Improvements in or relating to Infusers for Tea and the like.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Oct., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 1st July, 1892-Accepted, 6th Aug., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Infusers for Tea and the like.
I, JAMES ALEXANDER CHANDLER, of 27 Mincing Lane, in the City of
London, Tea Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to infusers adapted to be placed in tea, coffee pots and the
like for obtaining infusions of various materials the infuser being so arranged that
it can be drawn up out of the liquor when required. The present invention relates
to improvements in the particular devices employed and particularly to the con-
struction of the infusing basket and the means for securing it.
I have found that it is desirable to make the infusing device entirely independent
of any particular pot or vessel so that it may be changed from one to another as
required and this applies particularly to earthenware pots. In the present invention
therefore I make the knob preferably of metal and provide it with a hollow screwed
stem or equivalent by which it may be fastened to any lid provided with a suitable
hole preferably a central one. The knob or its fastening may be made of non-
conducting material or of metal or any other suitable material and is preferably
hollow and slotted at the top so that the chain, cord or equivalent by which the
infuser basket is supported may be hooked into the groove and thus secured. By
this arrangement it will be seen that so long as the lid of the pot or vessel is
provided with the necessary hole or opening the complete apparatus can be
immediately applied to it and this is particularly useful in the case of earthenware
or china lids and pots. The loop at the end of the chain by which the chain may
be pulled up is for this purpose preferably made of a split ring so that it may be
taken in or out as required.
To overcorne
The straining basket or infuser proper being made generally of wire gauze is
more or less flimsy and liable to be bent out of shape and as it has to be made in
two parts so as to admit of the insertion and removal of the tea leaves etc., I have
experienced some difficulty in providing a suitable connection. An ordinary
bayonet joint is good when the basket is new and before it has got pressed out of
shape, but when it becomes deformed the joint is of little or no use.
these difficulties I find that by providing a suitable number, preferably three, of
the bayonet joints and carrying the pins which I prefer to place upon the cover or
larger portion of the basket, across the opening of the basket so as to meet in the
centre I not only greatly strengthen the said cover but I provide the necessary
length of the pins for the joints so that if either the cover or the other portion of
the basket be bent out of shape no difficulty is experienced in locking or unlocking
the joints owing to the length of the wires or pins which prevents the bent body
from escaping from the control of the pin.
To facilitate the fastening and unfastening of the joints I may curve or slant the
portions thereof so that the pins are naturally led into or out of the fastening.
Dated this 1st day of October 1891.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Infusers for Tea and the like.
I, JAMES ALEXANDER CHANDLER, of 27 Mincing Lane, in the City of London,
Tea Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
This invention relates to infusers adapted to be placed in tea, coffee pots and the 5
like for obtaining infusions of various materials the infuser being so arranged that it
can be drawn up out of the liquor when required. The present invention relates to
improvements in the particular devices employed and particularly to the
construction of the infusing basket and the means for securing it.
a
I have found that it is desirable to make the infusing device entirely independent 1
of any particular pot or vessel so that it may be changed from one to another as
required, whether earthenware, china or metal though this makes it particularly
useful for earthenware pots. In the present invention therefore I make the knob
preferably of metal and provide it with a hollow screwed stem or equivalent by
which it may be fastened to any lid provided with a suitable hole preferably
-central one.
The knob or its fastening may be made of non-conducting material
or of metal or any other suitable material and is preferably hollow and slotted at
the top so that the chain, cord or equivalent by which the infuser basket is
supported may be hooked into the groove and thus secured. By this arrangement
it will be seen that so long as the lid of the pot or vessel is provided with the
necessary hole or opening the complete apparatus can be immediately applied
to it and this is particularly useful in the case of earthenware or china lids and pots.
The loop at the end of the chain by which the chain may be pulled up is for this
purpose preferably made of a split ring so that it may be taken in or out as
required.
is more
The straining basket or infuser proper being made generally of wire gauze
or less flimsy and liable to be bent out of shape and as it has to be made in two
parts so as to admit of the insertion and removal of the tea leaves etc., I have
experienced some difficulty in providing a suitable connection. An ordinary
bayonet joint is good when the basket is new and before it has got pressed out of
To overcome
shape, but when it becomes deformed the joint is of little or no use.
these difficulties I find that by providing a suitable number, preferably three, of
the bayonet joints and carrying the pins which I prefer to place upon the cover or
larger portion of the basket, across the opening of the basket so as to meet in the
centre not only greatly strengthen the said cover but 1 provide the necessary
length of the pins for the joints so that if either the cover or the other portion of
the basket be bent out of shape no difficulty is experienced in locking or unlocking
the joints owing to the length of the wires or pins which prevents the bent body
from escaping from the control of the pin.
To facilitate the fastening and unfastening of the joints I may curve or slant the
portions thereof so that the pins are naturally led into or out of the fastening.
In the accompanying drawings
Fig. 1 is a view partly in section of the complete apparatus.
Fig. 2 is an interior view of one portion of the basket and
Fig. 3 is a plan of the knob.
Like letters represent like parts throughout the drawings.
may
A is the chain having a split or other ring B for lifting it up by, C is the knob
preferably hollow and having a screwed tubular shank through which the chain
passes and a wing or other nut D to screw thereou so that the shank
be placed
through a suitable hole in the china or other lid of the tea-pot, the nut screwed on
and the knob thus secured. Or instead of the shank forming part of the knob and
a nut being screwed upon it the shank may be separate from the knob the hole in

page_text: which would be screw-threaded so that the knob would act as the nut. Some means
such as the wings shown in the drawing should be provided upon the shank for
convenience of holding while the knob is screwed on to it.
The chain A terminates in a bent wire or other hook A¹ which passing through a
loop E' secured to the upper portion or cover E of the basket connects the chain
and basket.
The band F of the cover E is provided with wires G passing from the periphery
to the centre; conveniently there may three of these. The band of the lower
portion of the basket is provided with a number of slots or recesses H corresponding
with the number of the wires G; one of these slots is shown in Figure 1 and each
forms in connection with one of the wires G a bayonet joint. The opening into the
slot H may with advantage be slanted or bevelled off as at H' to facilitate the
entrance of the wire G, this being of considerable importance on account of there
being more than one joint so that several entrances have to be found notwith-
standing that one or both parts of the basket may have been bent out of shape.
The knob C through which the chain passes is provided with one or more slits I
into which the chain A may be inserted for the purpose of retaining the basket E
when raised out of the liquor.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is,-
1. The complete infusing apparatus consisting of the detachable lid-knob C
through which passes the supporting chain A which carries auy suitable infuser
basket substantially as described and illustrated in Figure 1 of the accompanying
drawings.
2. In infusing apparatus the employment of a detachable lid-knob such as C
through which the infuser supporting chain passes and having a connected or
detachable hollow shank such as C₁ substantially as described and illustrated in
the accompanying drawings.
3. In infusing apparatus a basket such as E in which the wires or pins forming a
portion of the bayonet joints are extended inwardly so as to provide for the
efficient working of the joint even when the basket is crushed out of shape sub-
stantially as described.
4. In infusing apparatus a basket-cover having radial wires such as G connected
together at the centre and at their outer ends secured to the rim substantially as
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
5. In infusing apparatus the combination of two or more bayonet-joint slots such
as H slanted or bevelled as at H' to facilitate entrance to the slot substantially as
described and illustrated in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings.
Dated this First day of Inle 1802
J. A. CHANDLER.
W. P. Thompson & Boult,
Agents for the Applicant.