IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF ROASTING COFFEE, COCOA, AND MALT, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Powell Branson, of Fenchurch Street, -
in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MODE OF ROASTING COFFEE, COCOA, AND MALT, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN.
".
Sealed the 12th December 1873, and dated the 24th October 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Powell Branson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th October 1873..
I, WILLIAM POWELL BRANSON, of Fenchurch Street, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for.". IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE. MODE OF. ROASTING. COFFEE, CocoA, AND MALT, AND IN
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,'
," to be as follows:-
.
.
The Invention has for its object improvements in the mode of roasting*.
coffee, cocoa, and malt, and in apparatus employed therein. For this
purpose the ordinary coke, gas, or gas and air furnace may be employed
to heat the cylinder, which is provided with hollow necks or axes upon-

page_text: which it revolves in the usual manner. I prefer however to employ a
gas and air furnace as its heat is more regular and under more complete
control than that of other furnaces. .
According to my Invention I employ in addition to the heat of the
furnace around the exterior of the cylinder a blast of hot air which I
force into the cylinder through the hollow necks or axes so as to cause
the heated air to circulate amongst the coffee, cocoa, or malt in the
cylinder, and thereby give extra heat thereto and assist in driving off
the vapous arising from materials being roasted.
In order to heat the air for the above purpose I employ a tube or
tubes or a chamber or chambers preferably of steel or porcelain heated
by the furnace or by a separate furnace, and I connect such tubes or
chambers with the hollow necks or axes preferably by telescopic tubes
in such manner that they can be readily disconnected from each other
to enable the cylinder to be withdrawn from the furnace as required, and
I force air into the heating tubes or chambers by means of any suitable
bellows or air forcing apparatus. By these means I more speedily drive the
moisture out of the coffee, cocoa, or malt, and am enabled to roast such
materials more quickly than heretofore, whilst I also prevent the
formation of the baser combinations of their chemical constituents by
the passage of heated air through the materials whilst they are being
acted upon by the furnace heat.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Powell Branson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd April 1874.
.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
POWELL BRANSON, of Fenchurch Street, in the City of London,, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Powell Branson, Her special
license that I, the said William Powell Branson, my executors, adminis-

page_text: trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Powell
Branson, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF ROASTING COFFEE, CO00A, AND MALT, AND IN
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Powell Branson, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and scals, 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 William Powell Branson, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
The Invention has for its object improvements in the mode of roasting
coffee, cocoa, and malt, and in apparatus employed therein. For this
purpose the ordinary coke, gas and air, or gas furnace, or other suitablo
heating means may be employed to heat the roasting cylinder, which
may be either a closed, perforated, or open cylinder, and is provided
with hollow necks or axes upon which it revolves in the usual manner.
In carrying my Invention into effect I prefer to employ a gas and air
furnace as its heat is more regular and under more complete control
than that of other furnaces.
According to my Invention I employ in addition to the heat of the
furnace around the exterior of the roasting cylinder a blast of hot air
which I force into the cylinder through the hollow necks or axes, so as
to cause the heated air to circulate amongst the coffee, cocoa, or malt in
the cylinder, and thereby give extra heat thereto and assist in driving
off the vapours arising from the materials being roasted.
In order to heat the air for the above purpose I employ a tube or
tubes, preferably of steel or porcelain, which may be heated by the

page_text: furnace employed to heat the roasting cylinder or by a separate furnace,
or such air may be heated in a chamber or chambers by a separate blast
air furnace, and I connect such tubes or chambers with one of the hollow
necks or axes, preferably by telescopic tubes, in such manner that they
can be readily connected and disconnected from each other to enable the
roasting cylinder to be readily connected with the supply of hot air and
disconnected therefrom when it is required to be withdrawn from the
furnace.
The mode in which I arrange the telescopic tubes is as follows:-A.
tube coming from the hot air supply is "fixed rigidly in position opposite
the position occupied by the end of one of the hollow necks or axes
when the roasting cylinder is over the furnace, and a sliding or telescopic
tube is mounted on such fixed tube so as to permit of its being readily
slidden thercon and into and out of the hollow neck or axis of the
roasting cylinder as required.
I force air into the heating tubes or chambers by means of any
suitable bellows, cylinders, or other air forcing apparatus, it thence
passes through one of the hollow necks or axes into the roasting cylinder
and amongst the materials being roasted therein and passes away
therefrom through the other hollow neck or axis and through the
perforations or openings in the roasting cylinder when a wire or
perforated roasting cylinder is employed. By these means I more
speedily drive the moisture out of and away from the coffee, cocoa, or
malt, and am thereby enabled to roast such materials more quickly than
heretofore, whilst I also prevent the formation of the baser and deleterious
combinations of their chemical constituents by the passage of heated
air through the materials whilst they are being acted upon by the
furnace heat.
I would here remark. that I have not thought it necessary to shew.
Drawings of the mode in which I propose to carry my Invention into
effect, as aided by the description above given such will be readily
understood by a competent mechanic.
I am aware that it has before been proposed to roast coffee by the aid
of hot air acting in lieu of a furnace upon the exterior of the roasting
cylinder, but by such mode of using hot air the coffee was not properly

page_text: issuing therefrom, which difficulty is thoroughly avoided by forcing the
hot air into the cylinder through the hollow axis as herein described.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the
modo in which I carry the same into effect, I would have it understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein described, as
such may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention,
but what I do claim is the mode of and apparatus for roasting coffee,
cocoa, and malt by the aid of hot air driven into the interior of the roasting
cylinder in combination with exterior heat, in manner substantially as
herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Powell Branson, havo here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Sixteenth day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.