A METHOD OR PROCESS OF ROASTING OR PREPARING COFFEE AND OTHER VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, WITH IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED, SUCH PROCESS AND MACHINERY BEING LIKEWISE; APPLICABLE TO THE DRYING, DISTILLATION, AND DECOMPOSITION OF OTHER MINERAL, VEGETABLE, AND ANIMAL SUBSTANCES, TOGETHER WITH A METHOD OF EXAMINING" AND REGULATING THE PROCESS WHILST SUCH SUBSTANCES ARE EXPOSED TO THE OPERATIONS BEPORE MENTIONED
Year: 1824

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
EVANS, of Bread Street, Cheapside, in the City of London, Wholesale Coflue
Dealer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the fifth year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Richard Evans, His especial licence, that I, the said Richard.
Evans,. my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said - Richard
Evans, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all, times during the term of years therein
expressed, make, usc, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A METHOD OR PROCESS OF
ROASTING OR PREPARING COFFEE AND OTHER VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, WITH IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED, SUCH PROCESS AND MACHINERY BEING LIKEWISE;
APPLICABLE TO THE DRYING, DISTILLATION, AND DECOMPOSITION OF OTHER MINERAL,
VEGETABLE, AND ANIMAL SUBSTANCES, TOGETHER WITH A METHOD OF EXAMINING"
AND REGULATING THE PROCESS WHILST SUCH SUBSTANCES ARE EXPOSED TO THE
OPERATIONS BEPORE MENTIONED;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained;
a proviso obliging me, the said Richard Evans, 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

page_text: cause the same to be inrolled in His 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Evans, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to
consist in abstracting the aqueous and acidulous particles from coffee without
volatizing the essential or other oils contained or formed therein, which said
Invention is performed by means of certain improved machinery herein-after
described; and in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Richard
Evans, do hereby describe my said improved machinery, and the manner in
which I perform my said process therewith, by the following description
thereof, reference being had to the Drawing annexed, and the Figures and
letters marked thereon (that is to say) :-
the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Fig. 1 represents an end elevation of part of my said improved machinery.
A is a fire or common furnace bars built up in brick. B'is the chimney to
C is a hollow vessel, cylindrical or of any convenient form, whichi
hereafter I will call and refer to as the roaster, made of sheet iron or other
suitable material, single or double, that is, if cylindrical one cylinder within the
other, turning on axis which rest on bearings at each side of the brickwork.
D is a small spur wheel, attached to one axis of the roaster, and E is a large
cogged wheel working into it, which large wheel is fixed to a shaft, which
shaft is intended to give motion to the apparatus, or to any series of roasters
that may be required, and which shaft I therefore call the motion shaft. F is
a cover of sheet iron or other metal, which shuts down over the roaster to
prevent the escape of heat from the fire, and moves on hinges at a. As I
principally apply my said Invention to the roasting of coffee, I shall confine
myself in the following description, in. the first instance, to the manner of
performing this particular process. This Figure then represents the general
appearance of what, for this particular purpose, I shall call a coffee roaster.
It is well known that when raw coffee is put into a closed vessel over the
fire, a steam or vapour is instantly generated, and the main object of this
Invention, as applied to roasting coffee, is to let this steam escape without.
allowing the oil to become volatilized. Fig. 2 represents a front section of
my said Invention, showing how this is effected. The axis of the roaster C
are hollow, and do not pass through the roaster, but are fixed, one at each end
of it, by means of flanges e, e. Through the axis I introduce a copper or other:

