Improvements in Apparatus for Measuring Exact Quantities of Heated or Boiling Water for Tea and Coffee Testing and other similar Purposes.
Year: 1888

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for Measuring Exact Quantities of
Heated or Boiling Water for Tea and Coffee Testing and other
similar Purposes.
I, GILES SEDDON, of 34 Loampit Vale, Lewisham, in the county of Kent, Grocer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
bo performned to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My present invention for Improvements in apparatus for measuring exact quantities
of heated or boiling water for tea and coffee testing and other similar purposes
consists chiefly of improvements on a previous invention for which Letter's Patent
No. 10415 dated August 14th 1886 were granted to me, and has for its object to
construct an apparatus in which a predetermined quantity of water or other heated
liquid can be more accurately and expeditiously measured and transferred from the
boiler or heating vessel to the article to be tested than by the means heretefore
employed.
In order to accurately compare the relative strengths and other properties of
many infusions, particularly those of tea and coffee, it is necessary and most
essential that the water should be delivered to the various samples to be tested in
exactly equal quantities, and in exactly similar conditions; and it is well known,
that to obtain the most favourable results in the extraction of the finer properties
of such infusions, it is essential that the water should be supplied to the samples to
be tested at the instant that it begins to boil.
In the accompanying sheet of illustrative drawings, Fig. 1 is a front elevation of
one form of apparatus for measuring exact quantities of heated or boiling water for
tea and coffee testing and other similar purposes constructed according to my inven-
tion, Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation, Fig. 3 is a plan, Fig. 4 is a sectional plan on a
plane through A B (Fig. 2) of the same.
A kettle or boiler a for containing the water to be boiled is formed with a well
or sunk chamber 6 for enclosing a measuring cock c. Water is introduced to the
body of the kettle through a hole d which is closed by the lid or cover e.
The lower
part of the kettle is perforated with holes f for allowing the escape of the heated gas
from the lamp or other means employed to heat the kettle, and a handle g is secured
to the upper part as clearly shown.

page_text: The cock c for measuring and drawing off the required quantity of liquid is
fixed as near as is convenient to the side of the kettle. The barrel c is provided
with a drawing off passage or tube h, an air or vent passage i, and a large opening
k, for communicating with the interior of the kettle.
The plug is formed of a hollow vessel with sloping ends as clearly shewn,
and an opening m running the whole distance between the ends. It will thus be
seen that when the plug 7 is turned so that the openings & and m coincide, the chamber
is open to the interior of the kettle, and the upper sloping end insures the escape of
any air enclosed in the hollow plug, and so insures the filling of the measuring
chamber in the plug l.
A spindle passing through a bush o in a cover pis secured to a handle at its
upper end, and to the plug at its lower end. The cover pis held securely closed by
means of the cross pins r attached to the cover being passed under two projecting
catch wires s and thus forming a kind of hayonet joint fastening.
When it is required to draw off the contents of the plug chamber, the plug is turned
into the position shewn, when the heated liquid passos out at the drawing off pipe h
the air being freely admitted to the interior of the chamber through the vent passage
It will readily be seen that the samples of Tea or coffee or other article receive exactly
the same predetermined amount of water..
The operation of filling and emptying the cock can be accomplished with great
rapidity, thus enabling the operator to accurately measure many different test quantities
of the heated water in quick succession, while the water is in the most favourable
condition for testing purposes.
In a modified form of measuring and drawing off cock the hollow plug is constructed
with a vertical division down its centre which divides it into two exactly identical
chambers, each having an opening for communicating with the interior of the kettle
and the drawing off passage or tube respectively. By these means one chamber or
compartment in the plug is in communication with the interior of the kettle, while
the other is connected to the drawing off passage, and consequently, while one chamber
is being emptied the other is being filled, thus effecting a considerable saving in the
time required for each operation.
It will be obvious that by arranging any number of cocks side by side in one
boiler, and connecting their plug spindles by means of cranks and rods or other
suitable modes of connection, any number of testing vessels may be supplied
simultaneously.
It will also be seen that where preferred the cock or cocks may be place entirely
outside instead of inside the boiler, and that my apparatus may be modified in
various ways without departing from the nature of my invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. The construction of apparatus for admitting exact quantities of heated or
boiling water to tea and coffee, or other similar articles to be tested, consisting of
a cock having a hollow plug forming a chamber or chambers for measuring the
exact quantity of water required, in combination with a boiler or vessel for supplying
the heated water to the said chamber substantially as described.
2. The arrangement and construction of apparatus for measuring exact quantities of
heated or boiling water substantially as described with reference to the drawings,
and for the purposes set forth.
Dated this 14th day of March 1888
WHEATLEY. &. MACKENZIE,
Agents.