An Improved Means for Boiling Water and Obtaining an Infusion of Tea or other Beverage at any Prearranged Time without the Aid of an Attendant.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Aug., 1893-Accepted, 7th Oct., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Means for Boiling Water and Obtaining an Infusion
of Tea or other Beverage at any Prearranged Time without the
Aid of an Attendant.
Q
We, JOHN THOMAS HARDMAN, of 8 Granville Street, Clerk, and JAMES
ALFRED GREENHALGH, of 5 Granville Street, Tinman, both in Regent Road,
Salford, in the County of Lancaster, 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:-
This invention relates to a means whereby water may be boiled, and tea or other
beverage prepared automatically at any prearranged time: the object of this
invention is primarily to enable a person who requires to attend work or other
business, at any early hour in the morning to have a cup of tea or the like
prepared without attendance and ready for consumption previous to departure, but
the same apparatus may be employed for domestic purposes at other times.
We attain this object by the means herein after described and as illustrated in
the accompanying two sheets of drawings in which
Fig. 1 is a front elevation and Fig. 2 a side view of apparatus constructed
according to our invention and set ready for use:
Fig. 3 is a plan of the ring e forming the top of the frame A, and Fig. 4 a plan
of the bar d forming bottom of said frame:
Fig. 5 is a side view of the apparatus when the water has boiled and the beverage
is prepared.
In this invention, to any convenient preferably portable stand such as a, we affix
vertical standards and upon which a skeleton frame A may slide; said
standards may be stayed by horizontal bars c and c' or by other suitable supports.
We form the sliding frame A by means of the lower horizontal flat bar d and the
upper horizontal ring e which are firmly secured to each other by the distance
rods and f, and with holes at d', d², e¹ and e² through which to pass the vertical
standards and . The aforesaid frame A rests on springs such as g and g¹ placed
on the standards b and b' under the lower horizontal bar d.
We form the upper horizontal ring e of a size to receive a metallic kettle such
as placed therein and supported on the inner edge of the aforesaid ring by the
projecting rim formed on the upper edge of said kettle. We construct the
lower horizontal bar d in the form shown in Fig. 4, which represents a plan view
of said bar; the recess is intended to permit the gas burner j to be placed
vertically immediately under the bottom of the kettle, and the groove d' is for the
purpose of holding said burner in position by means of the hook : the gas jet j
which is preferably in the form of a Bunsen burner, is attached to the gas pipe k
by means of a joint and tap that is constructed to permit the free passage of gas
when the aforesaid gas jet or burner is in a vertical position as in Figs. 1 and 2, but
will cause the passage of gas to be stopped when said gas jet or burner is placed in
a horizontal position as represented in Fig. 5.
The supply of gas is obtained through a flexible tube and is regulated by the
tap m to which a ball or weighted lever m' is attached.
On the shelf n, we place an alarm clock 9 of ordinary construction, the supports p
being placed in the stops r to prevent lateral movement by vibration.
The handle p' for winding the alarm is formed with a tail piece s that will
engage with the stud 2 which is connected to the upper end of the rod t.
We attach a supporting bracket ¹ to the lower end of the rod t upon which the.
ball end of the lever m' may rest. We construct the kettle h with a fixed lid in
which we form a screwed socket 2 for fixing therein a syphon u; said kettle may
be filled by means of a screwed socket and plug and provided with a handle h*.

page_text: 20
In carrying our invention into effect, we set the indicator of the alarm clock
to the time it is required to boil the water in the kettle h, and wind the clock in the
usual way; we place the clock on the shelf n with the supports p in the stops rand
turn the rod t so that the supporting bracket may be in a position to rest thereon
the ball end of the lever m as shown in Fig. 2.
The stud will thus be in contact with the tail pieces of the handle p³ which is
employed for winding the alarm mechanism of the clock g.
The position of the lever m as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 will permit a small
quantity of gas to pass from the supply pipe through the tap m to the burner j
which is lighted and produces a scarcely perceptible flame. The kettle / is filled
with water through the plug ³, the weight of the water causing the springs g and g¹
to be compressed thereby lowering the frame A.
The gas burner having previously been placed in a vertical position, the hook j¹
will engage with the groove d' in the bar d as shown in Fig. 2.
•
If tea is the beverage required, a tea pot such as v in which tea has been put, is
placed under the outer end of the syphon . The ordinary cover may be reinoved
and a metal plate l with a hole therein, through which to pass the end of said
syphon may be employed as a cover.
When the time has arrived that the alarm is sounded, the unwinding of the
alarm mechanism will revolve the handle p¹ and cause the tail pieces to kick the
stud, thereby turning the rod t, causing the supporting bracket r¹ to be with-
drawn from under the ball end of the lever m which will fall to the bottom of the
stand a, thereby permitting the gas to pass freely through the tap m and a flame to
be produced under the kettle h. When the water boils, the steam produced causes
the water to be forced over the upper bend of the syphou u when the water will be
drawn off into the teapot or other receptacle: the weight of the kettle being
thereby lessened, the springs g and g' will lift the frame A until the hook
disengaged, when the gas burner j will be caused to fall down to the position shown
in Fig. 5 by means of the weight 2, at the same time closing the tap k¹ and thereby
extinguishing the gas flame.
is
By these means an infusion of tea or other beverage may be obtained without
requiring personal attendance.
The kettle & may also be employed as a bronchitis kettle by the application of
an extended spout in lieu of the syphon u, the gas being turned off by the burner j
in the same manner as herein previously described.
An independent light may be had if required, by means of the gas burner y
regulated by hand by the tap y'.
We desire it to be understood that we do not claim as part of our invention, any
form of clockwork mechanism, or the particular form of gas burner herein before
mentioned, but
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1st. For obtaining an infusion of tea or other beverage at any prearranged time
without the aid of an attendant, the combination of ordinary alarm clock mechanism
with mechanism employed for opening gas taps, and the delivery of boiling water
into a teapot or other receiver, in the manner and for the purpose substantially as
herein before described.
2nd. The mechanism for closing gas taps after the delivery of boiling water or
other fluid into a receiver, in the manner and for the purpose substantially as herein
before described.
Dated this 16th day of August 1893.
THOMAS PRESCOTT,
53, Arcade Chambers, St. Mary's Gate, Manchester,
Agent for the Applicants.