AN IMPROVED BREWERS' AND DISTILLERS' REFRIGERATOR OR APPARATUS FOR COOLING LIQUIDS, CONDENSING STEAM, OR OTHER VAPOURS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Morris Asbby, of Staines, in the County of Middlesex,
Brewer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED BREWERS' AND DISTILLERS'
REFRIGERATOR OR APPARATUS FOR COOLING LIQUIDS, CONDENSING STEAM, OR
OTHER VAPOURS."
Sealed the 22nd December 1865, and dated the 26th June 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Morris Ashby at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
June 1865.
I, MORRIS ASHBY, of Staines, in the County of Middlesex, Brewer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED BREWERS'
AND DISTILLERS' REFRIGERATOR OR APPARATUS FOR COOLING LIQUIDS, CONDENSING
STEAM, OR OTHER VAPOURS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
In constructing my said improved refrigerator or apparatus I enclose a
number of flattened tubes (by preference of copper) within single outer tubes,
fixing both in a vertical, inclined, or other position in a series; the outer pipes
are flanged and open at the ends until they receive the inner or copper tubes,
the ends of the latter are let into a cupped disc or flange of brass or other
metal at one end and into an inverted cup, screwed externally, and round
which a running disc or flange, screwed internally, is fitted at the other end.
Between the flanges of the interior pipes and those of the exterior pipes I
place rings or washers of india-rubber for making the joints water-tights. The

page_text: inverted cup ends of the inner tubes, with the traversing flanges off, are
passed through or down the outer pipes, and the screw flanges or collars then
screwed on, when the two flanges (of the inner pipes) are forced home against
the flanges of the outer pipes and compress the india-rubber rings between
them. To prevent the lower ring from being carried round I insert a dished
ring of metal between it and the screw flange or fixing nut; the water or
cooling liquid passes through the outer pipes, and the hot wort or other liquid
or vapour through the inner or flattened tubes in opposite directions. The
series of outer and inner tubes are connected at the ends or at top and bottom
alternately, the former by flanged branches and the latter by elbows fitted
with the usual union joint; taps are added for letting out the air at the top and
drawing off the wort or other liquid at the bottom. By this mode of con-
struction I obtain, 1st, a very simple, compact, and powerful refrigerator,
possessing in the space occupied thereby greatly increased cooling surface;
2nd, an apparatus the parts of which can be easily and quickly separated
and refixed when necessary, while the inner tubes, being straight from end to
end, admit of their being seen through and thoroughly examined and readily
cleansed both externally and internally when required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Morris Ashby in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th December 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MORRIS
ASHBY, of Staines, in the County of Middlesex, Brewer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Morris Ashby, Her special licence that I, the said Morris Ashby, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1, the said Morris
Ashby, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED BREWERS'
AND DISTILLERS' REFRIGERATOR OR APPARATUS FOR COOLING LIQUIDS OR CONDENSING
STEAM OR OTHER VAPOURS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I; the said

page_text: Morris Ashby, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same:
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent.
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the.
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Morris Ashby, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):
Into the perforated bottom of an inverted cup at one end, which cup is
fitted with a running screw flange removeable therefrom and into an externally
cupped flange or disc at the other end, in which disc suitable openings are
also formed,. I fit and fix a number of flattened oval or parallel-sided tubes of:
very thin metal (by preference of copper); these tubes I incline in single.
outer pipes. The inner tubes I designate the conduits, and the outer pipes
the mains. The mains are straight flanged pipes or cylinders of cast iron or:
other metal, open at each end, where branches are formed for connecting any
required number of them together; the open ends of the mains are closed by
the fixed and moveable flanges on the end of the conduits. The refrigerator
or apparatus consists of one or more of these mains, conduits, and junctions. ;;
the tubes or conduits in one main are connected with those in another main
by means of top and bottom union-jointed bends or junction pipes. The wort,
spirit, vapour, or gas to be cooled or condensed passes through the conduits
and junctions, and the liquor water cooling or condensing compound passes
through or is contained in the mains. and branches. The wort and cooling
liquors pass through the series of conduits and mains in opposite directions.
By making the conduits in the flattened forms above described the wort, &c.
is divided into very thin sectional streams, the cooling surface of the tubes in
proportion to the quantity of the wort therein and the effect of the cooling
liquor thereon is greatly increased..
For still further augmenting the power of the apparatus without increasing
the quantity of cooling liquor required I vary the number or capacity of the
tubes in the mains so as to diminish the velocity of the flow of the wort
towards the outlet, where the reduction of the temperature becomes more
difficult. The wort and cooling liquid are admitted by stop-cocks on the
opposite inlets, the respective quantities. of the wort and liquor. are regulated
thereby, and being equal in equal units of time it follows that as the number
or capacity of the conduits is increased, and consequently the water space in

