A MACHINE FOR COOKING UPON IMPROVED PRINCIPLES
Year: 1796

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
TATE, of the Parish of Saint Mary-le-bone, in the County of Middlesex, Iron-
monger, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the Fifth
day of December, in the thirty-seventh year of His reign, did give unto me,.
the said James Tate, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said James Tate, during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
that part of the Kingdom of Great Britain called England, the Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A MACHINE FOR
COOKING UPON IMPROVED PRINCIPLES;" in which said Letters Patent there is con-
tained a proviso, obliging me, the said James Tate, to cause a particular descrip-
tion of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled
in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month next
and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully 'and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Tate, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, is particularly described and ascer-

page_text: tained in the Plans or Drawings hereto annexed, and as hereafter follows, that
is to say:-
The machine for cooking, which 1 call the Economic Ship Stove or
Hearth, consists of sundry improvements, reductions, applications, and additions
to and from a Machine with Utensils for Cooking on Improved Principles, and
for which His Majesty granted me Elis Letters Patent, bearing date the Second
day of March, in the thirty-second year of His reign, reference being thereto
had, will more fully and at large appear; and the different improvements,
reductions, applications, and additions hereafter to be described, are for the
purpose of rendering the whole machine a compleat and convenient apparatus
for the use of His Majesty's Navy and other ships and vessels, and also for the
ase of camps, barracks, and other places. And, as many of the improvements
and additions which are to be described as forming a part or parts of the Œco-
nomic Ship Stove or Hearth, will also be improvements and additions if applied
to other cooking machines or utensils, I therefore apply the said improvements
and additions to other cooking machines or utensils in order to render them
more compleat and useful; I shall therefore first make mention of and describe
the different articles that compose the improvements, applications, and addi-
tions which are to be applied to and with the afore-mentioned machine, to
which I have already a Patent, as aforesaid, and then explain and specify
the whole together as forming and compleating my present Invention of
a Ship Stove or Hearth; and also of the same made portable for the
use of Officers in the Army or Navy, and others, composed only of such
parts of the whole as will render it convenient and useful with the fuel
to be used therewith, which, instead of the common fuels. used for cooking, is to
be oil or spirits, and the different articles hereafter mentioned as forming this
portable machine for cooking are to be applied to and with a lamp or lamps for
the purpose of cooking as aforesaid.
The description of the above-mentioned different improved and applied
articles that are to form a part or parts of the Economic Ship Stove or Hearth,
that is to say:The first article consists in the application of one or more
open boiling vessels or cauldrons. The second article consists of an improve-
ment in the above-mentioned open boiling vessels or cauldrons, which renders
them capable of performing two different operations at the same time; that
is, to boil in the common way with water, and to generate steam to be
conveyed to other vessels, to boil in them by or with steam, at the same tinie
that nine-tenths or any other convenient space of the top or mouth of the said
vessell or cauldron may remain open and without a cover. This improved
vessell is constructed in the following manner:-If the vessell or cauldron, is

page_text: required to be made square, the improvement is made by placing a partition in
it in the following manner, viz, join the partition to the two opposito sides of
the vessell from the brim, and within one inch (more or less) of one of the
ends of the said vessell; then conduct the partition downwards into the vessell
and in a slopeing direction, extending towards the opposite end, and terminate
the said partition within three inches (more or less) of the bottom of the
vessell; then close up the space of the one inch (more or less) that remains
open between the partition and the end of the vessell, and make it air-tight;.
then inside this partition and near the top of the vessell insert a pipe to convey.
the steam to other vessells that are to be boiled in, by or with steam. The
greatest part of the steam generated inside this partition will ascend to the
narrow space at the top, and so into the pipe and to the other vessells to boil.
in, by or with steam; this mode of raising steam for cooking and other pur-.
poses in many cases will be very advantageous, as that part of the said vessell
or cauldron appropriated for raising or generating steam can never be without.
water while any remains in the other or open part; and by extending the lower.
part of the partition over the bottom of the vessell, or by making the.
vessell with two partitions, any proportion of the whole steam raised by or in
the vessell or cauldron may be diverted into the steam pipe or pipes already
mentioned, leaving the greatest part of the vessell to be employed for common.
boiling in the water as has been usual; and this vessell is one of the improve-
ments that can and may be applied to other cooking and boiling utensils, and
I therefore apply it accordingly. If this vessell or cauldron is to be made
round or in any other shape, the partition or partitions may be varied accord-
ingly. The third article is the application of a steam oven or cupboard, with
door or doors, shelf or shelves, for the purpose of boiling in, by or with
steam. The steam to be let in at one or more places as most convenient.
This article, having been used and well known, needs no further explanation.
The fourth article is an improved roasting jack, and the improvement is the
application of steam to turn any of the common roasting jacks now in use
(whether made on the weight, smoke, or water principle), in a simple.
manner, and therefore if steam is to be applied to turn a jack on the
smoke principle, the only essential alteration will be in the fly, which
instead of being made with fans as usual, would be better in all respects to
be made like the waterwheel of a mill, either under or overshot (except.
in magnitude). It does not signify in what direction this wheel is placed,
either vertical, horizontal, or any other position will be equally well; the steam
to turn this wheel or fly must be from an inclosed or close boiler, and the
aperture through which it communicates to the fly or wheel must be very:

