IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COOLING AIR OB LIQUID, AND IN VALVULAR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE SAME, AND APPLICABLE TO STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hargreaves and William Inglis, both of Bolton,
in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR COOLING AIR OB LIQUID, AND IN VALVULAR ARRANGEMENTS
FOR THE SAME, AND APPLICABLE TO STEAM ENGINES."
led the 13th November 1877, and dated the 3rd September 187
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
left by the said William Hargreaves and
William Inglis at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd
September 1877.
WILLIAM HARGREAVES and WILLIAM INGLIS, both of Bolton, in the County
of Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COOLING AIR OR LIQUID, AND
ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE SAME, AND APPLICABLE TO STEAM
IN VALVULAR
ENGINES."
This Invention has for its objects to improve the construction, arrangement, and
operation of apparatus for cooling air or liquid; also to economise the motive power
employed, and in the case of air to deliver the cooled air in a condition
better adapted for its intended applications than is obtained with some existing
apparatus.
The improved apparatus operates on the well known system in which air is com-
pressed, cooled while compressed, and reexpanded in a manner to utilise its expan-
sive force; and in the part of the apparatus for effecting the reexpansion certain
improved valvular arrangements are adopted which are also advantageously
applicable to steam engines.
In one modification of the improved apparatus a single vertical cylinder is
employed, the lower part forming a single-acting compression cylinder, and the
upper part a single-acting expansion cylinder. The necessary smaller effective
area of the expansion cylinder is obtained by employing a trunk which is
attached to the expansion piston, and passing out through a stuffing box admits
of a well known very simple connection with the crank shaft. An intermediate
Prin 17

page_text: trunk and rod connect the expansion piston to the compression piston. The valvular
arrangements of the compression cylinder may be as in existing apparatus. The
inlet and outlet valves of the expansion cylinder are in this modification both disc
or stamper valves, and are opened by the positive action of eccentrics on the crank
shaft, being closed by springs. The inlet valve, which opens outwards, is connected
to a lever which is acted on by a "long toe" cam-action lever connected to the eccen-
tric, and shaped to give a very quick opening movement with the least possible
abruptness. The outlet valve which is acted on by a similar but "short toe
action lever opens inwards, and the arrangement of the inlet and outlet valves is
such as to reduce clearance or waste space to a very sinall quantity.
cam-
In another modification of the valvular arrangements of the expansion cylinder,
what is known as a Corliss valve is substituted for the disc inlet valve.
And in a second modification of the compression and expansion apparatus hori-
zontal cylinders are used, either two single-acting cylinders combined, or separate
double-acting cylinders. With the expansion cylinder horizontal the valve details
are advantageously arranged in a separate casing bolted to the end or to each end
of the cylinder, a horizontal Corliss inlet valve being placed across the upper part
of such casing, and one or more disc outlet valves opening inwards at the lower
part.
The air is cooled whilst compressed or being compressed by the usual process of
injecting water into the compression cylinder, or it may be cooled in any other
known way, and it is led from the compressing cylinder by a pipe to a receiver,
from which it proceeds by another pipe to the expansion cylinder.
From the expansion cylinder the air is lead to heat-exchanging apparatus, con-
structed like any suitable kind of surface condenser, and in such apparatus it,
through the metal of tubes or thin partitions, abstracts heat from other air which
is passed through the heat-exchanging apparatus by means of a pump or any suit-
able blowing apparatus, and is thence led to the chambers or spaces wherein it is
wished to apply cooled air. With these arrangements the cooled air actually applied
for preserving food, for example, or for other purposes, may be drawn as directly as
possible from any locality or source, and is not passed through the entire apparatus,
and it is also free from the excess of moisture or congealed particles with which the
air that passes through the compression and expansion cylinders is charged.
The heat exchanging apparatus is arranged so that the two currents of air pass
through it in opposite directions in order that the exchange of heat may be as
complete as possible, as is well understood. The air to be cooled by means of the
heat exchanging apparatus is by preference filtered or purified by passing through
cotton wool or cloth, or through or in contact with other cleansing materials before
passing through the apparatus, particularly when it is to be applied for preservative
purposes.
When the object is to cool liquid the heat exchanging apparatus is by preference
fitted with vertical tubes, through which the liquid to be cooled descends, whilst
the cooled air enters at the bottom and is led by diaphragms to cross the tubes
alternately from one side to the other at successively high parts until it reaches an
outlet at the top; or when there is no objection to the intermingling of the air and
liquid, the liquid may be made to pass through a perforated plate at the top of a
vessel so as to fall in a shower, whilst the cold air is admitted to the lower part of
the vessel and passes off from the upper part.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Hargreaves and William Inglis in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th February 1878.
