An IMPROVED MIXTURE AND PREPARATION OF COFFEE AND TEA
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Spratt, of Southampton Street, Camberwell,
in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, for the Invention of "An
IMPROVED MIXTURE AND PREPARATION OF COFFEE AND TEA."
Sealed the 7th January 1871, and dated the 3rd August 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Spratt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd August 1870.
I, JAMES SPRATT, of Southampton Street, Camberwell, in the County.
of Surrey, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVED MIXTURE and PREPARATION OF COFFEE AND TEA," to
be as follows:-
My Invention of an improved mixture and preparation of coffee and
tea consists, first, in mixing ground coffee or tea or ground tea with any
suitable saccharine matter, such as powdered loaf sugar or moist sugar,
in sufficient quantity to sweeten the preparation, and if desired about
50 per cent. more or less of milk, such as the concentrated essence of

page_text: milk or "Swiss milk," or cream in a dry, fluid, pasty, or evaporated
state, or any nutritious substance such as roasted grain, arrowroot,
semolina, sago, or chicory may be added, and if necessary the preparation
of coffee may be cleared or fined by mixing dried skins of soles finely
chopped or pulverized or isinglass, or any substance that has the property
of fining in sufficient quantity to clear the coffee.
When it is desired to impart a rich flavour to the coffee or tea mixture
an egg well beaten and well stirred with the mixture may be added.
As an example, I use the following proportions of the above ingredients
as a ration for the army or navy :—I take about one ounce of coffee or a
quarter of an ounce of tea or tea dust, and mix therewith about one or
two spoonsfull of sugar to sweeten it, and about 50 per cent. of prepared
milk, but when used for domestic purposes the mixture may be made up
in pound, half pound, or quarter of pound packages, or any suitable
size for sale, the quantity of sugar and milk being added in proportion
to the size, and if necessary in the case of invalids to every three-quarters
of the pound packages (or to the other sized packages in proportion) a
quarter of a pound of roasted grain, arrowroot, semolina, sago, or
chicory may be substituted. These substances or preparations may be
run into strong metallic moulds of any suitably sized diameter when the
substances may be submitted to great pressure by means of rams acted
on by a hydraulic or fly press, or by other suitable mechanical means,
the bottom of which press (when the mixture is sufficiently com-
pressed) being removed or withdrawn so that the compounds may be
forced out of the bottom in such forms as may coincide with the shape
of the moulds. Or instead of moulds a perforated metal block or plate
to receive the mixture may be employed, and the press may be heated
in any approved manner, or the mixture itself may be compressed in a
heated state to preserve the aroma of the coffee compound. These forms
of the compressed substances above named are then wrapped round with
tin foil or other suitable material, by which means the mixtures of coffee
and tea may be kept for years, and may be transported in a more
portable form as rations for the army or navy, or they can be used
more advantageously for domestic purposes than ordinary tea or coffee,
as when prepared in the form above described the sugar being combined
with the coffee absorbs the oil and the aromatic and other properties con-
tained therein. This preparation of coffee also by being confined in tin

page_text: .
foil or air-tight cases retains the fragrance, strength, and aroma, and is
unaffected by damp and many other casualties, the mixture may however
be packed in tin foil and not compressed, if desired. When these coffee
or tea "cartridges" are to be used, any part of the case may be torn off
and the sides compressed, which will cause the mixture to crumble in a
powdered or separated form ready to be boiled or prepared in water in a
similar manner to making a decoction of ordinary tea or coffee. The
above preparation when boiled and in a liquid form as herein described
may for some purposes be decanted into bottles which are when filled
securely sealed.
Another part of the Invention consists in mixing with the above
named prepared tea or coffee compound about two ounces of butter
or lard or similar fatty substances and adding thereto sufficient flour
or farinaceous substances and water to bring the mixture to a pasty
consistence when it may be baked in the form of bread, biscuits, or cakes
whereby all the aqueous particles contained therein may be absorbed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Spratt in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th January 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
SPRATT, of Southampton Street, Camberwell, in the County of Surrey,.
Gentleman, send greeting:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Third day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,"
give and grant unto me, the said James Spratt, Her special licence.
that I, the said James Spratt, my executors, administrators, and.
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Spratt, 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 "AN IMPROVED
•

