A Cooking Revolution: Mary Jones De Leon

In 1873, Mary Jones De Leon was granted U.S. patent No. 140,253 for her creation titled ”Cooking Apparatus.” De Leon, who resided in Baltimore, Maryland, is believed to be the second black female to get a U.S. patent, adhering to Martha Jones in 1868. De Leon’s creation was an apparatus for heating or cooking food items by dry heat and steam the exact time. Her cooking apparatus was an early precursor to the steam tables now made use of in foods buffets to hold food warm in the course of gatherings.

Innovations in the Art of Cooking

De Leon’s cooking apparatus bundled a lamp for delivering dry heat, as effectively as a drinking water reservoir for furnishing steam, which “reliev[ed] the dryness of the warmth, and protect against[ed] the content of food stuff on the plates … from becoming scorched or usually wounded.” The invention would verify to be practical when feeding huge families or at gatherings, wherever persons are served at unique situations. At a time when meal preparation was a significant component of a homemaker’s perform and was pretty time consuming, advances in engineering associated to storing, preserving, getting ready and serving food could be everyday living shifting. De Leon’s equipment put together the operate of a cooking oven and a steamer into one apparatus, therefore preserving time and house.

The cooking equipment integrated a vessel with a ledge for an annular h2o-reservoir. The reservoir was perforated to make it possible for steam to escape to the interior of the vessel when the h2o in the reservoir grew to become heated by a warmth lamp. A plate obtaining a collection of holes was also positioned inside the vessel for acquiring meals to be heated or warmed. Warmth from the kerosine lamp was directed to the underside of the plate by a series of tubes for heating the foods, in addition to heating the drinking water in the reservoir to crank out steam. Other patents directed to cooking by means of warmth lamps had been issued, this sort of as U.S. Patent No. 126,874 to John Graham Cooey, but De Leon’s cooking apparatus stood out because of to its simplicity and multi-use features.

From the Patent:

“The mother nature of my creation is composed in the construction and arrangement of an equipment for heating meals by dry heat and steam at 1 time, and which equipment could also be used for cooking, as will be hereinafter additional fully set forth. … At the very same time as the dry warmth from the lamp is made use of, the steam arising from the Drinking water in the reservoir relieves the dryness of the heat and prevents the content of foods on the plates E from getting to be scorched or normally injured. By inserting the lamp B on its seat in the reservoir, and substituting a strong plate for the plate D, this apparatus may possibly also be employed for cooking, if so desired. The full equipment is protected by a lid.

Acquiring consequently completely explained my invention, what I claim as new, and drive to protected by Letters Patent, is

1. 1. In an equipment for heating and cooking foodstuff, the mixture of a lamp and the annular water-reservoir, obtaining a perforated address, with the plate or plates made up of the content articles to be heated, whereby mentioned articles are subjected to the blended action of steam and dry warmth, although the latter may be used for cooking applications, by positioning the lamp in its seat on the h2o-reservoir, significantly in the fashion herein established forth.”

Rebecca Tapscott

is an mental assets attorney who has joined IPWatchdog as our Staff members Writer. She been given her Bachelor of Science diploma in chemistry from the College of Central Florida and acquired her Juris Doctorate in 2002 from the George Mason College of Regulation in Arlington, VA.

Prior to becoming a member of IPWatchdog, Rebecca has labored as a senior associate lawyer for the Bilicki Legislation Organization and Diederiks & Whitelaw, PLC. Her practice has concerned mental assets litigation, the planning and prosecution of patent programs in the chemical, mechanical arts, and electrical arts, strategic alliance and growth agreements, and trademark prosecution and opposition issues. In addition, she is admitted to the Virginia State Bar and is a registered patent attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Business office. She is also a member of the American Bar Affiliation and the American Mental Home Legislation Affiliation.