IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOZENGES AND OF POMFRET OR LIQUORICE CAKES AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES OF CONFECTIONERY, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE SAME
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Wood and James William
Wood at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 28th September 1866.
We, WILLIAM WOOD and JAMES WILLIAM WOOD, of Monkhill, near
Pontefract, in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOZENGES AND OF POMFRET
OR LIQUORICE CAKES AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES OF CONFECTIONERY, AND IN
APPARATUS FOR THE SAME," to be as follows:-
In the manufacture of lozenges as heretofore practised the materials after
being intimately mixed are rolled out into sheets of any desired thickness,
when by means of cutters the sheets are cut up into lozenges ready for drying.
Now by our improved process the materials when mixed are formed into
sheets by being, firstly, made into a solid block of any desired shape and size,
which is cut up into slices or sheets by one or more knives or cutters, to which
by preference a quick sawing motion is given. In the formation of lozenges
from sheets however made we use first a metal plate having perforations of the
size and form of the lozenges required. 2ndly, a plate or frame in which are
fixed punches of the same shape and size on their faces as the perforations in
the 1st plate, and correctly registering with them; the side outline of these
punches we prefer to be conical or curved. A sheet of paste or mixture being
laid on the perforated plate, which is placed on a table or on a plain or figured

page_text: plate, the plate or frame of punches by suitable pressure thereon forms
lozenges by forcing a portion of the sheet of paste into each of the holes in
the perforated plate, which with the lozenges therein is then placed over the
drying board or frame, and the lozenges pushed out of the perforations by the
same set of punches or by a special set. Another plate having perforations
similar to the first may be used to prevent the web or waste from being drawn
up or adhering to the pressing punches.
Our improvements also consist in forming certain patterns or ornaments on
the rims of lozenges. When cutters are used to cut out the lozenges, as in
the ordinary mode, the sides of the lozenges are plain and vertical, now by
our mode of pressing the lozenges into a perforated plate a pattern can by
such pressure be formed on the rims, which is produced by figuring the
circumferences of the perforations; the sides of the lozenges, whether plain or
figured, may also be made oblique or inclined. When desired a pattern or
lettering may be impressed on the top and under sides, or either of them, by
figuring or lettering the punches and the plate on which the lozenges are
pressed when forced into the perforated plate, but this figuring on top and
under sides constitutes no part of our Invention, except when it is done by the
apparatus herein-before described.
Our improvements in the manufacture of pomfret or liquorice cakes are,
firstly, the same as above described for the manufacture of lozenges, except
that for this material we use a fine steel wire or wires wherewith to cut the
block of paste into sheets or slices, these may then be rolled and polished if
desired, and used as in making lozenges as before described.
Our improvements also consist in a mode of forming the figure or pattern
on and the shape of pomfret or liquorice cakes and of lozenges and other
similar articles, and consist in the use of one or more engraved or figured
plates or surfaces of metal or other suitable material, on or between which the
sheet of liquorice or other mixture is placed and rolled or pressed sufficiently
to produce the pattern on one or both sides of the sheet of material, which is
afterwards cut up by a registering frame of cutters, or otherwise cut into cakes,
or the figuring plate be formed so as to nearly cut through the sheet at the
circumference of the cake or lozenge, that when dry it will break up into the
forms which have been impressed on it. The sheet of liquorice paste should
be sufficiently dry not to adhere to the plates, but not so dry as not to move
with facility in the figuring process; powdered sugar, starch, or other matter
being dusted on the sheets to prevent adhesion in the rolling and figuring
processes. The figured sheet may be removed from the figuring plates as
soon as the pattern is impressed and laid on boards or canvas frames to dry,

page_text: or it may be left on the figured plate and placed in a stove to dry for a time
before removal.
Our improvements also consist in varnishing or glazing sheets of liquorice
or other mixture, and in the mixing of coloring matter when desired in the
varnish or glaze.
Our improvements also consist in producing patterns or figures on pomfret
or liquorice cakes by printing thereon any desired material or color by means
of "surface" printing blocks or stamps, or by stencil plate, and by printing
thereon adhesive matter and then dusting on it whilst wet white or colored
powdery material.