Towns > Edinburgh > 1832-1838 - Gray's annual directory > 1834-1835

WILLTAM lAV\-A coffee APPAP.ATU^
^IIE EXGRA^nXG on the forego-
-■*- ing page will serve as a sort of glance into
W. Law's Cofl«e Roasting Shop. The apartment
13 50 feet long, \6 feet broad, and 24 feet high.
The Steam Boiler stands h\ the right comer, as in
the plate, the Engine next, and the four Roasters
connected wdth it extend the whole length of the
place. Two of these Roasters contain 11 "2 lbs. each,
and the other two 56 lbs. each. The figure in the
left comer of the plate, standing above, is an accu-
rate drawing of one of these Roasters; partly to fill
up the space, and, if possible, to convey some notion of
the pecidiar construction and motion of the m;ichine.
The figure in the other comer is put there for uni-
fonnity's sake, and represents the Coffee Mill used
in W. Law's Shop.
It is umiecessary to enter into an}' lengthened
detail of the rise and progress of such a Manufac
as from side to side. A cylinder not being easily
capable of such a motion, W, Law tried if it wa-^
possible to keep a long fire beneath a cylinder, at ^•yh
an equal temperature as to avoid completely all m*;'-
gularity in roasting, but he found this barely possibl'.
He then thought of Mahommed'^s method of moviwg
mountauis, and tried if it were possible; to bnng tho
coffee regularly to the fixe, since it was not pos-
sible to keep the fire regularly beneath every part of
the coffee, and the only figiure which appeai*ed to hiiu
capable of doing this was the Globe. The double
rotatory motion, which it cost him some toil to pro-
duce, is new, so far as he is able to learn. He lias
examijied most machines of tlie kind in Scotland,
England, and France. The advantages of it may be
easily shown in the roasting of coffee, malt, pease, oi-
even in the drj-ing of com ; in all which, regularity, or
sameness of colour, and, consequently, perfection of
lory as this. Like most other things of the sort, it flavour, is of the utmost importance.
arose from the meerest trifle. A wish to liave a
Roasting Machine, vnth. two motions in place of one,
promised, in the first place, to be useful ; and, in the
second, to be curious, whether it were useful or not.
Revohing this single idea for months, — as weak
people will do with mechanical crotchets in their
heads, — a method of producing these two simultane-
ous motions occumed one day, as if by accident. No
sooner was the movement clear to the mind''s eye,
than a Wooden Alodel was set about ; and as the
movements were accomplished satisfactorily, the
blacksmith was employed next to construct a coffee-
pan on the new principle. As soon as thi^l T.as
tried, expectation was not only confirmed, but ex-
alted. In the new way the work was much better
done, and it was much easier doing the work. There
was more temptation to push the trade, and the sale
was increased rapidly. Pan after pan was ordered,
improvement after improvement was effected ; and,
in the short space of two years, what uath excellence
of quality, lowness in price, and novelty in prepara-
tion, there wa'^ obtained a greater and more constant
demand for coffee tlian had ever taken place in any
one shop in the world before ! ! !
These facts and assertions will, of course, be called
by some the mere vapours of a puff; but there are
others who may be satisfied to see that W. Law
does not alone entertain a favourable opinion of his
Coffee Roasters ; and, for this purpose, he submits
the two following papers, viz.
First, — A Descriptive Account of a Model sub-
mitted to the Society of Arts, by W. Law, De-
cember 1829 ; and, secondly, their Report upon
that Model: —
THE INVENTOR of the accompanying Model
has been, for many years, a Roaster of Coffee for his
ovm trade, performing the operation ^nth the ordi-
nary cylinders hitherto and yet in general use in Bri-
tain and on the Continent. He was constantly dis-
satisfied, however, with the partial manner in which
the cylinder performed its duty, making parts of its
contents black, others brown, and others all the vari-
ous shades of both. This result was easily accounted
for, from the fact of a <:ylinder only revolving on one
axis ; and though it threw. the- coffee berries regularly
from side to side, yet when the fire beneath it was
irregular, the -.beirries: were necessarily in'eguhirly
roasted, unlesa-somei motion could be given to the
cylinder to throwithebenlee as well from end to end
The manner of heating it through a cast metal pot
is not a matter of indifference. Cylinders for rousr-
ing the above-named substances are generally heated
above a live-coal fire of coke or charcoal, having th'^ir
contents exposed to sulphurous flames, &c. &c. ; but
the contents of tlie globe is completely excluded from
the fumes of fuel of an}- kind, and there fuel, at lialf
the expense, will roast coffee through the pot, to
what would roast the same quantity in a cyhnder
working on an open chaufer. But the most decided
advantage is, the r'^gnV^r ir.'^.n-jr ii\ v.hicK tlie con-
tents ot the double rotator}- globe is heated, no mut-
ter what side, end, bottom, or top. the heat conjes
from, the constant complex motion timis every part
of the machme in regidar rotation against it, and
while the stuff" inside keeps tumbling from east to
west, and from south to north, at one and the 'same
time, it is next to impossible to make one bean one
colour, and another a different colour.
W. Law has four of these machines in constant
operation, driven with a steam-engine. They con-
tain from ofi to 112 pounds each. He has now
used them a sufficient length of time to prove tlieir
utility — he need not say beyond dispute — for he can
have no interest, and has no wish, to dispute the point.
Tlieir pretty general adoption confimis the correctness
of his conclusions while the invention was but in
theory ; and in submitting this model to the Society
of Arts, he seeks no encouragement fiirther than
that, if they see meet to consider it a useful, — a — a
— any invention at all — they will merely acknow-
ledge it to be such, thus recording his claim to a ti-ifle,
which he has taken no pains otherwise to protect.
WILLLiM LAW,
Edin'BVRGH, \Ot?i Dec^mbery 1829.
THE REPORT. — SOCIETY OF ARTS FOR SCOTLAND.
fieport of the Committee appointed to exatniTie Mr Lav'i Model o/«
^ew Cojee-roasler, 3rf March, 1S30.
The Committee have examined the Model of Mr Law's CoiTcc-
rnasier, the slightest ioipection of which induces the eonvictitm of
its answering the anticipations of its Inventor. The method adopted
to produce two simultaneous rotatory motions, the one at right
angles to the other, is very ingenious ; the merit of which is en-
hanred bv its simplicity.
The Committee have also visited Mr Law's premises, where the
Macliinery for Roasting and Grinding of Coffee is kept in motion
by a small and handsome Steam- Engine ; and they are ctmOnned
in their opinion of the perfect eiRcacy of the contrivance.
The case with wiiich the Roaster i,'^ raised from the furnace, and
the wav in which the jtate of the Coffee may be ascertained, while
tlie motion of the globe is maintained in one direction, have giv^a
theXommittee great satisfaction.
Printed by James Colston, East Rose Street.