AN IMPROVED SELF-ACTING COOKING APPARATUS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS. PATENT to Henri Adrien Bonneville, of the British and Foreign
Patent Offices, 24, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France,
and 38, Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED SELF-ACTING COOKING
APPARATUS." A communication from Juan Sörensen, residing at Avenue
in the City of Paris aforesaid. Gentleman.
Sealed the 10th December 1867, and dated the 23rd August 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd August 1867.
1, HENRI ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices,
24, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 38, Porchester
Terrace; Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED SELF-ACTING'
COOKING APPARATUS," a communication from Juan Sörensen, a person resident
at Avenue d'Antin, in the City of Paris, aforesaid, Gentleman, to be as
follows:-
It has been the general opinion until now that in order to produce well..
cooked food it should necessarily be kept boiling during the whole time
required for the cooking process, consequently all cooking appliances hitherto
invented have been constructed on this principle, and in cases where a com-
bination of economy of fuel and portability have been sought the Inventions
have more or less proved failures, either have those qualities not been really
obtained or the apparatus themselves have been too complicated and expensive

page_text: to come into general use. It is not necessary, however, to keep the food
boiling during the whole time of the cooking process, it is simply sufficient to
keep it boiling only for 3, 5, or 10 minutes, according to its nature, and then
to retain by means of a simple retainer so much of the heat as is practically
convenient.
These improvements, which have been communicated to me, are in
accordance with this theory,and consist in constructing wooden or metal heat-
retaining apparatus of any given form and size, the walls or sides and bottoms
of which are either made of or furnished with a material or materials being
bad conductors of caloric. The centre of these apparatus are provided with
cavities having exactly the suitable dimensions of the vessels in which the
previous partial cooking process above described has taken place, and into
which the said vessels are afterwards placed; the upper part of these cavities
is then closed by means of a stoppie cr obturator, likewise made partly or
entirely of a bad heat conducting material; after which the apparatus are also
tightly closed by means of an ordinary lid or cover, and the cooking process
thus gees on until done.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENKI
ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices 24, Rue du
Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 38, Porchester Terrace,
Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henri Adrien Bonneville, Her special licence that I, the said Henri
Adrien Bonnevilie, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, 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 "SELF-ACTING COOKING APPARATUS," being a communication from Juan
Sörensen, a person resident at Avenue d'Antin, in the City of Paris,

page_text: aforesaid, Gentleman, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Henri Adrien Bonneville, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Henri Adrien Benneville, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, (that is to say):
This Invention of "self-acting cooking apparatus" relates to apparatus for
cooking food and for the coction of other substances, and has for its object the
economy of fuel and labour, the diminution of evaporation during the cooking
process, and the portability of the apparatus. For this purpose the apparatus
employed consists of a cooking vessel in which the food and necessary liquid
(in cases wherein liquid is required immersed therein are made to boil and
are kept boiling for the space of from three to ten minutes according to the
size and nature of the food required to be cooked, and of an ordinary heat
retainer consisting of a case or envelope composed entirely or partly of a non-
conducting material or materials within which the cooking vessel is placed
and by which it is entirely surrounded. By this means the food is cooked
or the coction of other substances performed by the preparatory process of
boiling or heating for a very short time on a fire or heating by other means
in a cooking vessel, together with the subsequent process due to the retention
of the heat originally applied to the vessel, or so much of it as is required
for the purpose of completing the cooking of the food or coction of other
substances. The form of the cooking vessel and also of the heat retainer
may be varied to suit the different purposes for which they are required, but
in all cases the apparatus employed will consist of a cooking vessel as
distinguished from a digester, and of a heat retainer adapted to enclose the
vessel after having undergone the previous heating process on the fire or by
other source of heat, and to prevent the transmission of the heat from the
vessel to the surrounding atmosphere.
In order however that the Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe several forms of apparatus:
represented in the accompanying Drawings as apparatus adapted for several
uses.

