IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATING OR COOLING, AND IN THE APPA- RATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Henry Johnson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th April 1879. A communication
from abroad by James Matthew Dalton, of the City of Philadelphia, State of
Pennsylvania, and Charles Spittlehouse, of Elizabeth, State of New Jersey,
both in the United States of America.
JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATING OR COOLING, AND IN THE APPA-
RATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN." A communication from abroad by James Matthew
Dalton, of the City of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, and Charles Spittle-
house, of Elizabeth, State of New Jersey, both in the United States of America.
The object of this Invention is to construct an economical apparatus by which
chambers or compartments containing meat and perishable fruit may be thoroughly
cooled and refrigerated.
In carrying out the said Invention, in order to effect this object the chamber or
compartment to be cooled and for containing the meat, fruit, or other material to
be refrigerated is preferably constructed with double walls lined with non con-
ducting material, and is provided with a door similarly constructed, and is further
fitted with the apparatus next herein after described.
Into the chamber projects a pipe preferably bent towards the upper part of the
chamber, and communicating with an air compressing apparatus which may consist
of two cylinders provided with pistons driven from a steam engine or other prime
mover. A pipe having two branches supplies jets of cold water to the interior of
the cylinders as the air is being compressed therein.
This
From these compressing cylinders a pipe, carries the compressed air to a com-
pressed air receiver, and on its way through the said pipe the compressed air is
still further cooled by a jet of salt water supplied through a pipe, the salt
water having effect not only of cooling the air, but also of purifying it.
purifying jet of salt water may be introduced at any other suitable point into the
compressed air. The water which passes with the cooled and compressed air into
the receiver may be drawn off through a valve under the control of a float, or by
any other convenient device.
From the receiver passes a pipe through which the compressed air is conducted
to the refrigerating chamber, but in lieu of allowing this compressed air to expand
directly and continuously into the chamber as is usual, it has been found that the

page_text: best results can be attained by allowing the air to escape and expand into the
chamber intermittently.
In order to obtain this intermittent discharge it is preferred to employ an engine
into the cylinder of which the compressed air is allowed to expand and exert its
force on the piston before escaping through the exhaust pipe into the refrigerating
chamber.
It is preferable to utilize the power thus obtained to assist in compressing the air
from the chamber, and for this purpose a supplementary air compressing pump is
employed, the said pump being arranged to be driven from the air expanding
engine, and so as to draw the air from the refrigerating chamber through a pipe,
and force it through another pipe into the receiver. This compressed air as it passes
through the last mentioned pipe is cooled by a jet of cold water supplied by a pipe,
and jets of cold water may also be supplied to the cylinder of the supplementary
pump.
When in operation the air compressor draws the air from the chamber, and after
compressing it forces it into the receiver; this compressed air having first been
subjected to the cooling action of jets of water, and also to the cooling and
purifying action of the salt water jet or jets.
The cooled and compressed air then passes to the engine, which discharges the
said air intermittently into the refrigerating chamber, where the full effects of the
expansion are produced. At the same time the power obtained in the engine is
utilized to drive the supplementary air compressor, which aids the main com-
pressing apparatus in keeping up the requisite pressure in the receiver. It will
thus be seen that the same air which is brought into direct contact with the
materials to be kept in a refrigerated condition is used over and over again, and has
no communication with the external air.
In lieu of employing an engine to obtain the intermittent discharge, other devices
may be used. For example, a pair of cocks and an intervening chamber may be
arranged in the pipe between the compressed air receiver and the chamber, the two
cocks being so connected with and operated by the engine, that one is opened when
the other is closed so as to obtain the required intermittent discharge.