The history of the pressure cooker: a genuinely Spanish patent not exempt from litigation

Year 1919. An inventor from Zaragoza, Jose Alix Martinezpatents a pot model to shorten cooking time which it calls ‘Express’. With it, domestic and professional cooking will change forever. The effects of high pressure on food had already been studied in depth by scientists such as Denis Papinwho already designed a primitive device with which he demonstrated its effectiveness in 1681.

Behind this kitchen utensil there are several curiosities. The main one was the judicial imbroglio due to the dispute over the invention in question after Álix assigned the patent to the industrialist. Camilo Bellvis Calatayud in 1924.

For decades, this family manufactured the only model available in Spain until the 1950s and has been involved in other lawsuits for claiming the invention of other objects as popular as the mop –whose first patent was from the engineer and officer of the Air Force, Manuel Jalón Corominasformer partner of Bellvis. In 2009, and curiously at the initiative of the latter, the Superior Court of Justice of Aragon ruled in favor of Álix’s memory.

This illustrious Aragonese and Bellvis personally sold the first models of this pot – whose lid fitted against the rim pushed directly by the pressure inside and secured by a wing nut. It was accompanied by a booklet with 360 recipes that ended up being part of the first cookbook with pressure cookerpublished in 1924 and signed by Bellvis.

Later, other emblematic brands would arrive such as Laster, manufactured in Bilbao, or Magefesa with its popular model ‘Super cocotte‘.