Improvements in Apparatus for the Manufacture of Bread, Specially relating to Sponge-blenders and Dough Machines.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Feb., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 29th Oct., 1890-Accepted, 24th Jan., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for the Manufacture of Bread, Specially
relating to Sponge-blenders and Dough Machines.
I, JOHN ADAIR, Commission Agent, Waterford, Ireland, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In my Patent No. 18771, 1889, I describe a sponge blender-now tho' this
sponge-blender is a firstrate sponge blender for ordinary Hours as I have frequently
proved in my own establishment, yet for extra-ordinary flours-& by these I mean
Russian wheat flours and flours of like strength in which there is a vast amount of
gluten. I make a special improvement on this sponge-blender for the purpose of
cutting up the extra quantity of gluten which will be in such sponges.
Instead of covering the whole sponge blender with strained wires-I cover only a
part, say one half, & I cover the other part with a board at the termination of which
board are a number of cutting teeth-I place this sponge blender into the dough box
by two pivots-one pivot is stationary in the inside of the dough box and the other
pivot is worked by means of a screw-the handle which turns such screw being
on the outside of the dough box. In the sponge blender are two eyes, one at each
extremity I put the first eye in on the fixed pivot & then I screw the other
pivot into the other eye & by this means the sponge blender is fastened in dough
box. Now when dough box revolves it is evident that this sponge blender will
carry all the contents before it, as it is actually a division put right across the box
& in order to make it a thoro❜ly close division there is a slip on hinges attached to
the sponge blender which is shut down when the sponge-blender is in-& which
is opened up while sponge blender is being taken out, in order to give the
necessary freedom to move it off the pivot.
As the contents of the box are pushed forwd. by this sponge blender the
water & the sponge must either pass thro' the wires, or must pass over the board
& consequently thro' the cutting knives.
Now, as the box is made to revolve the strong thick glutinous sponge will not
yield to pass thro' the wires & is consequently carried up by the blender until it
reaches an elevation, where the incline of the blender to the centre is sufficient
to throw off the sponge, & then it rushes from off the wires & the board, in,
thro' the cutting knives, & this operation being performed several times by the
several revolutions, the sponge eventually becomes cut small enough to pass thro' the
wires & as the leading speciality in this blender is, that the rush of water will be
always thro' the wires, there will be consequently a drag with the water of the sponge
that may remain in lump about the wires & thus as the wires are very thin, they
will cut the sponge when it is dragged by this force against them.
Also in my Patent No. 15143, 1889, I describe a dough machine without any
central axle passing thro' it. Now as an improvement upon same, I bore a hole
longitudinally thro' the centre of the shaft upon which this dough box revolves-
& thro' this hole, I put a pipe which enters into centre of dough box.
I attach one end of this pipe to a steam pipe & by this method steam can be per-
mitted to enter the box-of course there will be socket arrangements after the usual
methods of connecting steam-pipes with machinery in motion.
Now, while my sponge or dough is blending or mixing I have the power of
permitting the steam to flow gently in, just as I desire it, consequently in cold
& wintry weather, it will be unnecessary to put that great heat which is some-
times used in water for blending sponges-for, as in the ordinary method, where
of course there is no steam pipe-it is not at all an unusual thing, during the
operation of sponge blending & dough making that the temperature shd. fall

page_text: considerably & to make a provision for this, the water at the start is heated
much higher, than what it wd. he heated were this fall in temperature not to take
place & this high temperature upon sponges is most dangerous and injurious, as it
may sometimes sour the sponge & possibly it might be correct to say from a scientific
point, that to suddenly heat the fermenting gerins, & then as suddenly chill them;
may have a most weakening effect, on the healthy character & power of such germs
to do their necessary work.
It is therefore highly advantageous to operate by the system which I propose, as
there will be complete power not only to raise the heat during the dough making, but
to keep it raised to the desired temperature during all the operation-& as for the
cleaning and scalding of the box it is obvious that at any time the box may be
scalded & cleaned without any trouble, as I also run with this steam-pipe, either
outside or inside it, a pipe containing water; & thus the "seasoning" for the sponges
or for the doughs can be got ready with the greatest facility.
And, in order to measure same I place a cock at a fixed height in the dough
machine, so that when a fixed quantity of water enters machine, it will fill up to the
level of the cock. If more than this fixed quantity comes in, it will run off thro³
the cock. If several fixed quantities are required to be measured of course several
cocks can be put in.
Again, as it may be an advantage in cleaning box to remove some of the working
arms I have them placed in dough box after the manner of the sponge blender,
shewn in accompanying drawing, so that they can be taken in or out at pleasure.
