IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ICE
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Carnegie Kirk, of Bathgate, in the
County of Linlithgow, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ICE."
Sealed the 28th February 1865, and dated the 13th September 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Carnegie Kirk
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 13th September 1864.
İ, ALEXANDER CARNEGIE KIRK, of Bathgate, in the County of Linlithgow,
North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ICE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the rendering of ice produced by artificial
means more transparent and solid than heretofore, and consists in immersing
any conveniently shaped vessel composed of a material capable of conducting.
beat, (iron, for example,) and kept at a temperature below 32° Fahrenheit
by a freezing mixture or other means in another vessel containing water in-
considerably larger quantity than the water intended to be frozen. In this
way ice is formed on the outside of the smaller vessel, and this ice is much.
more transparent and solid than that hitherto made by artificial means.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Carnegie Kirk in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th March 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
CARNEGIE KIRK, of Bathgate, in the County of Linlithgow, North Britain,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of ller
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alexander Carnegie Kirk, Her special licence that I, the
said Alexander Carnegio Kirk, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as 1, the said Alexander Carnegio Kirk, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
ICE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Carnegio
Kirk, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, 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 Offico within six calendar months next and immediately after tho
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Carnegie Kirk, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object the rendering of ice produced by
artificial means more transparent and solid than heretofore, and consists in
immersing or partially immersing any conveniently shaped vessel composed of
a material capable of conducting heat, (iron or copper, for example,) and
kept at a temperature below 32° Fahrenheit by a freezing mixture or other
means in another vessel containing water in considerably larger quantity than
the water intended to be frozen. In this way ice is formed on the out-

page_text: side of the immersed or partially immersed vessel, which ice is much more
transparent and solid than that hitherto made by artificial means.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all
the Figures.
Fig. 1 of the Drawings represents a vertical section of one convenient form
of the apparatus.
A, A, is a vessel of any material (by preference a bad conductor of heat,
such as wood, for example,) containing water, part of which only it is intended
to form into ice; B, B, is a smaller vessel, composed of iron, copper, or other
good conducting material, whose under side is in contact with or slightly
immersed in the surface of the water, part of which is intended to be formed
into ice. The bottom of the vessel B is to be kept at a temperature below
32° Fahrenheit by a freezing mixture placed inside, a current of cold brine
flowing in by the pipe E and flowing off by the pipe D, or other suitable
means; the ice will thus be formed on the under side of the vessel, as at C.
By raising the vessel B or lowering the vessel A the ice may be readily
detached mechanically from the bottom of the vessel B; or, if preferred, it
may be thawed off by pouring a little hot water into such vessel.
Figs. 2 and 3 are longitudinal and transverse vertical sections, and Fig. 4
a plan of another convenient arrangement of the apparatus.
A, A, is, as before, the vessel containing the water, part of which only is
intended to be formed into ice; B, B, an upright narrow vessel, on the outside
of which it is intended the ice should be formed. This vessel is kept at a
temperaturo below 32° Fahrenheit by a freezing mixture placed inside, a
current of brine flowing in by the pipe E and flowing off by the pipe D, or
other suitable means. In this way ice is formed on the outside of the
vessel B, as at C; and in order that the ice may be more easily detached, I
allow the sides of the vessel B to project at the ends and bottom, like a pair
of double flanges, as at F, and between these flanges, and projecting beyond
them, I place a frame of wood G, G, by which the vessel B may be fixed
inside the vessel A. The ice forming on either side of the vessel B will, from
the conduction of the projecting flanges F not being so rapid as on the sides
of the vessel, be quite thin round the edges, while the wooden frame being a
bad conductor of heat will prevent the ice from forming round the ends of
the vessel B, and thus becoming attached, either to the piece of ice formed
on the other side, or to the bottom of the vessel A. The piece of ice cap

page_text: thus be readily detached mechanically from either sido of the vessel B, or.
thawed off as before. Several vessels B may be placed alongside in the.
samo vessel A, but in that caso their distanco apart ought to be such that
soine unfrozen wator may be left between the pieces of icc, otherwise if the
pieces of ice be allowed to grow in thickness till they meet a bad streak of
ico will generally be formed at the junction.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe that I do not claim the formation of ice
artificially by exposing the water to be frozen to the action of a metallic or
other conducting surfaco, kept cold by suitable means; but what I do claim
is, the production of ice more transparent and solid than heretofore, by
causing the ice to be formed on the outside of a vessel composed of con
ducting materials, kept below 82° Fahrenheit, and more or less immersed in
a vossel containing fresh water in considerably greater quantity than the water
intended to be frozen.
In witness whereof, 1, the said Alexander Carnegio Kirk, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of February, Onu
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
ALEXANDER C. KIRK. (L.)