IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING CIGARS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, of the English and Foreign Patent Office, 4, South
Street, Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING CIGARS."—A
communication
Sealed the 27th August 1858, and dated the 28th February 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand
Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commis-
sioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th February 1858.
I, PETER ARMAND LE COMTE DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of the English
and Foreign Patent Office, 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, and
39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, do hereby declare that the nature of the
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING CIGARS" to be as follows:-
The Invention relates to an improved mode of drying cigars by
means of an apparatus containing a certain number of compartments,
and heated by hot water.
By this means any quantity of cigars can be desiccated in a very
short space of time.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1, is a front elevation, showing the apparatus in its working
condition. A, is a hollow box; B, B, are the compartments; C,
doors of the compartments; D, funnel for filling the apparatus with
water; E, thermometer, regulating the degree of heat; F, stove upon
which the apparatus is placed, and which keeps the water at the
required heat; G, flue of the furnace; H, chimney; I, cock for
emptying the apparatus; K, fire place.
Figures 2, 8, and 4, show the inside of the apparatus, and the
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau,
in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the 27th August 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
PETER ARMAND LE COMTE DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of the English and
Foreign Patent Office, 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, and 89,
Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in:
the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Peter Armand Le Comte de
Fontaine Moreau, Her special licence that I, the said Peter Armand
Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte de
Fontaine Moreau, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING CIGARS," communicated to me from a
foreigner residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,

page_text: the said Peter Amand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Peter Armand Le Comte de
Fontaine Moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the drawing hereto annexed, and to the figures
marked therein, in which the same letters of reference indicate parts
which are similar, that is to say:
The Invention communicated to me consists in an improved mode
of drying cigars by means of an apparatus into which water is intro-
duced heated to one hundred and seventy degrees Fahrenheit. The
apparatus is divided in a certain number of compartments, into which
are placed the cigars to be desiccated. The number of the compart-
ments varies according to the number of cigars to be operated upon,
and consequently the dimensions of the apparatus must be propor-
tionate to the number of the compartments.
Figure 1, of the Drawing is a front elevation of the complete appa-
ratus in its working condition. In this, Figure A, represents a tin or
brass case or chamber, eight feet high, four feet wide, and four feet
deep.
B, B, shew the compartments, either shut or open.
C. C, are the doors of the compartment, either shut or open.
D, the funnel serving to fill the casing A, with water.
E, thermometer for regulating the degree of heat during the desic-
cating operation.
F, cast or wrought iron stove on which the desiccating apparatus A,
is placed, and serves to keep the water introduced into A, at the
required temperature.
G, internal flue of the stove, through which the heat warming the

page_text: H, discharge pipe for the egress of the smoke after its passage
through the flue G. This pipe, H, is in communication with a
chimney.
I, tap to draw off the water from the apparatus A.
K, firo place of the stove.
L, Figure 2, represents a front view of a tray on which the cigars
are placed; it slides on grooves into the compartments B, B, of the
apparatus A.
Figure 8, is a plan of the tray; and Figure 4, is a side view of the
same. Each tray can contain five hundred cigars, which are isolated
from each other by small partitions. When the compartments are
full of trays, the doors C, C, of the apparatus A, are shut, and after
four or five hours their desiccation is entirely completed. They are
taken from the apparatus by withdrawing the tray L, and are exposed
during half an hour to a current of cold air, which renders them fit for
immediate sale and consumption.
And having now described the nature of the Invention commu-
nicated to me, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself
to the form or dimensions of the apparatus, nor to the precise details
herein given, provided the general character of the Invention be re-
tained; but what I claim and wish to be protected by the said herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
The drying of cigars in an apparatus heated by hot water, as herein-
before described, reference being had to the figures of the drawing.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this
Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
L' DE FONTAINEMOREAU. (L.S.)
Witness, A. H. PATTISON.