Year: 1887

page_text: We, JAMES HENRY GREATHEAD of No. 8 Victoria Chambers Westminster in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer and LOUIS STERNE of No. 2 Victoria Mansions
Westminster, aforesaid, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
In many situations where large quantities of food have to be refrigerated and stored,
space is so valuable that it is often difficult or impossible to provide the large room
required for such purposes. Our invention relates to means of providing in a simple
and economical manner very large space available for refrigerating and storing
purposes, with convenience of access, as we will now describe. At the place where
the room is required we sink a shaft which may be of considerable diameter and depth,
preferably by the method described in Greathead's Specifications Nos. 5665 of 1884
and 5221 of 1886, that is to say by sinking a shield and following it up by iron lining
put in in segments. We divide this shaft by floors into any required number of
storeys, and we provide in the centre a hydraulic or other lift or several lifts, giving
access to all the floors into which the shaft is divided, each of which floors may be
divided into any desired number of compartments. On one of these floors we provide
suitable refrigerating apparatus, and from this we carry circulating cooling pipes into
and through the compartments, subdividing them where necessary so as to provide
extended surface. In this manner, a very large space can be obtained without occupying
more room on the ground than the opening to the lift shaft.
Dated this 30th day of September 1887.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Structure and Apparatus for Refrigerating and Storing Food.
We, JAMES HENRY GREATHEAD of No. 8 Victoria Chambers, Westminster in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, and Louis STERNE of No. 2 Victoria Mansions,
Westminster, aforesaid Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
-
In many
situations where large quantities of food have to be refrigerated and stored,
space is so valuable that it is often difficult or impossible to provide the large room
required for such purposes. Our invention relates to means of providing in a simple
and economical manner very large space available for refrigerating and storing
purposes, with convenience of access, as we will now describe. At the place where
the room is required we sink a shaft which may be of considerable diameter and depth,
preferably by the method described in Greathead's Specifications Nos. 5665 of 1884
and 5221 of 1886, that is to say by sinking a shield and following it up by iron lining
put in in segments. We divide this shaft by floors into any required number of
storeys, and we provide in the centre a hydraulic or other lift or several lifts, giving
access to all the floors into which the shaft is divided, each of which floors may be
divided into any desired number of compartments. On one of these floors we provide
suitable refrigerating apparatus, and from this we carry circulating cooling pipes into
and through the compartments, subdividing them where necessary so as to provide
extended surface. In this manner a very large space can be obtained without occupying
more room in the ground than the opening to the lift shaft.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a vertical section of a storage shaft
according to our invention, Fig. 2 is a sectional plan of the upper floor and fig. 3 is a
sectional plan of one of the lower floors. Fig. 4 shews to an increased scale the jointing
of the segments of the lining. By the aid of a shield as described in the Specifications
No. 5665 of 1884 and No. 5221 of 1886, the shaft A is sunk to the desired depth, the
lining being built up in courses of iron segments S bolted together as shewn in Fig. 4
each course of segments being fixed behind the shield as it advancés downwards. As
the lip of the shield always extends over the last course or several courses, the hole
formed by the shield is somewhat larger in diameter than the exterior of the lining so
that there is left an annular space around the lining which is filled up, by injecting
liquid or semiliquid material which will set solid in its place. This may be cement, or
when the shaft is used for preserving food at low temperature, the filling P may be of
material which is a bad conductor of heat such as pitch, asphalt or the like injected in
a molten condition.
The shaft is divided by floors B into a number of stories which, or some of which
may be divided by partitions Cinto separate chambers-all accessible from a central
lift shaft D which extends the whole depth of the shaft.

page_text: Carcases or other loads may be lowered down the lift shaft suspended from runners
which in the different storeys may be received on rails E (Fig. 3) and run into the
several chambers. In the uppermost storey may be accommodated fuel F, the
boiler G, the engine H, and the refrigerating apparatus H, which may be of any
known kind, the cooling medium being communicated by pipes K L to local coolers M
in the several chambers.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner tlie same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
:-
For refrigerating and storing food, the construction of a shaft lined with iron and
divided by floors and partitions into chambers communicating with a central lift shaft
in combination with refrigerating apparatus and pipes arranged substantially as herein
described.