IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM CIRCULATING APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO COOKING AND BATHING APPARATUS
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Albert Reinhold Hildebrandt at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd April 1880. A com-
munication from abroad by Johannes Fleischer, of Cologne, in Germany.
JOHN ALBERT REINHOLD HILDEBRANDT, of the Firm of A. Hildebrandt, Patent
Agent, of 43, Market Street, in the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM CIRCULATING APPARATUS APPLICABLE
TO COOKING AND BATHING APPARATUS." A communication from abroad by
Johannes Fleischer, of Cologne, in Germany.
The apparatus consists of a square vessel constructed of sheet or cast metal
standing on feet and having suitable handles, the top edge being formed into a
water lute, into which the bent down edge of the cover dips to make a steam
tight joint. A plate fitted at a convenient height in the vessel contains several
perforations for the purpose of allowing the steam to escape into the upper part,
and is provided with four circular openings fitted with conically faced rings to
receive the pans which are fitted similarly, and sit valve like in the openings.
Another opening is provided in the centre of the more or less done shaped cover,
which opening is also fitted with a conically faced ring to receive its counterpart
fitted to the bottom of another pan to which it forms the edge. The pans are
provided with suitable handles and covers, and a false perforated bottom for one or
more of them is provided. The apparatus acts as follows:-The vessel is partly
filled with water and a suitable gas burner, with double bottom to reflect the heat,
is placed underneath which when lighted will cause the water to boil and produce
steam. The steam will play round the immersed parts of the pans and escape
through the perforations in the plate into the upper part, whence it will play
round the upper portions of the pans and enter the latter if the covers have been
left off, according to whether the action of the steam is to be direct or indirect.
Part of the steam will also enter the pan on the top of the cover through its open
bottom in which eggs and similar objects may be cooked.
It is obvious that the vessel need not necessarily be square in plau or horizontal
section, and that it may be made of such a size as to accomodate a larger or smaller
number of pans, and that pans of various sizes may be used by reducing the
openings in the plate with loose rings.
In a modification of the arrangement described above the bottom part or base of
the apparatus consists of a vessel open at the top and provided with feet, draw off

page_text: tap and a central tubo or funnel, which is fixed to the bottom for the admission of
air, so that the vessel forms an annular space which may be filled with water, the
gas supply pipe with suitable burner being placed near the top. The top edge of
the vessel is rebated, so that another vessel may be placed upon it, or the latter
may rest on the edge by a projection or rim. The second vessel, which is also open
at the top, and may be termed the boiler, has a concave bottom with a dome
projecting inwards, and is also filled with water. On this boiler is placed a pan
the diameter of which is slightly less than that of the boiler, and its sides are
prolonged beyond the bottom, and when put upon and in the boiler this prolongation
reaches in the water lower down than the top of the aforesaid dome-shaped part
of the boiler bottom, and forms a hydraulic joint or water seal. On one side of
the bottom is fixed a circulating tube or funnel allowing a free passage through
the vessel, the top of the tube being fitted with a valve seat, the pan resting upon
the rim of the boiler by projections or a rim. On the top of that pan is put
another having a doublo bottom, the lower one sloping towards the circulating tube
in the pan below, and an opening there is fitted with a valve scat to fit the
circulating tube in the pan below, so that this second pan rests upon the valve,
and in addition it is also supported at the rim, adjustment being obtained by
inserting small globular bodies. On the inner bottom a circulating tube similar to
the last one is fixed, which also allows a free passage through it, but it is placed
on the opposite side of the pan, so as to avoid a straight passage through both.
Another vessel is placed on the top of the last named, the valve seat in the bottom
of which is raised a little above the latter, so that it forms a receptacle for condense
water; in this vessel one or moro pans fitted to the space available may be placed,
so that a little room is left between the outlet of the tube in the previous one and
the bottom of the last named pans, or in some cases pans may here be entirely
dispensed with. The pans are provided with rims or projections in proper places
on which they may rest on the edges of the vessel or pan, on and in which they
are placed, and they are also furnished with suitable handles.
The action of this modified apparatus is similar to the one before described,
except that the steam circulates through the pans or the circulating tubes, while
the water condensed in the hollow space of the second pan may flow back in the
boiler. The water in the bottom vessel or base also becomes heated and may be
drawn off by the tap.
The shape of the various vessels may be of any desired section other than
cylindrical, and instead of one circulating tube or funnel in each pan there may be
two or more, in which case the valve seats support the vessels above, and the pans
may also be constructed with double sides to increase the heating surface. The
number of pans may also be increased or reduced. Pans for steaming may also be
constructed and used by adopting a wire mesh or perforated bottom. The apparatus
may be arranged for heating by coal or other solid fuel, in which case the bottom
vessel or base becomes superfluous.
For bathing purposes the steam generator is usually made cylindrical and in
three parts, namely the base, the water vessel or boiler, and the cover. The base
contains the gas or petroleum burner, an air opening being provided under the
same forming the base into an annular space which may be filled with water, air
is also admitted through the perforations in the circular shell; the water vessel
resting on the base has the bottom curved inwards, which may or may not be
provided with a dome shaped elevation; the cover is a domeshaped cylindrical
vessel sliding inside the water vessel like a telescope gas holder. The steam or
vapour produced in this apparatus is conveyed by a suitable pipe to a small box or
vessel placed at the foot of the bed and separated from the feet of the bather by a
wooden or other partition suitably secured by hooks or otherwise. This box serves
as a receiver, distributor, and condensor, being provided with an outlet from which
the condense water flows when it reaches a given height, the outlet being screened
by a partition in gas trap fashion. The box is also fitted with a discharge pipe
provided with a suitable valve, which may be lifted by means of a pull to admit

page_text: the vapour in the bed, which for that purpose may be fitted with a simple frame
carrying india rubber sheets, woolen clothes or other materials supported on hooks,
or in some other convenient manner. Instead of a simple discharge pipe two or
more may be employed, or a rose may be used for the purpose.
It will be seen that the cooking stove before described is equally applicable as
steam or vapour generator, and that the form of the generator may bo varied. For
ambulance purposes the water cistern below the burner is usually omitted, and
any suitable beating medium may be employed.