page_text: MIXTURE AND PREPARATION OF COFFEE AND TEA," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Spratt, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 per-
formed, 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.
.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Spratt, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My Invention of "An Improved Mixture and Preparation of Coffee
and Tea" consists in mixing either coffee with sugar and milk, or tea
with sugar and milk, and then compressing and wrapping such
compounds in tin or lead foil or other suitable cases, thereby keeping
the coffee or tea "cartridges" in an antiseptic state, and rendering them
more portable than heretofore for the use of the army or navy or for
family or general purposes, or the coffee or tea may be compressed alone
without the admixture of sugar and milk.
In carrying out my Invention when mixing the coffee or tea with
milk and sugar I take, for example, as a ration for the army or navy one
ounce of ground or crushed coffee, or a quarter of an ounce of tea or
ground tea, and mix with the same sufficient powdered loaf sugar to
sweeten the mixture (say about one or two lumps crushed), or any
saccharine matter may be used, such as moist sugar, sugar candy, barley
sugar, treacle, or molasses, and to which mixture may be added when
desired about fifty per cent. more or less of milk, such as the concentrated
essence of milk, or "Swiss milk," or cream in a dry, fluid, pasty, or
evaporated state, and when these mixtures or rations of coffee are required
to be fined dried skins of soles (finely chopped or ground), or isinglass, or
any substance that has the property of fining the coffee may be added.
These improved mixtures of coffee or tea and sugar, with or without milk,
or coffee, or tea, and milk, with or without sugar, or coffee and tea alone,
are then introduced into strong metal tubes or suitable moulds, either of
a square, hexagonal, or other polygonal shape, each mould, being of a
sufficient length and diameter to hold one ounce (more or less) as a

page_text: ration for the army or navy (or other sizes of cases may be employed
when desired for family or general purposes). These mixtures or
preparations may then be submitted to a pressure of from one to thirty
tons according to the quantity of the mixture to be compressed, the
coffee or tea when combined with the sugar and milk or cream requiring
less pressure than the coffee or tea alone, the pressure being regulated
according to the quantity to be compressed, a ration of coffee or tea
requiring a pressure of about fourteen tons on the square inch. The
coffee or tea when placed in the moulds, as herein-before described, may
be rammed or forced down by a series of rams or dies actuated by a
hydraulic or fly press, or steam hammer, or by other suitable mechanical
means, the bottom of which press (when the mixtures are sufficiently
compressed) are then to be removed or withdrawn, so that the compounds
or rations may be forced out of the bottom of each mould in such forms
as may coincide with the shape of the dies, or the contents may be
released by hinged or other suitable moulds, or instead of moulds a metal
block of sufficient thickness to hold a ration or other quantity in an
uncompressed state, and with perforations of a square, polygonal, tubular,
or other suitable form may be employed, and if desired when compressing
the coffee or tea the moulds may be heated in any approved or well
known manner, or the coffee and tea mixtures themselves may be heated
or not, to preserve the aroma of the coffee and tea. When I compress
the tea alone I find it desirable to heat the tea to such an extent before
compression as to drive off the air or any moisture or humidity contained
therein which might otherwise be likely to impair its aroma or engender
mouldiness, and it will further secure a non-elastic condition, so that the
tea will retain its shape and form after it is forced from the mould, the
cohesion being only secured in the dry state by a most severe and
powerful pressure, such as by a hydraulic press, steam hammer, or by
other analogous means.
In some instances instead of grinding the coffee in an ordinary coffee
mill I prefer that roasted coffee berries should be introduced into the
herein-before described hydraulic press, either separately or combined with
the milk or cream and sugar or other saccharine matter, and then com-
pressed, when it will be found that when made into a decoction ready for
use, ás hereafter described, the coffee will be clear and bright without that
muddy or grouty appearance usually observed when making a decoction