page_text: small. This jack may be placed in any convenient place on or about the
machine, and the steam conveyed from the inclosed boiler (to be mentioned
hereafter) by a small pipe ending in a small hole to jet the steam on the fly,
which will force it round with equal velocity as the smoke of a fire. The same
application will answer equally well to a jack made on the wind-up prin-
ciple; and in general what is called a two-wheel jack will answer best,
omitting the barrel for the line; then place the fly already described in
place of a common fly, and apply the steam as before, and in like manner
for any other sort of jack; and this application of steam to a roasting
jack is another of the improvements that can and may be applied to
iny cooking machine whatever, and from a boiler heated in any way for
that purpose. Steam may also be applied to jacks already in use, and in
like manner to the common fly of a smoke jack; but in this last the steam
would do better to be divided into two or more jets. The fifth article is an
improved portable pan or plate for boiling upon. This plate or pan may be
nade with a handle to put it on or off the fire, or on the broiling plate, or in
the furnace of the Economic Ship Stove or Hearth to receive its heat. The
improvement of this plate or pan consists in the application of a metal or
other thermometer fixed thereto, by which the different degrees of heat received
by the pan or plate from the fire or broiling plate will be expressed by the
band of the thermometer on marks or au index. By this incans the difficulty of
broiling properly upon an heated iron plate will be removed, the difliculty
having arisen from want of some certain method of ascertaining the heat proper
for the operation; because if the plate was to much heated the steaks would
be scorched and the fat burned and turned rancid, and therefore disagreeable
in taste and smell; and if the plate was not enough heated, the steaks would
be sodden; what I mean by sodden is, that they would not be neither broiled.
nor boiled, but seem as if they had partaken of both operations. A few times
using this pan will furnish experience to use it afterwards; and this pan or
plate is another of the improved articles that can or may be applied to any fire
whatever for the purpose of broiling or frying.
The description and specification of this machine, made portable for the
use of Officers in the Army or Navy, and others, which operates by a
lamp or lamps, and is inade as follows (that is to say):-I make a lamp
with any number of burners or wicks, according to the size of the machine.
In general it will be better that these burners or wicks should be placed
in one or more straight lines. To one side of this lamp I place an oven.
for the purpose of roasting or baking in; one side of this oven is applied
to one side of tho lamp, and the side of the oven so applied to the side of

page_text: the lamp had better be made in a sloping direction, so as nearly to fall or
incline over the buruers or wicks of the lamp, and to come in contact with the
flare of the said burners or wicks. On the other side of this lamp I. place
another oven, either with a straight side next the lamp or to incline in the
same direction as the other; but this last oven, inclining from the flare of the
lamp as the first does to it, will only answer the purpose of keeping anything
hot; the two sides of these ovens will form a flue or chimney to draw the
lamp (much in the nature of the glass tubes used to the air or Argands lamps),
and convey the remainder of the heat to a vessell for raising steam to boil by
or with, turn one of the jacks already described, or boil water for tea or other
purposes. This vessell may be of any shape, and may have a steaming vessell.
on the, top of it; this vessell is then placed over the flue formed by the sides
of the two ovens, and resting partly on both; a frying or broiling pan is also
made and applied in the situation of the last-mentioned vessell, when that is
not in use. And let it be remarked, that any of these utensils may be sepa-
rately with or over the lamp, as occasion may require; and if only baking or
roasting is wanted, an oven of a different construction will be better than the
one described. This last-mentioned oven should be constructed in that case
to receive the whole heat of the lamp or lamps, and made with a case round
it, to confine the heat to it, with an open space at the bottom to receive the
heat, and another open space at the top to let it out.
Specification and description of the different articles as they are coin-
bined to form the whole machine, or ŒEconomic Ship Stove or Hearth, with
references to the drawings (that is to say):-First, an inclosed. fire-place or
furnace with doors, frame, and bars; the two sides of this furnace form two
places for roasting at or by. The Figure the First: A, the furnace doors.
and frame; B, B, the two roasting, sides of the said furnace; over this
furnace or partly over it I place a broiling or stewing plate, which in the
Drawing is represented with three saucepans upon it, C, C, C; to the side
of this plate I apply the open boiling vessells or cauldrons, either with
or without the improvement for generating steam, as already described,
Fig. the First, D, D. To the side of these open boiling vessells or cauldrons is
placed an inclosed or close boiler to generate steam to cook with or by in
any other vessell or vessells, and also to generate steam for the purpose of.
turning the jack already described, or jointly for both purposes, or separately
for either, see the end of this boiler, Fig. First, E; then to the side of this-
inclosed boiler is placed the baking oven, see Fig. the 1", F; then over or
partly over the baking oven and close boiler is applied the steam oven or
vessell for boiling in, with or by steam, see Fig. the 1", G, G... On a frame.

