AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR PRESERVING THE FLAVOUR OF COFFEE AND COCOA, OR OF ANY PREPARATIONS THEREOF, FROM THE EFFECTS OF THE ATMOSPHERE
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PIDDING, of Wigmore Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, sond
grecting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Fifth day of May, in the ninth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Pidding, Her especial licence, that I, the said William Pidding, my exors,
adiñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Pidding, my exors,
adiñiors, 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, and also in the Islands of Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her Majesty's Colonics and
Plantations abroad, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR PRESERVING
THE FLAVOUR OF COFFEE AND COCOA, OR OF ANY PREPARATIONS THEREOF, FROM THE
EFFECTS OF THE ATMOSPHERE;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said William Pidding, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and
to cause the same to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chan-
cery 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, tho said
William Pidding, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to
consist in pressing the coffee or cocoa to be preserved into air-tight covers or
envelopes, made of gelatine or other suitable matter or fabrics covered or
cemented with gelatine or pieces of glass, or other solid material cemented
with gelatine, in such manner that when the coffee or cocon, with the cover
or envelope undisturbed, is dropped into boiling water, the packet will open
and let out the coffee or cocoa for the purposes of decoction, while the
gelatine, dissolving to let the packet open, will serve at the same time to fino
the liquid; and in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Pidding, do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention
is to be performed, by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Now it is well known that the aroma of coffee or cocoa, after they have
undergone the process of roasting and grinding, is exceedingly volatile, and
that, by exposure of those articles in that state to the atmosphero, the greater
portion of the aroma is quickly dissipated, and the articles are thus rendered
comparatively insipid, and consequently of much less value. By the present
Invention 'the substances in question may bo preserved for a long time in a
state fit for immediato use, and as highly flavoured as when fresh from the
mill.
One mode of conducting my said improved process is as follows:-I tako
sheets of what is called French gelatine, which may be bought at wholesale
grocers and others, or of other gelatine; I keep a quantity of these sheets of
gelatine (cut to the different sizes required for different quantities of the
article to be preserved) in a damp cellar, that when used they may be ensily
doubled without cracking. If for an ounce of the article to be preserved I
take a sheet of the size shown at Figuro 1, and make it up on the wooden
block, Figure 2, into a small square case, as shewn at Figuro 3, cementing
the laps over by a little moisture applied to the seam. And, in order to give
a better idea of how the envelope is doubled to make this case, I have shewn
at Figuro 4 a sheet croased in the way it would be if opened out again after
baving been doubled to form the caso. The case thus made (the seams being
sufficiently dry) is then placed into a square copper cup, Figure 5, mado exactly
the size to receive the case, and this cup, with the case, is then dropped into what
I call the matrix plate, which is made of gum-metal and has a square hollow
cut in it exactly to receivo the cup, as shown at Figure 6. The coffee or
other material to be preserved is then to be filled into the case as high as
shown by the dotted line A, B; the matrix plate is then to be placed between

page_text: guides under the rammer S, shown at Figure 7, and the coffee carefully and
steadily rammed or pressed down into the case exactly to a level with the
upper surface of the matrix plate, beyond which the rammer ought not to be
able to descend. The rammer being withdrawn, and the matrix plate removed
from under it, the square cup is taken out of the matrix plate, and that part
of the case which stands above it folded down neatly and tightly over the
coffee or other material in the case, and the scams cemented in the same
manner as was done to form the bottom of the case upon the block, and when
this is dry and removed from the cup, the packet will appear realy for salq
and use, as shown at Figure 8. The bottom of the rammer S should bo
hollowed out a little, as shown in section at Figuro 9.
Now I consider the foregoing by far the neatest if not the cheapest mode of
effecting my purpose; for it is evident that there is nothing but coffee. and
gelatine, or cocoa and gelatine, as the case may be, in these packets; and if
one of them filled with coffee be dropped into an ordinary coffee pot, and a
little boiling water poured upon it and set on the fire, in a few minutes the
gelatine will dissolve. The water will penetrate to and swell out the coffice
till it bursts from its envelope in all directions; and while the process of boiling
the coffee is proceeding, the gelatine will fino it, and when ready for use tho
liquor will pour off as clear as amber.
Another mode of conducting my said improved process is, by. making the
envelope or case of glass, which I effect as follows:-I place four square
pieces of thin window glass, the exact size of the packet required, round the
sides of the square wooden block, Figure 2, and having tied them in. their
places with a piece of string, I with a camel's-hair pencil draw liquid gelatino
into the hollow of the scams made by the edges of the glass, and let it dry
coat after coat till I have made the sides of a firm glass case; I then cement
the bottom on with gelatine, and when dry remove the case from the block.
This case I drop into a deep square copper cup, which rises as much above
the matrix plate as the case is shown to rise above it in Figure 6, and fill in
the coffee or material to be preserved; I then apply the rammer, as before,.
and, removing the glass case from the cup, cement on the glass top of the
case in the same way as the bottom was done with gelatine. If one of theso.
glass cases thus filled with coffeo be treated as before described with reference.
to the gelatine case, a similar result will be produced to a certain extent; that.
is to say, the gelatine cement will soon dissolve, and the swelling coffee will
burst the case asunder, but the pieces of glass of which the case was made
will, of course, remain in the coffee pot, and should not be thrown away;

