IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BREAD, BISCUITS, AND CAKES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Alsop and Edward Fairburn, of Kirklers Mill,
Mirfield, Yorkshire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BREAD, BISCUITS, AND CAKES.”
Sealed the 23rd December 1857, and dated the 30th June 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Alsop and Edward
Fairburn at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 30th June 1857.
We, JOSEPH ALSOP and EDWARD FAIRBURN, of Kirklers Mill, Mirfield,
Yorkshire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BREAD, BISCUITS, AND CAKES," to
be as follows:-
Our Invention consists of modifications and improvements of an Invention
for which Letters Patent were granted to us Seventh September, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, for improvements in baking bread,
That Invention consisted of baking bread on two metallic cylinders heated
internally, whence it passed on an endless band-of cloth to knives or cutters,
which divided it into suitable sizes.
Our present Invention consists of using, in conjunction with metallic cylin-
ders heated internally, friction rollers, both for supporting the bread and for
conducting it to the cutters, instead of the endless band of cloth.

page_text: Secondly, of using two grooved rollers for cutting the bread, instead of
knives.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Alsop and Edward Fairburn in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 30th December 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
ALSOP and EDWARD FAIRBURN, of Kirklers Mill, Mirfield, Yorkshire, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Joseph Alsop and Edward Fairburn, Her special licence that
we, the said Joseph Alsop and Edward Fairburn, our exccutors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as wc, the said Joseph Alsop and
Edward Fairburn, our exccutors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BREAD, BISCUITS, AND CAKES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Joseph Alsop and Edward
Fairburn, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 we, the said Joseph Alsop and Edward Fairburn,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
The machinery or apparatus we use for the manufacture of bread, biscuit,
or cakes, consists of a pair of cylinders heated by gas or fire; the thin dough

page_text: or batter is allowed to fall upon one of the cylinders, the heat of which bakes
it upon one side; it passes from thence to the other cylinder, by which the.
baking is completed. The cylinders are made of cast iron, and are open at
the ends; a circular groove is cast on the exterior of one end of each cylinder,
and upon the other is fitted a rack, which surrounds the periphery of the
cylinder. The cylinders are placed in a horizontal position one above the
other, and the rack work at the ends is made to. gear with a pair of spur
wheels, which also gear with each other. On the axle of one of these wheels
is fixed a handle or pully, to which motion is communicated from a steam
engine or by manual labour. In order that the cylinder may be adjusted to a
certain distance apart, according to the required thickness of the bread, one
of them rests in a sliding frame, by which means the cylinders may be brought
nearer to or farther apart from each other. We propose to treat the cylinders
either by the combustion of coal or coke, or by jets of gas impinging upon
the internal surface of the cylinders. In the first-mentioned mode of heating,
a central rod or shaft, which is secured to the framing, passes through the
axis of each cylinder. To this rod or shaft is fixed a grate, extending nearly
the length of the cylinder, sufficient space being left below the grate for the
due supply of air. The ashes of the fuel are caught in a circular or other
shaped ash-pan suspended from the grate, and nearly filling the lower part of
the cylinder, but leaving sufficient room for the cylinder to travel round tho
grate and ash-pan. The feeding end of each cylinder is closed by a circular
door or disc, which is made to slide on the central fixed rod or shaft referred
to. The smoke and gaseous products of combustion are carried off from cach
cylinder by a metal pipe, one end of which is made with a flange to fit the
inside of the opposite end of the cylinder; the other end of the pipe is carried
into a stone or brick flue leading to a chimney shaft. If gas be used for
heating the cylinders, it may be conveyed into the interior through the central
rod or shaft (which in this case must be hollow) from the main tube. A
branch pipe is to be carried round the inside of the cylinder, either in a spiral
or longitudinal direction. The products of combustion may be carried off by
a pipe fitted to the other end, similar to that described in the foregoing
arrangement for heating by coal or coke. The surfaces of the cylinders are
kept clean and free from particles of dough adhering to them by the
following means:-A bevil-edge bar of steel is fitted so as to bo in contact
with the surface of the upper cylinder. This steel bar or "cleaner" is
attached to an eccentric, so as to give it a sliding motion over the face of the
cylinder when the apparatus is in motion. The feeding trough from which
the thin dough or batter is supplied to the cylinders, is fixed nearly in contact

