Improvements in Apparatus for Assimilating Cow's Milk to Human Mother's Milk.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Apr., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 11th Sept., 1889-Accepted, 16th Nov., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Assimilating Cow's Milk to Human
Mother's Milk.
I ROBERT WILLIAM SEATHING of 694 Coventry Road, Birmingham, in the county
of Warwick, no occupation do hereby declare the nature of this invention to he as
follows:-
;
This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for assimilating cows milk to
human mother's milk, whereby the cows milk is boiled for a considerable length of
time, in a hot air chamber, thus avoiding all burning, or contact of flame with the
vessel containing the said milk, and during which process of boiling, the said milk is
kept in constant circulation, so as to thoroughly expose every part to the boiling action,
by which all injurious and indigestible properties are removed therefrom, and
bringing the residue into a most perfect resemblance to that of a mother's milk, and
admirably suited to weakly, or other infants not suckled by the mother.
In constructing this my improved apparatus, assuming that the apparatus is to deal
with say a quart of milk, I proceed somewhat thus:-
Upon a suitable stand I mount a spirit lamp, capable of burning about forty
minutes (more or less). This stand is also made to receive and support a hot air
chamber, having necessary perforations to feed the flame with air &c. At a little :
height above the lamp, and within the air chamber, I provide a perforated plate,
against which the flame strikes and through which the heat passes to the milk vessel
hereafter explained.
At the upper part of this air chamber is an opening, into which the said milk is
passed.
This milk vessel consists as it were of two compartments, an upper one and a lower
one. The upper one is preferably of a somewhat funnel or tundish shape, while the
lower is of a cylindrical (or other suitable) shape.
al
At the top of the lower compartment, a ledge or surface is prepared to receive
lid. To this lid is attached two tubes, one on either side, that is, one on the top and
one on the bottom, that upon the bottom passing into the lower compartment, and
that on the upper side rising into the upper compartiment, for some little height,
and there bent over into an inverted U shape, so that its orifice is directed down-
wards. This upper tube opens through the lid to the lower compartment, and the
lower tube opens through the lid to the upper compartment, thus forming two
communications between the said upper and lower compartments.
Again. At the one upper side of the upper compartment, I form a catch or it
may be a hinge, into which a cross bar may take, which said cross bar, crosses
to the other side of the vessel, passing alongside the aforesaid upper tube. This
cross bar is provided at its end with a screw down or other suitable fastening,
so that it may be secured for the following purpose :-
Upon the said upper tube at such point of contact with the said cross bar, is a
projection upon which the cross bar rests, so that when the lid is placed upon the
bottom compartment, and the cross bar secured, the bottom vessel is shut off, except
for the aforenamed tubes.
Thus having placed the milk in the lower vessel, put on the lid and secured it,
then lighted the lamp, in about twenty minutes the milk will boil.
It is now allowed to boil for another twenty minutes, during which time the boiling
milk will flow upwards through the upper pipe, discharging itself into the upper

page_text: vessel, and readily passing thence, back through the lower tube into the bottom vessel,
thus being boiled over and over again, by which action all impurities and indigestible
properties are removed.
"
Dated this 12th day of April 1889
CHARLES T. POWELL,
Applicant's Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Assimilating Cow's Milk to Human
Mother's Milk.
I ROBERT WILLIAM SEATHING (of no occupation) of 694 Coventry Road
Birmingham in the County of Warwick do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention has for its object the treatment of cow's milk in a novel and special
way, whereby the milk is kept bciling for a considerable time in a close and super-
heated vessel, free from the danger of boiling over or burning, so that every particle
of the caseine is so thoroughly cooked that it presents no difficulty in its digestion to
the most delicate infant, and all germs of disease are most surely destroyed; and thus
to supply a desideratum in the nursery in the case of hand-fed infants, namely, pure
milk, which (with the addition of prescribed quantities of water) is assimilated to
human mother's milk and forms a perfect substitute for the same.
Fig. I of accompanying drawing gives a general view of the apparatus.
Fig. II gives a sectional view of the parts separated.
Fig. III gives the view of the vessel from above when closed.
The apparatus consists of four separate parts, as shown in fig. II.
1. The tripod A with spiritholder B attached.
2. The stand ST resting on the tripod, supporting the milk-holder and containing
the saucer-shaped plate of perforated iron C.
3. The tin ilk holder D, comprising an upper part widening towards the top, and
a lower part with straight sides. These parts are connected by the flange or
rim F E.
4. The lid HG which rests upon the flange or rim FE, and closes the lower part of
the milk holder; the upper part is left open. Into holes in the lid are fitted a down-
ward tube K and an upward tube L with a double elbow at the top.
At R R shoulders are attached to the upward tube upon which the triangular
bar PO rests when inserted at one end in the staple M and pressed down at the other
by the thumbscrew N, whereby the lid H G is made to fit tightly down on the flange
or rim FE.
When in use the lower part of the milk holder is filled with milk, the spirit-
holder B is filled with methylated spirit, the flame acts on the perforated iron plate C
without touching the bottom of the tin milk-holder, which is suspended, as it were, in
a hot-air chamber. When the milk reaches the boiling point it finds itself enclosed
by the lid HG, and can expand only by rising up the tube L; it takes the direction
indicated by the arrows and falls into the upper part of the holder (which becomes
half filled with froth) above the lid, where the skin and foreign substances are
deposited ; it returns down the tube K to the bottom of the milk-holder, and só is
again and again exposed to the action of the heat in constant circulation.
The spirit holder is made to contain such a quantity of spirit that it burns for
about 40 minutes. The milk reaches the boiling point in 20 minutes and is kept
boiling for 20 minutes more, at the end of which time the lamp burns itself out.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is―
1. A vessel for boiling milk with a lid closed by screw pressure, in which are set an
upward and a downward tube, whereby the tendency of milk (boiled in the said vessel)
to expand and boil over (as in ordinary vessels) is utilized to effect the circulation of
the whole contents of the boiler, and its subjection over and over again to the action
of the heat, so that no particle escapes it, and the realization of the object of the
apparatus.
2. A perforated iron plate placed between the flame and the bottom of the tin milk-
bolder or boiler, which ensures that the milk is not burnt.
Dated this Tenth day of September 1889.
ROBERT WILLIAM SEATHING.