IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN TREATING AND CURING THE TEA LEAF
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Campbell, of 34, Duke Street, St. James',
in the County of Middlesex, and William Burgess, of Newgate Street, in
the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO
BE EMPLOYED IN TREATING AND CURING THE TEA LEAF."
Sealed the 13th July 1866, and dated the 15th January 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Campbell and
William Burgess at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 15th January 1866.
We, FREDERICK, CAMPBELL, of 34, Duke Street, St. James', in the County
of Middlesex, and WILLIAM BURGESS, of Newgate Street, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN TREATING AND CURING THE TEA LEAF,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus to be employed
in treating and curing the tea leaf. The tea leaf is brought as gathered in
the garden,and is placed on trays or surfaces heated by steam or heated air.
It is preferred that these trays or heated surfaces should be situated in an
upper chamber of the building where the curing is performed. By thus
placing the leaf on artificially heated surfaces it is quickly withered and ren-
Price

page_text: dered into a suitable condition for the rolling process, which is performed in
the following manner:-A cylinder is employed which is covered with an
elastic flexible substance, vulcanized india-rubber being found most suitable.
This cylinder is caused to revolve and to carry upon its surface the leaves
which are supplied thereto, as is hereafter explained. The leaves on the
cylinder are by its revolution brought in contact with another or second
surface which is stationary, and the leaves in moving against this second
surface become curled or rolled. The second surface is flexible and elastic,
and it is preferred to be made of a sheet of vulcanized india-rubber; at its
upper edge it is fixed to a bar which is supported at its ends in bearings
somewhat above but near the upper part of the cylinder. The position of
this bar in respect to the cylinder is arranged to be capable of adjustment to
and from the cylinder, in order that the second or stationary surface may be
caused to be for a greater or less distance in contact with the upper and back
surface of the cylinder. At the lower edge of the sheet is fixed another bar
to which weights are applied, or other means are resorted to for producing the
requisite contact or pressure between the stationary surface and the surface of
the cylinder. The form and arrangement of the second or stationary surface
may be varied so long as it is made suitable for accomplishing the object
desired, that of causing the leaves to curl or roll up as they are carried
forward by the surface of the cylinder against the stationary surface. The
leaves in the withered state are fed up to the cylinder on an inclined table or
platform, which is arranged to move up and down and to shake the leaves
placed upon
it down towards and into contact with the surface of the revolving
cylinder; or the leaves may be otherwise moved up to or supplied to the
front surface of the cylinder at a distance from the point where the stationary
surface commences to bear on the cylinder. In consequence of a slight
adhesion between the leaves and the surface of the cylinder the leaves are
taken up regularly from the feeding surface and are carried by the surface ofthe
cylinder towards and beneath the stationary surface. Below the cylinder and
stationary surface is placed a trayor pan heated externally bysteam or heated
air into which the curled or rolled leaves drop. From this pan or tray the
tea is moved on to bamboo trays of the ordinary description, which are placed
over cells heated by steam or by heated air, or it may be by charcoal fires in
the ordinary manner.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Campbell and William Burgess in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 13th July 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FREDERICK
CAMPBELL, of 34, Duke Street, St. James', in the County of Middlesex, and
WILLIAM BURGESS, of Newgate Street, in the City of of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenth-ninth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Frederick Campbell and William Burgess, Her special licence
that we, the said Frederick Campbell and William Burgess, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Frederick
Campbell and William Burgess, our 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN TREATING AND CURING THE TEA
LEAF," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Frederick
Campbell and William Burgess,our executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of one of usor them, 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 Burgess, on behalf of myself
and the said Frederick Campbell, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be parti-
cularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus to be
employed in treating and curing the tea leaf. The tea leaf is brought as
gathered in the garden, and is placed on trays or surfaces heated by steam

page_text: or heated air. It is preferred that these trays or heated surfaces should be
situated in an upper chamber of the building where the curing is performed.
By thus placing the leaf on artificially heated surfaces it is quickly withered
and rendered into a suitable condition for the rolling process, which is per-
formed in the following manner:-
which shows a section of the machine. A cylinder a, a, is employed, which
is covered with an elastic flexible substance, vulcanized india-rubber being
found most suitable. This cylinder is caused to revolve, and to carry upon
its surface the leaves which are supplied thereto, as is hereafter explained.
The leaves on the cylinder are by its revolution broughtin contact with another
or second surface b, b, which is stationary, and the leaves in moving against
this second surface become curled or rolled. The second surface b, b, is
flexible and elastic, and it is preferred to be made of a sheet of vulcanized
india-rubber; at its upper edge it is fixed to a bar c, which is supported at its
ends in bearings somewhat above but near the upper part of the cylinder.
The position of this bar c in respect to the cylinder is arranged to be capable
of adjustment to and from the cylinder in order that the second or stationary
surface b may be caused to be for a greater or less distance in contact with
the upper and back surface of the cylinder a, a. At the lower edge of the
sheet is fixed another bar c', to which weights are applied or other meansare
resorted to for producing the requisite contact or pressure between the
stationary surface and the surface of the cylinder. The form and arrange-
ment of the second or stationary surface may be varied so long as it is made
suitable for accomplishing the object desired, that of causing the leaves to
curl or roll up as they are carried forward by the surface of the cylinder
against the stationary surface. The leaves in the withered state are fed up
to the cylinder on an inclined table or platform e, which is arranged to move
up and down, and to shake the leaves placed upon it down towards and in to con-
tact with the surface of the revolving cylinder, or the leaves may be otherwise
moved up to or supplied to the front surface of the cylinder a,a, at a distance
from the point where the stationarysurface commences to bear on the cylinder.
In consequence of a slight adhesion between the leaves and the surface of
the cylinder the leaves are taken up regularly from the feeding surface e, and
are carried by the surface of the cylinder a, a, towards and beneath the
stationary surface b. Below the cylinder and stationary surface is placed a
tray or pan heated externally by steam or heated air, into which the curled

page_text: or rolled leaves drop. From this pan or tray the tea is moved on to bamboo
trays of the ordinary description, which are placed over cells heated by steam
or by heated air, or it may be by charcoal fires in the ordinary manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Burgess, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.