IMPROVEMENTS IN BOXES FOR KEEPING AND MEASURING COFFEE, TEA, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES REQUIRING TO BE PRESERVED FROM CONTACT OF THE AIR
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edme Edouard D'Heurle, of Paris, (France,) Manu-
facturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BOXES FOR KEEPING AND
MEASURING COFFEE, TEA, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES REQUIRING TO BE PRESERVED
FROM CONTACT OF THE AIR."
Sealed the 24th December 1858, and dated the 26th June 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edme Edouard D'Heurle
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th June 1858.
I, EDME EDOUARD D'HEURLE, of Paris, (France,) Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BOXES FOR
KEEPING AND MEASURING COFFEE, TEA, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES REQUIRING TO BE
PRESERVED FROM CONTACT OF THE AIR," to be as follows:-
The Invention relates to caddies or boxes for keeping coffee, tea, or other
substances that require to be preserved from contact with the air, in order to
prevent the loss or destruction of aroma, or their getting bad qualities thereby ;
at the same time my improved boxes offer the means of measuring out their
contents.
The Invention consists in providing the ordinary tin or other boxes with a
sort of cover or top piece consisting of an upper or measuring vessel to be closed

page_text: by a moveable lid, which vessel is connected to the box by means of an inter-
mediate chest forming case for a sort of cock, plug, or other suitable arrange-
ment, by means of which the box may be either closed hermetically, or by
turning the said cock or plug in proper position, establish a communication
between the interior of the box and the measuring vessel, so as to allow any
required quantity of the substances contained in the box to fall into this
measuring vessel whenever the lid of this latter having been previously closed,
the box is held upside down, and the cock or plug turned in the required
position. The measuring vessel may be provided with proper moveable division
plates for allowing the measuring of any required quantity of the substances
contained in the box.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edme Edouard D'Heurle in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th December 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDME
EDOUARD D'HEURLE, of Paris, France, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edme Edouard D'Heurle, Her special licence that I, the said Edme
Edouard D'Heurle, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edme Edouard D'Heurle, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BOXES FOR KEEPING AND MEASURING COFfee,
TEA, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES REQUIRING TO BE PRESERVED FROM CONTACT OF THE
AIR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edme Edouard
D'Heurle, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edme Edouard D'Heurle, 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:-
These improvements relate to caddies or other boxes or vessels for keeping
or storing coffee, tea, or other substances, whether solids or liquids, which, by
coming repeatedly in contact with the air, lose their aroma, or are liable to
evaporate or deteriorate.
They consist in providing tin or other boxes or vessels in which such sub-
stances are kept or stored, with a top piece forming measuring chamber, and con-
nected to the box by means of a register, or cock, plug, or other suitable arrange-
ment for allowing of either closing the box, or give the communication between
the same and the measuring chamber, by turning the box or vessel upside
down, so as to allow any required quantity of the substance contained in the
box or vessel to fall into this measuring chamber, this latter having been pre-
viously closed by the moveable lid with which the same is provided; after
which the box or vessel is again closed by the register, plug, or cock, so as to
allow the withdrawal of the substances contained in the measuring chamber.
I will now describe various arrangements I make use of for putting the
Invention into practical effect. I will hereby refer to the annexed Drawing,
in which corresponding parts are indicated by the same letters of reference.
Fig. 1 represents a front elevation, and Fig. 2 a vertical sectional view of
the apparatus I prefer making use of for preserving coffee, tea, and other dry
substances. A is the box, and B the measuring chamber connected thereto
by a cylindrical part C, in which turns a sort of cock D, shown separately in
Fig. 3; a screw e fixed in the part C, and having its stem inserted in a slit d
formed in the cock D, regulates the distance to which this cock may turn
round; the cock D itself is formed of a hollow cylinder open at d', and
closed at ², and provided with two holes opposite to each other, and with
a handle d'. The cylindrical part C of the box is closed at c and open at c¹
for the introduction of the cock; and the said part communicates by openings
c² and with the lower part A of the box and with the measuring chamber B,
so that when the cock is placed in such situation as to make the openings d³
correspond with those c and 3, the substances contained in A will fall into
B (this latter having been shut previously by means of the lid 6 provided with
a handle ) when the entire apparatus is turned upside down, and if now the
cock is turned round one quarter of a revolution so as to make the openings d³
no longer correspond with those and c, the substances contained in B will
be prevented from falling down in A, when the apparatus is again returned to

page_text: its original position; any further communication between A and B being inter-
cepted by the cock D. The chamber B is made to contain exactly a certain
measure, say, for instance, pound or pint, or divided in smaller measures
by inserting therein at the required height moveable division plates 6 of the
required diametre, placed on suitable rests 6, the handle 6 of which plate abuts
against the lid b. Such plates may be inserted at different heights, as shown
in sectional elevation view in Fig. 4; or the chamber itself may be formed of
several tubes ff, fs, as shown in sectional elevation view in Fig. 5, gliding
over each other in the same manner as the tubes of a telescope, thus allowing
of enlarging or diminishing the contents of the chamber. For large boxes or
vessels, the same may be provided with two trunnions turning in suitable
bearings, for allowing easily to turn the entire apparatus upside down when
required.
If the apparatus is to serve for containing and measuring liquids the lid b¹
of the measuring vessel is to be replaced by a proper cock; and the cock D
is to be constructed in such manner as to shut hermetically when required.
A modification of the apparatus is shown in elevation and longitudinal and
sectional view in Figs. 6 and 7; Fig. 8 is a plan view of the same; and
Fig. 9 a view from underneath the upper part of the apparatus; whereas the
Figs. 10 and 11 indicate respectively a sectional and plan view of the slide,
which in this modification replaces the cock of the original apparatus. The
same consists of the box A and the measuring chamber B, connected by an
intermediate cylindrical part C; a slide F fixed by means of a tightening screw
G to a short axis H, turning in the cover of the cylindrical part C and worked
by a handle I, is allowed either to shut or to open the communication existing
between the box A and the measuring chamber B; this slide consequently
replaces the cock D of the original apparatus; and the motion of the same is
regulated by means of two stops K, K; in Fig. 9, the slide F is shown in the
position in which the communication is open between the box A and the
chamber B, whereas the dotted lines represent this slide in the position in
which it shuts this communication.
The mode of working this apparatus is similar to that of the original appa-
ratus here above described.
Fig. 12 is an elevation, Fig. 13 a sectional elevation, and Fig. 14 a top
view of another modification, in which a cock L, worked by a handle M, and
turning in the part N, connecting the box A and measuring chamber B, serves
for opening or shutting the communication between this box and the said
chamber. The arrangement of this apparatus, which is worked in the same
manner as the original, will be easily understood from the Drawings.

page_text: Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that I do
not confine or restrict myself to the metal or materials of which the apparatus
may be constructed, or to the precise details or arrangements described, as
many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from the main
features of the said Invention; but what I claim as my Invention is, providing
caddies, or boxes, or vessels for storing or keeping substances (whether solids
or liquids) liable to deterioration by repeated contact with the air, with a top
piece forming measuring chamber, the communication between which chamber
and the substances in the box may be opened or shut at pleasure by any
suitable means.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edme Edouard D'Heurle, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
J. SOUTH.
ED. D'HEURLE. (L.S.)