IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANU- FACTURE OF ICE
Year: 1884

page_text: [Communicated from abroad by Wilhelm Raydt, of 84, Friedrichstrasse,
Hannover, in the Empire of Germany, Doctor of Philosophy.].
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake, and Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANU-
FACTURE OF ICE" to be as follows:
-
This invention relates to the production of cold and to the manufacture of ice.
The principal improvement consists in employing, with compression ice machines,
carbonic acid instead of the liquefied gases heretofore used (such as ammonia or
sulphurous acid) which are evaporated.
In the production of cold, carbonic acid has the advantage that it is a much more
intense vehicle of cold than the gases heretofore used, so that the compression-
pumps with carbonic acid, for equal effectiveness, are very much smaller than has
hitherto been necessary that is to say, not one sixth of the size of the smallest
ammonia-pumps used. Another very important advantage is the great cheapness
of the carbonic acid. The charging of an ice-machine operating with carbonic
acid does not cost one-twentieth that of charging an ammonia-machine of equal
effectiveness, and in like manner the costs are reduced when leakages occur.
Moreover, with carbonic acid, in case of leakage, no more or less unpleasant gases
which are deleterious to health enter the work-room neither are any such gases
taken up by the ice.
The appliances necessary for the employment of carbonic acid are essentially
dependent upon the pressures necessary, which pressures, according to the tempe-
rature of the cooling-water, amount to as much as 75 atmospheres, so that machines
such as are employed with ammonia, sulphurous acid or ether, cannot practically be
adopted when carbonic acid is used.
In order to prevent loss of gas through the stuffing-box in the compression of the
gases, various ineans have been employed, which essentially consist in the employ-
ment of two stuffing boxes forming a chamber between them, which contains a

page_text: liquid, or from which the gas which has passed, through the inner stuffing box is
continually drawn off by means of a pump.
According to this invention the first mode is adopted but not in the same
manner as described in the specification of Linde's German patent No 1250, where
the liquid is maintained at a higher pressure than that produced by compression:
Nor is the escaping gas conveyed back into the pump as described in the specifi-
cations of German Patents No 5312 and 21971, but the pressure in the chamber is
kept equal to the pressure of the atmosphere by connecting with the gas delivery
pipe of the stuffing box chamber a gasometer into which the gas which has passed
through the liquid can enter and collect, and from which gasometer the gasiform
carbonic acid is either drawn by the pump, the refrigerator being disconnected; or
conducted into the suction-space of the pump by means of jet apparatus actuated
by high pressure carbonic acid. In this manner the outer stuffing-box of the pump
is only under a very small pressure so that it can be made very small and no
further appliances are required for conducting the gas back, nor any apparatus for
distilling the liquid in the said chamber.
With the high pressure of the pump, which amounts to from 20 to 25 atmo-
spheres, the direct conveyance of the gases escaping through the inner stuffing-box
would necessitate such a high pressure in the stuffing-box chamber that for the
outer stuffing-box the same arrangements would perhaps be requisite that are
necessary with the compression pumps of cold vapour engines heretofore employed.
The new arrangement of the pump for compressing the gases is accordingly greatly
simplified.
In the conversion of the compressed carbonic acid from the gasiform into the
liquid state it is desirable to keep the temperatures low, because with the increasing
temperature the pressure at which the condensation takes place augments.con-
siderably, and the work to be expended for the compression is, therefore, materially
increased.
For instance, the carbonic acid at zero becomes liquid under a pressure of
36 atmospheres, whilst at 30° about 73. atmospheres are required in order to
convert the gasiform carbonic acid into the liquid state.
In order to obtain in the operation of the machine a great cooling of the
compressed carbonic acid, and to keep the pressure as low as possible, I insert
between the condenser and refrigerator an apparatus, in which the carbonic acid
passing from the refrigerator is used as the frigorific medium for the compressed
carbonic acid. This apparatus is also constructed in such a manner that it serves
as a store-room for a large quantity of ready cooled, liquid carbonic acid.