page_text: with the upper cylinder; ono end is supported on an axis attached to the
framing, the other by a chain passing over a pulley, so as to adjust the trough
to any required inclination. The trough is fitted with a valve, divided by
stops in such manner that bread of any desired breadth may be made accord-
ing to the width of the stream of dough or batter allowed to flow from the
trough. The dough or batter is supplied to the trough from a mixing tub,
which is connected with the trough by a pipe, to which is fitted a valve to
regulate the supply.
Instead of the metallic web which was described in our Specification of
Patent, dated Seventh December, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three,
at this stage of the manufacture we use the following improved arrange-
ment:-
Firstly, we place four iron rollers on the opposite side of the top cylinder to
that where the batter is poured in, and these rollers also bear up the bread
whilst baking. These friction rollers have a flange by which they are propelled
by the pressure; they are pressed to the cylinder by springs.
Secondly, we place under the bottom cylinder a number of friction rollers
in like manner working by the same process, and bearing the bread forward
to two iron rollers, which are placed for the purpose of cutting the bread into
a given size. These cutting rollers we prefer and use instead of the knives
described in our former Patent. The cutting rollers are placed one above
another horizontally, the top roller having knives placed upon it, which cut
the bread on the face of the others, whilst the bread is passing between them.
Thirdly, after the bread is cut into pieces it then falls on to an endless web
of wire gause or creeper, by which it is carried through the drying stove.
This stove is sixty feet long, thirty-threo inches wide, by eighteen inches deep,
and made of cast-iron plates with a flue underneath, by which it is heated,
and after travelling about a yard, there is another endless webb of wire gause
or creeper placed above the other creeper, so as to allow the bread to travel
between the two to the other end of the stove. The object of the top web
of wire gauze or creeper is to prevent the bread from "curling" in the drying
process. These creepers are made of woven wire and fastened to rods of fint
iron, placed across the web twelve inches apart to keep the web straight. The
ends of these rods slide along a ledge inside the stove, which ledge is formed
on the cast-iron plates, and its object is to keep the creepers horizontal. On
the ends of these rods is fastened a flat chain, by which motion is given to the
creepers by an endless chain passing round rollers, which are placed at each
end of the drying frame. These rollers are driven by a horizontal shaft
outside the frame, and which runs parallel from one end to the other. This

page_text: shaft is placed between the top and bottom creepers rollers, and motion is
communicated to both rollers by a worm upon this shaft, which shaft may be
connected with the actuating power by suitable gearing or straps, whichever
means may be preferred.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not con-
fine ourselves to the precise mechanical arrangements herein described, so long
as the general features of our Invention are adhered to, nor do we confine
our Invention to the manufacture of any particular description of bread,
biscuit, or cake; but what we claim is,-
Firstly, the application of friction rollers to the two metallic baking cylin-
ders, which rollers support the bread and carry it forward after it is baked to
the cutting rollers.
Secondly, the use of circular cutting rollers for the purpose of cutting the
bread into proper sizes after it has been passed from the baking cylinders.
Thirdly, the application of a drying stove, which contains two endless webs
of wire gauze or other material called creepers, which being set in motion, the
bread is carried between these two creepers or webs to the other end of the
drying stove, where it may then be taken out. The manner in which these
webs or creepers are worked has been previously described, though we do not
wish to confine ouselves to that particular way of propelling them.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Fairburn, for myself and tho
said Joseph Alsop, have hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-
fourth day of December, A. D. 1857.
EDW FAIRBURN. (L.S.)