IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED WHEN COOKING
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ebenezer Stevens, of No. 4, Warwick Villas, Canon-
bury, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS USED WHEN COOKING."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ebenezer Stevens at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8rd
December 1863.
I, EBENEZER STEVENS, of No. 4, Warwick Villas, Canonbury, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED WHEN COOKING," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus used when
cooking. For these purposes, when using apparatus for roasting or baking in
front of a fire, a hollow screen of tin plate or suitable metal or lined there-
with is used, which like a meat screen or hastener is open in front towards the
fire, and has a door at back. Within this hollow screen there is suspended a
frame arranged to receive moveable shelves or trays which, it is preferred,
should be of a circular form. The frame is suspended from an external jack,
.

page_text: or by worsted or otherwise, so that the frame may, when in use, be caused to
rotate. It is desirable that the dimensions of the external case or screen
should only be so much larger than the shelves or trays that they and the
frame which carries them may be able to rotate freely within such outer case
or screen. When this apparatus is to be used for roasting a joint of meat,
such joint is to be suspended within the frame and at the upper part thereof,
or it may be to the under side of one of the trays or shelves, when there is
sufficient height to admit of there being an upper shelf used at the time of
roasting. Below the joint and carried by the lower part of the rotating frame
is placed a pan or tray, and elevated above the centre of this tray is a basin,
by which a pudding contained in the pan or tray may be cooked under the
joint, at the same time that the grease falling into the basin may be used for
basting the joint that is being roasted. When using the apparatus for baking
then a pie, pudding, or other article or articles of food may be placed on the
shelves, either in dishes or otherwise, according to the nature of the articles
which are being baked. This apparatus is applicable to be used in front of an
ordinary range or fire-place; but when using the same with portable fire-places
I construct such fire-places of a rectangular shape, and, by preference, of sheet
iron, open in front, with fire-bars from side to side and ash trough or pit
below, the sides, back, bottom, and top being closed, except that at the top
there is an opening similar to those in hot plates. The fuel is supplied
through an opening (closed by a door) at one or at both sides.
The opening above referred being used for receiving gridirons, or frying-
pans, or other cooking vessel, I construct gridirons of a circular, oval, or
other form with hollow or trough-like bars curved upwards, so that the centre
of each bar is higher than its two ends; the bars are encircled by a hollow
ring, into which the fluid caught by the hollow bars flows and passes into an
enlarged or projecting part of the ring, which is formed into a spout, at which
the fluids may be poured off. In place of the bars being made of a hollow or
trough-like form, they may be made plain and their ends caused to overhang
the hollow ring that encircles them; the fluids received on the bars will then
run down the bars and will fall off their ends into the hollow ring. In some
cases the hollow ring may be made separate from the bars which form the
gridiron. The ring is fixed to or formed with the handle, and the bars of the
gridiron, whether solid or hollow, are connected together at their ends, and
their ends are caused to overhang the hollow ring; any grease from the outer
surfaces of the bars will then fall off the ends of the bars into the hollow ring.
The hollow ring of the gridiron is furnished on its under side with feet or pro-

page_text: jections, and the part of the handle nearest the gridiron is formed with an
under projecting rib or web, and this web is continued partly around the
under side of the ring of the gridiron, by which arrangement the gridiron can
be made to stand evenly on any fire-place. When the gridiron is made
circular the bars may, in some cases, be mounted on a central axis carried by
the outer ring and handle, by which arrangement the bars of the gridiron can
be made to turn horizontally on the axis, when parts of the fire and the pro-
gress of the cooking render it desirable to do so.
In constructing frying-pans they also are of a circular or other form, and
are each mounted on a vertical axis connected with the handle of the pan, so
as to be capable of being turned horizontally thereon.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ebenezer Stevens in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd
June 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EBENEZER
STEVENS, of No. 4, Warwick Villas, Canonbury, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Ebenezer Stevens, Her special licence that I, the said Ebenezer
Stevens, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Ebenezer Stevens, my executors, 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 APPARATUS USED WHEN COOKING," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Ebenezer Stevens, my executors or admi-
nistrators, 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 Ebenezer Stevens, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus used when
cooking. For these purposes when using apparatus for roasting or baking in
front of a fire a hollow screen of tin plate or suitable metal or lined therewith
is used, which like a meat screen or hastener is open in front towards the fire
and has a door at back. Within this hollow screen there is suspended a
frame arranged to receive moveable shelves or trays, which it is preferred
should be of a circular form. The frame is suspended from an external jack
or by worsted or otherwise, so that the frame may when in use be caused
to rotate. It is desirable that the dimensions of the external case or screen
should only be so much larger than the shelves or trays that they and the
frame which carries them may be able to rotate freely within such outer case
or screen. When this apparatus is to be used for roasting a joint of meat
such joint is to be suspended within the frame and at the upper part thereof,
or it may be to the under side of one of the trays or shelves when there is
sufficient height to admit of there being an upper shelf used at the time of
roasting. Below the joint and carried by the lower part of the rotating frame
is placed a pan or tray, and elevated above the centre of this tray is a basin by
which a pudding contained in the pan or tray may be cooked under the
joint, at the same time that the grease falling into the basin may be used for
basting the joint that is being roasted. When using the apparatus for baking
then a pie, pudding, or other article or articles of food may be placed on the
shelves, either in dishes or otherwise according to the nature of the articles
which are being baked.
Figure 1 is a vertical section, and Figure 2 is a horizontal section of apparatus
arranged in this manner.
a is a screen of tin plate open at the front and with a door a' at the back;
6 is a frame suspended within the screen a from a bottle jack above, or it may
be otherwise suspended; 61, 6, are moveable shelves upon the frame b; bis
a hook at the top of the frame from which to suspend the joint to be roasted;
6 is a pan or tray underneath the joint, and 6 a basin fixed on the bottom of
the pan and raised above it; this basin receives the grease from the joint
which may be used for basting whilst a pudding may be roasting in the pan or
tray.
This apparatus is applicable to be used in front of an ordinary range or fire-