This refers to dough machine No. 15143-1889.
Of course it will be necessary to have such rods made of pipe or hollowed in some
way, so that the pivots might take them at each side.
Further to test the heat of water &c. I have a thermometer fixed in box as shewn in
accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1. is sponge blender.
SHEET No. 1.
B. represents sides of dough box in which such machine is placed and hung
by the arms P. P. which are in sponge-blender on the pivots M. & N. which are in
dough box.
K. represents plate with knives in it. T. is timber placed right across sponge
blender. W. are the wires. S. is slip at side, on hinges which closes in space-
required to lift sponge blender off pivot M. when the pivot N. is screwed out.
Fig. 2. shews dough machine which revolves. Y. is water pipe. R. is steam pipe,
both passing in through centre of axle into dough box.
K. shews knives of sponge blender.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for the Manufacture of Bread, Specially
relating to Sponge-blenders and Dough Machines.
JOHN ADAIR Commission Agent Waterford Ireland, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
In my Patent No. 18,771, 1889, I describe a sponge-blender-now though this
sponge-blender is a first rate sponge-blender for ordinary flours, as I have frequently
proved in my own establishment, yet for extraordinary Hours-and by this I mean
Russian wheat flours, or flours of like strength, in which there is a vast amount of

page_text: gluten—I make a special improvement on this sponge-blender for the purpose of
cutting up the extra quantity of gluten which will be in such sponges.
Instead of covering the whole sponge blender with strained wires, 1 cover only a
part say one half. and I cover the other part with a board, at the termination of which
board are a number of cutting teeth. I place this sponge-blender into the dough-box
by two pivots, one pivot is stationary in the inside of the dough-box and the other
pivot is worked by means of a screw; the handle which turns such screw being on
the outside of the dough box. In the sponge-blender are two eyes-one at each
extremity. I put the first eye in on the fixed pivot and then I screw the other pivot
into the other eye, and by this means the sponge blender is fastened into dough box.
Now, when dough-box revolves it is evident that this sponge blender will carry all the
contents before it, as it is actually a division put right across the box, and in order to
make it a thoroughly close division there is a slip on hinges attached to the sponge
blender, which is shut down when the sponge blender is in, and which is opened up
while sponge-blender is being taken out, as there is a necessary freedom required
to take it off the stationary pivot, by drawing it say half an inch or so across
the box.
Now as the contents of the box are pushed forward by the sponge blender, the
water and the sponge must either pass through the wires, or must pass over the board
and consequently through the cutting knives.
As the box is made to revolve, the strong thick glutinous sponge will not yield to
pass through the wires and is consequently carried up by the blender until it reaches
an elevation where the incline of the blender to the centre is sufficient to throw off
the sponge, and then it rushes from off the wires and the board in through the cutting
knives and this operation being performed several times by the several revolutions,
the sponge eventually becomes cut small enough to pass through the wires-and as a
leading speciality in this blender is, that the rush of water will be always through the
wires there will be consequently a drag with the water of the sponge that may remain
in lumps about the wires-and thus as the wires are very thin, they will cut the
sponge when it is dragged by this force against them.
Also in my Patent No. 15143-1889° I describe a dough machine without any
central axle passing through it. Now, as an improvement upon same I bore a hole
longitudinally through the centre of the shaft by which this dough-box revolves-
and through this hole I put a pipe which enters into centre of dough box. I attach
one end of this pipe to a steam pipe and by this method steam can be permitted to
enter the box-of course there will be socket arrangements after the usual methods
of connecting steam pipes with machinery in motion. Now while my sponge or
dough is blending or mixing, I have the power of permitting the steam to flow
gently in just as I desire it-consequently in cold and wintry weather, it will be
unnecessary to put that great beat which is sometimes used in water for blending
sponges for as in the ordinary method where of course there is no steam-pipe it is
not at all an unusual thing during the operation of sponge-blending and dough-
making that the temperature should fall considerably, and to make a provision for
this, the water at the start is heated much higher, than it would be heated were this
fall in temperature not to take place, and this high temperature upon sponges is most
dangerous and injurious, as it may sometimes sour the sponge, and possibly it might
be correct to say from a scientific point, that to suddenly heat the fermenting germs,
and then as suddenly chill them, may have a most weakening effect on the healthy
character and power of such germs to do their necessary work.