page_text: whereas the residuum from the other process may, of course, be thrown away
and forgotten.
Now it is evident that these two before-described processes are capable of
various modifications, as for instance, various thin fabrics rendered 'impervious
to the air by being dipped into or conted with gelatine, might be used instead
of pure gelatine, only so long as the fabrics used were not of a nature to
give any foreign flavor to the coffee or cocoa, and bono or ivory might be
substituted (and perhaps some other materials) for the glass which I have
described, and which, if such other materials gave no foreign flavour to the
coffee or cocoa, might be as cheap or cheaper and answer as well or even
better; but I do not propose to limit myself to such envelopes or cases only as
will admit of being thrown into the water which is to make the decoction,
but mean to reserve to myself also the right of preserving coffee. rind cocoa
from losing its aroma or flavor by enveloping it as soon as ground in air-tight
fabrics, capable of being folded, such as skin, bladder, parchment, vellum,
paper, and cloth, whether such fabrics are rendered air-tight and cemented
with gelatine, as herein-before described, or with any other cement which
would give a foreign flavor to the coffco or cocoa if boiled in the water
used for the decoction, and in which cases the packet is merely to be
opened and the coffee or cocoa' put into the pot for decoction; for I claim as
my Invention,―
First, the preserving of coffee and cocoa, when fresh roasted and ground,
from losing its aroma by enveloping it in gelatine cases, into which it has
been pressed, as herein-before described, to be used by dropping the coffeo
or cocoa, case and all, into the boiling water which is to make the decoction
for usc.
.
Secondly, the preserving of such coffee or cocoa as aforesaid by pressing it
into glass cases, made as aforesaid, to be used as last described.
Thirdly, tho preserving of such coffee or cocoa as aforesaid by enveloping
it in and pressing it into cases made of any fabric such as skin, bladder,
parchment, vellum, paper, or cloth, capable of being folded, or of pieces
of bone, ivory, wood, or other hard substance, and rendered air-tight by
coating or cementing with gelatine, as herein-before described, and to be used
as last directed, provided therefore that none such fabrics or substances
are of a nature to give any foreign flavor to the said coffee or cocon when
so used.
.
And, lastly, tho preserving of such colleo and cocoa, as aforesaid, by
enveloping it in and prossing it into cases inade of such fabrics or materials,

page_text: as aforesaid, rendered air-tight by being coated or cemented with gelatino
or with any other such suitable cement, whether such fabrics or materials, or
the cement used to cover or coat or cement the same, would give a foreign
flavor to the coffee or cocoa or not if dropped into the boiling water which
is to form the decoction for use, in the former of which cases the packet is to
be opened and the coffee or cocoa only put into the water, the preserving
of the aroma being in this case the only object attained and not the fining
of the coffee or cocon at the same time.
And such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion
of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in the Islands of
Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, 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 Patent contained; wherefore, I do hereby
claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Pidding, havo hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
WILLIAM (L.B.) PIDDING.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirty-first day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1846, the aforesaid William Pidding came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Third day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six.