page_text: Fig. 1 represents in perspective an ordinary cooking vessel having a pair
of bent handles a, a, fitted with hinges, by means of which the handles may
be closed over the lid when it has been placed in the heat retainer.
Fig. 2 represents in section and on an enlarged scale one-half of the lid
and a portion of the upper part of the vessel to which it is applied. In this
Figure is shewn one of the bent handles a turned over the lid, and it is to
be observed that the lid is not kept down in its place on the top of the vessel
by means of the two handles a, a, which are merely intended for putting the
vessel into and taking it out of the heat retainer. It is also to be observed
that although the lid should fit tight in order to prevent the spilling of its
contents when the apparatus is carried, yet the lid does not fit into the vessel
in such a manner as to render it steam-tight.
.
Fig. 3 is a vertical section shewing the cooking vessel enclosed in the
heat retainer. Such a vessel is intended to receive the food required to be
cooked, then to be placed on a fire or which the boiling process is to be
carried on for from three to ten minutes as may be required to suit the nature
of the food under treatment, and afterwards to be removed from the fire and
enclosed in the heat retainer in order that the heat retained by this means
within the vessel may complete the process of cooking the food contained
therein. The heat retainer shewn in the Figure is a box or case of wood
or metal B, the lid and sides of which are lined with a padded lining C
composed of cloth or other suitable fabric or material with a stuffing of non-
conducting material. D is a cover or stopper composed of the same non-
conducting material or materials as the lining C, and it is placed over the
cooking vessel so as to complete the enclosure of the same within a surrounding
of non-conducting material; the lid B' of the heat retainer is then shut
down and the cooking of the food in the vessel is left to be completed. The
heat retainer is readily portable by the handles b, b.
Fig.4 represents in perspective a heat retainer constructed in such a manner
as to adapt it for receiving four vessels in which the preparatory boiling has
been carried on. The internal spaces within the padded lining of the several
compartments of the case are deep enough to admit of several vessels being
placed in each compartment if required. This form of heat retainer is more
especially suited for permanent kitchens.
Fig. 5 is a section shewing a heat retaining case containing two cooking
vessels; Fig. 6 represents detached and in perspective a padded stopper
composed of non-conducting material; Fig. 7 is a section shewing a heat

page_text: retaining case with one deeper cooking vessel on one side and two more
shallow vessels on the other side of a partition, each of such vessels being
entirely surrounded by non-conducting material. For this purpose an extra
padded stopper or isolator is inserted between the two shallow cooking vessels.
Fig. 8 is a vertical section of a heat retainer adapted to enclose various
circular cooking vessels, those in the centre being placed one over another,
and others being formed to fit round them as represented detached in Fig. 9.
By this arrangement various kinds of food might be cooked in the central
cooking vessels, and the annular vessels might contain tea or coffee, the whole
being cooked and kept hot as required in the same heat retaining case. The
preparatory heating process may also be performed whilst the cooking vessel
is partly enclosed in the heat retainer instead of being wholly enclosed therein
as herein-before described.
Fig. 10 represents a cooking vessel partly enclosed in a heat retainer open
at top and bottom, and with sides padded with non-conducting material.
Heat may be applied to the bottom of the cooking vessel by means of gas
or otherwise, and the vessel may afterwards be inserted in a bottom cover
as shewn at Fig. 11, with a padded cushion in it and covered by a cushion
and a top cover, as shewn at Fig. 12, so as to be entirely enclosed as
represented at Fig. 13 for the completion of the cooking process.
Having thus described various forms of apparatus intended to be employed
under the said Invention, I would remark that other forms of the same may
be employed without departing from the essential feature of the Invention, but
I hereby declare that what I claim as of the Invention communicated to me
as aforesaid is, the use of apparatus consisting of a cooking vessel in which
food or other substance is boiled or heated for a short time on a fire or
heated by other means, and a heat retainer in which the said vessel is
afterwards enclosed, and in which the process of cooking or coction is
completed as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Vitness,
A. DICK.
H. FRICKEN.
H. BONNEVILLE. (L.S.)