CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REDUCING VEGETABLE AND OTHER SUBSTANCES TO SMALL PARTICLES
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
DANSON PRUDAY, of the Freemasons' Tavern, Great Queen Street, in the
County of Middlesex, Cook, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the eleventh year of Her
reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, given and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Danson Pruday, Her especial license, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Danson Pruday, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Thomas Danson
Pruday, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times 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, his Invention-
of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REDUCING VEGETABLE AND OTHER
SUBSTANCES TO SMALL PARTICLES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso, obliging me, the said Thomas Danson Pruday, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Danson Pruday, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists in the construction of certain novel apparatus suited
to the purposes of reducing vegetable and animal substances for culinary uses.
The first is a machine in which stewed meats, vegetables, and other matters
may by friction be reduced into small particles, or nearly into a state of jelly,
a process necessary in the preparation of soups and some other made dishes;
the use of which machine greatly facilitates some of the ordinary operations of
the cook, superseding the use of what is called the " tammy cloth," and afford-
ing the means of expeditiously masticating the materials, and bringing them
into a uniform gelatinous state.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figure 1 represents the machine taken
in vertical section nearly through its middle. a, a, is the stand in which
is fixed a semi-cylindrical vessel b, b, b, the bottom of which is formed of
wire gauze or perforated sheet metal, or other suitable fabric; this vessel
is to receive the meats and other matters c, c, intended to be operated
upon; below is to be placed a pan d or other vessel to receive the
materials as they are discharged through the perforated bottom of the
vessel b. The meats and other matters contained in the semi-cylindrical
vessel b, are intended to be pressed and rubbed against the grating or per-
forated bottom of the vessel by the reciprocating action of a hard rubbing
surface e, formed at the lower part of a vibratory lever. This lever is shewn de-
tached at Fig. 2, and consists of an axle f, with pivots, a handle g, and the lower
rubbing surface e, connected to the axle by arms. The pivots of this lever are to
be dropped into notches or slots cut in the wooden ends p of the semi-cylindrical
vessel, and upon these the lever is to vibrate when worked by the hands of the
operator. The materials of meat and other ingredients, having been prepared
by stewing, or otherwise, are to be put into the semi-cylindric vessel, and
covered up by the flaps i, i. The lever being then put in vibratory motion by the
handle g, the reciprocating action of the surface e at the lower part of the lever
will cause the meat and other materials to be rubbed with considerable friction
against the grating or perforated bottom of the vessel, and as the materials
become reduced into small particles, they will fall through the grating into
the vessel d below in a state suited for the making of soup or other similar
semi-fluid culinary matter.

page_text: In operating upon matters that may not require much friction to reduce
them into small particles, or into a gelatinous consistency, I sometimes
employ a brush instead of the hard rubbing surface before described. This
brush is shewn in Fig. 3, formed by bristles or fine wires set into the under
part of the reciprocating lever, and is worked precisely in the same way
as explained in reference to Fig. 1. A modification of the above machine is
shewn in vertical section at Fig. 4, and in horizontal view at Fig. 5. In this
instance, I propose to make the vessel intended to receive the materials to
be reduced into fine particles in the form of an upright cylinder a, a, mounted
in standards b, b. The vessel is to have a bottom c, c, formed of wire gauze,
perforated sheet metal, or other suitable fabric. The materials to be acted
upon being placed in the vessel on this perforated bottom, the wheel d,
covered on the under side of its arms with bristles or fine wires, is then intro-
duced and made to revolve by a handle e affixed to an upright shaft f. The
brush as it revolves will cause the material to be rubbed against the edges of
the wire gauze or perforated metal, and as it becomes reduced, its particles
will fall through into the pan or other vessel 9 below. I must further state
that though this apparatus is principally designed for the reduction of
meats and vegetables for culinary purposes, yet it is also applicable to the
reduction of various substances into small particles for other uses.
Another description of apparatus suited to slice or scrape vegetable matters
principally for culinary purposes is shewn in vertical section in two different
positions at Figures 6 and 7. a box a, a, incloses a disc or wheel b, which is
fixed upon an axle c, turning in bearings in the side of the box. Round the
periphery of this wheel there are set any convenient number of adjustable knives.
or cutters d, d, d, d, and the cutting wheel may be driven round by a band
and pulley, as shewn in the Figures, or by any other convenient means. The
material intended to be sliced (as horseradish) is placed in an upright trough or
groove e, as shewn at f, having a spring lever g behind it to press the material
continually up against the cutters. Rotary motion being now given to the
wheel b, the cutters d as they come round will shave off successive thin slices
from the horseradish, and cause those shavings to fall into the drawer h of the
box below. If it is desired to present the material to be sliced by the rotary
cutters in a different direction to that above described, as would be the case in
slicing cucumbers, then the upright trough e should be changed, and a
horizontal one placed so that the cucumber might be brought up by hand
against the cutters, and be rapidly sliced by the rotation of the wheel.
Having now described my Invention and the manner in which the same is
to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the

page_text: precise arrangements of parts for the reduction of meats and other substances
to form soups and other made dishes; but I claim under the above in part
recited Letters Patent,-
First, the employment of vibrating or rotating friction surfaces in connection
with vessels or chambers having a wire gauze, perforated zinc, or other porous
or percolating bed or bottom, for the purpose of reducing vegetable and other
substances to small particles.
And, secondly, I claim the arrangement of apparatus above described for
slicing or scraping horseradish, cucumbers, and other similar articles of human
food.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Danson Pruday, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of February, in the year-
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.