IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THAWING ICE IN WATER SUPPLY PIPES AND OTHER APPARATUS
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas James Sloan at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 28th January 1881.
THOMAS JAMES SLOAN, of St. Maudé, France, now of 8, Southampton Buildings,
London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THAWING ICE IN WATER SUPPLY
PIPES AND OTHER APPARATUS."
My Invention relates to improvements in apparatus for thawing ice in water-
supply pipes, cisterns, tanks, and other apparatus.
According to the said Invention I so combine a steam boiler or generator with
mechanism for feeding a flexible tube into such pipes or other apparatus, that a
continuous stream of heated or boiling water may be projected by the force of the
steam in the said boiler through the said tube against the ice to be thawed.
In carrying the said Invention into practice, I employ a boiler preferably
supported on wheels to permit of its easy transportation, and provided with the
ordinary attachments for supplying water to the same. Within this boiler, and
extending nearly to the botton thereof, I arrange a pipe provided with a suitable stop
cock to regulate the flow of the water (forced up the said pipe by the pressure of
the steam in the boiler) into a flexible tube which conducts the heated water from
the said pipe to a rotary cage or cradle; the latter preferably consists of bars or
plates, and is provided at its front and rear ends with trunnions supported in
bearings in a frame pivotted upon a suitable standard or support. Within the said
cage I arrange in coils the tube through which the heated water flows into
contact with the ice. This tube, which I term the thawing tube, consists of india-
rubber or other suitable flexible material, surrounded by a coil of wire which
strengthens the said tube and facilitates its forward movement into the main or
other pipe or other apparatus to be thawed, as hereinafter described. The said
tube is passed through the forward trunnion of the cage and then through a pipe
of brass or other suitable metal, which I term the feeder or feeding pipe. This
feeding pipe is combined with the said trunnion by a flexible connection (preferably
a spiral spring) to permit the said pipe enclosing the thawing tube to be turned in
any direction to suit the location of the end of the pipe or other apparatus in which the
ice is to be thawed. The said feeding pipe is surrounded by a spiral spring, which
is combined at its forward end with the same by means of a suitable collar and set
screw. The other end of this spring is attached to a sliding box or sleeve, and

page_text: tends to draw the same forward. The rear end of this sleeve surrounds a clamp-
carrier which slides upon a feeding tube and has pivotted to it two clamps, designed
to clamp and force forward the thawing tube into the pipe or to withdraw the same
as desired. To permit of this double action of the said clamps, I provide each of
the same with a double inclined surface upon which the end of the sleeve acts when
adjusted longitudinally, and on the aforesaid clamp-carrier I arrange a pivotted
adjustable stop which passes through a slot in the said sleeve. This slot is so
formed that shoulders are left on the metal surrounding the same at different
distances from the rear end of the sleeve, and by turning the stop upon its pivot so
as to project in front of the shoulder at the least distance from the rear end of the
sleeve or at the rear of the shoulder, at the greater distance from such rear end the
travel of the sleeve, with regard to the clamp-carrier, will be varied, so that its end
will act upon one or the other of the inclines of the clamps, and will effect the
withdrawal or insertion of the thawing tube into the main or other pipe, as above
described.
f
To impart a rotary movement to the cage or cradle, and consequently to the feeding
pipe attached thereto, and the thawing pipe contained within the said feeding pipe,
I provide the forward trunnion of the said cage with a bevel wheel driven by a
hand-crank through another bevel wheel supported in. suitable bearings upon the
cage-frame. By thus imparting a rotary movement to the thawing tube coiled
with wire, as above described, the said tube is caused to act in a manner somewhat
similar to that of an auger, and travels forward in a direct line within the pipe or
other apparatus as the ice is thawed by the emission of the heated water from the
front end of the same said thawing tube. The front end is preferably provided
with a metal pointed plug, with the apertures for the discharge of the water
surrounding such pointed end.
To effect the feeding forward of the thawing pipe by the clamps, as above
described, the sleeve is drawn back by hand against the tension of the spiral spring
on the feeding tube. In this rearward movement of the sleeve and the clamp
carrier the clamps pass freely over the thawing tube, but as soon as the said sleeve
is released and is drawn forward by the said spring, the clamps engage the said
tube and feed it forward gradually. When it is desired to withdraw the tube from
the pipe, the pivotted stop is adjusted so that the clamps hold the thawing tube
when the sleeve is drawn backward instead of when the same is travelling
forward.
The end of the thawing tube which passes through the rear trunnion of the cage is
connected to a stuffing box, which is so combined with the flexible tube extending
from the boiler pipe, as to permit the rotation of the cage without affecting the
position of the said flexible tube.