IMPROVEMENTS IN COOKING
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Scott, of Barnhill Workhouse, Glasgow, in
the County of Lanark, North Britain, Mechanic, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COOKING."
Sealed the 5th December 1856, and dated the 18th August 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Scott at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th August 1856.
I, THOMAS SCOTT, of Barnhill Workhouse, Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Mechanic, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COOKING," to be as follows, that is to say:
This Invention relates to a system or mode of cooking by the agency of
steam, whereby efficiency, cleanliness, and economy are obtained in an eminent
manner.
This improved system is applicable both to boiling and baking; and in
carrying it into effect for boiling purposes, the vessel used, as a cylindrical pan
or vessel for example, of metal or other suitable material, is formed with a.
double casing or jacket, in such a manner that there is a thin enclosed space
round the vessel and enveloping it more or less. This steam jacket or space
is fitted with a mouth-piece at the bottom, or in any other convenient position,
and this mouth-piece fits upon the end of a steam pipe,. furnished. with a suit-
able stop-cock, and communicating with any suitable steam generator.

page_text: When the vessel is filled with the matters to be boiled, it is placed upon
a suitable stand in such a manner that the steam pipe is in communication
with the stean jacket, and the steam is then admitted into the vessel, when
it causes the contents to be cooked in a rapid and efficient manner.
The steam pipe may be formed with a conical end piece, fitting into a conical
seating in the steam jacket, or any other arrangement for obtaining a tight
joint may be adopted. According to this modification, the cooking vessel can
be removed from the steam pipe at any time, but the connection with the
steam pipe may be permanent if desired, either flexible or inflexible piping
being used for the steam communication.
In carrying out this system for baking purposes, any convenient form or
arrangement of chamber is constructed to act as an oven, and this chamber is
formed with a steam jacket or space for steam, either entirely or partially
enveloping it. Arrangements-are-made for introducing steam into this jacket
as in the case of the boiling apparatus, such arrangements being either of a
permanent character, or such as will allow of the disconnection and removal of
the oven from the steam pipe.
The articles to be baked being placed in this oven or chamber, the steam is
admitted into the jacket, and the heat, radiating thence into the interior of the
oven or chamber, acts upon and bakes the articles placed therein.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Scott in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th February 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS.
Scorr, of Barnhill Workhouse, Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her. Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Scott, Her special license that I, the said Thomas Scott, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Scott, my executors, administrators, or 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

page_text: vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COOKING," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Scott, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Scott, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:―
My said Invention relates to a system or mode of cooking by the agency of
steam, whereby efficiency, cleanliness, and economy are obtained in an eminent
manner.
This improved system is applicable both to boiling and baking; and in
carrying it into effect for boiling purposes, the vessel used, as a cylindrical pan
or vessel for example, of metal or other suitable material, is formed with a
double casing or jacket, in such a manner that there is a thin enclosed space
round the vessel and enveloping it more or less. This steam jacket or space
is fitted with a mouth-piece at the bottom, or in any other convenient position,
and this mouth-piece fits upon the end of a steam pipe, furnished with a suit-
able stop-cock, and communicating with any suitable steam generator. When
the vessel is filled with the matters to be boiled, it is placed upon a suitable
stand in such a manner that the steam pipe is in communication with the
steam jacket, and the steam is then admitted into the vessel, when it causes
the contents to be cooked in a rapid and efficient manner. The steam pipe
may be formed with a conical end piece, fitting into a conical seating in the
steam jacket, or any other arrangement for obtaining a tight joint may be
adopted. According to this modification, the cooking vessel can be removed
from the steam pipe at any time, but the connection with the steam pipe may
be permanent if desired, either flexible or inflexible piping being used for the
steam communication.
In carrying out this system for baking purposes, any convenient form or
arrangement of chamber is constructed to act as an oven, and this chamber is
formed with a steam jacket or space for steam, either entirely or partially
enveloping it. Arrangements are made for introducing steam into this jacket.
as in the case of the boiling apparatus, such arrangements being either of a