page_text: place, but when using the same with portable fire-places, I construct such fire-
places of a rectangular shape and by preference of sheet iron, open in front, with
fire-bars from side to side and ash trough or pit below, the sides, back, bottom,
and top being closed, except that at the top there is an opening similar to those
in hot plates. The fuel is supplied through an opening (closed by a door) at
one or at both sides. The opening above referred to being used for receiving
gridirons or frying-pans or other cooking vessel.
Figure 3 is a vertical section of a portable fire-place thus constructed.
a, a, is a sheet-iron case open at the front where there are fire-bars b, b, and c
is an ash-pit with the ash-pan d. At the side or sides of the case a is or
are a door or doors a' for feeding the fire, and a is a cover at the top of the
case which can be removed to receive a frying pan or other cooking vessel; a³
is a portion of the case a which is divided off so as to form a boiler; e is a
flue which may be led into a chimney.
In constructing gridirons according to my Invention, I make them of a
circular, oval, or other form, with hollow or trough-like bars curved upwards so
that the centre of each bar is higher than its two ends, the bars are encircled
by a hollow ring into which the fluid caught by the hollow bars flows and
passes into an enlarged or projecting part of the ring, which is formed into a
spout at which the fluids may be poured off. In place of the bars being
made of a hollow or trough-like form, they may be made plain and their ends
caused to overhang the hollow ring that encircles them; the fluids received on
the bars will then run down the bars and will fall off their ends into the hollow.
ring which is fixed to or formed with the handle. The hollow ring may either
form one piece with the bars or be made separate therefrom, in the latter case
the bars of the gridiron, whether solid or hollow, are connected together at their
ends, and their ends are caused to overhang the hollow ring; any grease from
the outer surfaces of the bars will then fall off the ends of the bars into the
hollow ring. The hollow ring of the gridiron is furnished on its under side
with feet or projections and the part of the handle nearest the gridiron is formed
with an under projection, rib, or web, and this web is continued partly around
the under side of the ring of the gridiron, by which arrangement the gridiron can
be made to stand evenly on any fire-place. When the gridiron is made circular
the bars may be mounted on a central axis carried by the outer ring and handle,
by which arrangement the bars of the gridiron can be made to turn horizontally
on the axis when parts of the fire and the progress of the cooking render it
desirable to do so.
Figure 4 is a plan, and Figure 5 a vertical section of a gridiron constructed

page_text: as above described, and with the bars arranged to rotate about a centre or
axis. a, a, are the bars of the gridiron of trough or gutter-like form, and a¹ is an
outer ring connecting them all together; 6 is a ring, also hollow or of trough-
like form, and encircling the bars which are attached to it by a stud a' on the
middle of the centre bar and on its under side, the said stud passing through
a hole in the cross bar 6' of the ring, and being secured beyond by a pin
passed through the stud; 62 is a handle formed on the ring b; it has a web b³
on its under side, and a similar web is also carried partly around the ring on
each side of the handle at 68*; these webs form a foot or support for the fore
part of the gridiron, and at the back are other feet 64, 6. At 65 is an enlarged
portion of the ring 6 formed with a spout at 6*. The gravy and liquid
running from the meat which is being cooked is conducted by the trough-like
bars a into the ring b, and it accumulates in the part 65, from whence it may
be poured out when required. As before mentioned the bars may be made
solid instead of trough-like, and then the liquid by running down the outside
of the bars is conducted into the ring 6 as before. The bars a need not be
made to rotate about an axis, and if the gridiron be not round they cannot
conveniently be so made; they may, when the bars are fixed, be still con-
structed in the manner shewn in the Drawing, or, as is simpler, the bars a
may be made in one piece with the ring b, and arranged to discharge the
liquid they collect into it. At a³ in the Drawing is a scraper formed on the
outer rim a¹ of the bars to clear away any fat which might otherwise accu-
mulate in the ring trough b.
In constructing frying-pans, they also are of a circular or other form, and
are each mounted on a vertical axis connected with the handle of the pan, so
as to be capable of being turned horizontally thereon.
Figure 6 is a plan, Figure 7 a vertical section, and Figure 8 an under side
view of a frying-pan thus constructed. a is the pan, and 6 a stud fixed by
rivetting or otherwise into the bottom of the pan; c is a handle formed with
a hole for the stud b, and the pan is secured to the handle by rivetting over
the head of the stud b after passing it through the hole in the handle; d is a
washer placed between the pan and the handle to separate them and allow
the pan to revolve freely. The handle c is, as is shown, forked beyond
the stud or axis b, the better to support the pan when it is loaded. a¹ are
notches in the edge of the pan for receiving any convenient instrument to
rotate it; Figure 9 is a vertical section, and Figure 10 an under side view of
a similar frying-pan, varied however somewhat in its details; the stud b
in this arrangement does not pass through the bottom of the pan, but is

page_text: rivetted or clenched in a separate piece a² rivetted on to the bottom of the
pan, and the stud 6 is able to turn in the piece a². The handle, in place of
being forked beyond the stud or axis to support the pan, is made with two
wings c¹, c, one on each side, which perform a similar office.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ebenezer Stevens, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
E. STEVENS. (L.S.)