IMPROVEMENTS IN COOLING AND REFRIGERATING APPARATUS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Frederick Littleton, of Battersea, in the County
of Surrey, Brewer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COOLING AND
REFRIGERATING APPARATUS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Frederick Littleton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th November 1881.
JOSEPH FREDERICK LITTLETON, of Battersea, in the County of Surrey, Brewer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COOLING AND REFRIGERATING APPARATUS."
My Invention has reference more particularly to cooling and refrigerating
machines in which a solution of ammonia, ether, or other like gas is evaporated in
a generator by fire, steam coil, or otherwise. This gas after passing through
apparatus such as an analyzer, a rectifier, and a condenser in the manner well
understood, is collected in a receiver from which it is allowed to flow into a cooler.
In the apparatus as ordinarily constructed the communication between the receiver
and the cooler consists of an exposed pipe which leads into the bottom of the
cooler, and the effect of this arrangement is that the liquefied gas which has been
reduced to the liquefied state by compression and the expenditure or use of a
quantity of cold water in the condenser increases in temperature before reaching
the cooler; thereby a large amount of the cooling power which the liquefied gas
possesses is lost, and its cooling effect when it expands in the ordinary way in the
cooler is proportionately reduced.
Now my Invention consists in so forming the communication between the
receiver and the cooler that the liquefied gas before being allowed to expand in the
cooler is refrigerated by the gas which has previously expanded in the cooler. The
manner in which I prefer to carry out my Invention is to lead the pipe from the
receiver into the upper part of the cooler, and to continue it in the form of a coil
or other analogous shape within the cooler, and I then lead it out at the lower
part of the cooler, fit it with the usual appliances, and finally carry it back into
the lower part of the cooler so that the gas may enter and expand therein as usual.
By this means the liquefied gas in passing through the coil in the cooler is

page_text: refrigerated by the evaporated gas previously admitted to the cooler to a tem-
perature far below that of the cooler when the ordinary arrangement is adopted;
thus this refrigerated gas in its turn will intensify the cold in the cooler which can
in this way be reduced to almost any required extent.
Another manner of carrying out my Invention is to place on the gas outlet pipe
of the cooler what I will call an intensifier; this consists of a closed vessel introduced
into the pipe communicating between the cooler and the ordinary absorber; through
this vessel I carry in the form of a coil the pipe which conveys the liquefied gas
from the receiver to the cooler.
Another way is to carry the liquefied gas pipe through the pipe which conveys
from the cooler the brine or other liquid which has been refrigerated therein.
In applying my Invention to compressed air refrigerating machines, I employ in
an analogous manner to that above described a portion of the air already cooled to
refrigerate in a chamber or vessel the compressed air on its way to the expanding
chamber.
My Invention further consists in fitting the receiver with a self regulating outlet
valve or tap for the liquefied gas, and in leading the gas from the condenser into
the receiver at the lower part thereof, that is to say, at a point below the level of
the liquefied gas collected therein.
My self regulating valve or tap is composed of a lever and float and of a valve,
carried by the lever to open or close the entrance to the outlet pipe which extends
When the level of
a certain distance, say a foot more or less, up into the receiver.
the collected liquefied gas rises sufficiently to cause the float to open the valve, the
liquid gas will enter the outlet pipe, and on the other hand, when the liquid level
falls the valve will be closed. Thus the level is maintained almost constant and
the liquefied gas flows into the outlet pipe to the cooler in proportion as it is
liquefied. None of the gas entering the receiver from the condenser can pass to
the cooler without becoming liquefied, because its inlet into the receiver is below
the liquid level therein.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Joseph Frederick Littleton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th May 1882.
#t
JOSEPH FREDERICK LITTLETON, of Battersea, in the County of Surrey, Brewer.
IMPROVEMENTS IN COOLING AND REFRIGERATING APPARATUS."
My Invention has reference to cooling and refrigerating machines in which a
solution of ammonia, ether, or other like gas is evaporated in a generator by fire,
steam coil, or otherwise. This gas after passing through apparatus, such as an
analyzer, a rectifier, and a condenser in the manner well understood, is collected in
a receiver, from which it is allowed to flow into a cooler. In the apparatus as
ordinarily constructed the communication between the receiver and the cooler
consists of an exposed pipe which leads into the bottom of the cooler, and the effect
of this arrangement is that the liquefied gas which has been reduced to the liquefied
state by compression, and the expenditure or use of a quantity of cold water in the
condenser increases in temperature before reaching the cooler; thereby a large
amount of the cooling power which the liquefied gas possesses is lost, and its cooling
effect when it expands in the ordinary way in the cooler is proportionately
reduced.
