IMPROVEMENTS IN COMMISSARIAT AMBULANCE COOKING APPARATUS & APPURTENANCES
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Henry Clarke at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd March
1861.
I, WILLIAM HENRY CLARKE, of 3, Vernon Place, Bloomsbury Square, in
the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMMISSARIAT AMBULANCE COOKING APPARATUS
& APPURTENANCES," to be as follows:-
My Invention, which relates generally to portable or ambulance com-
missariat provision appurtenances, relates, first, to a cooking apparatus adapted
for cooking various kinds of edible substances simultaneously, & consists
of a boiler or vessel, in which I place a certain amount of water, and
insert therein from the top a receptacle containing charcoal or other suitable
combustible, being supplied with air by a downcast channel thereto. This fire
receptacle dips into the water and causes it to boil. In the cover of the
cooking vessel I fit and insert cooking vessels; one set may be exposed to the
dry heat of a chamber in the upper part of the vessel through which the fire-
cage passes, and be adapted for roasting, with an upper eompartment or
division, say, for stewing, while at another part of the cover I mount a
number of receptacles above one another which contain different substances,
such as fresh meat or potatoes, the cooking being effected by the steam
generated in the lower main vessel. The steam has free access to each of the
superposed cooking vessels, and passes to each separately, so that the same

page_text: steam does not pass to or through one edible matter being cooked and then to
another. I further mount and furnish an ambulance cooking apparatus suit-
able for more extensive operations, which consists of a cylindrical or other
shaped flue, multitubular or other kind of boiler, with a steam dome somewhat
similar to a locomotive boiler. At one end of this boiler is placed an oven,
around which and through between double partitions or shelves the heat from
he boiler circulates. On each side I arrange vessels for boiling, steaming,
stewing, and otherwise cooking, which I effect by leading the steam from the
boiler by flexible tubes, which I plunge into the contents of the vessels, and
allow more or less steam to escape therein, or the steam may be allowed to
escape under or in the lower one of a series, and pass up to cook the contents
of those above, as before explained in the first part of the Invention.
Baking
is performed in the oven, as also roasting, which I perform by allowing a
small circulation of air therein. This boiler and apparatus is mounted on
wheels, and has other appurtenances of ambulance.
The second part relates to a portable cooking apparatus or field kitchen
stove of smaller construction, which is readily portable; it consists of parts
somewhat like an ordinary portable boiler. This I fit with a series of vessels,
which can be substituted for one another, and changed according to the kind
of cooking required. The proper fitting of the several vessels is insured. by
means of a sand or water joint. Boiling will be simply as usual, whilst for
roasting or baking I substitute a vessel with a double bottom and sand bath
through which the heat is transmitted, the roasting vessel having a little circu-
lation of air to the meat. Vessels are also fitted suitable for steaming & stewing.
Two operations can also be performed at same time; such, for instance, as
cooking soup and steaming potatoes with the steam from the soup by using a
suitable receptacle to prevent the condensed steam from the potatoes returning
into the soup. Roasting and stewing can also be performed by fitting suitable
vessels the one inside the other. I form this portable cooking apparatus with
a hot closet below the fire, which I place immediately under the cooking vessels
if it is limited to one space for their reception; but two or more places may
be made for their reception in the same stove, and these vessels may be
further made to fit one above another, and all to contain different edibles to
be cooked from the steam arising from the lower one, as described with
reference to the small portable apparatus first herein mentioned.
The third part relates to a portable open fire-place or field range, which I
insert in a natural or artificial bank of earth. The earth forms the back and
sides of the fire-place; the front is formed of a series of bars fixed in uprights,
and the whole made of iron tubing. The bottom is similarly made of tubing

page_text: and has at its extreme width two long bars or rods extending at back and in
front. The two projections at back are forced into the earth, and support the
fire-grate, while the front projections form a support for an oven or screen,
which folds down flat thereon for the sake of portability. The front bars
separate from the grate bottom by suitable socket fittings. Suitable rails and
sockets are also fitted to form a rail all round the upper part of the fire-grate
to support the cooking utensils. These rails can be disconnected from their
sockets for portability. Instead of this stove being placed in a bank of earth
as described, it may be constructed in a similar manner, but double fronted,
and so that a boiler may be placed at the one front, while the folding oven
occupies the other front, as before described.
The last part of my Invention relates to the ambulance stores for conveying
the cooking apparatus, as also the provisions, if necessary, in the commissariat
department, and consists in making such store caravans of a light lattice-work
of wire, wood, or other material, mounted on a rectangular or other frame, of a
size to enclose the desired area. The lattice-work I enclose by a waterproof
covering over the top, and secured close down the sides when it is not required
to dispense the contents. When the contents of the stores are to be dis-
tributed this covering is distended to form an awning all round, and I fit to
this ambulance store bars or counters, which may be at the ends and sides,
to which there is suitable access by doors in the lattice-work. The framing or
body of this ambulance store is mounted on suitable wheels, and fitted with
shafts or pole, and to be drawn by horses in the ordinary manner.