AN IMPROVED PORTABLE OVEN FOR BAKING BREAD AND OTHER ARTICLES OF FOOD IN THE CAMP, THE FIELD, OR THE HOUSE
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Ball, of No. 3, Hyde Street, in the Parish,
of St. George, Bloomsbury, in the County of Middlesex, for the Inven-
tion of "AN IMPROVED PORTABLE OVEN FOR BAKING BREAD AND OTHER
ARTICLES OF FOOD IN THE CAMP, THE FIELD, OR THE HOUSE."
Sealed the 11th August, 1857, and dated the 17th February 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Ball at the Office.
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th February
1857.
I, THOMAS BALL, of No. 3, Hyde Street, in the Parish of St. George,
Bloomsbury, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PORTABLE OVEN FOR BAKING BREAD AND
OTHER ARTICLES OF FOOD IN THE CAMP, THE FIELD, OR THE HOUSE," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists of a novel construction of the oven generally, and of
the receptacle for the fuel or fire in particular, by which means the fire may
be placed underneath the article to be baked without the risk of burning at
the bottom before the other parts are done, the heat being equally diffused
without any complication of construction, and without the aid of any valve or
register whatever.

page_text: The oven and fire-place are both enclosed in one sheet-iron case, and may
be used either in the camp, the field, or the house, the only fuel required being
a little dry wood, peat, or charcoal.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Ball in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
August 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BALL, of No. 3, Hyde Street, in the Parish of St. George, Bloomsbury, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, & in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the.
said Thomas Ball, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Ball, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Ball, 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 "AN IMPROVED PORTABLE OVEN FOR BAKING
BREAD AND OTHER ARTICLES OF FOOD IN THE CAMP, THE FIELD, OR THE HOUSE,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Ball, 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 Thomas Ball, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
.
This Invention relates to a portable apparatus for baking bread or other
articles of food, in the camp or field, or in any building where there is free
ventilation. It consists of a plain cylindrical case of iron (attached to a per-

page_text: confine myself to the precise forms or dimensions shown upon the Drawings,
but claim, as included in my Invention, all such modifications, of form and
dimension as the principle of my said Invention will admit; such, for instance,
as the substitution of a convex or pyramidical body, or any other form or
shape which would serve to throw the fuel when placed upon it to the circum-
ference of the base, this effect being essential to the efficiency of my Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Ball, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of August, 1857.
THOMAS (L.S.) BALL.