IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO BOILING, STEAMING, AND COOKING APPARATUS
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Underwood at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th October
1866.
I, GEORGE UNDERWOOD, of the City of York, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO BOILING, STEAMING, AND
COOKING APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements applicable to apparatus for
boiling, steaming, and cooking, the object being to utilize the heat of the fire
by conveying boiling water to the cooking apparatus, which instead of being
on the fire or hot plate is set on a stand, or otherwise arranged apart from
direct contact with the fire.
The cooking apparatus may consist of the ordinary boiling apparatus having
a steamer placed thereon, the bottom of which is perforated with holes in the
ordinary manner, the lid containing two or more apertures for the reception of
small saucepans as required.
The chief improvements consist in the means of conveying boiling water
from the fire-grate to the apparatus. I propose to construct a duplicate tube
placed either close and parallel together, or arranged in a serpentine or worm
form; at the end to be inserted within the bars of the fire-grate I screw,
braze, or otherwise attach the two ends of the tubes into a socket or cap
leaving a chamber beyond them in such socket or cap, which must be of

page_text: suficient thickness and substance to stand the heat of the fire, and of a
sufficiently flattened form to pass easily between the bars; the other ends of
the tubes may be curved or turned to about a right angle, in order to be
attached and connected to the cooking apparatus in such manner that the
apparatus may be placed at the side of the fire-place instead of directly in
front, so as to be out of the way or hindrance of the cook; or the tubes may
be straight. These ends of the tubes are passed through an enlarged male
socket, one tube being extended further than the other in order that the
heated water may ascend through such pipe and descend through the other, so
as to effect a continuous circulation with the water contained in the boiling
apparatus, to which is soldered or otherwise fixed a male screw plug or tube,
into which the elongated end of one of the pipes and the enlarged male socket
are passed; then by means of a female screw nozzle, having two projections
or thumb-pieces on its periphery, the enlarged male socket and pipes are firmly
drawn up to and fixed to the male screw projecting from the lower part of the
boiler; a flange on the enlarged socket of the pipe serves as a bearing for the
nozzle to clamp the pipes tightly to the boiler, which is then to be supplied
with water, and the angle of the pipe being properly adjusted by the clamp of
the nozzle the extremity or socket is placed between the bars of the fire, and the
water will become gradually heated to the boiling point, thus affording a perfect
circulation of water, and as efficient a means of cooking as though the cooking
apparatus were placed directly on the fire or hot plate. The tubes and nozzle
may be of iron, brass, copper, gun metal, tin, or other suitable metal or alloy,
the principle of the Invention being the same.
I am aware that a single pipe has been used in connection with a fire and
cooking apparatus, the communication between the pipe and apparatus having
been effected by means of a flexible joint which has has presented many difficulties
of adjustment and inconvenience from want of durability; but by my arrange-
ment of a duplicate or circulating system of tubes, and firm or fixed metallic
connections these disadvantages are obviated and the apparatus is rendered
perfect. The tubes instead of being in duplicate may be in one length bent
at the firing end, and the bend may or may not be protected by a socket.
I further improve the apparatus itself by making it applicable for stewing.
In order to accomplish this I form my boiler with an internal lining and false
bottom, or rather with an internal or external jacket having a tube and tap to
admit of the escape of steam; into the recess of the apparatus thus formed
(which is of course free from water) I set a stew pan containing the food to be
stewed, whereby it becomes subject to the required heat without contact with
the boiling water or steam from the generating tubes and reservoir of the

page_text: jacket. The operation of stewing could not be effected by the ordinary
boiling apparatus, because the contents would have to circulate through the
tubes, and would probably cause a stoppage by their substance.
The system of heating described may be applied to heating water for
buildings.