AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR THE PURPOSE OF BENEFICIALLY SEPARATING THE INFUSION OF TEA OR COFFEE FROM ITS GROUNDS OR DREGS
Year: 1825

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DANIEL
DUNN, of King's Row, Pentonville, in the Parish of Saint James, Clerkenwell,
in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturer of Essence of Coffee and Spices,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster,
the Thirtieth day of April, One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, in
the sixth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Daniel Dunn,
my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, and sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Daniel Dunn, my exors, adñors,
and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, in England and Wales and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR THE PURPOSE OF BENEFICIALLY SEPARATING THE INFUSION OF TEA OR COFFEE
FROM ITS GROUNDS OR DREGS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso that if I, the said Daniel Dunn, should not particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and
advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and
become void, as in and by the same, relation 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
Daniel Dunn, do hereby declare that my said Invention of "An Improved
Apparatus for the Purpose of beneficially Separating the Infusion of Tea or
Coffee from its Grounds or Dregs" is set forth and particularly distinguished
from all other apparently similar inventions or improvements in the following
description, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in lining the inside of a tea-pot or a coffee-pot with a
grating or screen, which shall extend over and lie almost in contact with tho
whole or nearly the whole of the bottom and sides of the pot, leaving only a
very small space between the grating and the pot, and putting within the said
grating, and fitting to the same, a bag or strainer of a very fine texture of silk,
linen, cotton, or other suitable material, and sometimes in putting within the
bag or strainer a second grating or screen, in order to keep the bag distended
during the act of inclining the pot to pour out the infusion through the spout,
the object of these arrangements being to allow the tea or coffee to remain in
.the pot in a state of infusion during pleasure, and then that the infusion may
be poured or quickly separated from the grounds owing to the great extent of
straining surface which this construction permits; tho grating being placed
between the bag and the pot prevents the bag from touching the pot, and
thereby allows the percolation to take place through the greater part of the
pores of the bag. In manufacturing this my improved apparatus, I do not
confine myself to any particular form of grating or size of apertures, or any
particular material, but I chiefly use a grating of woven wire or a grating of
sheet metal pierced with holes, taking care, of course, not to use any metal or
metallic compound which might be injuriously corroded by tea or coffee; but
I generally use the same or similar materials of which the tea-pots or coffee-
pots are made; and it will be quite unnecessary to describe the mode of
making the said grating, because any man who can make a tea or coffee pot
can, from his own knowledge of workmanship, line the same with a grating,
and every woman that can use a needle can make a bag to put within and fit
such grating. The said grating may either be a fixture within the pot, or be
made to be put in and to be taken out in one, two, or more pieces, according
.to the shape of the pot, but I prefer putting it in in such a manner that it may
easily be taken out for the purpose of cleaning away any accumulation of
sediment that may lie on the bottom of the pot, and, accordingly, I make the
bag deeper than the grating, in order that the mouth of the bag may be turned
over the edge or rim of the grating, which prevents the bag from falling down
within the pot, and this will dispense with the necessity of sewing it in, and
thus afford an easy method of taking out the bag for the purpose of washing

page_text: away the sedement left by the tea or coffee, which by long continued use
would close the pores of the bag and render it impermeable by the liquid.
And I further declare that I do not claim as my Invention the placing of a
grating or bag within the pot to act as a mere strainer or filter, because various
kinds of gratings, strainers, or filters have beretofore been in public use for
allowing the percolation to take place immediately after the water is poured
in; but I claim as my Invention an apparatus that more beneficially separates
the infusion of tea or coffee from the grounds or dregs, by such a grating,
screen, strainer, or filter as shall retain within the grating nearly all of the
water in which the tea or coffee is infused, so as to continue in a soaking
state the tea or coffee being used until the moment of pouring off the liquid,
and that the said grating, screen, or strainer shall present as large a surface for
percolation as the form of the pot will permit to be brought into action in the
position in which the pot is held while pouring off the liquid; and I effect
this purpose by placing my grating, screen, or strainer almost in contact with
and covering the whole or nearly the whole of the bottom and of the sides of
the pot, but more particularly of the side next towards the spout, and I effect
the last-mentioned purpose more beneficially by being able, especially in the
case of ground or powdered tea, or finely-ground coffee (on account of that
great extent of straining surface), to use a bag or strainer of a very fine texture,
and thereby to separate more perfectly than otherwise could be done the
infusion from the dregs without requiring a tedious time for pouring it off.
In witness whereof, I, the said Daniel Dunn, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of June, One thousand eight hundred
and twenty-five.