WILLIAM HARGREAVES and WILLIAM INGLIS, both of Bolton, in the County of
Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COOLING AIR OR LIQUID AND
IN VALVULAR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE SAME, AND APPLICABLE TO STEAM
ENGINES."
Our said Invention has for its objects to improve the construction, arrangement,
and operation of apparatus for cooling air or liquid; also to economise the motive
power employed, and in the case of air to deliver the cooled air in a condition
better adapted for its intended applications than is obtained with some existing
apparatus.
Our improved apparatus operates on the well known system in which air is com-
pressed, cooled whilst compressed, and reexpanded in a manner to utilise its expan-
sive force, and in the part of the apparatus for the reexpansion certain improved
valvular arrangements are adopted which are also advantageously applicable to
steam engines.
In one modification of our improved cooling apparatus a single vertical cylinder
is employed, the lower part formning a single-acting compression cylinder, and
the upper part a single-acting expansion cylinder, the effective area of the latter
being suitably diminished by using a trunk instead of a piston rod. The inlet and
outlet valves of the expansion cylinder are both disc or stamper valves, the inlet
valve being opened by a "long toe" cam-action lever connected to an eccentric on
the crank shaft, and shaped to give a very quick opening movement, but with the
least possible abruptness, whilst the outlet vaive is acted on by a similar but
"short toe cam action lever. These valves are arranged so as to reduce clearance
or waste space to a very small quantity.
In another modification of the valvular arrangements of the expansion cylinder,
what is known as a Corliss valve is substituted for the disc inlet valve.
And in a second inodification of the compression and expansion apparatus hori-
zontal cylinders are used, either two single-acting cylinders combined, or separate
double-acting cylinders. With the expansion cylinder in a horizontal position the
valve details are advantageously arranged in a separate casing bolted to the end or
to each end of the cylinder, a horizontal Corliss inlet valve being placed across the
upper part of such casing, and one or more disc outlet valves opening inwards at
the lower part.
The air is cooled whilst compressed or being compressed by the usual process of
injecting water into the compression cylinder, or it may be cooled in any other
known way; and it is led from the compressing cylinder by a pipe to a receiver,
from which it proceeds by another pipe to the expansion cylinder.
From the expansion cylinder the air may be led directly to the chamber or space
to be cooled; or by another part of our Invention it is led to heat-exchanging
apparatus constructed like any suitable kind of surface condenser, and in such
apparatus it, through the metal of tubes or thin partitions, abstracts heat from other
air which is passed through the heat-exchanging apparatus by means of a pump or
any suitable blowing apparatus, and is thence led to the chamber or space wherein
it is wished to apply cooled air. The air to be cooled by means of the heat-
exchanging apparatus is by preference filtered or purified by passing through cotton
wool or cloth, or through or in contact with other cleansing materials before passing
through the apparatus, especially when it is to be applied for preservative
purposes.

page_text: When the object is to cool liquid the heat-exchanging apparatus is by pre-
ference fitted with vertical tubes through which the liquid to be cooled descends,
whilst the cold air enters at the botton, and is led by diaphragins to cross the tubes
alternately from one side to the other at successively higher parts until it reaches
an outlet at the top; or when there is no objection to the intermingling of the air
and liquid the liquid may be made to pass through a perforated plate at the top of a
vessel so as to fall in a shower, whilst the cold air is admitted to the lower part of
the vessel and passes off from the upper part.
And in order that our said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood, we hereunto append four Sheets of explanatory
Drawings, to be herein after referred to, and representing various modifications of
our improved apparatus. In these Drawings the same reference letters and nunerals
are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1, on Sheet 1 of the accompanying Drawings, is a sectional elevation; and
Figure 2, on Sheet 2, is a vertical section, as at right angles to Figure 1, of the
first modification of our improved combined apparatus for the compression and
re-expansion of air for refrigerating purposes. In this arrangement there is a
single long vertical cylinder 1, 2, the lower part 1 forming a single-acting com-
pression cylinder, and the upper part 2, a single-acting expansion cylinder. The
necessary smaller effective area of the expansion cylinder 2 is obtained by employing
a trunk 3, which is attached to the expansion piston 4, and passing out through a
stuffing box, admits of the well-known simple connection with the crank shaft 5 by
a single connecting rod 6 jointed within the trunk 3 to the piston 4. An inter-
mediate trunk 7 and a rod 8 connect the expansion piston 4 to the compression
piston 9.
