IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REFRIGERATION, ADAPTED FOR COOLING RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES, WAGGONS, VANS, AND OTHER CHAMBERS OR RECEPTACLES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Owen Charles Dalhousie Ross, of Craven Street, Strand,
in the County of Middlesex, Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REFRIGERATION,
ADAPTED FOR COOLING RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES, WAGGONS, VANS, AND
OTHER CHAMBERS OR RECEPTACLES.”
led the 11th August 1876, and dated the 17th February 187
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Owen Charles Dalhousie Ross
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th February 1876.
OWEN CHARLES DALHOUSIE Ross, of Craven Street, Strand, in the County
of Middlesex, Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR REFRIGERATION, ADAPTED FOR COOLING RAILWAY AND OTHER
CARRIAGES, WAGGONS, VANS, AND OTHER CHAMBERS OR RECEPTACLES."
The principal object of this Invention is the economical refrigeration of chambers
or receptacles intended for the preservation of meat, poultry, game, fish, vegetables,
fruit, and other solid and liquid substances, but it may also be applied to the
cooling of railway and other carriages, and to other chambers or receptacles in
ships, dwelling-houses, mines, breweries, houses, and other similar structures.
This object is effected by cooling the walls or surfaces which surround such
chambers or receptacles by the following means:-
I construct a shallow metal vessel, which I ordinarily fill wholly or partly with
some spongy or fibrous material, and into this vessel I pour some light hydro-
carbon spirit or other liquid. This vessel should generally be so placed as to form
either the top or the bottom of the refrigerating chamber, or both, and the remaining
sides or partitions or walls of the chamber I construct of double metal plates with
a sufficient space between them also to hold some spongy or fibrous material, and
to allow a stream of cold air to circulate between them; I then draw or propel
a current of air through an opening into the vessel which contains the liquid, the
said vessel being so partitioned interiorly as to oblige the current of air to pass
over as much of the surface of the liquid as possible before it escapes at the
opposite extremity.
The effect of the evaporation of the liquid, when acted upon by the current of
air, is to rapidly lower the temperature, not alone of the liquid contained between
[Price 6d1

page_text: the metal plates, but of the metal plates themselves, to a temperature below
freezing point, and the air when it emerges from between the plates of metal,
of which the refrigerating boxes are constructed, will be found more or less cold
according to the amount of evaporation and to the rapidity of the draught. The
air can very easily be cooled by this means to a temperature below that of 32°
Fahrenheit; it then passes immediately between the double sides or walls of the
chambers intended to be cooled, which are also so partitioned interiorly as to
form a channel and to force the air backwards, and forwards so as to flow over
as much of the metal walls of the chambers as possible; or when the object is to
cool liquids the air may be made to flow through metal pipes or coils placed in
tanks or cisterns, or through independant walls or metal sheets made of double
plates, and by the passage through them of the continuous stream of cold air the
metal walls or sides or pipes are rapidly cooled to any required extent.
I usually employ felt or wood or some other slow conductor of heat to surround
the refrigerating chambers, by which arrangement they are protected from the
effects of the outer atmosphere, and the cold is retained within them. The interior
of the said chambers is by this means kept full of dry cold air, and the tempera-
ture can, when necessary, be maintained as low as 32° F., or less; but even
without. lowering it to such an extent-meat or vegetables and other viands can
be preserved in these chambers for many weeks and even months in a perfectly
fresh and juicy state, and their original flavour will be found to be much more
perfectly retained than when they are actually frozen.
Ship saloons and holds, railway carriages, rooms in dwelling-houses, breweries,
and beer cisterns, and other receptacles can by the same means be kept at a
moderately cool temperature during the hottest weather. The temperature can
be controlled at will by regulating the quantity of air and the rapidity with
which it passes through the vessel containing the hydrocarbon spirit or other
liquid.
The current of air may be set in motion by means of a fan worked by a falling
weight, or by a band or belt connected with a steam engine, or with the revolving
wheel or axle of a railway wagon or carriage, or other vehicle, or by a steam jet
exhauster, or by other convenient means.
Instead of using hydrocarbon or other spirits I sometimes place ice or a mixture
of ice or snow and salt or some other of the known refrigerating mixtures in the
evaporating vessel, and on the current of air passing through or over these cold
substances it will be so much cooled as to be capable of imparting a considerable
degree of cold to the walls of the refrigerating chamber or to the coils of the
metal pipes; but this should only be done in special cases, because the employment
of such mixtures is in every way less efficacious and less economical than the
employment of cheap hydrocarbon spirit.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by the
said Owen Charles Dalhousie Ross in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th August 1876.
OWEN CHARLES DALHOUSIE Ross, of Craven Street, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR REFRIGERATION, ADAPTED FOR COOLING RAILWAY AND OTHER
CARRIAGES, WAGGONS, VANS, AND OTHER CHAMBERS OR RECEPTACLES."
The principal object of this Invention is the economical refrigeration of chambers
or receptacles intended for the preservation of meat, poultry, game, fish, vegetables,
fruit, or other solid and liquid substances; but it may also be applied to the
cooling of railway and other carriages, as to other chambers or receptacles in ships,
dwelling-houses, mines, breweries, slaughter-houses, &c. This object is effected

