Improvements in the Manufacture of Artificial Ice.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Dec., 1897-Accepted, 12th Feb., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Artificial Ice.
I, AIMÉ MARIE LEON OSMOND, Marquis d'Osmond, of 10, Rue Louis le Grand,
Paris, France, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
This invention relates to the manufacture of artificial ice in blocks of any
dimensions by simple and economical means without the direct aid of machinery.
The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings which represent in
an elementary manner the general arrangement of an installation of the freezing
apparatus.
In Figure 1 a is a tank or building in which a number of cold air conduits which
may be metal tubes 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, &c., are suspended by ropes or bands passing
over pulleys ec2 &c. and counterbalanced by weights d d² &c., so as to remain
wherever placed, or they may be fixed by any other means.
At the commencement of the operation the lower ends of the conduits b¹; 6 &c.;
are put in communication with a cold air main formed in or by the double floor é
having sockets in which their lower ends fit, packings f (Figure 6) being provided
at the lower ends of the conduits to prevent leakage of water into the cold air main.
The tank or building a is filled with water (under control of a device limiting
the supply to the exact quantity required) nearly up the tops of the con-
duits 6, &c., and cold air is then admitted through the main or double floor e
and by circulating through the conduits cause the congelation of the immediately
adjacent film of water as well as of that in contact with the bottom e, the cold air
which escapes from the conduits also producing the congelation of the whole of the
surface of the layer of water, whereby a hollow chamber of ice filled with water
is produced as shown in Figure 1.
In order to prevent the contained water as it gradually continues to freeze, from
bursting the superjacent film of ice formed, one or more perforated displacer
plugs hare supported at the surface of the water so as by dipping therein to prevent
ice being formed at the points occupied by the plugs, and permit the escape of the
water expelled by expansion during congelation. In Figure 1 one of these hollow
plugs h (Figure 5) is shewn as suspended from an arm g carried by the air conduit 64.
Or the excess of water may escape through a pipe i provided with a cock, preferably
adapted to open automatically onl a certain pressure being produced
by the expansion of the water in freezing. When the ice has acquired
sufficient thickness, a current of hot air is passed through the cold
air main and conduits 61, 63 &c., for the purpose of sufficiently melting the
enveloping ice to permit of the conduits 61, 63 &c., being then raised to the position
represented in Figure 1 at 62 with the packings f still fitting in the bores formed in
the ice by the conduits. All of the conduits 6; 63 &c., having been thus raised
more water is admitted so as to fill the tank or building a nearly up to the new
level of the top ends of the conduits, and the plug or plugs having been readjusted
to that level the water is then frozen by the cold air current as before. The aperturės

page_text: left by the removal of the plugs h allows of the water expelled by continued con-
gelation from the lower layer rising into the second layer.
It is preferable to arrange the plugs for the successive layers in such relative
positions that the cold water from below will flow along the bottom of the layer
next above and there deposit the ice crystals carried by it, as the upper layers of
water are always less cold than the lower layers.
By repeating the above described operation a number of times the congelation
proceeds in successive stages, the block acquiring gradually more solidity towards
the lower part first formed and upon which the cold air current has acted for a
longer period. When the block of ice has attained a sufficient height, the con-
duits b¹, 2 &c. are entirely removed and the cold air current again admitted for
a certain time until a solid block of ice is formed traversed by the tubular cavities
vacated by the conduits 61, 62 &c., and which facilitate the splitting of the block
into lumps of uniform size.
In order to render it unnecessary to make the walls of the freezing chamber a
strong enough to resist the pressure of the head of water the cold air conduits are
placed close together near the sides (as shown in Figure 4 which is a horizontal
section on line A-B Figure 3,) in order that congelation shall be more rapid
along the sides so that the protective layer of ice thus formed whose thickness
becomes gradually increased towards the lower part, will sufficiently strengthen
the walls of the structure, this wall of ice being braced by horizontal layers of ice
which form upon the different layers of water.
In Figures 7 and 8 a number of tubes 6 of canvas, metal or other material
of unequal length are shown as grouped within the structure a, and connected
either by the double bottom e or by means of a bend as shown at i. The tubes b
open through the tray k which closes in the top of the freezing chamber a whilst
the tubes 6 open through the ceiling 1. Water supplied to the tray k circulates
between partitions m (Figure 8) before flowing into the freezing chamber either
through a pipe or through apertures in tray k around the tubes b, b. By admitting
cold air through the tubes 6 before or at same time that the water is supplied to
the freezing chamber or preferably after said chamber has been filled with water,
the congelation of the water will first take place upon the external surfaces of the
tubes b, b¹ owing to the circulation of the cold air therein and this congelation
will gradually proceed until the chamber is completely filled by a solid block of ice.
A current of hot air is then passed through the cold air pipe and tubes b, 61 for
the purpose of detaching them from the ice in which they are enclosed, and the
tubes are then withdrawn, leaving a solid block of ice traversed by tubular cavities,
which facilitate the splitting up of the block into parts of uniform size. In some
cases after having removed the tubes, water may be run into the tubular cavities
until by the circulation of cold air, said cavities are completely closed up with ice.
The tubes may be disposed horizontally as shown in Figure 9, the congelation
of the water first commencing around the tubes which are withdrawn on the
completion of the congelation.
To obtain a rapid circulation of cold air, exhausters such as fans n suitably driven,
may be disposed at suitable points of the structure.
By the process described, blocks of ice of any dimensions may be produced by
very simple and economical means without the aid of special machines.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:-
-
1st. A process for the manufacture of ice blocks, which consists in freezing
successive layers of water in a tank by the passage of currents of cold air through
tubes or conduits of uniform section traversing the mass of water and communi-
cating at bottom with a cold air main, said conduits being raised after the congela-
tion of the first layer of water, for effecting the congelation in turn of a superjacent
layer and so on, the conduits being placed closer together near the walls of the

page_text: structure so as to effect a more rapid congelation thereat, and strengthen the walls
by the ice formed thereat as specified.
2nd. In a process for the manufacture of ice blocks by the compartmental con-
gelation of successively superposed layers of water, the employment at
the surface of each layer of perforated plugs, to permit the escape of
water, expelled from the interior during congelation, the holes left by
the plugs being so situated that the escaping water will flow along the bottom of the
compartment immediately above and reinforce it by the deposit of ice crystals
thereon as described.
3rd. In the process of making ice blocks by the compartmental congelation of
successively superposed layers of water, the employment of hollow metallic con-
duits or tubes of uniform section making a watertight joint with a cold air main
and provided with a packing ring which when the tubes are raised under the con-
ditions described prevent the entry of the superjacent water into the tubular cavities
formed by the tubes, the latter being suspended and fixed at any desired height.
4th. In the process of making ice blocks by the compartmental congelation of
successively superposed layers of water, the employment of a chamber having a
double bottom in which vertical conduits fit watertight by means of packings,
and into which cold air is admitted or hot air for detaching said conduits from the
ice as specified.
5th. In the process of making ice blocks the employment of a tank or building
traversed by removable air conduits as represented in Figures 7, 8 and 9, for the
introduction of cold air to freeze the surrounding water, and of warm air to detach
them from the block of ice so formed.
Datal thin 19th das of Dasambon 1907
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
Chartered Patent Agents,
53, Chancery Lane, London.