page_text: hollow. tube H, which should extend into the roaster about two thirds of its
.length, and should be perforated with a number of small holes, and closed at
the inner end. This tube serves as a chimney to carry off the steam before
inentioned through the axis K. I introduce a rod L, with a cavity.
at one
end and a handle g at the other; this is what I call an examiner. The cavity is
always filled with coffee, and when drawn out with the cavity upwards, which by
this arrangement may be done, as will be seen, without stopping the rotation of
the roaster, shews the exact progress made in the roasting of the coffee, and its
precise colour. P is a ledge in the inside of the roaster, to disturb the coffee,
and is similar to those used in the common coffee roaster, but R, R, are two
diagonally placed ledges, which constitute a part of my said improvements,
since from their novel position they disturb the coffee much more effectually,
and keep constantly turning over the berries or other substances from the sides
into the centre, where the greatest heat is generally kept up, and thus
exposes all the contents by turns to the same temperature. The use of the
standard S and of the handle near it will be described in the next Figure.
The cover F is. omitted both in this Figure and in Fig. 3, in order to make
the Drawing less confused. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of my said Invention.
V is a trap door opening through which to pour the material into the roaster,
and empty it again when roasted. W is the fire or furnace door. ✗ is a
swivel or.ring turning in an axis on which the axis G of the roaster turns, and
.is used for the following purpose (that is to say): when the coffee is of a
proper colour, and fit to remove from the fire, the end K of the roaster C is
raised in the direction of the arrow, and turned completely over, describing the
arc Y, Z, when the axis K will come exactly into the bearing on the upper
part of the standard S, the axis G being supported in the ring at X. When
in this situation if no motion can be given by the aforesaid motion shaft, the
crank handle shown in this Figure must be applied to the square on the end
of the axis K, beyond the spur wheel D, and thus the roaster is to be kept
rotating (though off the fire) till the coffee is emptied into a vessel to to be
conveyed to a skiff or proper place to be cooled. Fig. 4 is a separate view
of the examiner. Fig. 5 is a plane copper tube, not pierced with holes, and
small enough to slide easily into the tube H, for a purpose herein-after
explained. This tube should be open at both ends. Fig. 6 is a representation
of the tube J when slid into the tube H.
Having now described the various parts of my said improved machinery,
I will next proceed to describe the process to be effected by means thereof.
As regards the roasting of coffee, the apparatus being arranged as shewu in
Fig. 2, the trap door V must be opened, and through it the roaster C must

page_text: be filled half or two thirds full of raw coffee, then shut the door, and a
fire having been lighted in the furnace below, put the motion shaft in action.
By this means the roaster should be gently turned round, and very soon a
dense steam or vapour will be seen to issue through the axis G. This will
continue for some time; and when it begins to become unctious or dry, the
plane tube J should be partly slided into the tube H, and by this means the
hole in the tube EI will be partly stopped up, and this tube J should be pressed
further in from time to time as the steam becomes less dense. There is one
particular period of the operation which can only be learned by practice: when
'the aqueous and acidilous particles, or what by the action of the fire becomes
acidilous or acetous, having been evaporated, the oil contained or formed
in the coffee will begin to volatilize and escape by the same passage as the
steam, and in the form of vapour, and it is at this critical moment that the
tubej should be pressed partially or quite into the tube H, thus lessening or
preventing any further escape of the oil, and quickening the operation. One
mode by which I have been able to ascertain this critical point of time, when
the oil begins to volatilize, has been by holding a piece of common slate
before the end of the tube H, when so long as water, sap, acidilous, or other
vapour only escapes, it condenses on the slate and show itself to be such,
and as soon as oil escapes it also condenses, and is equally distinguishable
by its ordinary greasy and glutinous properties. At this critical moment
before alluded to, and some time previously, the examiner should be consulted
to ascertain the state of the color of the coffee, and other signs, which practice
only can teach, indicative of the proper degree of roasting being effected.
When this degree is obtained the roaster should at once be turned over on
to the standard S, as before described, and by means of the handle or some
other contrivance connected with the motion shaft, the roaster should be kept
in motion until the coffee is discharged into a vessel to be conveyed to the
cooler, and a fresh supply of raw coffee put into it, and the process renewed as
before. It should here be observed that the examiner serves as a safety valve
in case of accidents, when all the holes in the tubo H are stopped up by the
introduction of the tube J, and for this reason therefore it should be allowed to
move freely in and out of the axis K, and should not be fastened in. Now,
whereas by means of connecting machinery a series of any number of the
aforesaid apparatus for roasting coffee or other purposes may be arranged
on the principle herein-before described, and it is obvious that the improved
machinery herein-before described is equally applicable to malting and drying
of corn, as also to the purposes of distillation and decomposition of mineral,
vegetable, and animal substances, but that for which I propose to maintain

page_text: exclusive right and privilege is, the improved machinery as herein-before
described to be particularly applicable to roasting coffee, whether the same
be applied to that or other purposes, and which said improved machinery I do
hereby declare to consist of the following improvements (that is to say) :-
First, in the hollow axles G and K.
Secondly, the tubes H and J.
Thirdly, in the diagonal ledges R, R.
And lastly, in the examiner L, which serves the double purpose of examiner
and safety valve.
And such improved machinery for the purpose aforesaid and applicable to
the other purposes aforesaid, being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used in these Kingdoms, I do hereby declaro
this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this
my said Specification doth comply in all respects, fully and without reserve
or disguise, with the proviso in the said in part recited Letters Patent
contained, wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and
privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Evans, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand oight hundred and twenty foun
RICHARD EVANS. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of August,
in the year of our Lord 1824, the aforesaid Richard Evans came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.