page_text: the mains diminished, the velocity of the wort will be reduced, while the velocity-
of the cooling liquor at its lowest temperature will be increased, and thus by:
this arrangement the result obtained will be similar to that which could only:
otherwise be effected by increasing the number or size of the mains and
conduits or the aggregate length of the apparatus.
For more perfectly disseminating the particles of the wort I indroduce
perforated plates in the cups at the ends of the conduits.
By the mode of forming the mains and conduits and fitting the former into
the latter, as herein described, with moveable flanges, they can be easily and
quickly separated, and when the conduits are taken out the mains can be
examined and cleansed internally, and the tubes all examined and cleansed
internally and externally, and the whole be again fitted together and fixed
with equal facility. The conduits in the mains can be changed from one main
to another, and the arrangement of mains and conduits varied as circumstances
may require.
:
The general form of the apparatus is illustrated upon the accompanying
Drawing, to which the following explanation refers :-
EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a refrigerator constructed according to my said Invention
in side elevation; Figure 2 shews the same apparatus in plan; Figure 3 is a
longitudinal section shewing the mode of fitting the mains or outer pipes and
inner tubes or conduits together, and also shews the running screw flange and
inverted cup arrangement; Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 respectively shew
transverse sections of a series of mains and conduits, in which the velocity of
the flow of the wort towards the outlet is reduced by increasing the number of
the wort tubes. The same. result may also be obtained by increasing the size
or capacity of the wort tubes without increasing their number, and I should
here state that in the latter case I prefer to make this increase in the capacity
of the tubes by increasing their conjugate diameters. In some cases it may
be desirable to vary and enlarge the capacity of the mains, but where practical
I prefer to make them all of one size. The apparatus here shown consists of
four columns only, placed in a straight line with each other; but in practice
any number may be used, and the columns be placed in any required line, and
in one ore more rows, and in a vertical, inclined, or other positions; as circum-
stances may render it necessary. By placing the columns in a double row it
admits of the apparatus being fixed in a very simple manner; all that is then
necessary being to suspend it by the top connecting branches from or across
a beam or bar, fixed parallel or otherwise to a side wall. The following

page_text: index letters, refer to Figures 1 and 2 a, b, c, d, are the liquor water.or
condensing mains, with flanges e, e, at the top and bottom; f; g, are side,
connecting main branches joined by the flanges h, h. The length of the
mains I make equal to each other; the distances between the centres of the
top and bottom branches of the series of mains is also equal throughout..
The water or condensing liquor is admitted and discharged in the direction
shewn by the arrows by the stop-cocks i and j, and the quantity regulated
by the extent to which the same, are opened and closed; one cock at each
inlet is sufficient. The wort, steam, gas, or vapour enters the apparatus by
the stop-cock, and is discharged by the tube l. The cold water, &c. passes,
down the pipe d'from top to bottom, and thence though the branches up and
down the remaining pipes or mains of the series. The wort, &c. passes down,
the tubes in the main (a), thence through the junctions m, m³, m³, up and
down the remaining tubes of the series; n are small air pipes for allowing the
air to escape at the top, and. o, o, small cocks for drawing off the wort, &c.
remaining in the apparatus when out of use. The junction bends (m, m³, m³,)
are connected to the tubes in the mains by means of the union joints p, p.
The mode of fitting the ends of the said tubes and fixing them in the mains
will be best explained on reference to Figure 3, where a 'is the main pipe, 6
the upper, and c the lower side branch; these branches are opposite to each
other, when the main pipes are intended to be fixed in a single right line,
but when the mains are fixed in rows the upper branches may be formed at any
angles with the lower ones required; d, d', are the upper and lower junction
bends, which are fitted with the screw collars d and d³; e, e', are the end
flanges of the main pipes; f is the flange into which the tubes are fixed at the
top, and g the inverted cup into which they are fixed at the bottom; this cup
is screwed externally, and is traversed by the loose running screw flange h,
serewed internally; the length of these tubes is regulated by the length of the
main, and in fixing the former in the latter the running flange h and screw
collar d³ having been unscrewed from the cup (9) the tubes are passed into the
main until the flange f comes in contact with the flange e, a washer i of
leather or vulcanized india-rubber being introduced between them for making
the joint water-tight. The inverted cup will now project below the flange e¹;
the flexible washer j, j, is then first passed over the open end of the cup
and screwed along it until it touches the flange of the main pipe; the metal
ring or washer is then inserted between the flexible washer and the running
screw flange which is screwed along the cup and tightened up, thus com-
pressing the said washers i and j, and making both joints water-tight. I
make the metal annular ring or washer thicker at the periphery, so that when

page_text: the running flange h is tightened up it will cause the flexible washer ; to be
compressed inwards against the screw surface of the inverted cup, and thus
make the joint more perfectly water-tight; 1 is a perforated plate let into the
hollow of the upper flange for more perfectly disseminating the particles of the
wort as it passes into the tubes m, m, m, of the apparatus.
Without restricting myself to the precise details shown upon the Drawing
I claim,-.
Firstly, the flattened tubes.
Secondly, the mode of forming and fitting the conduits so that they can be
quickly separated and refitted..
And thirdly, varying the capacity of the conduit and mains, as herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Morris Ashby, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
WILLIAM BULL.
MORRIS (L.S.) ASHBY.