IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATORS OR STRUCTURES FOR PRESERVING PERISHABLE ARTICLES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ignazio Allegretti, of the City and State of
New York, United States of America, Manufacturer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATORS OR STRUCTURES FOR
PRESERVING PERISHABLE ARTICLES."
Sealed the 21st March 1876, and dated the 27th September 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ignazio Allegretti at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th September 1875.
I, IGNAZIO ALLEGRETTI, of the City and State of New York, United
States of America, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATORS OR STRUCTURES FOR
PRESERVING PERISHABLE ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in an improved arrangement of the pre-
serving chamber, in which is placed any perishable article with the
cooling or external chamber, whereby a great degree of cold can be
secured and made effective at comparatively trifling expense; and also

page_text: in an improved mode of securing effective ventilation in and through
the preserving chamber, which is also of an improved construction.
The refrigerator is constructed with an inner metallic chamber con-
taining the articles to be preserved, and which is called the preserving
chamber placed within an enclosing casc, which may have single or
double walls, the space between which may be filled or lined with folt
or any non-conducting material.
The inner or preserving chamber is so located or arranged within the
enclosing case that there shall be ice and cold air space entirely around
and below such inner chamber; but it is only necessary to have ice
space or ice only above and on one or more sides, or even only on one
or more sides of such preserving chamber, the other side having air
spaces around them, communicating with the ice space or spaces, so
that the air therein shall be rendered of the same temperature as the
ice spaces. The bottom of the preserving chamber should not however
rest directly upon the bottom of the enclosing case, as is usual, but
should be raised somewhat above it so as to leave an air space between
the two which becomes filled with the coldest air, and thereby adds very
much to the effective action of the refrigerator. This cold air space
below the preserving chamber is all important to an effective refri-
gerator. The entrance to the preserving chamber is separate from that
to the ice chamber, so that the latter is not exposed to the outside
air when the former is opened for any purpose, and the ice or cold air
spaces need not be opened at all except to replenish the refrigerator
with the ice or the cooling mixture which may be ice alone, or ice mixed :
with salt or any suitable chemicals to secure the greatest degree of cold.
The cold air space below the preserving chamber furnishes a ready
and convenient place for cooling water for drinking and other purposes,
which is done by placing in such cold air space a coil of pipe supplied
with water from any source and having a faucet for drawing it off. The
extreme coldness of the air in the space below the preserving chamber
will cool in a very short time the water in the pipe sufficiently for use.
To secure proper ventilation of and circulation through the preserving
chamber air is admitted by a pipe through the door or side, and another
pipe leads from such chamber, the latter pipe passing downwards 3
through one of the ice or cold air chambers, so that the air in such pipe
will be condensed by the cold and made to descond more certainly and

page_text: continuously, thereby creating a current from and through the pre-
serving chamber and thus securing complete and perfect ventilation.
To facilitate the cleaning of the preserving chamber the bottom on
which any sediment or refuse would naturally collect is made separate
from and not connected to the sides, and in two or more sections or
parts, so as to be easily taken out for cleaning and replaced.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Ignazio Allegretti in the Great Soal Patent
Office on the 25th March 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, IGNAZIO
ALLEGRETTI, of the City and State of New York, in the United States
of America, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five, in the thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Ignazio Allegretti,
Her special licence that I, the said Ignazio Allegretti, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Ignazio
Allegretti, 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 REFRIGERATORS OR STRUCTURES FOR PRE-
SERVING PERISHABLE ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Ignazio Allegretti, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, 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 Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Ignazio Allegretti, 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:-
The object of my Invention or improvements is the production of a
refrigerator of improved construction, and by which is secured a more
complete ventilation of or circulation through the chamber in which
the articles to be preserved are placed, and also make the refrigerator
available as a means of cooling water for drinking and similar uses.
Fig. 1 is a perspective exterior view of the refrigerator, the ice door
being raised.
Fig. 2 is a vertical section of Fig. 1 from front to rear through the
door of the preserving chamber.
Fig. 3 is a vertical section of Fig. 1 from side to side through the
line x, x.
Fig. 4 is a detached view of the cold air space below the preserving
chamber and a water pipe placed therein.
Fig. 5 is a view of the removable bottom of the preserving chamber.
The Drawings show a refrigerator, the enclosing case A which has a
metallic lining B with an intervening space a between the two, which
may be filled with any non-conducting material, or left as an air space,
or partially so filled, and partially air space, as represented in the
Drawing. Within such enclosing case is the metallic preserving
chamber O, between which and the metallic lining B of the outer case
are ice spaces b and cold air space b', as shown in the Drawing,
Fig. 2; such preserving chamber extends backward from front to
rear, nearly across from one metallic surface B to the opposite one, but
is narrower in the other direction, as seen in Fig. 3, so as to leave
considerable ice space on each side of it. Such chamber C has also its
upper side inclined, as shown in Fig. 2, over which is also placed ice.
The ice thus covers the upper surface of such chamber, and is also
upon the two sides thereof, while its ends and bottom are subjected to
the influence of cold air. The particular location of the ice space
whether on the top and on one or more sides, or on the top only, or on one
or more sides only is not however material, it only being necessary
that there should be sufficient ice or cooling material to keep the air
surrounding the other sides of the preserving chamber at a temperature

