Improvements in or relating to Spatulas, Ladles, and the like..
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Oct., 1894-Accepted, 1st Dec., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Spatulas, Ladles, and the like..
I, CONRAD HILDEBRAND of Biberach a.d. Riss Kingdom of Wurtemburg, in
the Empire of Germany, Confectioner, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention is for use, in connection with the boiling and evaporation of
fruits and juices, as well as in boiling sugar confectionery and the like, especially
such substances or compounds as, during their treatment require to be stirred, and
also not allowed to exceed a specified temperature; and has for its object to ascertain
quickly and with certainty whenever and so soon as the specified temperature has
been attained, in order that the boiling or evaporating process may be stopped at
the proper moment.
Hitherto the only means of arriving at such a critical determination has been
experience and the sense of touch. A thermometer suspended to a spatula or
stirring rod for testing any boiling substance is very apt to become detached;
and the occasional dipping of such an instrument in the substance does not
give results sufficiently accurate as to be a reliable means of determining the
temperature; moreover the continual dipping interferes with the boiling process
and is not infrequently dangerous, as many substances and compounds are apt to
spirt in boiling.
All these evils are obviated by attaching the thermometer on or fixing it in the
wooden spatula or ladle.
The accompanying drawings, illustrate one modification of this invention, by
way of example.
Fig. 1 shows a front elevation ;
Fig. 2 a longitudinal section, and
Fig. 3 a rear elevation of the spatula so fitted.
The thermometer a is sunk or housed more or less deeply in a recess or groove
in the wooden spatula 6 and is thereby sheltered from external injury; but this
object may be further attained or promoted by means of a protecting sheet of
metal, wirework or the like.
In order that the heated mass may act quickly and thoroughly upon the
expansive medium (quicksilver &c.) in the bulb c, the latter is placed in a slot d,
where the groove is cut away into an opening in the wood of the spatula. With
a view to the use of the thermometer for other purposes, and also to facilitate
cleansing a sliding socket or sleeve e is provided, which serves both to secure
the thermometer to the spatula as well as to enable it to be quickly and easily
removed therefrom.
Size, shape and material of the spatula or stirring rod are alike optional, and it
may be advantageously employed in the most diverse branches of industry. As,
moreover, different boiling substances require different temperatures, these various
degrees of heat may with great advantage be marked in different colours upon the
thermometer, e.g. 82° Centigrade, a yellow line; 91° Centigrade, a red line;
110° Centigrade a blue line, and so on. An indispensable accessory to the spatula
will therefore be a table of the degrees of heat required (or boiling points) for all
possible substances, with explanation of the colour-scale or marks.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same, is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is ;-
The combination with a spatula ladle or the like of a thermometer substantially
as and for the purpose described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 16th day of October 1894.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.