CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MAKING EXTRACTS FROM COFFEE AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1833

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
PARKER, of Argyle Street, Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Bronzist, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by. His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eleventh day of January, in the third year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Samuel Parker, His especial licence, that I, the said Samuel Parker, my
exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel Parker, my
exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MAKING EXTRACTS FROM COFFEE AND OTHER
SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Samuel Parker, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six.
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part..
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,.
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Samuel Parker, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to
consist,―
First, in certain improvements on Rabant's Improved Apparatus for the
Preparation of Coffee or Tea; and,
Secondly, in an improved spirit lamp to be used with the same.
And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Samuel Parker,
do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed
by the following descriptions:-
First, of the apparatus in its improved state; and,
Secondly, of the improved spirit lamp to be used therewith.
For which purpose reference must be had to the Drawings annexed, and to
the figures and letters marked thereon (that is to say):-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
It will be observed, by reference to Figure 1, which is a vertical section of
the apparatus with my said improvements as applied to making coffee, that I
cause the whole operation, except the application of the heat, to take place
within a vessel of the shape of an ordinary coffee pot instead of making the
extract in one vessel, and causing it to flow thence into the coffee pot or some
other receptacle, as is the case in Rabant's apparatus. A, A, is the boiler, the
top of which forms the bottom of the coffee pot; B, B, the coffee box to con-
tain the ground coffee, having a tube C, C, connected with it, open at both
ends and covered at its top at by a perforated metal plate to prevent the
ground coffee from falling through it. D, D, the cover of the coffee box with
a perforated metal plate E, within which I place a piece of woollen cloth to
form a strainer. This cover has three descending parts D, D, with pins L, L,
projecting inwards. When the cover is put on the box, these pins pass the
intervals between the three inclined wires G, G, which encircle the box, and
descend below them, and by being turned partially round, catch below the
wires, and act something like a wedge-like bayonet joint, by which means I
firmly fix the cover to the box. H, H, the screwed tube made of brass
tinned or other hard metal. I, I, the conical covering to 'plate K, K, and
tube H, H. K, K, the division plate; L, L, the three wires or catches on
the descending parts of the box projecting inwards, X, X, the reservoir or
inside of the coffee pot; Z, the lid. The action takes place thus:-The
boiler is filled with water, the coffee box with ground coffee, and its cover is
fixed with the woollen strainer laid smoothly within, the coffee box and the
boiler are united by the screws at Y, and the lid Z is put on. The whole is

page_text: then put over a fire or spirit or oil lamp. As soon as the water boils, the
steam, by its expansive power, forces the water up the tubes C, C, through
the ground coffee in the coffee box B, B, then through the woollen and metal
strainers, and falls into the reservoir X, X, ready for use, having extracted,
during its passage through the coffee, all its valuable properties. The manner
of the action of this process is so well known as not to need comment. But
I would here point out a fact that has not hitherto been acted upon in any
machine for extracting the properties from vegetable substances, viz', I shall
'speak of coffee as the substance I have chiefly acted on, and as exemplifying
the fact in a marked manner. That coffee exposed to the active passage of boil-
ing water first parts with its rich, nutritive, and aromatic properties; that if
then the operation is continued, it gives forth its injurious bitter principle, which
only ceases by becoming less and less náuseous according to the quantity of the
water that is permitted to pass it. Some other substances may have different
natures; but all I have subjected to the action of my apparatus, such as hops,
tea, cammomile flowers, and others, give forth their various qualities at certain
and fixed stages, the most valuable as to flavour first, and the less valuable
or less objectionable at a later stage, consequently the action of boiling water
upon any substance being once ascertained, I have but to regulate the propor-
tions of the parts of my apparatus as experiment justifies, and the results are
certain and uniformly the same, for it is evident that, as soon as the water
becomes level with the bottom end of the tube C, C, that then the water ceases
to ascend, and the steam escaping up the tube C, C, and thence into the body
of the coffee pot, issues out of the spout, and thus gives timely notice of the
opération being compleated, and indicates that the apparatus may be taken off
the fire, &c.; and by this contrivance therefore, though very simple, I render the
action of my machine certain, and independent of carelessness or inattention,
and I can with exactness extract the better properties without the inferior ones
of the substance from which the extract is to be made. I should here state, by
way of guide for the proportions for a coffee pot, that if the box contains one
ounce of coffee, the boiler should contain two ounces of water between its top
and the bottom of the tube C.
Figure 2 is a separate view of the coffee box and tube C, showing the
manner in which the cover is fastened on; and Fig. 3 is that the external
appearance of my improved apparatus when the lamp is removed.
Figure 4 is a vertical section of the spirit lamp. A is the body of the
lamp containing the spirit; B is either a solid or perforated metal tube having
a circular wick stretched over it; C is an outer ring or tube which may be
raised by the arin.D to any height up the wick, and thus regulates the height

page_text: of the flame. I let the arm D slide on an inclined plane E with notches,
which keeps it any required height; and it will be observed that this arrange
ment of circular wick requires no draft through it from below.
Figure 5 shews the manner of making any steam-joint screw steam-tight,
and is as follows:-At the top of the tube C, C, a little below the top sur-
face, a female screw is cut within the tube, and the top of the tube projecting
above the screwed part is turned to the surface of a large circle, as shewn at
T, T, in this Figure. This tube is made of brass tinned, or iron tinned, or
some other hard metal. The male screw attached to the coffee box is made
of tin and copper or other soft alloy of metals, having a projecting collar to
receive the end of the tube with the female screw, so that when the female
screw, with its harder edge, is forcibly screwed upon the collar of the male
screw, it arranges the metal upon the collar until it is embedded within its
surface, and thus an effective steam-tight joint is made. It will be evident
that, as one of my improvements consists in using the top of the boiler as the
bottom of the coffee pot, the heat arising from my boiler, through the plate
K, K, and the tube H, H, was so great that it boiled the extract which
passed over the reservoir X, X. Thus the operation was stopped, and the
extract deteriorated by the evaporation of the aroma. I therefore introduce
the water-tight cone I, I, which, in addition to the effecting this object,
strengthens and keeps perpendicular the tube H, H..
Now whereas I claim as my Invention the following improvements, that is
to say.
First, the combination of the boiler, coffee box and coffee pot in one vessel,
as here shown, and doing away with the downward pressure on the coffee, as
described by Rabant, whereby I am also enabled to dispense with the steam-
cock or safety valve used by him.
Secondly, in my mode of making my steam screw joint tight, by making
one part of soft and the other of hard metal, as herein-before described, and as
applied to this apparatus.
Thirdly, the conical air chamber I, I; and,
Lastly, the spirit lamp herein-before described.
And such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used within that part of His said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His said
Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare
this to be my Specification of the same; and that I do verily believe this my
said Specification doth comply in all respects fully, and without reserve or
disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters