A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR COOKING EGGS BY HOT AIR
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Beck, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City
of London, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, for an Invention of
"A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR COOKING EGGS BY HOT AIR."
A communication from abroad by Pierro Léon Labarbe, of Paris, in the
Republic of France, Manufacturer.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Beck at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th June 1881.
WILLIAM HENRY BECK, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City of London,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent. "A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
COOKING EGGS BY HOT AIR." [A communication from abroad by Pierre Léon
Labarbe, of Paris, in the Republic of France, Manufacturer.]
The Invention consists in an arrangement of apparatus in which a spirit lamp or
other suitable source of heat is employed for the purpose of heating the air in a
vessel or case containing the eggs to be cooked. The cooking effect is continued the
exact length of time necessary, and is stopped at the precise moment required, either
by using in the lamp a measured quantity only of spirit or other combustible
material proportionate to the time of cooking or to the number of eggs to be cooked,
or by using sand glasses, clepsydra, or other mechanical arrangements adapted to
stop the combustion at the proper moment.
The apparatus may consist of a foot or base which carries the spirit lamp or
other source of heat, and to which is fixed at a suitable height above the lamp &
disc or plate with holes therein to carry the eggs to be cooked. Between the said
disc or plate and the spirit lamp or other source of heat is another disc or plate
with openings therein, placed so as to alternate with the holes in the first named
disc or place. The heat produced by the lamp can only pass through these openings
in order to rise round the eggs. A handle is secured to the first named disc or
plate, whereby the whole apparatus may be moved about from place to place. A
case or cover is adapted to take over the aforesaid discs or plates, so as to enclose a
space in which are contained the eggs to be cooked and the lamp or other source
of heat for cooking them. This case or cover is provided with perforations near its
lower edge for the admission of air to support combustion in the lamp. It will
thus be seen that the eggs are subjected to the action of a kind of hot air bath
for a length of time, dependant either upon the quantity of combustible material
supplied to the lamp, or upon the action of the sand glass, clepsydra, or other
mechanical arrangement used for extinguishing the lamp at the required time.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Henry Beck in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th December 1881.
WILLIAM HENRY BECK, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City of London,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent. "A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
COOKING EGGS BY HOT AIR."
The Invention consists in an arrangement of apparatus in which a spirit-lamp
or other suitable source of heat is employed for the purpose of heating the air in a
vessel or case containing the eggs to bo cooked. This apparatus comprises a foot
or base carrying the eggs to be cooked, and holding them over the lamp or other
source of heat placed in the said foot or stand; also a case or cover placed over the
eggs and the lamp, adapted to admit only the air required for supporting the
combustion of the latter.
The lamp heats the ambient air which surrounds the eggs on all sides, whereby
they are heated uniformly until cooked to the required degree, without fear of
breakage whilst cooking.
If the heat is derived from the combustion of alcohol or spirits of wine, it is
easy to measure the quantity of liquid to be burnt for cooking to any required
degree any number of eggs. Similarly, if the heat is derived from candles, gas, or
other combustible, sand glasses, clepsydras, or other suitable devices can be arranged,
which will stop the combustion at the precise moment.
The Drawings hereto annexed illustrate an apparatus suitable for cooking four
eggs at once.
Figure 1 is an elevation.
Figure 2, a vertical section.
Figure 3, a horizontal section on the broken line 1-2-3-4 of Fig. 2; and
Figs. 4 and 5 show respectively an elevation and a plan of the vessel or gauge for
measuring and pouring the combustible liquid into the lamp.
On the foot or base a, which may be more or less moulded or ornamented, are
fixed the three (more or less) supports c, upon which rests the thin metallic disc d,
which is perforated with four holes d', and is intended to receive the eggs to bo
cooked o.
Below the disc d at a suitable height is fixed another disc perforated with four
openings, which alternate with the openings d'. The heat produced by the
combustion of the lamp can pass through these openings only in order to rise round
the eggs, as the space which separates the discs and d is closed circumferentially
by a closed envelope..
From the discs 7 and d rises the column k, which is surmounted by the button or
handle ¹, by which the apparatus may be moved about.
The spirits of wine lamp fis let into the foot or basc a, and is preferably
furnished with an asbestos wick, this material never producing smell or smoke.
Air holes fare formed for the admission of the air necessary to support
combustion.
All the parts above described are enclosed in a case g, which rests at its lower
edge on the foot or base a. Openings g¹ form at the bottom a gallery for admitting
into the apparatus the air required for the combustion of the lamp.
The removal and putting in place of the casc g is effected by grasping the
rings b, b.
It will be understood that any cold air entering by the gallery g¹ cannot spread
above the eggs, as it is always heated by the flame before arriving at the openings ¹,
and before passing from them under and around the eggs.
To use the apparatus the case g is removed in order to put tho eggs in place.

page_text: The required quantity of alcohol is put into the lamp by means of the measure or
gauge (Figures 4 and 5). One measure is the proper quantity for cooking eggs
to the condition known as soft, and somewhat more than one measure is required
for cooking them to the condition known as hard. The lamp is then lit, and the
case g is immediately put in place. When it is seen by looking through the open
gallery g¹ that the lamp has burnt itself out, it is certain that the eggs are cooked
to the required degree.
The external form and the materials of the various parts of the apparatus may
be varied according to the nature of the combustible employed, and also according
to whether it is desired to produce an expensive or a cheap article.
The more expensive kinds of the apparatus may be employed for cooking eggs
at table.
An important feature of the apparatus above described is that during the cooking
the hot air remains in the apparatus, there being no current tending to draw it
outwards.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to or may be carried into effect, I would have it understood that I.do
not claim as novel the application of hot air for cooking eggs; but what I do claim
ns the Invention to be secured by the within in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The application of hot air produced and generated under the conditions
hereinbefore described, that is to say, by means of a lamp with asbestos wick
arranged below the eggs to be cooked, and enclosed along with the said eggs in a
case which allows of the admission of external air at the base of the apparatus only
for supporting the combustion of the lamp alone.
Second. The combination of the two discs & and Z, the upper one to receive the
eggs, the lower one for guiding the hot air produced in the lamp to the underside
of the eggs, both discs being so arranged that cold air cannot reach the eggs, but
that the hot air from the lamp can do so through the openings in the lower disc,
as herein before described and illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 of the Drawings.
Third. As an integral part of the Invention the employment of a measured
quantity of combustible liquid for effecting the required degree of cooking; or if
gas or other substance be burnt instead of alcohol or spirits of wine the employ-
ment of sand-glasses, clepsydras, or other devices for stopping the combustion at the
moment when the cooking is completed, as hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Beck, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteonth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.