IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATING APPARATUS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Archibald Douglas Bryce-Douglas, of Burnbrae, in the
County of Dumbarton, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATING
APPARATUS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Archibald Douglas Bryce-
Douglas at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th March
1880.
ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS BRYCE-DOUGLAS, of Burnbrae, in the County of Dumbarton.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATING APPARATUS."
My Invention relates to refrigerating apparatus of the kind in which air is
compressed, cooled, and expanded, performing work, being thus refrigerated and
applicable for cooling chambers for the preservation of meat and other purposes.
The chief object of my Invention is to provide efficient means for cooling the
compressed air, and for clearing it of suspended moisture before its expansion.
For this purpose I connect to a crank shaft a compound steam engine, and I
connect a crank or cranks on the same shaft to the piston of an air compressing
pump, and also to the piston of a cylinder in which the air expands. The air
compressed by the pump passes into a cooling vessel of the following construction :-
It is divided by horizontal diaphragms fitted with a number of vertical tubes, each
tube having within it a tube of smaller diameter, so that there is a thin annular
space in each case between the inner and outer tubes. The compressed air is
caused to pass through these annular spaces, whereby it is exposed in thin films to
the cooling action of water, which is caused to circulate through the inner tubes
and around the outer tubes. The air cooled in this vessel passes thence to a
chamber of repose, consisting of a sheaf of tubes surrounded by cold air, passing
them on its return from the refrigerating chamber or chambers to the pump to be
again compressed and expanded. From the chamber of repose, in which-the-
principal part of the moisture is deposited, the compressed air passes to the
expansion cylinder in which it acts on the piston, expanding, and performing work,
and thereby becoming refrigerated. From this cylinder the cold air passes to
the chamber or chambers which have to be cooled, and after circulating therein it is
conducted back to the pump to be again compressed and expanded, passing on its
way the pipes constituting the chamber of repose, which it cools as above
described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Archibald Douglas Bryce-Douglas in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd September 1880.
ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS BRYCE-DOUGLAS, of Burnbrae, in the County of Dumbarton.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.".
My Invention relates to refrigerating apparatus of the kind in which air is
compressed, cooled, and expanded, performing work, being thus refrigerated and
applicable for cooling chambers for the preservation of meat and other purposes.
The chief object of my Invention is to provide efficient means for cooling the
compressed air, and for clearing it of suspended moisture before its expansion.*
For this purpose I connect to a crank shaft a compound steam engine, and I
connect a crank or cranks on the same shaft to the piston of an air compressing
pump, and also to the piston of a cylinder in which the air expands. The air
compressed by the pump passes into a cooling vessel of the following construction :-
It is divided by horizontal diaphragms fitted with a number of vertical tubes, each.
tube having within it a tube of smaller diameter, so that there is a thin annular
space in each case between the inner and outer tubes. The compressed air is
caused to pass through these annular spaces, whereby it is exposed in thin films to
the cooling action of water, which is caused to circulate through the inner tubes.
and around the outer tubes. The air cooled in this vessel passes thence to a
chamber of repose, consisting of a sheaf of tubes surrounded by cold air, passing
them on its return from the refrigerated chamber or chambers to the pump to be
again compressed and expanded. From the chamber of repose, in which the
principal part of the moisture is deposited, the compressed air passes to the
expansion cylinder in which it acts on the piston, expanding, and performing work,
.and thereby becoming refrigerated. From this cylinder the cold air passes to
the chamber or chambers which have to be cooled, and after circulating therein it
is conducted back to the pump to be again compressed and expanded, passing on
its way the pipes constituting the chamber of repose, which it cools as above
described.
The apparatus may be arranged in various ways to suit the various situations in
which it may be worked. The accompanying Drawings shew a compact arrange-
ment suitable for use on shipboard; Fig. 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2, a plan of the
lower part, and Fig. 3 an end view; Fig. 4 is an elevation partly in section of the
refrigerator and chamber of repose; Figs. 3 and 4 are drawn to an enlarged scale.