page_text: as low as that of the ice or cooling mixture. The water is prevented
from dripping down the front side of such chamber at the door space D
by a framing surrounding the door space fitted at top with a metallic
upward projecting lip d (shown on an enlarged scale) which conducts
all such water down the sides of the door frame to the bottom of the
space in which the chamber O is placed, and all such water is dis-
charged through a tube d³, Fig. 3.
The ventilation of the preserving chamber C is effected by means of a
tube or opening e, Fig. 2, through the door or side of the refrigerator
(preferable through the former), and which may be provided with a
rotating or movable valve to regulate the quantity of air allowed to
enter such opening and chamber, and by means of a pipe e', which
extends from near the top of such chamber into and through the ice or
cooling chamber, Fig. 3, and then passes downward in contact with
or close proximity to one of the metallic sides B, and through the case A
at or near its bottom. By placing such pipe e' in or having it extend
downward through the ice or cooling chamber the air in such pipo, and
which enters it from the preserving chamber C, is continually cooled
and condensed, and thus caused to descend such pipe, and continually
be discharged therefrom, thereby creating or causing a constant inward
current through the pipe e. Constant circulation through and effective
ventilation of the chamber is thus secured. The metallic chamber C
rests upon a frame within the case A, but is not fixed within it, so that
the former can be at any time lifted and taken out of the case A for con-
venience in cleaning, repairing.
In the cold air space a chamber underneath the chamber C (and
which may be made of any required height by varying the size of the
sills which support the frame upon which the chamber O rests) may
be placed a water pipe y supplied with water through one end gª, and
fitted with a cock for drawing 9" at the other end. The low temperature
of the air in such cold air chamber cools the water in the pipe suffi-
ciently for drinking and other purposes without impairing its action as a
cooling medium for the chamber C.
To facilitate the cleaning of the chamber C, which is however so
3 arranged within the enclosing case that it can be entirely removed
through the door E, its bottom F is made in sections, so that they can
readily be lifted and taken out through the door D, and when washed
and cleaned again put in position. Such bottom is made of metal with

page_text: slats fixed upon its upper surface to support any articles placed upon the
bottom, and the metal sections are so made as to lap upon each other,
substantially as represented. The ice is put around the preserving
chamber through the door E, which is opened only for such purpose,
and which may be on any side of the structure, and access to the pre-
serving chamber C does not expose the cooling medium to the external
air. Such construction and arrangement of a refrigerating structure
may also be applied to permanent buildings, as packing houses, and also
to cars and to vessels, and boats of any description. The tube e' need
not necessarily extend towards the bottom of the refrigerator as far as
shown in the Drawings, it only being required that it should be or
extend downward in the ice or cold air chamber sufficiently far to secure
condensation or cooling of the air within it, and thus cause a down-
ward current of such air. The door D, which opens into the preserving
chamber has a close tight frame or lining around, so as to prevent when
such door is opened any air entering the ice chamber or cold air space to
reduce the temperaturo thereof.
What is claimed is,―
1st. In a refrigerating structure the combination of an inner metallic
chamber for containing fruits or other perishable articles with an
enclosing case when such inner chamber is so constructed and located
relatively to its enclosing case that there may be ice space only over or
on one or more sides of such inner chamber, and cold air space on the
other sides of and below such chamber, and having a close tight frame
or lining around the opening to such inner chamber to permit access
thereto without exposing such ice chamber and cold air space to the
external air.
2nd. In a refrigerating structure the combination with the preserving
chamber of a ventilating tube or conduit having its discharging portion
outside of the preserving chamber, and located in the refrigerating a
chamber to cool and condense the air therein, and with its end inclining
downward, so as to cause or produce an outward flow or current of air
from the preserving chamber, and a consequent inward current into and
through such preserving chamber.
3rd. In a refrigerating structure, having a cold air space as distin- g
guished from ice or water space around or below the preserving chamber,
the combination with such cold air space of a water cooling pipe or
vessel for the purposes set forth.

page_text: 4th. In a refrigerating structure, having its inner or preserving
chamber supported above instead of resting upon the bottom of the
enclosing case, the application and use of a sectional removable bottom
to such inner chamber, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, the said Ignazio Allegretti has hereunto set
his hand and scal, this Tenth day of March, A.D. 1876.
IGNAZIO ALLEGRETTI. (L.S.)