page_text: permanent character, or such as will allow of the disconnection and removal of
the oven from the steam pipe. The articles to be baked being placed in this
oven or chamber, the steam is admitted into the jacket, and the heat, radiating
thence into the interior of the oven or chamber, acts upon and bakes: the
articles placed therein.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the several illustrative Figures on the explanatory
Sheet of Drawings, which I have hereunto appended for the purpose of
showing how my improvements may be judiciously carried into practical effect.
Figure 1 on my Sheet of Drawings is a complete front elevation of one
modification of my apparatus as fitted up with four cooking vessels; Figure 2
is a transverse vertical-section-of-the-apparatus,-corresponding. Figure 3 is a
plan, also corresponding to Figure 1; and Figure 4 is a plan, with the separate
vessels removed, and with parts broken away, to show the internal arrange-
ments of the apparatus. These forms of the apparatus exhibit the improve-
ments as adapted for boiling, stewing, and otherwise cooking or preparing food
for use in vessels or utensils capable of holding liquid matters, as well as for
roasting, baking, and otherwise cooking or preparing food for use in the in-
terior of the main steam-jacketed chamber, forming the stand for the separate
and detached vessels. The main chamber A is a rectangular structure of cast
iron, supported on suitable supporting feet, and fitted with a loose top plate B,
made tight at its junction with the vessel all round. An internal flange C is
also cast all round the vessel near its top to carry the internal horizontal
loose plate or diaphragm D. It is between the top plate B and the internal
diaphragm D that the base portions of the separate cooking vessels E, F, G, H,
are inserted. These separate vessels may obviously be of various forms, but
in the present instance they consist of three boiling or steaming pans E, F, G,
and a kettle H. All these vessels are formed with encircling: steam jackets.
These jackets, as shown in the section at J, cover the bottom and all the sides,
and the centre of the bottom of each has a small conical hole in it for inser-
tion upon the correspondingly conical end of the steam inlet pipe J. The top
plate B has four holes formed in it for the reception of the vessels, which are
made to fit accurately to the holes, so as to prevent waste of heat. Thus, when
the vessels are inserted in their places, the holes in the bottom of each fit with
certainty upon the conical ends of their respective steam pipes, and the conical
surfaces insure steam-tight fitting on the pipe ends. The heating steam from
the boiler is supplied by the horizontal branch pipe K, passing into the side of
the main chamber A, and communicating with the central vertical pipe L.
This pipe has in connection with it a set of six upper branches M, M', radi-

page_text: ating outwards, four of these having turned-up ends passing through the
internal diaphragm D to the inlet coned ends J¹, for the supply of the separate
vessels. There are also two other branches N; admitting steam to the upper
sides of the internal steam-jacketed cells, ovens, or baking chambers.O. These
internal chambers O are supported upon a bottom cross piece P, resting upon
the main diaphragm bottom Q of the main chamber A. In this way steam is
supplied to the whole of the separate cooking departments. The supply of
steam to the vessels E, F, G, H, is regulated by the stop-cocks R, each of which
has a square head projecting up through a small hole in the diaphragm D, so
as to be easily reached by a box-ended key S, which can be applied to the stop-
cocks in succession, as may be required. The steam supply for the internal
chambers O is also similarly adjustable by stop-cocks R'. Thus, in using this
apparatus, as far as the detached vessels are concerned, all that is necessary is,
to enter the vessel into its corresponding aperture in the top plate B of the
main chamber, when a steam-tight junction with the supply pipe being at
once formed, the steam is turned on at the particular branch for that vessel.
When the cooking operation is to be suspended the steam is turned off, and
the vessel can then be removed. Access to the internal baking and roasting
chambers is afforded by the oven doors U, as shown in the front elevation,
Figure I. The water of condensation is conveyed away from each of the
separate vessels E, F, G, H, by a small hole in the bottom of the outer shell,
as at V. As the water forms in the steam jackets of the vessels it drips through
these holes, and falling upon the upper surface of the plate D, it is carried off
by the small funnel receiver W, leading to the water discharge pipe X; similarly
the water forming in the jackets of the baking chambers is carried off by the
short branch pipes Y leading to the same exit pipe X. With cooking appa-
ratus of this kind the operating heat can always be regulated and adjusted with
the greatest nicety, whilst the heat is always uniform in its action upon all
parts of the food submitted to it. The apparatus being portable, can be used
in any situations where steam is available, and its junction with the steam pipe
can always be formed with very great facility.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without de-
viating from the principles or main features of my Invention; but what
I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,—-

page_text: First, the general arrangement and construction of apparatus to be used for
cooking, as herein-before described.
Second, the system or mode of arranging and constructing cooking appa-
ratus, wherein detachable steam-jacketed or steam-cased vessels are employed,
as herein-before described.
Third, the application and use of steam-heated cooking vessels, attachable
to and detachable from their steam pipes by conical or self-fitting junction
seats.
Fourth, the application and use in cooking apparatus of steam-cased or
jacketed oven chambers for baking, roasting, and otherwise preparing food, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Scott, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven.
THOMAS SCOTT. (L.S.)