An ice machine provided with the present improvements comprises a compression
pump, a condenser, a cooler, a refrigerator and a gasometer for collecting the gas
escaping from the stuffing-box chamber. The body of the pump is suitably sur-
rounded by a vessel for holding frigorific liquid, and the plunger of the pump must
also be cooled by the frigorific liquid which is introduced through a tube into a
second tube arranged in the interior of the plunger, and finds egress through
another tube.
The stuffing-box chamber is in connection with a vessel for receiving lubricating
liquid such as oil or glycerine through a U-shaped tube and through a tube
connected with the interior of a gasometer so that carbonic acid escaping through
the inner stuffing box passes through the tube to the said gasometer where it
collects.
As the pressure in the stuffing box chamber is only equal to the atmosphere or
"exceeds the same only by very little, the outer stuffing-box can be of very simple
construction. The carbonic acid compressed in the force pump, and intensely
heated, passes through a tube to a tubular condenser of known construction and
from this through a tube to a cooler. The last mentioned tube assumes first the
form of a coil which is connected with the upper part of a vessel within the cooler.
From the lower end of this vessel passes a tube, provided with a valve or cock,
*to a refrigerator of known construction. Here the liquid carbonic acid is converted

page_text: into the gasiform state, withdrawing heat from the frigorific liquid. The cold
gasiform carbonic acid then returns to the cooler where it passes through an inner
coil which is arranged between the vessel and an outer coil.
The said coils and also the vessel are surrounded by a solution of salt so that the
cold carbonic acid passing through the inner coil still draws, through the medium
of the salt solution, considerable quantities of heat from the compressed or liquid
carbonic acid flowing through the outer coil and the vessel. In this manner an
enormous lowering of the temperature and a decrease in the pressure take place.
Consequently, with the employment of this cooler the work of compression is
reduced to a minimum.
The carbonic aciḍ which has been acting in the cooler is conducted back to the
pump.
The carbonic acid collecting in the gasometer from the main stuffing-box must
partly be introduced again into the machine and this can be effected in two
manners.
Either the communication between the cooler and refrigerator is interrupted, or
the introduction of the carbonic acid collected in the gasometer takes place without
interruption of the operation by jet apparatus, by means of high-pressure carbonic
acid of about 60 atmospheres.
The filling of the machine with carbonic acid is effected by conducting the latter
at any desired pressure through a valve to the suction-space of the pump. In
order to replace the carbonic acid lost in the operation, liquid carbonic acid, if at
disposal, is caused to expand into the suction-space of the pump. If, however, only
carbonic acid at atmospheric pressure is at disposal, this is allowed to enter into the
gasometer and the operation is proceeded with as above stated. Although in the
foregoing description, only carbonic acid has been mentioned, it is evident that
the described arrangements can also be employed in the operation of the machine
with other liquids.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
For the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machines or Apparatus for the Manufacture
of Ice.
I HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES OR APPARATUS FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF ICE" and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to apparatus for the production of cold and the manufac-
ture of ice, and has for its chief object to provide a machine in which carbonic
acid can be used as the refrigerating agent, instead of liquids such as ammonia or
sulphurous acid.
In the production of cold, carbonic acid has the advantage that it is a much
more intense vehicle of cold than the vapours of ammonia, sulphurous acid and
other liquid refrigerating agents, so that the compression pumps necessary when
carbonic acid is used may be very much smaller than those necessary for pro-
ducing an equal effect when other refrigerating agents are used, for instance
say not one sixth of the size of the ammonia-pumps used.
Another very important advantage in the use of carbonic acid as a vehicle of
cold is its cheapness. The charging of an ice-machine operating with carbonic
acid does not cost one twentieth that of charging an ammonia-machine of equal
effectiveness, and in like manner the loss is less in case of leakage.
Moreover, with carbonic acid, in case of leakage no gases which are more or less
unpleasant, and deleterious to health, enter the room where the machine is in use,
neither are any such gases absorbed by the ice.
The appliances necessary for the employment of carbonic acid as a refrigerating
agent are chiefly dependent upon the pressures necessary, which pressures, according
to the temperature of the cooling-water, amount to as much as 75 atmospheres, so
that machines such as are employed with ammonia, sulphurous acid, or ether,
cannot practically be adopted when carbonic acid is used.