page_text: above the steam oven, or any other convenient part, I place the improved
jack, to go by steam from the inclosed boiler, as already described, see Fig.
the 1, H, H. Fig. the i", I, is the chimney or fluc. to carry away the smoke;
one of the sides of the inclosed furnace, say the side B, may be inado to open
occasionally, and shew bars like a grate; but when at work it must be closed
up. I consider every sort of fire-place to be an inclosed furnace where the
external air has no other passage to the flue or chimney but directly through
the fuel, whether the bars or other things that admit the air to the fuel be at
the bottom or side or sides of the furnace. One fire in the furnace A will set
the whole machine to work, except when the machine is very large and
extended. In that case, some of the articles would be placed at too great a
distance from the furnace to be properly heated thereby. When that is the
case, it will be proper to annex another fire-place to the machine, say at the
opposite end to the furnace. This fire-place may either be an open one or an
inclosed furnace, and may be appropriated to raise steam by the inclosed
boiler for turning the jack, and otherwise be made to assist the operation of the
great furnace A; and the different articles described as forming the combination
of the whole machine may be interchanged, and one article put where
another is now described be placed; and according to the size or use that these
machines may be wanted for, it may be necessary to reduct or omit a part or
parts of the whole combination. Sometimes the broiling or stewing plate
might not be wanted, and sometimes the jack and the inclosed boiler would
not be
necessary, and especially in the combination of a small ŒEconomic Ship
Stove or Hearth. Referrence the Drawing of the improved open vessell or
cauldron for generating steam and boiling in the common way. Fig. the 2nd is
a section of the said improved vessell or cauldron, represented as having two
partitions; K is the open part of the said vessell for boiling in water as
usual; L, L, are the two spaces appropriated for generating steam; M, M,
are the partitions terminating near the bottom of the said vessell or cauldron;
N, N, are the pipes for conveying the steam generated to other vessels or
ovens.
The great utility of this improved vessell will further appear by considering
that large quantities of salted provisions boiled at once are often rendered hard
and dry by the too quick boiling of the vessell they are cooked in, which may
be compleatly remedied by the use of this vessell, as with the two partitions
any given quantity of the heat may be prevented penetrating the open part K.
Doors with small holes in them may be fixed with hinges to each partition at
the bottom, in order to prevent any small matters boiled in the open part K
getting behind the partitions into the spaces L, L.

page_text: Specification and description of the different articles as they are combined to
form this machine when made portable for the use of Officers in the Army or
Navy, and others, with referrences to the Drawings, that is to say: Fig. the 3rd is
the lamp for the said machine; Fig. the 4th is the said lamp in combination with
the two ovens and the boiler or vessell for raising steam and boiling anything in
water; P is the baking oven; Q is the heating oven; R is the end of the
lamp; S is the vessell for boiling in and raising steam for other purposes.
These machines and the different parts they are composed may be made of any of
the different sorts of metals such like articles are usually composed or made of.
Having described this machine when made portable as only to operate with
a lamp and oil or spirits, I mean nevertheless to construct those that are to be
used with the common fuels of wood, coal, and other fuels, upon different scales
or sizes, so that a small machine to use with coal, wood, and other fuels may
also be sayd to be portable.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Tate, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourth day of January, in the thirty-seventh year of the
reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the grace of God
of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith,
and so forth, and in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred
and ninety-seven.