AN IMPROVED PORTABLE OVEN OR COOKING APPARATUS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Elizabeth Woolcott Slade and Maximelia Slade,
both of Wilton, near Salisbury, in the County of Wilts, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED PORTABLE OVEN OR COOKING APPARATUS."
Sealed the 24th August 1869, and dated the 13th March 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Elizabeth Woolcott
Slade and Maximelia Slade at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 13th March 1869.
WC, ELIZABETII WOOLCOTT SLADE and MAXIMELIA SLADE, both of
Wilton, near Salisbury, in the County of Wilts, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PORTABLE OVEN OR COOKING
APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to an improved cooking apparatus or portable
oven to be placed in front of an open fire, and serving either for roasting
or baking joints, bread, pastry, and other articles of food.
The apparatus consists of an oven, made preferably of semicircular
form, and of metal, or if of other material it would be lined inside
with metal, as usual, for the purpose of reflecting and concentrating tho

page_text: heat from the fire before which it is placed. This improved oven is
entirely open at the side next the fire, and is built up in sections fitting
one on the other in grooves formed around the upper edges of each
section so as to accommodate a number of joints at a time according
to the size of the fire. Each section is provided with one or more
shelves or ledges for supporting a dish or tray carrying a grating,
on which is placed the joint to be cooked, so that the heat shall
circulate freely around the latter; the tray also serves as a dripping
pan, and may
be provided with a well in addition. Each section may
also be provided with an opening and door, by which access may be had
for basting the joints, or for other purpose, and the lower section (which
may be used as a plate warmer if desired) is provided with castors, so as
to render the apparatus more portable. One of the sections is provided
with a hinged lid or cover, and is placed at top for confining the heat
when two or more sections are used at a time, but one only may be used
if desired for cooking chops and small articles of food. We further
provide the sections with a wire screen at front fitted to slide vertically,
and which may be adjusted in any position so as to regulate the amount
of heat required for cooking according to the nature of the contents of
the several sections.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Elizabeth Woolcott Slade and Maximelia Slade
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th September 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ELIZABETH
WOOLCOTT SLADE and MAXIMELIA SLADE, both of Wilton, near Salisbury,
in the County of Wilts, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Elizabeth Woolcott Slade and Maximelia
Slade, Her special licence that we, the said Elizabeth Woolcott Slade
and Maximelia Slade, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as wc, the said Elizabeth Woolcott Slade and Maximelia Slade,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree

page_text: 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 "AN
IMPROVED PORTABLE OVEN OR COOKING APPARATUS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Elizabeth Woolcott Slade and
Maximelia Slade, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and
scal of one of us or them, 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 we, the said Elizabeth Woolcott Slade and
Maximelia Slade, 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 thereof,
that is to say :-
Our Invention relates to an improved cooking apparatus or portable
Ioven to be placed in front of an open fire, and serving either for roasting
or baking joints, bread, pastry, and other articles of food.
The apparatus consists of an oven, made preferably of a semicircular
form, and of metal. When made of a non-metallic material it is lined
inside with metal, as usual, for the purpose of reflecting and con-
contrating the heat from the fire before which it is placed. This
improved oven is open at the side next the fire, and may be built up
in sections, fitting one on the other in grooves formed around the
upper edges of each section, so as to accommodate a number of joints
at a time, according to the size of the fire. The oven may, however,
be made in one piece instead of removeable sections. Each section is
provided with one or more shelves or ledges for supporting a dish or
pan, or tray, carrying à grating, on which is placed the joint to be
cooked. The pan or tray also serves as a dripping pan, and may be
provided with a well in addition. Each section may also be provided
with an opening and door, by which access may be had for basting the
joints, or for other purpose, and the lower section (which may be used
as a plate warmer if desired) is provided with castors, so as to render
the apparatus more portable. One of the sections is provided with a

page_text: hinged lid or cover, and is placed at top for confining the heat when two
or more sections are used at a time, but one only may be used if desired
for cooking chops and small articles of food. We further provide the
sections with a screen at front fitted to slide vertically, and which may
be adjusted in any position so as to regulate the amount of heat required
for cooking according to the nature of the contents of the several
sections.
Having explained the nature of our Invention, we will proceed to
describe with reference to the accompanying Drawings the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in front clevation, and Figure 2 in transverso
vertical section a portable oven or cooking apparatus adapted for cooking
two (or more) joints or other articles of food at a time, the said oven or
cooking apparatus being constructed and arranged according to our
Invention; Figure 3 is a horizontal section of the same, taken through
the line a, Figure 1, and Figure 4 represents in plan and front elevation
one of the pans and gratings of the same. The same letters of reference
indicate the same parts in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4.
b is the body of the oven or cooking apparatus, made of a nearly
semicircular form. The said body is supported on legs c, c, which may
be provided with castors. The said body is made of tin plate, for
reflecting and concentrating the heat from the fire, but the said body
may be made of a non-metallic material lined internally with metal.
The front of the oven is opon, and the said open front is presented
to the fire when the oven is in use. In the said oven are pans or
trays e, f, dividing the said oven into three sections or compartments
marked respectively g, h, i. Around the interior of the oven bare
horizontal shelves or ledges k, l, m, upon the shelves l, m, of which the
pans e, f, are respectively supported. In the upper section or com-
partment g two shelves k, l, are made, upon one or other of which the
pan e may be supported at pleasure for the cooking or baking operation.
The said pans or trays e, f, are placed on and removed from the shelves
from the open front 6, stops at the front of the shelves preventing the
trays or pans from falling therefrom; or the pans or trays may be
introduced and removed from behind through the doors in the sections
or compartments. Upon the pans or trays e, f, gratings marked re-
spectively n, p, are supported by legs in the manner represented. The
said gratings may be fixed to the pans, or be loose upon the pans. Upon

