Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 8.djvu/845

 B0BIN80N V. SUTTEB. 831 �to percolate through it, in combiuation, substaiitially, as hereinafter de- scribed, with a steam-generating apparatus, and a steam-receiving chamber surrounding the vessel for containing the tobacco. �" I am aware that the general structural plan of the apparatus hereinafter described is old, and I do not, therefore, here intend to claim the satue ilide- pendently of a tobacco-receiving vessel ikade of wood sufflciently porous t'o permit the steam to percolate through it, as and for the purposes set forth, the said wooden vessel constituting, as! belle ve, an improvement uponithe apparatus heretofore in use, for the reason that, in employing wood instead of metal in tlfp constructioq of the said vessel, the tobacco. is prevented from being tainted, and may be kept continually moist by the action of the steami instead of being merely heated and sweated by it, ot steamed only by'the generation of steam in the same vessel containing the tobadco; it being ebvi- ous that, if the tobacco-receiving vessel fee made of metal, as heretofore iii ■flevioes of thisdass, tihe ateam in the outer surrounding vessel would merely beat the tob,^o, md sweat it, .without imparting new moisture to it. Neither do I bere intend to claim the process, assuch,, of steaming tobacco. * * * �"C is a tight wooden vessel for receiviiig the tobacco tobe treated. This vessel shbuld be provided with a tight-flttirig cbver, a. I make the vessel, 6', df vf&oa, as an essehtial feature of my inVeritio'ny in order that the steam may sweat or percolate ttirough it fromithe tank, B, and so that the tobacco will not be tainted by contact with m etid. The vessel, 0, is enOugh smaller than the tank, B, to be suspended in the latter, and leave an annular space, b, befcween the two, as well as a space underneath the bottom of the vessel, C, as shown." �• It is obviouB that this inventer meant to have the tobacco holder, as he calls the box, C, suffioiently open, either through the pores of the wood, or interstices between the staves or boards, so that steam would slowly percolate through, and not that a strong jet of steam should pass through any one creviee or opening, so as to be condensed oh the tobacco and wet it, but that it should slowly percolate through the pores of the wood, and maintain a steady, low degree of warmth inside the holder, and upon the leaves. This was the evident pur- pose of the inventer in the device which he has presented. It is true the inventer, in his claim, says : �" I claim — First, the apparatus substantially as ^escribed for treating tobacco, to-wit : the tight vessel or tank, B, the tight vessel, C, made of wood, and sus- pended in the tank, B, and a steam generator or heater, all combined and operated together, substantially as nnd for the purposes ispecified; second, the coœbination of the boiler, A, the tight tank, B, made of wood, the tight vessel, 0, made of wood, and suspended in the tank, B, and the pipes, D and E, en- tering the tank, B, and the boiler, all arraugM and operating substantially as and for the purposes specifled." �The "tight vessel, C," as described and referred to in the claims, must mean the "tight vessel, G," described in thei opeftifications, and ��� �