Now I so form the communication between the receiver and the cooler that the
liquefied gas before being allowed to expand in the cooler is refrigerated by the
gas which has previously expanded in the cooler.
The manner in which I carry this into effect is to place on the gas outlet pipe of
the cooler what I call an intensifier; this consists of a closed vessel introduced into
the pipe communicating between the cooler and the ordinary absorber; through
this vessel I carry in the form of a coil the pipe which conveys the liquefied gas
from the receiver to the cooler.
Another way of refrigerating the liquefied gas on its way to the cooler is to carry
the liquefied gas pipe through the pipe which conveys from the cooler the brine or
other liquid which has been refrigerated therein. This way may be combined with
the way first described, that is to say, with the intensifier.
I also sometimes in combination with either or both of the above ways further
cool the liquefied gas by the gas which has previously expanded in the cooler by
leading the liquefied gas pipe from the receiver into the upper part of the cooler,
continuing it in the form of a coil or other analogous shape within the cooler,
leading it out at the lower part of the cooler, where I fit it with the usual
appliances, and finally carrying it back into the lower part of the cooler so that the
gas may enter and expand therein as usual.
The accompanying Drawings illustrate my Invention:-Figure 1 shows the
manner in which I apply my intensifier, as herein before described, to an ammonia
machine; a is the cooler, of any ordinary construction, b is a coil of pipe therein
through which the brine or other liquid to be refrigerated circulates; c, c, is the
pipe leading from the cooler a to the absorber (not shown); d is the intensifier
introduced into the pipe c, c, and consisting of a closed vessel, as shown; e is the
pipe which conveys the liquefied gas from the condenser and receiver (not shown)
to the cooler a. This pipe e enters the vessel or intensifier d, and is carried
through this vessel in the form of a coil f, as shown, so that the liquefied gas in
passing through the coil is refrigerated by the gas which has previously expanded
in the cooler and is on its way to the absorber. From the intensifier the liquefied
gas may be carried directly to the bottom of the cooler, as shown by the dotted
lines 9, but I much prefer, particularly in constructing new apparatus, to lead it as
shown by the pipe h into the upper part of the cooler, to continue this pipe in the

page_text: form of a coil i within the cooler, then to lead it out at the lower part and fit it
with a cock, as shown, and finally carry it back into the lower part of the cooler,
into which the gas then enters and expands as usual. The liquefied gas is thus
further refrigerated in passing through the cooler i.
Figure 2 shows the manner in which I refrigerate the liquefied gas by carrying it
through the pipe which conveys the refrigerated brine or other liquid from the
cooler. a is the cooler as before, and b the coil through which the brine or other
liquid circulates; k, k, is the pipe leading the refrigerated brine or liquid from the
cooler. In this pipe I introduce a closed vessel d, similar to the intensifier d,
Figure 1. e is the liquefied gas pipe led in the form of a coil f, through the vessel d,
and then into the cooler, in which it may be allowed to expand at once, or in
which, as I prefer, it is first led through a coil i, as shown. The arrangements
shown in Figures 1 and 2 may be combined, that is to say, the liquefied gas pipe
may be first led through the intensifier d, Figure 1, and then through the vessel d,
Figure 2 (or vice vered), and then into the cooler a, either directly or after passing
through a coil in the cooler.
Figure 3 represents the manner in which I prefer to apply my Invention to an
ether machine. a is the cooler, b the inlet for the brine or other liquid to be
refrigerated, and b' the outlet for the same; c, c, is the pipe leading from the cooler
to the air pump and condenser; d the intensifier introduced into this pipe; e the
pipe conveying the liquefied gas from the condenser to the cooler a; this pipe
passes through the intensifier ad in the form of a coil f, and is then led to the cooler
in the lower part of which it is carried in serpentine form, as shown, so that the
gas becomes further refrigerated before escaping into the cooler.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First. In cooling and refrigerating apparatus of the kind herein referred to I
claim the employment of an apparatus such as that herein called an intensifier for
refrigerating the liquefied gas on its way to the cooler by the gas which has
previously expanded in the cooler, substantially as and for the purpose herein before
described and represented in Figures 1 and 3.
Second. In cooling and refrigerating apparatus of the kind herein referred to I
claim carrying the liquefied gas on the way to the cooler through the pipe which
conveys the refrigerated brine or liquid from the cooler, substantially as and for the
purpose herein before described and represented in Figure 2.
Third. In combination with either or both the arrangements referred to in the
first and second claims, I claim carrying the liquefied gas through a coil or
analogous device within the cooler before allowing it to enter and expand therein,
substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described and represented in the
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Frederick Littleton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, One thousand eight hundred
J. F. LITTLETON. (L.s.)