page_text: other purpose.
these gratings n, p, the joints or articles of food to be cooked or baked
are supported. At the back of the pans or trays are wells e², f, for
containing the fat for basting the articles of food. The bottom section
or compartment i constitutes a plate warmer. At the back of the
body b is a hinged door g, by which access can be gained to the middle
compartment for basting the joint or food on the grating p, or for
This door 7 also serves to gain access to the plate
warmer i. In the roof or top of the oven or cooking apparatus is a
hinged door r, by which access can be gained to the upper com-
partment g for basting the joint or food on the grating n, or for other
purposes. A prop may be used to support the door r in an open position
when required. In place of or addition to the top door r a door may
be made at the back of the section or compartment g. In order to
facilitate the basting of the joints or food on the gratings n, p, we prefer
to use a spoon of the kind represented in Figure 7, but an ordinary
ladle may be used in the place of the said spoon. The shape of the
gratings n, p, is somewhat different. By an examination of Figure 3
it will be seen that the back part of the grating p of the lower pan is
removed to facilitate access to the well f", and it will be seen by an
examination of the top pan and grating represented in Figure 4 that
the back of the grating is open for the same purpose. The opening in
the back of the grating may be filled up by a jointed wire d, which
when not required is thrown back, as indicated in dotted lines. The
fat or gravy in the pan or tray may either pass to the well by running
through holes in the edge of the well, as in the well e², or by running
over the edge of the well, as in the well f³. In order to protect parts of
the joint or food being cooked or baked from the action of the fire, or to
regulate the amount of heat passing into the oven from the fire, we
provide in front of the sections or compartments g, h, an adjustable
screen or plate 8, which is hooked by the chains to the hooks &³, 8³, at
the top of the oven. A screen is represented only applied to the upper
section g, but a similar screen to that represented at 8 is applied to the
section h, the last-named screen being hooked to the hooks marked 8ª, 8*.
By means of the hooks and chains represented the screen 8 may be
adjusted at the required height in front of the compartment for the
purposes described.

page_text: The
baked at the same time. By supporting the joint or food to be cooked
or baked on a grating above the pan, as described and represented, every
part of the joint or food receives the full effect of the head radiated from
the fire and reflected from the sides and back of the oven or cooking
apparatus. The position of the well of the pan or tray renders access
to it for basting very easy, and also prevents the fat being burned.
body of the oven or cooking apparatus may be only of such a size as to
accommodate one of the combined pans and gratings represented. In
this case the short body may be without legs, or be provided with legs,
a hinged door being made at the hack for gaining access to the tray
and grating.
Instead of making the body of the oven or cooking apparatus in one
picce, as represented in Figures 1, 2, and 3, it may be built up of
removeable sections, as illustrated in front elevation in Figure 5.
where the three sections are marked respectively t, u, v. Around
the upper edges of the sections u, v, troughs 10, 10, are made, in which
the lower edges of the sections t, u, respectively fit, as represented.
These troughs are situated above the ledges x, x, on which the trays
are supported. Each of the sections t, u, v, is provided with handles
and doors. More than three sections may be used if more than two
pans are required to be used in the oven at the same time. When one
pan is only required to be used the middle section u may be removed, and
the upper section may be fitted in the trough of the lower section v,
as represented in Figure 6. The bottom section may be provided with
a plate warmer v, or the said section may be without a plate warmer.
Having now described the nature of our Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that
we do not limit ourselves to the precise details herein described and
illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from the
nature of our Invention; but we claim as our Invention of an improved
portable oven or cooking apparatus,―
Firstly. Combining in the same oven or cooking apparatus two or
more trays or pans, for the purpose of cooking or baking two or more
joints or articles of food at a time, substantially as hercin-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly. The arrangement or combination in portable ovens or
cooking apparatus of one or more combined pans or trays and gratings,
the said gratings being cither loose or fixed to the pans or trays, sub-

page_text: stantially as hercin-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
Thirdly. Making the well in the combined pans or trays and gratings
at the back of the said pans or trays, for the purpose and substantially
as herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Fourthly. The combination with portable ovens or cooking apparatus
of adjustable screens, for the purpose and substantially as herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Lastly. Making portable ovens or cooking apparatus in removeable
sections, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said Elizabeth Woolcott Slade and
Maximelia Slade, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Third day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand
cight hundred and sixty-nine.
ELIZABETH WOOLCOTT SLADE. (L.S.)
MAXIMELIA SLADE.
(L.S.)
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.