In order to prevent loss of gas through the stuffing-box in the compression of
the gases, various means have been employed, which consist chiefly of two stuffing-
boxes having a chamber between them which contains a liquid, or from which the
gas which has passed through the inner stuffing-box is continually drawn off by
means of a pump.
According to this invention the first mode is adopted but not in the same
manner as in the apparatus described in the specification of Linde's German
Patent No 1250 in which apparatus the liquid is inaintained at a higher pressure
than that produced by the compression. Nor is the escaping gas conveyed back
into the pump as described in the specifications of German Patents No 5312 and
21,971, but the pressure in the chamber is kept equal to the pressure of the atmo-
sphere by connecting with the gas delivery pipe of the stuffing box chamber a

page_text: gas-holder into which the gas which has passed through the liquid in the said
chamber can enter and collect, and from which gas holder the carbonic acid gas
is either drawn by the pump which is, during the operation, disconnected from
the refrigerating chamber; or is conducted into the chamber of the pump by means
of a kind of injector operated by high pressure carbonic acid.
In this manner the outer stuffing-box of the pump is only under very small
pressure, so that it can be made very small and no further appliances are required
for conducting the gas back to the refrigerating chamber nor any apparatus for
distilling the liquid in the stuffing box chamber.
If the gases escaping through the inner stuffing-box were conveyed directly back
to the refrigerating chamber by the pump, the pressure produced by which amounts
to from 25 to 30 atmospheres, it would cause such a high pressure in the stuffing-
box chamber that for the outer-stuffing-box the same arrangements would perhaps
be requisite that are necessary with the compression pumps of cold vapour
machines, heretofore employed. The new arrangement of the pump is therefore
very advantageous.
In the conversion of the compressed carbonic acid from a gaseous into a liquid
form it is desirable to keep the temperatures as low as possible because, with
increasing temperature, the pressure at which the condensation takes place also
considerably increases, and the work.to be expended for the compression is therefore
materially increased.
For instance, carbonic acid at 0° becomes liquid under a pressure of 36 atmo-
spheres, whilst at 30° about 73 atmospheres are required in order to convert the
gaseous carbonic acid into the liquid state.
In order to cause, in the operation of the machine, a great cooling of the com-
pressed carbonic acid gas, and to keep the pressure as low as possible I insert
between the condenser and the refrigerator an apparatus in which the carbonic
acid passing from the refrigerator is used as a cooling medium for the compressed
carbonic acid. This apparatus is also constructed in such a manner that it serves
as a receptacle for a large quantity of cool liquid carbonic acid.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is an elevation of apparatus arranged according to this invention.
Figures 2, 3 and 4 are views of details hereinafter described.
Figures 5, 6 and 7 are views illustrating a modification. A indicates the com-
pression pump, B the condenser, C the cooler, D the refrigerating chamber and
E the gas holder for collecting the gas escaping from the stuffing-box chamber.
The body of the pump A, Figures 2 and 3, is surrounded by a vessel z for
holding cooling liquid, and the plunger of the pump is also cooled by cooling liquid
which is introduced through a tube x into the tube y arranged in the interior of
the plunger K, and escapes through. the tube u.
The stuffing-box chamber o is in connection with a vessel b, Figure 3, for con-
taining lubricating liquid, such as oil or glycerine, which enters the said chamber
through a U-shaped tube r and in connection, through a tube h, with the interior
of the gas-holder E, so that carbonic acid escaping through the inner stuffing
box & passes through the tube h to the gasholder E, where it collects.
As the pressure in the stuffing-box chamber o is only equal to the pressure of
the atmosphere, or exceeds the same only by very little, the outer stuffing box t
can be of very simple construction.
Oil or glycerine may be used to form a joint around the gas-holder E.
Instead of employing two glands with a chamber between them I can also
employ a box A₁ Figures 5 6, 7 which is screwed to the flange C' of the pump
cylinder and surrounds the gland B₁ of the main stuffing box. By this arrange-
ment the carbonic acid escaping at the outer periphery of the main stuffing-box
at a' cannot be lost, but is collected as before described.
