An Automatic Tea Caddy.

Progress, Volume I, Issue 2, 1 December 1905, Page 30

An Automatic Tea Caddy.

In the large refreshment houses and tea-rooms, which are now springing up at every corner of our streets, thousands of cups of tea must be " made separately for each customer." A demand has, therefore, arisen for a means of dealing out, automatically, the proper quantities of tea required. This need is met by an automatic, self-recording tea-caddy measuring machine, designed by a London inventor. The tea is first placed into a large conical receptacle, the lid of which can be secured by lock and key. A regulator is then adjusted to give, at each movement of the handle,

either sufficient for one, two, or more cups of tea, allowing this quantity to fall into the teapot at each movement. As the machine is worked, each delivery may be automatically recorded on a dial, and hence it is possible to ascertain, at the end of the day, how many cups of tea have been served out from any particular caddy, forming, in this way, a certain check upon the action of the attendants. The tea is accurately weighed out, and cannot possibly vary in the quantity delivered. The tea is placed m the pot untouched by hand, and once the adjustment is set to the position required, it is impossible for it to be tampered with, and the assistant is prevented from giving, in the rush of business, too much or too little, while customers have the satisfaction of getting their tea always of the same strength.