page_text: by cooling the walls or surfaces which surround such chambers or receptacles by
the following means:-
I construct a shallow metal vessel which I ordinarily fill wholly or partly with
some spongy or fibrous material, and into this vessel I pour some light hydro-
carbon spirit or other liquid. This vessel should generally be so placed as to
form either the top or the bottom of the refrigerating_chamber, or both, and the
remaining sides or partitions or walls of the chamber I construct of double metal
plates with a sufficient space between them also to hold some spongy or fibrous
material and to allow a stream of cold air or vapour to circulate between them. I
then draw or propel a current of air through an opening into the vessel which
contains the liquid, from whence it escapes at the opposite extremity into the
side walls, or sometimes I only set in motion the vapour by stirring up the liquid
and drawing or driving the vapour from side to side without the addition of air.
The effect of the evaporation of the liquid is to rapidly lower the temperature
not alone of the liquid but also of the metal plates which surround the chamber,
for the temperature of the air or vapour can very easily be lowered by this means
to below 32° F., and it then passes immediately between the double sides or walls
of the chambers intended to be cooled. These are generally so partitioned interiorly
as to form a channel, and to force the air or vapour backwards and forwards so
as to flow over as much of the interior of the metal walls of the chamber as
possible, but when the object is to cool liquids the air or vapour may be made to
How through metal pipes or coils placed in tanks or cisterns or through independent
walls or metal sheets made of double plates and by the passage through them of
the continuous stream of cold air or vapour the metal walls or sides or pipes are
rapidly cooled to any required extent.
I usually employ felt or wood or some other slow conductor of heat to surround
the refrigerating chambers, by which arrangement they are protected from the
effects of the outer atmosphere, and the cold is retained within them. The interior
of the said chambers being thus surrounded by cold walls is by this means kept
full of dry cold air, and the temperature can when necessary be maintained as
low as 32° F., or less; but even without lowering it to such an extent meat or
vegetables can be preserved in these chambers for many weeks and even months
in a perfectly fresh and juicy state, and their original flavour will be found to be
much more perfectly retained than when they are actually frozen.
Ship saloon and holds, railway carriages, rooms in dwelling-houses, breweries,
and beer cisterns, &c., can by the same means be kept at a moderately cool
temperature during the hottest weather.
The temperature can be controlled at will by regulating the quantity of air or
vapour and the rapidity with which it passes through or from the vessel containing
the hydrocarbon spirit or other liquid. Sometimes the volume of air which is
admitted to the tank may be reduced to an almost inappreciable quantity, or it
may even be excluded altogether and the vapour used alone.
The current of air or vapour may be set in motion by means of a fan worked
by a falling weight, or by a band or belt connected with a steam engine, or with
the revolving wheel or axle of a railway waggon or carriage, or other vehicle, or
by a steam jet exhauster, or by other convenient means.
Instead of using hydrocarbon or other spirits I sometimes place ice or a
mixture of ice or snow and salt or some other of the known refrigerating mixtures
in the evaporating vessel, and on the current of air passing in pipes or otherwise
through or over these cold substances, it will be so much cooled as to be capable
of imparting a considerable degree of cold to the walls of the refrigerating chamber
or to the coils of the metal pipes; but this should only be done in special cases,
because the employment of such mixtures is in every way less efficacious and
less economical than the employment of cheap hydrocarbon spirit.
When a current of air is used and mixed with the vapour it must enter at onc
extremity of the vessel or tank which contains the hydrocarbon liquid, and must
pass thence into the channels surrounding the refrigerator or cold chamber, and

page_text: after flowing through those said channels it must be allowed to escape into the
atmosphere, or into a condenser, where some of the vapour may be recondensed
to liquid, or sometimes it may be utilised as gas for heating or lighting purposes;
but when air is not to be mixed with the vapour no part of the tank or of the
interior of the walls of the chamber must be allowed to connect with the outer
atmosphere, and the whole or nearly the whole of the spirit may in that case be
saved or recovered.
My Invention is illustrated by a Drawing, showing its application to a railway
van; Fig. 1 is a longitudinal, and Fig. 2 a transverse section of the van, showing
at A, A, the tank for the liquid; B, B, B, are air or vapour channels formed by
double metal plates with which the surrounding surfaces of the van are lined;
C is a funnel-shaped air receiver for adinission of the current when air is to be
mixed with the vapour; D, the pipe leading the air into the tank; E,. an exhaust
fan for occasional use. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan of the tank showing the manner
in which it is internally partitioned in order that the current of air may circulate
over the whole of the surface of the liquid.
I am aware that vessels have been refrigerated by the circulation of the vapour
of ether, and of ammonia, and of sulphurous acid, and by the circulation of cold
liquids, but neither the spirit from petroleum, nor that obtained in the distillation
of potatoes or beetroot have been used in the manner herein-before described, nor
has a current of air been employed as described for creating a circulation through
the walls or sides of a refrigerating chamber.
I do not limit myself to the precise forms of application of the process and
apparatus which I have described, and sometimes only one of the double slabs
or plates may be made of metal and the other of wood or some other material,
but I claim as my Invention, and desire to be secured to me by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent is, the refrigeration of chambers and spaces by
means of the vapour of petroleum, or potatoe or beetroot spirit, or of a current
of refrigerated air, or of air combined with the vapour of beetroot or potatoe or
petroleum or other volatile spirit or other liquid circulating as herein-before
described within the walls or sides or other surfaces abutting upon or surrounding
the spaces or substances which are to be refrigerated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Owen Charles Dalhousie Ross, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
O. C. D. ROSS. (L.S.)