IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO APPARATUS TO BE USED IN TEA AND COFFEE POTS FOR STEEPING, STRAINING, CLARIFYING, AND FILTERING, THE CONTENTS OF THE SAME
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th October 1879. A communication
from abroad by C. E. Bolton, of Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO
APPARATUS TO BE USED IN TEA AND COFFEE POTS FOR STEEPING, STRAINING,
CLARIFYING, AND FILTERING, THE CONTENTS OF THE SAME." [A communication
from abroad by C. E. Bolton, of Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America.]
This Invention relates to improved apparatus to be used in tea and coffee pots for
straining, steeping, clarifying, and filtering the tea, coffee, or other similar substance
therein. It also has reference to improvements in the formation of parts of tea and
coffee pots as hereinafter described
The said Invention comprises various apparatus for the above named purposes, the
said apparatus being so constructed that though adapted to fit into an ordinary tea
or coffee pot, they may be readily detached or removed therefrom.
In carrying the said Invention into practice I construct an apparatus as follows,
that is to say-I provide a perforated or gauze receptacle, usually cylindrical in form,
mounted upon two or more elastic legs, and arranged to be inverted or used with
either end up as may be required. The said receptacle has a perforated or gauze
lid or cover having a vertical wall or rim to retain the hot water poured upon it,
and compel it to pass down through the meshes or perforations. I provide the said
receptacle with an internal removable wall, not perforated, and having approximately
the same form and size as the receptacle, the same being designed to prevent the
escape of the inclosed fluid through the perforations or meshes in the walls of the
receptacle, but to permit it to pass freely through the openings in the bottom of the
same. I prefer to make the said receptacle cylindrical, to conform to the shape of
an ordinary coffee-pot, and it is made, preferably, of perforated tin-plate, or of
The
gauze, the sides, top, and bottom, being of substantially the same material.
top is made removable as the lid of the pot, and is provided with a rim or wall. To
the bottom of the said receptacle are rigidly affixed two or more elastic legs and a
lifting-handle. I also provide a loose removable cylinder, preferably constructed of
imperforated tin-plate, which may be made just long enough to fit snugly between
the bottom and cover of the receptacle, and be of just the proper diameter to drop
snugly therein. These proportions however need not be rigidly adhered to, and

page_text: I do not consider this cylinder as an essential feature of my device; but in some
cases I prefer to use it.
When it is desired to steep the coffee, as in a "drip-pot," the apparatus is set
upon its feet in the pot, the coffee is placed in the receptacle, and the lid placed
thereon. Boiling water is now poured slowly upon the lid, where it is retained by
the aforesaid rin or ledge, and allowed to trickle through the lid upon the coffee
within. If it is desired to attain the fullest strength of the decoction at one passage
of the water through the coffee or tea, as the case may be, it is perhaps advisable
to use the said loose cylinder which interposes a barrier between the perforated
walls of the receptacle and the substance to be steeped, thus compelling the hot
water to pass down through the said substance, and out through the perforations in
the bottom.
If it is desired to boil the substance from which the decoction is to be made
instead of steeping it, it is first placed in the receptacle, and the latter is then
placed in the pot in an inverted position. The elasticity of the legs causes them to
spring outwardly against the sides of the pot, and thus hold the receptacle firmly
in place; otherwise the buoyancy of the fluid and the agitation caused by boiling
and by handling would lift it up and perhaps knock off the cover.
When used in
this manner the loose cylinder is removed.
By the use of this apparatus I am enabled to make coffee in any of the various
ways known in the art of cookery. The ground coffee or the tea is prevented from
clogging up the spout in pouring, and from escaping at the spout or over the top of
the pot in boiling over.
The aforesaid receptacle being large and roomy the hot water has perfect access
to every particle of the coffee or ten used.
A device in the lid of the pot for condensing the aroma may be used in connection
with the said apparatus quite as well as with any other pot.
I also construct an apparatus for the same purposes as follows, that is to say:-
I provide a cylindrical or conical hoop or ring of sheet metal having a lid or cover.
This hoop is provided with elastic wire legs, which press against the walls of the
containing-vessel, and serve to keep the apparatus in place. The said hoop is
bottomless, and has a projection formed on its inner face. This may be a bead spun
in the material itself, or it may be a projecting part secured to the hoop or any
equivalent device. A bag of some suitable textile material, such as cheap muslin or
flannel, provided with a ring, is sewed into or otherwise attached to its upper edge
around the mouth. This ring fits snugly inside the hoop when the bag is put down
through and rests upon the said projection. Thus the bag becomes in some sense a
bottom to the hoop.
In use the substance from which a decoction is to be made is put into the said
bag, the cover is put on, and the apparatus is put into the containing vessel or pot
by slightly compressing the legs so that they will enter. After it is in place the
legs expand, and hold it with sufficient firmness to permit the liquid to be poured
out without disarranging it.
After some usage it will be found desirable to remove the bag, and renew it.
This is readily accomplished by disengaging the ring from the hoop, cutting the bag
loose from it, and sewing or otherwise attaching a new one in its place.
Heretofore in constructing bags for the above named purposes they have been
made from one piece of material with a cross-seam to join the bottom, or two side
seams and a fold at the bottom. But according to one part of my said Invention,
I make the bag in two pieces, by which means a broader and flatter_bottom is
provided, and a more effective straining-surface obtained than heretofore. The bottom
may be square, but I prefer a round bottom to coincide with the horizontal contour
of the pot.
In the upper margin of this bag is fixed, by sewing or otherwise, a solid ring of
wire arranged to fit, when enclosed in the fabric of the bag, the mouth of the pot.
When the bag is suspended in the pot this ring rests upon and is supported by a
ledge which I provide on the inner wall of the pot, preferably formed by raising a

page_text: bead in the metal of the pot itself. Below this bead the pot may be of any form,
but from the bead to the top the wall of the pot should be vertical or a little
flared. The lid of the pot may enter far enough to rest upon the ring, and assist in
keeping it down upon the ledge.
The opening to the spout is provided with a guard, preferably of bent wire, to
prevent the bag from closing the opening when pouring out the contents of the pot.
I also construct a straining apparatus as follows, that is to say-I provide a bag of
some textilo fabric or material suitable for the purpose. Attached to the upper
edge of the bag in some convenient manner is an open ring made of clastic wire or
similar material. The ends of this ring being open enable it to be compressed
enough to enter the mouth of the pot readily, and when in it rests upon the ledge
herein before described on the inside of the pot. The elasticity of the ring keeps it
snugly in place and presses the rim of the bag tightly against the wall of the pot
around.
The aforesaid guard-wire placed horizontally across the opening into the spout
prevents the bag from stopping the outlet when the pot is tilted for pouring.
By compressing the ring slightly the bag may be readily removed for cleaning
the pot or renewing the fabric of the bag.