IMPROVEMENTS IN COOKING APPARATUS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Baker Jones, of Limerick, Gentleman, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COOKING APPARATUS."
Sealed the 12th August 1856, and dated the 23rd February 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Baker Jones
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd February 1856.
I, ROBERT BAKER JONES, of Limerick, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COOKING APPARATUS," to be
as follows:-
My Invention consists in new arrangements of fire-place, oven, and boilers,
whereby a portable kitchen for a number of persons can be provided in a
small space. I provide a fire-place in front, the sides of which slope or recede
at an angle; this fire-place can be removed from the apparatus, if required,
and may be employed for heating apartments. The sides consist of hollow
vessels, provided with taps, which may be used to contain soup, and in these
vessels fit other vessels wherein boiling can be carried on. The fire-basket, or
place, only extends back a short distance, and the space between the boiling
vessels and the back of the apparatus is covered at top and bottom and forms
an oven; a ventilator is placed in the door. The side vessels, oven, and fire-
basket drop into a bed without resting on the bottom thereof, and the space
between the bottom of the vessels and of the bed may be used as an oven;

page_text: access is gained to it through a door in the back. The front of the fire-basket
is open, and the products of combustion are carried in a flue over the top of
the oven into a portable or other chimney. In the flue over the oven is an
orifice, which may be fitted with a cover, or may have placed therein a vessel
for frying or boiling.
In order to roast, I place a semicircular folding screen upon a similarly
shaped pan in front of the fire-basket. In order to expedite the roasting, this
screen may be fitted with a cover. The whole of the baking dishes, screen,
flues, and culinary utensils, knives, plates, &c., fit into the oven and boiling and
baking vessels, the whole being very portable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Baker Jones in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd August 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
BAKER JONES, of Limerick, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Iler reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Baker Jones, Her especial licence that I, the said Robert Baker
Jones, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Robert Baker Jones, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN COOKING APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst others), that I, the
said Robert Baker Jones, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Robert Baker Jones, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings annexed, that is
to say:-
My Invention consists in new arrangements of fire-place, oven, and boilers,
whereby a portable kitchen may be provided in a small space. I provide a
fire-place in front; this fire-place may be fixed to the apparatus or made
removeable therefrom; when separate, it may be employed for heating
apartments. The sides consist of fixed or moveable hollow vessels or boilers,
for meat, soup, water, &c. In these vessels other vessels are fitted, wherein
stewing or steaming may be carried on.
Figure 1 is a front view of an apparatus constructed according to my
Invention; Figure 2 a side view, and Figure 3 a plan of the same; Figure 4
is a back view, and Figure 5 a section through the line a, b, of Figure 1.
A is the fire-place or fire-basket; B, B, the sides, forming hollow vessels or
boilers, provided with taps c, c; C, C, vessels fitted into the vessels B, B, for
carrying on stewing or steaming. The fire basket A only extends back a short
distance into a recess. The space E, between the boiling vessels and the back
of the apparatus is covered at top and bottom, and forms an oven with
moveable shelves and baking tins. There is a door d at the back of the
apparatus, in which a ventilator e may be placed. The side vessels B, B, oven
E, and fire-basket A drop into a. hollow pan or bed F, but do not rest on the
bottom thereof. The space or chamber G between the bottom of the vessels,
&c., and of the pan or bed F may be used as an oven. Access is gained
thereto through a door f in the lower part at the back. The front of the fire-
basket A is open, and the products of combustion are carried through a flue H
over the top of the oven into a chimney, which may be portable or fixed. J is a
hot plate over the flue and fire-place. In the flue or hot plate is an orifice fitted
with a countersunk moveable cover, or there may be several such orifices and
covers, or the flue or hot plate may be formed with holes without covers. These
orifices are intended to expedite the frying or boiling of food, liquids, &c.
For roasting, I place in front of the grate a folding screen K, shewn in
Figure 5, and having a concave or flat cover k attached to it or moveable. The
screen is fitted into and rests on a tray or pan 1, corresponding to the shape of
the bottom of the screen. The screen and tray serve as a roasting screen or
Dutch oven, and may be suspended in front of the fire by hooks g, g. Guides
are provided in the sides of the tray to hold the screen in it (in a vertical
position). When used for roasting, the meat is suspended from the top of the
screen by a hook h. The screen and cover may be folded up flat and fit into
the pan when packed away. The pan or tray 1, when the screen is removed,

page_text: form a dish in which hot meat may, be brought to table. A vessel fitted with
a steamer at top may be suspended in front of the grate when the latter is not
used for roasting. This vessel is made of such a size as to be capable of being
packed in the oven or boiler when not required for use.
The screen, chimney, funnel, and culinary and table utensils, such as baking
dishes, knives, forks, goblets, plates, &c., fit inside the ovens and boiling
and baking vessels, the whole forming a compact portable apparatus. The
apparatus, may be made without an oven at back, and divided into a number
of boilers or vessels by partitions. Instead of having a bent flue, as shewn in
the Drawing, a straight flue may be employed, in which case the hot plate at
the back would be dispensed with. The apparatus may be mounted on feet
and castors, as shewn at m, m, and may be packed in a box or basket (furnished
with Jock and removeable shelves), which, when not required to hold the
apparatus, might be used as a safe or cupboard.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,―
First, the general arrangement and construction of cooking apparatus,
herein-before described, with reference to the Drawings annexed.
Second, the folding, screen (employed for roasting) herein-before described,
and represented in the Drawings annexed..
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Baker Jones, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
R. B. JONES. (L.S.)