Improvements pertaining to the Treatment of Coffee during Roasting, or Roasting and Cooling
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 21st May, 1894
Complete Specification Left, 21st Feb., 1895-Accepted. 27th Apr. 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements pertaining to the Treatment of Coffee during Roasting,
or Roasting and Cooling.
We, JAMES STEEPER FOTHERGILL, Civil Service Supply Association Ltd.,
Hart Street, Covent Garden, London, in the County of Middlesex, Tea Expert,
and JOHN REED FOTHERGILL, Dock Office, West Hartlepool, in the County of
Durham, Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
When heat is applied to coffee in the process of roasting, the husk, shell or
pellicle, technically known in the trade as "the flight," is detached or separated
from the berry, and owing to its light, buoyant and flimsy character, it diffuses
through or pervades the immediate neighbourhood of the roasting furnace and
surroundings, causing considerable inconvenience and nuisance which it is the
object of this invention to obviate.
gases
and
For this purpose the gases as they leave the roasting furnace are passed through
or treated with water in such a way that the flight is separated from the.
retained in the water from which it can be easily removed from time to time, in a
concentrated form, and dealt with in any desired way.
The air circulating amongst and about the berries during the process of cooling,
is also liable to become charged with material of the kind referred to and
may advantageously be treated in the same way as the gases from the roasting
furnace.
In carrying out the invention the said gases and air may be caused to pass
through body of water, or through water in other forms as for example in
the form of sheets, jets or spray, the flow of the said gases or gases and air
through the water being effected by any suitable means such as a fan, one or
more steam jets, a chimney or other ordinary method by which a draught or
current of fluid can be produced.
The gases and air may be forced through the water, or be drawn therethrough
by the creation of a partial vacuum on the delivery side thereof.
Dated this 21st dor of May 1804
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements pertaining to the Treatment of Coffee during Roasting,
or Roasting and Cooling.
We, JAMES STEEPER FOTHERGILL, Civil Service Supply Association Ltd.,
Hart Street, Covent Garden, London, in the County of Middlesex, Tea Expert,
and JOHN REED FOTHERGILL, Dock Office, West Hartlepool, in the County of
Durham, Consulting Engineer, 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 :--
When heat is applied to coffee in the process of roasting, the husk, shell or

page_text: pellicle, technically known in the trade as "the flight," is detached or separated
from the berry and owing to its light, buoyant and. flimsy character, it diffuses
through or pervades the immediate neighbourhood of the roasting furnace and
surroundings, causing considerable inconvenience and nuisance which it is the
object of this invention to obviate.
For this purpose the gases as they leave the roasting furnace, are passed through
or treated with water in such a way that the flight is separated from the gases and
retained in the water from which it can be easily removed from time to time, in a
concentrated form, and dealt with in any desired way.
The air circulating amongst and about the berries during the process of cooling,
is also liable to become charged with material of the kind referred to and
may advantageously be treated in the same way as the gases from the roasting
furnace.
In carrying out the invention the said gases and air may be caused to pass
through a body of water, or through water in other forms as for example in
the form of sheets, jets or spray, the flow of the said gases, or gases and air
through the water being effected by any suitable means such as a fan, one or
more steam jets, a chimney or other ordinary method by which a draught or
current of fluid can be produced.
The gases and air may be forced through the water, or be drawn therethrough
by the creation of a partial vacuum on the delivery side thereof.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 shows partly in elevation, and partly in section and Fig. 2 in plan, the
application of apparatus according to this invention to the treatment of the gases
escaping from a coffee roaster and also of the air used during the process of cooling
the roasted coffee berries.
Figs. 3 and 4 are similar views to Figs. 1 and 2 showing apparatus suitable for
the treatment of the air used during the process of cooling only.
Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, 1 represents in ontline an ordinary coffee roaster in
which the roasting is effected by gas, and 2 is its chimney. This chimney, instead
of continuing upwards as usual, is bent laterally and carried downwards into a
tank 3 containing water by which the husks, pellicles or "flight" of the coffee,
which pass over with the hot gases into the water, is washed out and retained in
the tank. The mouth of the chimney on entering the tank is preferably made of
gradually increasing cross sectional area, and is arranged to extend a short distance
into the water, say about two inches, when the water is in a quiescent state, to
ensure that the gases shall be thoroughly immersed and the flight thereby washed
out or separated and retained in the tank. 4 is a suction fan whereby a sufficient
vacuum is maintained in the tank to exhaust the gases with the flight from the
roaster, without undue velocity. The fan, for convenience, is shown arranged at
the top of an upcast pipe 5 into which the cleansed gases are drawn from the tank
and whence they are discharged into an outlet pipe 6. The upcast pipe 5 should
be of such a height that any water or spray that might be lifted by the action of
the fan will return to the tank by gravity, and it may be led in any direction, after
giving the necessary height, as may be found convenient for placing and driving
the fan.
7 are diaphragm plates fixed in the tank as shown so as to prevent the possibility
of the gases passing direct to the upcast pipe 5 without becoming thoroughly
immersed in the water, and also to prevent or lessen the breaking up of the
water into spray in consequence of the velocity at which the gases enter the
water. These plates may also be utilised for staying the tank. 8 is a perforated
baffle plate to lessen or prevent the water in the tank being lifted into the upcast
pipe by the action of the fan. 9 is a water gauge to show the height of the water
in the tank when in a quiescent state. 10 are manholes fitted with doors whereby
the tank can be entered for cleaning or other purposes, and 10 is a similar
manhole with door for enabling the fan 4 to be examined. 11, is a cock for

