AN IMPROVED METHOD OF UTILIZING AND GIVING ADDITIONAL VALUE TO THE PRODUCTS OF THE COPPEE BUSH
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Ross, of No. 1, Jeffreys Square, St. Mary
Axe, in the City of London, Merchant, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF UTILIZING AND GIVING ADDITIONAL VALUE TO THE
PRODUCTS OF THE COPPEE BUSH."-A communication from abroad by
Robert Dawson, of Colombo, in the Island of Ceylon, Merchant.
Scaled the 7th March 1873, and dated the 9th September 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Ross at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th September 1872.
I, EDWARD Ross, of No. 1, Jeffreys Square, St. Mary Axe, in the
City of London, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF UTILIZING AND GIVING ADDITIONAL
VALUE TO THE PRODUCTS OF THE COFFEE BUSH," to be as follows:―
The drying or partially drying of the pulp parchment, silver skin,
leaves, bark, wood, roots, shoots, twigs, and pith of the coffee bush,
either together with or separated from the coffee bean, and the making
of decoctions or infusions thereof when so dried or partially dried

page_text: either together or separately or any two or more of them mixed together,
and either with or without the coffee bean as now in general use, so as
to obtain therefrom a beverage or beverages, or an article or articles of
food suitable for domestic use and consumption, and the conversion to
use in any other form of the "coffeine contained in the said several
products of the coffee bush or any of them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Ross in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th March 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
Ross, of No. 1, Jeffreys Square, St. Mary Axe, in the City of London,
Merchant, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Edward Ross, Her special license that I,
the said Edward Ross, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Edward Ross, 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 Islc
of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF UTILIZING AND GIVING
ADDITIONAL VALUE TO THE PRODUCTS OF THE COFFEE BUSH," a communication
to me from abroad by Robert Dawson, of Colombo, in the Island of
Ceylon, Merchant, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Edward. Ross, 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 Edward Ross, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :—
This Invention consists in the drying or partially drying of the pulp,
parchment," silver skin, leaves, bark, wood, roots, shoots, twigs, and pith
of the coffee bush, either together with or separated from the coffee bean,'
and the making of decoctions or infusions thereof when so dried or
partially dried either together or separately or any two or more of them
mixed together, and either with or without the coffee bean as now in
general use, so as to obtain therefrom a beverage or beverages, or an
article or articles of food suitable for domestic use and consumption,
and the conversion to use in any other form of the caffeine contained in
the said several products of the coffee bush or any of them.
With regard to the mode in which it is proposed to utilize the products
of the coffee tree, I would state that at present the coffee bean is the
only portion of the product of the coffee tree which is used as an article
of food, but it has been ascertained by Mr. Dawson that the pulp (other-
wise the cherry) and parchment (a thin skin which covers the bean)
contain a considerable quantity of " caffeine" and can therefore be
used in conjunction with the bean or separately as an article of food,
and in such proportions as the purchaser may desire.
Hitherto the pulp has been removed from the bean by machinery,
and the bean left with a thin covering named parchment, which is also
removed from the bean before it is used as an article of food. The
coffee bean is used in Europe by those who can afford to pay for it
without any adulteration, but in most cases chicory and other substances
are mixed with the coffee when roasted and ground.
'
The discovery made by Mr. Dawson will to a great extent prevent
adulteration, inasmuch as if other portions of the coffee tree now known
to contain " caffeine" be mixed with the bean or used separately as an
article of food the quantity of "caffeine available for use will be
greatly increased, and the cost much reduced.
"
The pulp and parchment are now removed from the bean at a very
considérable expense. The former is sometimes used as a manure, but
it is more frequently allowed to be carried down streams from the
5 coffee estates into main rivers in the same manner as sewage was
formerly disposed of in this country. The parchment or chaff is
sometimes used in furnaces, but its intrinsic value is barely appreciable.

page_text: To enable the products of the coffee tree to be used in the manner
indicated the machinery at present in use will suffice, and should the
cherry be used (with the bean, parchment, and pulp as a whole) the
expensive process of "pulping" can be dispensed with altogether, and
the coffee dried in the cherry in such a manner as may be most effectual
in preserving it.
This Patent will not prevent the coffee bean only being used as at
present by such as may desire it and can afford to pay for it.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Ross, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-three.