A PROCESS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF TEAS AS ORDINARILY IMPORTED
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MAC EWAN, Grocer and Tea Merchant in Glasgow, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellant Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Fifth day of August, Eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, in the first year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Alexander Mac Ewan, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Alexander
Mac Ewan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and every of them, by
myself or themselves, or my or their deputy or deputies, servants or agents,
or such others as I, the said Alexander Mac Ewan, my executors, adminis-
trators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, from time to time and at all
times hereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should and law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend my Invention of "A PROCESS FOR
THE IMPROVEMENT OF TEAS AS ORDINARILY IMPORTED," within that part of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, and Dominion
of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, the
said Alexander Mac Ewan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or any
of them, should in my or their discretion seem meet; in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Alexander Mac Ewan,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the 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 enrolled in the High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after

page_text: the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Alexander Mac Ewan, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascer-
tained as follows, that is to say :-
A stove or close room must be provided, nearly air-tight, in which the
temperature can be raised, and nearly equally maintained, to the degree
herein-after mentioned. A convenient stove for this purpose may be made of
brick or stone, capable of maintaining from twenty to forty chests of tea, or
larger if necessary. The door should be so made that when it is closed the
room should be nearly air-tight. The heat may be conveniently communicated
by steam pipes, laid in various directions in the stove, so as equally to heat
the whole. The particular form of stove or room, or manner of heating, how-
ever, is not material. Such stoves or rooms will be sufficient as are now in
common use as drying stoves for loaf sugar in the process of manufacturing,
and for various other purposes. The size of the stove or room is not essential;
it should be adapted to the quantity of tea upon which the process is required
to be performed, and the heat may be applied in any of the ordinary methods
for that purpose, such as by hot water or a cockle, as well as by steam. The
teas intended to be submitted to the process should then be placed in the
stove or room, in the packages and in the quantities and in the state in which
they are ordinarily imported, and the stove or room closed. The temperature
of the stove or room should then be raised to about from 140° (one hundred and
forty) to 150° (one hundred and fifty) of Fahrenheit, and continued at that
temperature for a period of from four to six days, by which means a moistening
or sweating will produced in the teas. It is not, however, necessary that the
temperature should be exactly maintained at that degree. Should it be some-
what less the effect would be produced in a longer time, but if considerably
less the effect is not so satisfactory; and as low as 95° (ninety-five) of
Fahrenheit the improvement is very little, if any. On the other hand, the
temperature may be somewhat higher, but care must be taken that the heat
should not be too great; for if the temperature for any material time should
be too great, say as high as 200° (two hundred), the tea will probably be
injured, and become what may be called burnt. The temperature before
mentioned, of from 140° (one hundred and forty) to 150° (one hundred and
fifty) Fahrenheit, has been found to answer the best. If the tea has been
imported in the usual manner, and been warehoused for some months, four
days will be found a sufficient time for the temperature to be continued, tho'

page_text: a little longer will not be injurious.. If the tea has been in any damp
situation, or has been very shortly landed from the vessel, a longer period. will
be required, according to the state. Six days has been. found in all cases to
be sufficient at the temperature of 140° (one hundred and forty) to 150°
(one hundred and fifty). The package in which tea is ordinarily imported
has been mentioned, and is well adapted for the process. The nature of the
package is not essential, nor the particular quantity. The package, however,
should be close, as the moisture which arises in the tea during the process
should not be allowed perceptibly to evaporate, or the flavour of the tea will
be thereby lessened; and if the quantity is too small, say a few pounds, there
is danger of the tea becoming what is called burnt. When a sufficient time,
as herein-before mentioned, has expired, the tea should be removed from the
stove or heated room, and it may be then placed in the, ordinary store. room,
and allowed to cool, and in one or two days, according to the situation and
temperature of the room, the tea will be fit for use or sale
This Patent is not claimed to extend to any particular stove or heated
room, or manner of heating such stove or room; but it is claimed for the
application of an increased and continued temperature to all kinds of tea, as
ordinarily imported, as herein-before mentioned and described, and thereby
the flavour and quality of such teas are considerably improved.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander McEwan, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
Taken and acknowledged by Alex-
ander McEwan (party hereto), at
Glasgow, the Thirtieth day of Janu-
ary, Eighteen hundred and thirty-
ALEX MCEWAN. (L.S.)
At Glasgow, and within the City Chambers, before, and in presence of,
the Honorable Henry Dunlop, Lord Provost of the said City, appeared
Douglas Hamilton Robertson, Writer in Glasgow, who, being interrogated,
solemnly declared that he was present at the execution of the annexed
Specification by the within-designed Alexander Mac Ewan, and of the ac-
knowledgment thereof, before John Lang, Esquire, one of Her Majesty's
Justices of the Peace for Lanarkshire, and did see the said Alexander

page_text: Mac Ewan sign & seal, & the said John Lang subscribe his name to, the
said Specification & acknowledgment respectively, & that the names "Alex"
M Ewan & John Lang," set and subscribed as aforesaid, are the genuine
handwritings & subscriptions of the said Alexander Mac Ewan and John Lang
respectively.
In testimony whereof, I have caused the Common Seal of the said City
to be hereunto attached, this Thirtieth day of January, Eighteen
hundred and thirty-eight.