page_text: wwwg Life water Out of the tank, and 12 18 & COCK TOT supplying the tank with
water.
13, is an ordinary tram cooler box, having a loose tray 14 with meshed bottom 15
(the meshes partially shown) and placed on wheels 16 which run on rails 17, to
facilitate its rapid and ready removal from under the roaster 1, after the roasted
coffee berries have been discharged into the tray 14, to the base box 18 of a
suction pipe 19 which is connected with aud passes into the tank 3 in similar
mauner to the chimney 2. Air is drawn and circulated by the action of the fan 4,
amongst and about the berries in the tray 14, passing down through the meshed
bottom 15 into the box 13, then into the base box 18 by an opening 20 formed in
the end of the said box, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, and thence by the
suction pipe 19 into the water in the tank 3. By this process the berries are
rapidly cooled and the flight remaining with the berries after leaving the roaster,
passes with the air into the tank 3, where it is retained by the water, whilst
the cleansed air passes away by the upcast and discharge pipes 5 and 6 as before.
The cold air thus caused to pass through the water, in the tank after the hot
gases from the roaster chimney have been passed therethrough, serves to materially
reduce the temperature of the said water and prevent it reaching a high temperature
when the apparatus is in continuous use. The flange or projection 21 around the
opening 20, of the box 13, and likewise the box 18, is covered with soft pliable
material, such as felt, as shown at 21 Fig. 3, to facilitate a ready and effective
joint being made between them when the two faces are brought together.
Dampers 22 and 23 are placed in the chimney 2 and suction pipe 19 respectively,
so that when the gases, by the action of the fan 4, are passing from the roaster 1
to the tank 3, damper 22 is opened and 23 closed, and vice versa when the air passes
from the cooler 13 to the tank 3.
Instead of, or in addition to the water in the tank 3, jets, sheets or sprays of
water produced by nozzles or sprayers 24, may be delivered into the chimney 2,
and also it may be into the suction pipe 19, in which latter case the said pipe
should be carried higher than shown in the drawing, for enabling the flight to be
washed out of the gases or air, as the case may be, when the same passes through
the water spray.
In the arrangement illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, the suction fan 4 is placed in
the base box 18, so that after drawing air amongst and about the coffee berries
in the tray 14 to cool them, and through the cooling box 13, it forces such air
laden with flight, through the delivers pipe 25 into the water in the tank 3, the
cleansed air escaping by the open discharge pipe 6, which is made large enough to
prevent fluid pressure being set up in the said tank.
The tank 3 in this arrangement is constructed with a projecting portion 26
having a hinged lid 27 to admit of the ready removal of the washed out flight.
10* is a manhole having a loose lid for gaining ready access to the tank 3 for
cleaning purposes. In other respects the arrangement is similar to that herein-
before described with reference to and shown in Figs. 1 and 2, similar parts in two
arrangements being indicated by like reference numerals.
Although the illustrations show the application of apparatus according to this
invention to one form of roaster only, it will be evident that such apparatus may
be adapted to any other form of roaster and not only to those of a large type such
as are used in wholesale warehouses, but also to those of a smaller type such as are
frequently to be seen at work in shop windows and other places.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the saine is to be performed, we declare that
we do not claim broadly the purifying or cleansing of the gases of combustion by
treatment with water, nor do we claim the application of a fan to the cooling of
the berries, but that what we do claim is :-
1. In the treatment of coffee, separating and retaining the flight carried off
during roasting or cooling, or both roasting and cooling, of coffee berries, by

page_text: subjecting the gases or air containing the said flight to the action of water
substantially in the manner and by the means described and shown for the purpose
specified.
2. For separating and retaining the flight carried off by the hot gases and air
during the roasting and cooling respectively of coffee berries, the combination with
coffee roasting and cooling apparatus, or with cooling apparatus alone, of flight
separating and retaining apparatus constructed, arranged and operating sub-
stantially as hereinbefore described with reference respectively to and shown in
Figs. 1 and 2 and in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings annexed.
Dated this 21st day of February 1895.
J. S. FOTHERGILL.
J.
W. Lloyd Wise,
R. FOTHERGILL.
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Applicants' Agent.