IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR BASTING OF MEAT AND OTHER THINGS WHILE BEING ROASTED
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Henry Merritt, of Brunswick Square, in
the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR BASTING OF MEAT AND OTHER THINGS WHILE BEING
ROASTED."
Scaled the 5th November 1869, and dated the 12th May 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Henry Merritt
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 12th May 1869.
I, CHARLES HENRY MERRITT, of Brunswick Square, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR BASTING OF MEAT AND OTHER THINGS WHILE
BEING ROASTED," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the construction and employment of an
apparatus for basting, as hereafter described.
The butter, fat, dripping, or other material to be used for basting is
placed in a vessel, by preference of an inverted cone shape, the top or
base of the cone being provided with apertures having hinged covers
through which the basting material is introduced; near the apex of the

page_text: cone, and inside thereof, there is a grating fitted, on which the basting
material rests, from whence it flows, and is led through pipes to the
article or articles to be basted, the flow being regulated by a valve or
valves placed in the pipe or pipes leading therefrom. Through the
centre of the vessel a tube is passed, which is intended to receive the
chain or cord supporting the ordinary bottle jack or article being
roasted, the basting vessel itself being suspended by a chain hooked to
the lid, and by preference placed over the neck of the bottle jack, when
such is used. The apparatus is equally applicable whether a jack is
used or not. For example, for basting, when the articles are roasted on a
spit, I prefer the conical shape of the apparatus, but at the same time I
do not limit myself thereto, as it might be made of other shapes without
departing from my Invention, which essentially consists in the basting
of meat and other things while being roasted in and by the employment
of apparatus containing the basting material being placed above the
article or articles being roasted, the basting material being allowed to
escape therefrom in regulated quantities and continuously, or not, as
desired or required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Henry Merritt in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th November 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
HENRY MERRITT, of Brunswick Square, in the County of Middlesex,
send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles Henry Merritt, Her
special licence that I, the said Charles Henry Merritt, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Henry
Merritt, 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

page_text: "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR BASTING OF MEAT AND OTHER THINGS WHILE
BEING ROASTED," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Charles Henry Merritt, my executors or administrators, by an in-
strument 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.
NOW KNOW YE, 'that I, 'the said Charles Henry Merritt, 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 thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in the construction and employment of an
apparatus for basting, as hereafter described.
The butter, fat, dripping, or other material to be used for basting is
placed in a vessel, by preference of an inverted cone shape, the top or
base of the cone being provided with apertures having hinged covers
through which the basting material is introduced; near the apex of the
cone, and inside thereof, there is a grating, on which the basting material
rests, from whence it flows, and is led through pipes to the article or
articles to be basted, the flow being regulated by a valve or valves placed
in the pipe or pipes leading therefrom. Through the centre of the vessel
a tube is passed, which is intended to receive the chain or cord support-
ing the ordinary bottle jack or article being roasted, the basting vessel
itself being suspended by a chain hooked to the lid, and by preference
placed over the neck of the bottle jack, when such is used. The
apparatus is equally applicable whether a jack is used or not. For
example, for basting when the articles are roasted on a spit, I prefer
the conical shape of the apparatus, but at the same time I do not limit
myself thereto, as it might be made of other shapes without departing
from my Invention, which essentially consists in the basting of meat and
other things while being roasted in and by the employment of apparatus
containing the basting material being placed above the article or
articles being roasted, the basting material being allowed to escape there-
from in regulated quantities and continuously, or not, as desired or
required.

page_text: Figure 1 is a view in vertical section, and Figure 2 is a plan with a
portion of the cover removed of an apparatus constructed according to my
Invention.
Figure 3 is a side view, and Figure 4 a vertical section of the lower
part of the apparatus, both these views being taken at right angles to
Figure 1.
a is a vessel of inverted conical shape, the top of which is formed
with apertures provided with hinged covers b, b; c is a perforated
partition or grating in the vesel a; the basting material supplied to the
vessel rests upon this partition, and as it becomes melted from the heat
of the fire runs through the same into the lower part of the vessel, from
which it falls through pipes d, d, upon the article to be basted; e is a
valve or cock to regulate the flow of the basting material to the pipes
d, d; fis a tube carried vertically through the vessel a to receive the
chain or cord by which the bottle jack is supported; 9, 9, are chains
hooked to the lid of the vessel a and connected at top to a frame h
(shown separately in plan in Figure 5); this frame h is intended to be
passed over the neck of the jack for the purpose of suspending the
vessel a therefrom.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, constructing
apparatus for basting, substantially as herein-before described and
represented in the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, in such
manner that it may be placed above the articles to be basted, and will
allow the basting material to escape therefrom, substantially as herein-
before explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Henry Merritt, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine
Witness,
EDW. GRIFFITH BREWER,
89, Chancery Lane.
C. H. MERRITT. (L.S.)