of paper causes the extract to
come off exceeding clear, which is an important point in preparing good coffee.
The form and proportions of the vessels and other parts of the apparatus may
be varied according to the discretion of the workman, as well as the materials
of which the same may be made, still producing the desired effect, as herein-
before described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Bernard Rabaut, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-two.
LOUIS BERNARD (L.s.) RABAUT.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1822, the aforesaid Louis Bernard Rabaut (through
the interpretation of Louis Marie Dessurne, the said interpreter being first
sworn that he had truly, distinctly, and audibly interpreted the contents of the
above Specification, and that he would interpret the acknowledgment about to
be administered) came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and
acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the Specification afore-
said was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord 'One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-two.