A and B are respectively the smaller and larger cylinders of the compound steam
engine which works the crank shaft X, carrying a fly wheel at each end. To the
cranks on the shaft X are connected the pistons of the cylinder C, which is the
pump for compressing the air, and of the cylinder D in which the compressed air,
after it has been cooled, expands performing work. N is a pump for causing
circulation of water through a casing of the pump C, and through the refrigerator K.
The pump C is double acting, having inlet and outlet valves at each end, drawing
in air by the pipe F and discharging it compressed by the pipe E. The pump C is
surrounded by a casing, which receives water from the pump N by an inlet G, and
whence the water passes by an outlet pipe H and a pipe I to the refrigerator K.
The expansion cylinder D is fitted with slide valves like a steam cylinder, the
compressed air being supplied to the slide case by a pipe S, and the exhaust being
discharged by a pipe T leading to the chamber that is refrigerated.
. refrigerator K is a vessel divided by horizontal tube plates into a middle
compartment, and two compartments ¹, k³, above, and two k³, k, below. In
the two tube plates of the compartment are fixed tubes, and in the other two
tube plates are fixed smaller tubes which pass through the former tubes, leaving in
each case a narrow annular space between the inner and the outer tubes. Water
is supplied by the pipe I, and a branching inlet O to the compartment k¹ and also
to the upper part of k, and after descending through the interior of the smaller
The

page_text: tubes to and outside the larger tubes to the lower part of k it is discharged by an
outlet P, or preferably it may enter at P, and flowing in the reverse direction issue
at O. Compressed air discharged from the pump C passes by the pipe Ę to the
compartment k', and descending the annular spaces between the inner and outer
tubes to the compartment k² passes thence by a passage L to the chamber of
repose M. The air thus subdivided into thin annular films, exposed both inside
and outside to the cooling influence of the water, has the greater part of the heat
developed by its compression abstracted from it. In order to prolong the exposure
of each film of air to the cooling influence it is of advantage to introduce into the
annular spaces between the inner and outer tubes helical wires loosely fitting, as
shewn at k, Fig. 4, so that the air in passing down between the tubes has its direct
flow more or less obstructed, and is caused to traverse the annular space in a helical
direction. The chamber of repose M is a vessel similar to a tubular boiler, the
cooled air from L entering its lowest compartment, passing up its tubes to its
highest compartment, and thence by the pipe S to the expansion cylinder D, whilst
air from the refrigerated apartment enters by Q, the upper part of the middle
compartment of M surrounding the tubes, and passes from the lower part of that
compartment by the pipe F to the suction valves of the pump C. This air coming
from a refrigerated apartment has a further cooling influence on the compressed air,
passing through the tubes of M, causing deposit of moisture, which is drawn off
from the bottom of M, and also from the compartment of K into a receptacle R,
which can be from time to time emptied by the cocks of a gauge. Such being the
character of the apparatus, the refrigerating process performed by it is as
follows: Air from the refrigerated apartment after passing through and
surrounding the tubes in M is drawn into the pump and compressed, the pump
being kept cool by the water circulating through its casing. The compressed
air, heated by the compression in passing through the annular spaces of the
refrigerator K and then through the tubes of M, loses heat and moisture and
arrives comparatively cool and dry at the cylinder D. In this cylinder it expands,
performing work and losing heat, so that it passes at a very low temperature by
the pipe T to the refrigerated apartment, whence it returns by the pipe to
circulate again in like manner.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I make no general claim to effecting
refrigeration by compressing air, cooling it, and permitting it to expand performing
work, nor to any particular arrangement of engine, compressing pump, or expansion
cylinder for that purpose, but I claim in respect of refrigerating apparatus
operating in this manner,-
First. The use of a refrigerator, constructed and arranged substantially as herein
described with reference to K, whereby the compressed air to be cooled is sub-
divided into thin annular films, exposed both inside and outside to the cooling
agency.
Second. The combination of a refrigerator, such as is referred to in the preceding
claim, with a chamber of repose of the kind herein described with reference to M,
wherein the compressed air cooled in K is farther cooled and caused to deposit
moisture by exposure to the cooling influence of air returning from the refrigerated
chamber, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Archibald Douglas Bryce-Douglas, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty.