IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING ICE, COOLING LIQUIDS, REFRIGERATING ROOMS, AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING ICE, COOLING
LIQUIDS, REFRIGERATING ROOMS, AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES."-A com-
munication from abroad by Samuel B. Martin and James M. Beatlı,
both of San Francisco California. United States of America.
Scaled the 22nd July 1873, and dated the 24th January 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 24th January 1873.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING
ICE, COOLING LIQUIDS, REFRIGERATING ROOMS, AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES," a
communication, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to that class of machines in which cold is
continually produced by the vaporization, liquefaction, and return for

page_text: size, so that in a manufactory of any considerable extent they require to
be duplicated.
To avoid these and other objectionable conditions experiments have
been made from which it has been discovered that when volatile liquids
are vaporized in their passage through long channels or pipes of small
sectional area, the liquid particles are carried along by the moving vapor
without reference to grade, and may be made to produce nearly a
uniform freezing temperature throughout their length by simply
adjusting the pressure in the said pipes, so that all the liquid particles
are vaporized by the time thoy reach the outlet.
By taking advantage of this movement of liquid and vapor together
the pipes may be laid horizontally, however long they may be, and by
encasing them in metallic plates at a suitable distance apart, an
immensely large surface may be economically produced capable of
freczing transparent icc of uniform thickness from water resting
against its sides. These are channeled plates constructed upon this
principle, consisting of vertical metallic plates, traversed longitudinally
by parallel channels, in which the volatile liquid flows as it expands into
vapor or gas, thereby forming ice on either surface.
The aforesaid congealer consists of vertical metallic plates, traversed
longitudinally by parallel channels in which the volatile liquid flows as
it expands into vapor or gas, thereby forming icc on cither surface.
These channeled plates are made of the depth required for the sheets of
icc, and of the length required for the channels. All the thin ice is at
or near the outlet end, and may be allowed to remain until of the proper
thickness.
These freezing plates must be so constructed as to expose the greatest
practicable amount of surface, with a given number of channels and
weight of metal, and to avoid joints as far as practicable. The said
channels are preferably formed of pipes composed of lead, tin, and
antimony, known in the market as composition pipe. These pipes are
enclosed between plates of light sheet iron, cach piece being rolled with
semi-tubular depressions to receive the pipe. The said plates are
riveted together, thus forming one plate, which is made to return upon
itself, so that the whole may be placed in a rectangular tank of con-
venient proportions. The spaces between the folds of the plate are made

page_text: sufficient for the formation of the required thickness of icc on cach
surface, and a space is also made in the centre for the escape of air.
As the gasified liquid is still of low temperature and contains somo
liquid particles after leaving the congealer, it is further utilized by
continuing the congealer pipes through a trough, and passing the water
to be used in the succeeding charge through the trough in contact with
the pipes, and in opposite direction. The said trough and a re-
ceptacle for holding or storing the water and also the congealer tank are
covered with non-conducting material, or are placed in a building mado
non-conducting.
:-
In order that the freezing action may be equal in each of the plates
if more than one is used, and that it may be equal from the top to the
bottom of each of the plates, it is necessary that each of the channels or
pipes should receive the same quantity of liquid. Besides any con-
siderable excess of liquid in any one pipe will be carried into the pump
and there vaporized and removed by it without deriving any benefit from
its vaporization; the usual means for distribution are found entirely
inadequate to produce the desired result, but the same may be obtained
by use of a distributor, constructed as follows -It is composed of two
hemispheres of cast iron bolted together by flanges. The lower half
sphere is equally divided into compartments, into the bottom of each of
which is inserted one of the pipes composing the congealer. In the
centre of this is a vertical shaft, the upper part of which is hollow, as is
also the arm extending from it. Into the end of this shaft the liquid is
brought by a pipe. The constant revolution of this arm deposits an
equal quantity of liquid in each of the compartments or funnels, which
by its weight sinks into the pipe connected with it, and thereby secures
an exactly equal division of the liquid to each of the pipes, the number
of compartments being equal to the whole number of pipes in the
congealer. This arm may be moved by the incoming liquid, subject to
the high pressure of the condenser, by constructing it in the forms of a
reaction or Barker wheel, but it is preferable to move it more slowly by
the shaft passing through a stuffing box below, and driving it by means
of a nullov

page_text: the condenser. In this improved machine the flow of liquid to the
congealer is governed by the quantity of liquid in the congealer itself.
Any excess of liquid in the pipes will be immediately carried on until it
reaches the water cooler, when it will be evaporized by the higher tem-
perature of the water surrounding these pipes, which will increase the
pressure, and through this increase of pressure the supply is checked by
the mercury guage; this guage consists of an inverted syphon, with
enlargements in cach leg. The difference of level of these enlarged
portions is made equal to the height of a column of mercury, supported
by the average pressure in the congealer. The enlarged portion contains
a float connected with a lever by a rod; the other end of the said lever
is connected with a hollow cylindrical valve, so that an increase of
pressure in the pipes of the congealer acting through the tube upon thic
mercury in the cylinder depresses it, and raises the float which closes the
valve and checks the flow. A decrease of pressure in like manner
increases the flow.
Economy of power in working the compressing pump requires the
condenser to be maintained at the lowest temperature practicable. This
object has heretofore been accomplished by means of a running stream
of water of 25 to 30 times the quantity actually made into icc.
This large volume of water is often difficult to obtain, and is in almost
all cases obtained at considerable expence. I substitute for this stream
of water atmospheric air, using water only for the purpose of facilitating
the transfer of heat from the pipes to the air.
The condenser is composed of a series of pipes connected with the
eduction pipe; they descend spirally as they approach the centre, and
then terminate in a hollow cast-iron cylindrical ring, which forms a
receiver for the condensed liquid. These pipes and the receiver are
enclosed in a cylindrical casing with openings around the bottom for the
admission of air. In the centre of the bottom of this casing, which is
slightly concave, is stepped a vertical hollow shaft, with four arms,
carrying a propeller wheel at the upper end. This shaft is revolved with
sufficient velocity to force the water with which it is charged out of the
hollow arms. This water descends in the form of spray over the coils of
pipe, while a propeller draws the air in through the side openings, and
forces it in a gentle current out at the contracted top of the casing.
The water falling on the float of the condenser runs to the centre, and is

page_text: again drawn into the shaft, and so continuously circulates the water,
serving as a medium through which the heat evolved by the condensing
gas is transferred to the air, through which it is constantly passing as it
falls. The said vertical shaft contains a check valve at its foot, and is
charged with water through the ends of the said arms before putting it
in operation.
The ammonia or other liquid is introduced into the machine by con-
necting a pipe with the distributor, allowing the gas to drive the nir
before it and out through a cock in the receiver; this receiver is filled
about two-thirds full of liquified gas.
The pump and other machinery being put in operation a cock in the
pipe is opened, allowing the liquid to pass from the receiver to the
distributor, thence to the congealer, where it is converted into vapor by
the heat withdrawn from the water with which the congealer is filled,
thence it passes through the trough to the pump, where it is forced into
the condenser through the eduction pipe. In the pipes of the condenser
it is liquefied, and runs down the inclined pipes to the receiver, from
which it is again returned to the congealer, and so on continuously.
When the ice on the plates of the congcalor is of the required thickness
it is detached by opening a cock, and allowing gas from the con-
denser to flow into the congealer. These sheets of ice are divided into
blocks of suitable size for handling by flattened sheet iron tubes. These
tubes are closed at the bottom, and held in their place before the ice is
formed by connecting them in pairs by a strap, and they are pressed
down one on each side of the freezing plate. After the ice is formed
these flattened tubes are filled with water of ordinary temperature, which
detaches them from the ice, when they may be withdrawn.
After the ice is detached from the freezing plates a bar of iron inserted
into the opening made by the tubo easily cracks the remaining portion
of ice. The blocks then float to one end of the tank, and are hoisted
from the same. The new charge of water is pumped in as the ice is
being removed.
It is necessary, in order to secure economy in motive power and
produce solid and transparent ice of convenient thickness, that the whole
freezing surface of the congealer should be of sufficient extent to make
the required quantity of ice when the congelation goes on at a rate not

page_text: exceeding one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness per hour; and the whole
superficial surface of pipe in the condenser is made equal to one square
foot of surface for every pound of ice or equivalent refrigeration produced
per hour.
When this apparatus is used for refrigerating rooms, curing meats,
and for other like purposes, the channelled plates in which the volatile
is vaporized are extended longitudinally through the centre of the room,
returning the pipes on themselves to place them all in the same vertical
plane.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 24th July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.thrce, in tho
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
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
MACHINERY FOR MAKING ICE, COOLING LIQUIDS, REFRIGERATING ROOMS, AND FOR
OTHER LIKE PURPOSES," a communication to me from abroad by Samuel
B. Martin and James M. Beath, both of San Francisco, California,
United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Robert Lake, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said

page_text: Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and causo
the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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
Drawing forming a part of this Specification.
The said Invention relates to that part of an ico or refrigerating
machine known as the congealer or refrigerator, and to that class of icc 1
machines in which cold is continuously produced by the vaporization and
condensation of volatile fluids.
The object of the said Invention is to produce a wide-spread, simple,
and efecient distribution of the fluid, to entirely dispense with the use
of an uncongealable liquid and to make transparent, solid, and homo- 1
geneous ice free from seams, air cells, and all impuritics held in
suspension by the water from which it is made.
It will be apprehended by those skilled in the art to which this
Invention relates that the withdrawal of heat from water in quantities
sufficient to produce ice in bulk by the vaporization of volatile liquid
contiguous to it involves cither a rapid transmission of heat from the
water to the liquid, or the action must be spread over a largo surface.
As icc is a slow conductor of heat, and as the heat withdrawn has to
pass through the ice already formed, a rapid formation of icc of any
considerable thickness is impracticable and can only be partially urged
by vaporizing the liquid at an extremely low temperature and conse-
quently low pressure, which can only be accomplished by an unwarrant-
able expenditure of power, therefore a uniform distribution of both the
said liquid and water over a large surface is a condition indispensable to
the production of icc with economy, and its consequent slow formation a
is essential in producing it in solid and transparent form from undistilled
water.
Heretofore the methods of freezing by direct contact have been, by
means of spraying the liquid within the freezing surface and by covering
the inner surface of the freezing vessels with absorbents of the liquid or
by means of expausiou chambers, and more recently by means of hollow

page_text: in the pipes so that the vaporization of the liquid is not entirely complete
before it reaches the outlet.
The herein described improved congealer constructed to embody this
principle of action consists of the before-mentioned channelled plates,
cach plate being traversed by a branch or division of this system of
pipes. The construction and form of the plates may be varied to suit
the size of the machine as desired by the maker. The whole system
may be embodied in a single plate, which may be put in the form of a
scroll, with the necessary space between the parts of the scroll for the
formation of ice on both sides of every part of it. In this form it may
be lodged in a tub of cylindrical shape for holding the water, or cach
division of the pipe may be enclosed in a single plate of plane surface,
as shown in the Drawing. All the divisions may be of equal length and
the plates equal in size.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the said congealer, and shows a form
of a liquifying apparatus which may be used in connection with the
sainc.
Figure 2 is a side view of one of the channelled plates composing the
said congealer.
Figure 3 is a transverse section of one of these plates.
As a security against leakage when animonia is used as a freezing
agent the system of pipes in which it is expanded into vapor should be
made of lead, the parts which form the lining of the channels being
much lighter than that which is exposed outside and has to resist the
pressure. Each channel is formed by two pieces of plate rolled longi-
tudinally with semi-tubular depressions to receive the pipe.
riveted on each side of the pipe, closing between them the
plate which fills the space between the parallel channels. The whole
being thus firmly riveted together forms one plate with the lead lined
channels before described, and as shown in Figures 2 and 3.
These are
edge of the
In Figure 1 seven of these plates are placed in a tank A, and arc
fastened to it by bolts or screws passing through the flanges on each end
of the plates. The space or distance between the plates is made so

page_text: large that when shcots of ice are formed on them of the thickness
required a fow inches of water will remain. This water space allows the
icc to be removed from the plate when loosened, and it is also a recop-
tacle for air and impurities hold in suspension and rejected or thrown
out by the freezing.
The tank A containing these plates is made non-conducting to keep
out the external licat, and the plates are raised from the bottom of the
tank to allow a free circulation of water under them, and keep the ico
from freezing or becoming attached to the bottom of the tank. The
freezing liquid is introduced at a, and after passing back and forth
through the plate b, as shown by the arrows, makes its exit at c. By
the time the fluid has reached e it has become so much expanded by
the heat absorbed from the freezing water surrounding the plate that
its velocity has become greatly increased, so that it may be equally
divided into two streams by the fork c from which it passes by the
pipes d, e, into the plates f. 9. By the time it has passed through those
plates its velocity has again been brought up to a point which requires
it to be again divided at h, i. The four divisions thus formed pass
through the plates j, k, l, m. An important advantage of this method.
of distribution is that all danger of clogging is avoided, as no divisions
are made until the volume of the fluid is brought up to a point which
permits it to be made without diminishing the size of the pipe or channel
in which it flows.
The gasified liquid is still of low temperature, and contains some
liquid particles. After its freezing power is nearly exhausted it is
further utilized by continuing the congealer pipes through the coil B,
over which the incoming water of the natural temperature is passed in a
shower from the perforated pipe n, and it is cooled down before passing
into the tank to fill the place of the ice removed. The congealer pipes.
on leaving this coil terininate in the large pipe o which conveys the
gasified liquid to the liquifying apparatus. This liquifying apparatus
may consist of any of the known methods or apparatus used for liquifying
the different gases in ice-making machines.
The apparatus shewn in the Drawing (Figure 1) consists of a com-
pressing pump and condensing coil; from the latter the heat is with-
drawn by applying water to the surface by any of the usual methods.
Any means by which the gas or vapor is constantly withdrawn by the

page_text: eduction pipe o and returned through the pipe p in the liquid form may
be used. The quantity of liquid received, and gas withdrawn, will be a
measure of the quantity of icc produced.
Tho ice first commences forming on tho plate around the channels,
but when the thickness of the ice is equal to the distance between the
channels it presents a smooth external surface, therefore the distance
between the channels is mado equal to the thickness of ice required. It
is found that the quantity of ice formed for each lincal foot of channel
should not be greater than five or six cubic inches per hour on cach side
of the plate. By observing these rules chanelled plates may be con-
structed for making transparent and compact ice as much as twelvo
inches in thickness, if desired.
The construction of the aforesaid congealer is such that the ice will
not be detached from the plates by allowing the gas or vapor from the
condenser or liquifying apparatus to flow into it as practised heretofore.
In experiments it has been found that the accumulation of condensed
liquid in the pipes would obstruct the flow of gas, so that portions of
the plate would not be affected by it. Special means have therefore
been devised for more effectually accomplishing this object, and also
means by which the ice is detached and taken from one or more of the
plates without interrupting or checking the formation of icc on the
other plates of the congealer.
The pipe p is connected with the pipe leading to the condenser, as
shewn, and with each one of the congealer plates by the two-way cocks
q, 1, 8, t, u, v. These cocks are so constructed that they may be set to
open a free
passage
from one plate to the other as the liquid flows in
freezing, and by turning them 90 degrees this passage is closed, and the
passage from the pipe p is opened. Then, to detach the ice from any
plate, it is only necessary to turn the two-way cock connected with that
plate to open a passage for the gas from the condenser, while the cock
on the opposite side of the plate is opened sufficiently to allow the
condensed liquid produced by the rapid condensation of the gas rushing
into the plate under the high pressure of the condenser to pass out.
As ammonia is considered the best cold producing agent of any of the
many substances which have been used, or capable of being used for
that purpose, the accompanying Drawing shows the apparatus propor-
tioned for the use of that agent. To determine the proportions for any

page_text: liquid the latent heat of the same must be ascertained, also the specific
heat of the vapor, and the tension and volume of the vapor at different
temperatures; then the amount of ice or equivalent refrigeration pro-
duced by the vaporization of a given quantity of the liquid may be
calculated, also the size of the pipe and the rate at which the pipes
should be increased in number or divisions as the liquid expands into
gas, always observing that the velocity may be greatly increased as the
fluid approaches the outlet and is nearly all vaporized, but in no case
should it be greater than 30 or 40 feet per second.
The channelled plates may be used for refrigerating rooms by extending
the plates through the rooms. The width of room on each side
refrigerated by a single plate may be equal to about twice its height.
A descending current of cold air in the vicinity of the plate is replaced
by warmer air from the ceiling, by which means a uniform low tem-
perature may be secured throughout the room. Liquid baths or air may
be cooled by extending this system of pipes through them without their
being encased in the plates, or the liquid or air may be passed in a
current over the pipes.
The
The channelled plates which form the principal or most important
feature of this Invention may be made in a variety of ways.
thickness of the plate and diameter of the pipe should be proportionate
to the size of the plate. For plates, say, six feet in depth, the plate
may be of No. 10 (Birmingham gauge) rolled iron, and the pipes three-
fourths of an inch in inside diameter. To facilitate the removal of the
ice in large machines, the length of the plates may be made less than
the width of the tank by a distance equal to about the depth of the
plate, and one end of the plate may be placed against one side of tho
tank, leaving a water space the whole length of the tank on the opposite
side.
As the ice is detached from the plate it is split vertically into square
blocks which are floated into the open space, where they turn on their
sides and may be casily drawn out on an incline fixed at any point
required on the sido of the tank. The top edges of the plates, especially
at the end which does not reach the side of the tank, should be stayed
by pieces running across from plate to plate at a height sufficient to
allow the ice to float on its edge under them.

page_text: cocks may be used, so placed as to force the gas from the condenser into
any one of the plates for the purpose of loosening the ice from the
plates, as described.
In witness whercof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto 5
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-
three.
Witness,
JAMES EDWARDS,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)