For tightening the gland B¹ of the main stuffing-box, or renewing the packing
rings, the box A¹ must be removed, this however causes little trouble.

page_text: The carbonic acid compressed in the force pump A and intensely heated, passes
through a tube a Figure 1 to the condenser B of known construction; and from
this it passes through a tube c to the cooler C, the arrangement of which is shown
in Figure 4. In this cooler the tube c assumes first the form of a coil m which
is connected by means of the tube n with the upper part of a vessel F within the
cooler. From the lower end of this vessel the tube d (provided with a valve or
cock e) leads to the refrigerating chamber D of known construction. Here the
liquid carbonic acid is converted into gas, withdrawing heat from the cooling
liquid. The cold carbonic acid gas then returns through the tube f to the cooler C
where it passes through the coil p which is arranged between the vessels F and
the coil m.
The coils and m and also the vessel F, are surrounded by a solution of salt,
so that the cold carbonic acid gas passing through the inner coil p absorbs, through
the medium of the salt solution, considerable quantities of heat from the compressed
or liquid carbonic acid flowing through the outer coil m and the vessel F. In this
manner an enormous lowering of the temperature and a decrease in the pressure
takes place. Consequently with the employment of this cooler the work of
compression is reduced to a minimum.
The carbonic acid which has been acting in the cooler C is conducted through
the tube g back to the chamber of the pump A.
The carbonic acid gas collecting in the gas-holder E from the main stuffing
box & must be introduced again into the machine, and this can be effected in two
manners.
According to the first method the communication between the cooler C and
refrigerator D is interrupted by closing the cock or valve e in the tube d, the
pressure in the suction pipe g is then lowered by the action of the pump A, until
atmospheric pressure prevails in the same, the carbonic acid is then simply sucked
from the gas-holder E through the tube i, connecting the tube g with the said
gas-holder and having a cock which is opened before the suction. After the
gas-holder has been emptied by the pump, the cock k is closed again and the
cock e is opened.
According to the second method the introduction of the carbonic acid collected
in the gas-holder E takes place without interrupting the operation of the machinery
by means of an injector 9 inserted in the tube i which apparatus is operated by
means of a jet of carbonic acid at a pressure of about 60 atmospheres.
This carbonic acid can be taken from the pipe a through the tube v having the
cock w, Figure 1; in this case however the direct connection of this tube i with
the tube g must be interrupted for which purpose a cock is employed.
The charging of the machine with carbonic acid is effected by conducting
carbonic acid at any desired pressure through a valve to the suction chamber of
the pump. In order to replace the carbonic acid lost in the operation, liquid
carbonic acid under pressure, if at disposal, is caused to enter the suction space of
the pump. If, however, only carbonic acid at atmospheric pressure is at disposal,
this is allowed to enter the gas-holder and is drawn into the apparatus in the
manner above stated.
Although in the foregoing description only carbonic acid has been mentioned as
being used with the machine or apparatus it is evident that other refrigerating
agents can be used therein.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is
First. In an ice making machine or apparatus, the means for diminishing the
losses of gas through the stuffing box of the compression pump and consisting of
a chamber o filled with a lubricating liquid and connected with a gas-holder E by
means of the tube h, in which gas-holder the gas escaping from the stuffing box

page_text: collects, and from which it is from time to time conducted to the pump A either
by simple suction, the connection of the pump with the refrigerator being inter-
rupted; or by using a jet of high pressure carbonic acid for the purpose.
Second. In ice making machines, a cooler, inserted between the condenser and
the refrigerator, which cooler contains a strong vessel for collecting the liquid
and is cooled by the gas coming from the refrigerator, for the purpose of main-
taining a low pressure in the machine and of reducing the work to be done to
a minimum.
Third. In compression ice machines in which carbonic acid is used as the
refrigerating agent, the employment of the compression pump A, the condenser B,
the cooler C, the refrigerator D, and the gas-holder E, substantially as, and for the
purposes, described.