It is therefore highly advantageous to operate by this system which I propose as
there will be complete power not only to raise the heat during the dough-making,
but to keep it raised to the desired temperature during all the operation-and as for
the cleaning and scalding of the box, it is obvious, that at any time the box may be
scalded and cleaned without any trouble as I also run with this steam-pipe, either
outside or inside it, a pipe containing water, and thus the "seasoning" for the sponges
or for the doughs, can be got ready with the greatest facility-and in order to
measure same, I place a cock at a fixed height in the dough machine so that when a

page_text: fixed quantity of water enters machine, it will fill up to the level of the cock-if more
than this fixed quantity comes in, it will run off through the cock.
If several fixed quantities are required to be measured, of course several fixed cocks
can be put in.
Again, as it may be an advantage in cleaning box, to remove some of the working
rods, I have them placed in dough-box after the manner of the sponge-blender, shewn
in accompanying drawing, so that they can be taken in or out at pleasure.
This refers to dough machine No. 15,143, 1889. Of course it will be necessary to
have such rods made of pipe or hollowed in some way, so that the pivots might take
them at each side-and further to test the heat of water, I have a thermometer fixed
in box as shewn in accompanying drawing.
As a further explanation-where pipes are mentioned as passing through dough-
box for sake of economy, one pipe would do, through which either steam or water
could pass as required. Of course in any case it would be necessary to give both the
steam and the water a downwar turn, so that they would go to the bottom of box.
Also, where I speak of cocks being put into dough-box-I wish to explain that
each cock, should have a particular key-labelled with the number of gallons-so that
there would be no mistake in opening cocks-and each cock could be only opened
by its own key.
Of course there would be an indicator on the dough-box which would stand always
at the exact perpendicular-this could be easily arranged as the discharge door of the
box, being heavier than any other part of it, will swing it around to nearly make the
indicator always correct.
Regarding the construction of sponge-blender,- for the purposes of having it
more conveniently made and more easily cleansed, I make it out of one sheet of
steel-cutting a space in such sheet, for the wires to be strained across-I turn a
flange at both sides of the opening thus made to hold the timbers by which the
wires are strained. Into these timbers I bore holes, through which holes, I lace
the wires. I have a few drawing pins after the manner of piano tightening pins,
by which I draw the wires from time to time, as they may slacken. At the end of
this plate where the knives are to be put, I cut in the plate long teeth, and I turn
same up at right angles to the plate giving them a twist, so that the edge of the
teeth may be turned to meet the contents, as it rushes forward on the blender.
I then turn two claws at each end of plate, through which I pass a rod fastening
same by claws to plate.
I take this sponge-blender in and out as described above.
As this machine is free from rivets or joinings of any kind, it must remain firm
and durable to the last-as, when the rivets in machinery rust, the joinings open
and dirt collects, to the exceeding detriment of the material worked.
As a further improvement both as regards the putting in of sponge-blender and
the putting in of the rods-instead of having a pivot to put them on, I place them
into a recess, which may be an iron plate with a hole bored in it to exactly take
rod on one side and I press it with screws on the other side-this gives an even
surface to box and thus permits it to be easily cleaned.
And as a further explanation regarding sponge-blender, where I speak of a board-
this may be made in the shape of a trough, when it is desirable to increase the
rush of water over blender-but for ordinary purposes the board will be found
quite sufficient also there may be a board behind the wires as well as in front of
it, but the speciality 1 claim is-The lifting of a sufficient quantity of water by
means of a board or trough attached to a sponge-blender, so that it may cast a
rush of sponge water and sponge through cutting knives attached to such blender.
The term board is a descriptive phrase, as it may be made of iron or any other
material.
As a method of moving sponge-blender and working rods-by these I mean the
workers that work the dough-in and out of dough box in a quick and easy manner-
I take pipes sufficiently long to extend across dough box; I fill up the part of such
pipes that I do not require hollow with timber or other convenient material in

page_text: 3rd. The manner of fastening in a sponge-blender and working rods, so that each
can be easily removed substantially as described and illustrated with reference to
Sheet No. I. Fig. 1.
4th. A lifting board or trough that will throw the sponge forward on the knives as
the box revolves in the manner described and for the purposes set forth in this
Specification.
5th. The employment of steam and water in a dough box, as described in this
Specification and for the purposes set forth.
6th. The employment of thermometer and measuring cocks in a dough box
substantially as described in this Specification and for the purposes set forth.
7th. An expanding and contracting rod as described in this Specification and for
the purposes set forth with reference to Sheet No. 2. Fig. 2.
Signed this 27th day of 10th Mo. 1890.
JOHN ADAIR,
Waterford