Cooking Purposes.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Sept., 1887
Complete Left, 18th June, 1888
Complete Accepted, 20th July, 1888
Cooking Purposes.
1, GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN, of the firm of G. F. Redfern & Co., the General
Patent Office, No. 4 South Street, Finsbury, in the county of Middlesex, Patent
Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communication from abroad
by Albert Achille Edmond Pol Dormoy of Sougland, in the Republic of France) to
be as follows:—
This invention relates to ovens heated directly by the fire, and comprises improved
means for cutting off the supply of heat when required.
The said invention consists essentially in providing one side of the oven with a
curtain or screen, by means of which heat from the fire can be intercepted on its way
to the oven.
In carrying out the invention a piece of asbestos fabric forming a curtain is
provided of the same dimensions as the opening to be closed. One end of the curtain
is fixed to a metal rod or spindle and the other end is placed between two thin strips
of iron for the purpose of weighting the curtain and causing it to have a certain
tension.
The curtain is then arranged in the position it is to occupy at the upper part of the
oven. The rod carrying the curtain and which causes it to be raised or lowered is
fitted in bearings attached to the top or to the sides of the oven, or it can be fitted
into holes serving as bearings and formed for that purpose, one in the front of the
oven and the other at the back part. The rod extends through the hole in the front
plate and the projecting part is formed with a square for carrying a toothed wheel or
ratchet wheel and a suitable key or crank handle for turning the rod. A pawl_is
provided which takes into the teeth of the toothed wheel; it preferably consists of a
thin strip of resilient metal fixed at one end in a support the other end engaging with
J

page_text: the teeth of the wheel. It has been found in practice that even when in close
proximity to the firo the spring loses none of its power and acts in an effective
manner.
By means of the pawl the curtain can be kept at any desired point of its upward
or downward movement it being only necessary to turn the key in the required
direction.
The ratchet wheel and pawl can be placed inside the oven if desired but it is
preferred to place them outside as when well made and polished or nickelled they
improve the appearance of the range or oven.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Ovens, Chiefly Designed for
Cooking Purposes.
I, GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN, of the firm of G. F. Redfern & Co., the General
Patent Office, No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communication from abroad
by Albert Achille Edmond Pol Dormoy of Sougland, in the Republic of France)
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to ovens heated directly by the firo, and comprises improved
means for regulating and cutting off the supply of heat when required.
Most persons who have to make use of ovens for cooking purposes have experienced
great inconvenience in not being able to easily and quickly vary the intensity of the
heat in the oven.
Some kinds of food require, at first, to be submitted to a fierce heat, the cooking
being afterwards continued under a slow heat, whilst others require to be cooked
slowly at first and then to be submitted to a fiercer heat just hefore being served.
Ovens as at present constructed will not allow of this being done, the food having to
be submitted to the direct action of the fire, which often approaches a red heat, without
it being possible to regulate the heat.
Heretofore the only means which have been adopted to obviate this defect
have consisted in the use of a plate which is slid into the oven or withdrawn
therefrom when required with the risk of the plate falling into the food or burning
the fingers.
By the present invention these objections are overcome.
The said invention consists essentially in providing the oven with a screen, by
means of which the food can be submitted to or protected from the full heat of the
fire as and to the extent required.
The screen can be made in various ways, for example, it may comprise a series of
parallel metal laths supported on chains and working in a similar manner to a
Venetian window blind. It may consist of two vertical metal plates working friction-
wise one over the other in such a manner that openings or bays made in one of
the plates can be closed or uncovered at will by a backward and forward move-
ment communicated to the other plate. The screen may be made of one or two
curved metal plates sliding at a suitable distance from the fire place in grooves
or slots made for that purpose-in-the-bottom-or top-of-the oven and adapted to be
pushed back from or brought towards the fire. Or the screen may be formed
by a curtain made of parallel metal strips; of interlocked metal links forming a
flexible metallic fabric, or of incombustible cloth or fabric adapted to be rolled and
unrolled along the fire place in a similar manner to that in which a roller window
blind operates.

page_text: The latter arrangement, which is that which has been found to answer well in
practice, I will now describe by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which
Figure 1 is a perspective view of an oven provided with my improvements, the
door of the oven being removed.
Figure 2 is an elevation of part of the screen with the mechanism for operating it
and holding it in position, and
Figure 3 is a cross section of figure 2.
Similar letters in all the figures indicate similar parts.
In this arrangement a piece of asbestos fabric is used to form the curtain which
is of the same dimensions as the opening to be closed. One end of the curtain is
fixed to a metal rod or spindle a, figures 2 and 3, and the other end is placed between
two thin strips of iron b, b' for the purpose of weighting the curtain and causing it
to have a certain tension.
oven.
The curtain is then arranged in the position it is to occupy at the upper part of the
The rod a carrying the curtain and which causes it to be raised or lowered is
fitted in bearings fixed to the top or to the sides of the oven, or it can be simply fitted
into holes serving as bearings and formed for that purpose, one in the front of the
oven and the other at the back part. The rod extends through the hole in the front
plate and the projecting part is formed with a square for carrying a toothed wheel or
ratchet wheel c and a suitable key d (figure 1) or a crank handle for turning the rod.
A pawl is provided which takes into the teeth of a toothed wheel; it preferably
consists of a thin strip e of resilient metal fixed at one end in a support the other
end engaging with the teeth of the wheel c. It has been found in practice that even
when in close proximity to the fire the spring loses none of its power and acts in an
effective manner.
By means of the pawl the curtain R can be raised or lowered into any required
position by simply turning the key d in the required direction.
The ratchet wheel and pawl can be placed inside the oven if desired but it is
preferred to place them outside as, when well made and polished or nickelled, they
improve the appearance of the range or oven.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. The use in combination with ovens of the kind herein referred to, of a suitable
curtain or screen such as R placed alongside the fire place for the purpose of
regulating the heat of the oven.
2. The arrangement of regulating screen for ovens consisting of a curtain of
metallic or incombustible fabric adapted to be rolled and unrolled in a similar manner
to an ordinary roller window blind alongside the fire place, substantially as and for
the purpose herein before described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
3. The combination with a screen made of metallic or incombustible fabric, of a
ratchet and spring pawl arrangement for the purpose of keeping the screen in any
required position to which it may be moved, substantially as hereinbefore described
and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
Unted the 18th day of June 1888
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Agents for the Applicant.