AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AN APPARATUS FOR BAKING BREAD
Year: 1832

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
HICKS, of No. 18, Wimpole Street, Cavendish Square, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-first day of February, in the third year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert
Hicks, His special licence, that I, the said Robert Hicks, my exors, adiñors,
and assigns, or such others as I; the said Robert Hicks, my exors, admors; and
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 "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AN
APPARATUS FOR BAKING BREAD;" in which said Letters Patent there is con-
tained a proviso obliging me, the said Robert Hicks, 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 enrolled in His Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear:
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Hicks, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascertained
as follows, that is to say:-
The apparatus or oven in which I bake the bread consists of a metallic
vessel or steam boiler, which is much longer than it is broad, and is flat at the
bottom, with the sides straight. The inside of this boiler is divided into
compartments or tubes large enough to admit loaves of bread into them.
Spaces are left open between the tubes, so that steam may freely circulate
around them. These tubes are supported at each end by the fronts or
facings of the boiler in which they rest, so that the ends of the tubes are open,
but the spaces at the ends of the boiler between the tubes are closed up.
There is a door at each end of the oven, which, when open, admits loaves to
be introduced into the tubes. Water is introduced into the boiler by means
of a small forcing pump, or otherwise, and has at the bottom of it water about
half an inch in depth when used upon the large scale, but when used upon
the small scale the quantity of water is not so material. A thermometer,
and also a safety valve and guage cock, the last for the purpose of ascertaining
the quantity of water in the boiler. A fire is placed under the boiler in the
usual manner; it converts the water into steam, which circulates among the
tubes and heats them. The loaves are introduced into the tubes at each or
either end of the apparatus, and then the doors are closed. The vapour from
the bread escapes through a hole at both ends or either end of the oven. The
temperature to which the oven is heated should be about 280° Fahrenheit's
thermometer; and I have recommended a small quantity of water, in order
that the steam may be used in a more expanded form than that commonly
employed, whereby the degree of heat required is obtained without the
ordinary pressure. The time requisite for each batch varies according to the
size of the loaves. For the four pounds loaf the time is from about one hour
and a half to two hours. I have mentioned that the sides of the boiler which
I use are straight, and the bottom flat, but they may be made circular, or
varied in any other suitable manner.
Now I claim as my new Invention of "An Improved Method of an
Apparatus for Baking Bread," this combination of rarified steam by heat with
this mechanical contrivance, constituting an oven by which bread may be
baked by steam.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Hicks, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.
ROBERT (L.S.) HICKS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-ninth day of June, in
the year of our Lord 1833, the aforesaid Robert Hicks came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
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.
Inrolled the Sixteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.