AN IMPROVE- MENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BISCUITS
Year: 1855

page_text: Sealed the 13th November 1855, and dated the 8th September 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Bird at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th September
1855.
I, JAMES BIRD, of Seymour Street West, in the County of Middlesex,
Surgeon, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BISCUITS" to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the application of vegetable charcoal in the
manufacture of biscuits, and the biscuits in other respects are to be manu-
factured in the ordinary way. The charcoal is to be rendered pure as possible
by washing and purifying. The charcoal in the ground state is combined with
the ingredients of biscuits, made up into form, and baked, as heretofore. By
this means vegetable charcoal may be employed medicinally in the most
agreeable form.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Bird in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th
March 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BIRD, of Seymour Street West, in the County of Middlesex, Surgeon, send
greeting.
of
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Bird, Her special licence that I, the said James Bird, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Bird, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF BISCUITS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said James Bird, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Bird, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object the application of vegetable charcoal in the
manufacture of biscuits, and the biscuits in other respects are to be manu-
factured in the ordinary way. The charcoal is to be rendered pure as possible
by washing and purifying. The charcoal in the ground state is combined with
the ingredients of biscuits, made up into form, and baked, as heretofore. By
this means vegetable charcoal may be employed medicinally in the most
agreeable form.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the method which I prefe
for manufacturing biscuits according to my Invention.

page_text: I take the description of flour ordinarily used in the manufacture of biscuits,
and I mix therewith five per cent., or thereabouts, of vegetable charcoal, puri-
fied by a process which I will hereafter describe; and from the flour so mixed
I make biscuits in any ordinary manner, and of such a size that each biscuit
shall contain when finished about seven grains of charcoal; but this may be
greatly varied. The following is the manner in which I prefer to purify the
charcoal before mixing it with the flour :-The charcoal, which should be made
from a light porous wood, is raised to a red heat in a close earthen vessel, and
is then thrown into water rendered slightly alkaline by the addition of bicar-
bonate of potash (say, in the proportion of one ounce to the gallon). It is left
in this solution for about forty-eight hours; the fluid is then drained from it,
and the charcoal is ground to an impalpable powder, and in this state is mixed
with the flour.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Bird, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
JAMES BIRD. (L.S.)