page_text: of ordinary ground coffee. These preparations or mixtures of the above
described compressed substances, or the compressed tea and coffee alone, are
then to be wrapped around with tin or lead foil or other suitable wrappers,
by which means the tea or ground and crushed coffee, and the coffee and
tea mixtures may be preserved for years, and may be transported in a
more portable form as rations for the army or navy, or for travellers or
general use. When the herein-before described compressed mixtures or
preparations of coffee or tea with sugar and milk, or the coffee and tea
alone are to be used for family or general purposes, and a rich flavour is
desired to be imparted to such preparations, eggs suitably prepared may
be added, and any nutritious substance such as roasted grain, arrowroot,
semolina, sago, or chicory may be mixed with the preparations with
great advantage for the use of invalids; but instead of being made up
into one ounce or quarter of an ounce "cartridges" or rations they may
be compressed and packed in cases containing pounds, half pounds,
quarters of pounds, or in any desired sizes required or suitable for
sale (the moulds of the press being made of sufficient sizes to permit of
such quantities of the mixture or preparations being compressed), and
when thus prepared the coffee and tea mixtures will be found more
advantageous for use than ordinary uncompressed coffee or tea, as the
sugar, when combined and compressed with the crushed or ground coffec
will absorb the oil and other properties contained therein, and the
mixture or preparation by being confined in tin foil or lead foil cases will
retain its fragrance, strength, and aroma, and will be unaffected by damp
and other casualties, also the water in which the decoction of either of
the tea or coffee is hereafter to be made will be softened by the
saccharine matters and form a better extract. When any of these coffee
or tea cartridges, rations, or packages are to be used any part of the
tin foil or lead foil, or other cases, may be torn or stript off and the sides
compressed, which will cause the mixture to crumble in a powdered or
disintegrated form ready to be boiled or prepared in a similar manner to
making a decoction of ordinary or uncompressed coffee or tea.
For some purposes instead of compressing the coffee or tea, as herein-
before described, I make an extract consisting of tea and coffee mixed
with sugar and milk or cream, in a liquid and concentrated form and
introduce it into bottles or jars, which are when filled securely sealed, so
as to preserve the solution for any length of time, and when required a

page_text: small portion of the solution, say, for instance, a table spoonfull more or
less, may be poured into a cup of hot or boiling water and stirred ready
for use.
Another part of my Invention consists in mixing with any of the
herein before described preparations of coffee and tea butter or lard, or
similar fatty substances, and adding thereto sufficient flour or other
farinaceous substances and water to bring the mixture to a pasty
consistence, when it may be baked in the form of bread, biscuits, or
cakes, whereby all the aqueous particles contained therein will be
evaporated in the baking or subsequent drying. The quantities I
generally prefer to form the same into a biscuit is about one ounce of coffee
or a quarter of an ounce of tea to cach biscuit, and these biscuits when
baked may be eaten dry or sopped in hot water, milk, or other suitable
fluid.
Having now described my Invention of "An Improved Mixture and
Preparation of Coffee and Tea," I would wish to remark that I am
aware that tea. in a damp state, having been previously steamed,
moistened, and kneaded, has been heretofore compressed in the form
of bricks for overland transport and termed "brick tea," and I am also
aware that ground coffee has been pressed into gelatine cases at such a
slight pressure that the particles will not cohere, I do not therefore wish
to claim the same, but what I do claim and desire to secure by Letters
Patent is,-
First. Mixing ground coffee or roasted coffee berries or tea with any
or all of the substances herein described, and compressing the same to
such an extent as to render the same solid, thereby giving it a very great
density, whereby it is impervious to air or damp, and then enclosing the
same in tin foil or lead foil, or other suitable cases, in the manner and
for the purposes as hercin described.
Second. I claim submitting tea without any admixture either hot or
cold in a dry state to a powerful pressure in a hydraulic or similar press,
and enclosing the same in suitable cases for the purposes herein described.
I also claim submitting coffee alone either hot or cold to a powerful
pressure and enclosing the same in suitable cases, as herein described.
Third. I clam making an extract of tea or coffee when combined with
sugar and milk or cream, and closely confining the same in bottles or
jars, as herein described.

page_text: And, lastly, I claim mixing the hercin-before described preparations of
tea and coffee with butter or lard and flour, and forming the same into
bread, biscuits, or cakes, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Spratt, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of January, in the year 5
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.