The valvular arrangements of the compression cylinder 1 may be as in existing
apparatus for the same purpose, and are shown as comprising disc valves, the inlet
valves 10 closing by their own weight, and the outlet valves 11 closing by springs.
The sectional part of Figure 1 is as taken through the outlet valves 11 and a
part of the passage 12, by which compressed air is led to the receiver. A pipe 13 is
shown for the injection of the water to cool the air whilst being compressed, the
pump 14 for forcing in this water being at the side of the cylinder and worked by
a rod 15 from an eccentric line on the end of the crank shaft 5.
The inlet and outlet valves 16, 17, of the expansion cylinder 2 are in this modifi-
cation (Figures 1, 2, 7) both disc or stamper valves, and are opened by the positive
action of eccentrics 18, 19, on the crank shaft 5, being closed by springs 20, 21.
The inlet valve 16, which opens outwards or from the cylinder, and is shown in
Figure 7, on Sheet 4, in sectional view, as at right angles to Figure 1, is connected
to a valve lever 22, which is acted on by a "long toe" cam-action lever 23 con-
nected to the eccentric 18, and shaped to give a very quick opening movement, but
with the least possible abruptness. The position of the cam-action lever 23
relatively to the eccentric 18 and to the valve lever 22, contributes along with its
shape to the obtainment of the desired movement. The outlet valve 17, which
is similarly acted on by a valve lever 24, moved by a shorter cam-action lever 25,
(indicated by dotted lines in Figure 1), opens inwards or towards the interior of the
cylinder, and the arrangements of the two valves is such that the clearance is
extreiney small, as is shown by the Drawings.
The crank shaft 5 is provided with two fly-wheels 26, one of which may serve
for the application of a driving belt from a steam engine or other prime mover, a
loose pulley being added on a part of the shaft not shown in the Drawings.
Figures 3 and 4, on Sheet 3 of the accompanying Drawings, are a plan and a side
elevation of the expansion cylinder of our arrangement, in which the compression
and expansion cylinders are horizontal, and each double-acting; Figure 8, on
Sheet 4, is a vertical longitudinal section corresponding to Figures 3 and 4. In
this arrangement Corliss inlet valves 27 are employed, the gear for working them,

page_text: and which is partly shown in Figures 3 and 4, being a well known modification of
Corliss valve gear. Both the inlet valves 27 and the outlet valves 17, which latter
are similar to those shown in Figures 1 and 2, herein-before described, are arranged
in separate casings 28, bolted to each end of the cylinder 29, the Corliss inlet
valves 27 being placed horizontally across the upper part of each casing 28, and one
or more of the disc or stamper outlet valves 17 being arranged at the lower parts.
The cam-action toe levers 25 are shown as acting directly on blocks 30 fixed on the
rods of the outlet valves 17, instead of on intermediate levers (24).
The combination of Corliss inlet valves (27) and disc or stamper inwardly-opening
outlet valves (17) may be advantageously adopted, whether the air expansion
cylinder be placed horizontally, vertically, or in any inclined position, the Corliss
valve being well suited for opening easily and quickly under the pressure it
experiences whilst the disc or stamper valve serves well for the outlet or exhaust,
as at the time it has to open it is not subject to much pressure. The same combi-
nation is also a very good one for a steam engine cylinder, and in Figure 5, on
Sheet 3 of the accompanying Drawings, this Figure being a vertical section, it is
shown as applied to the upper end of a vertical steam cylinder. The valves 27, 17
are in a casing 28, forming the top of the cylinder 31, which is jacketted by a
separate external cylinder 32.
Figure 6 is a general sectional plan showing the manner in which our improved
apparatus may be combined or arranged for refrigerating purposes. From the com-
pression cylinder of the apparatus at A, the compressed air is led by a pipe 12 to a
receiver B, whence it returns by a pipe 33 to the expansion cylinder of the
apparatus A, and from the latter it proceeds to the heat-exchanging apparatus C,
which, as herein-before stated, is constructed like any suitable kind of surface
condenser. The air to be distributed in the cold room or chamber D (in which
meat or other food is to be preserved, for example) is drawn from the outer atmo-
sphere through a pipe 34 by a blower E, which forces it, by a pipe 35 through a
filtering box F, whence it proceeds by a pipe 36 to the heat exchanger C, and being
therein cooled by the cold air from the apparatus A, is discharged into the room D
by the pipe 37. The waste cold air leaves the heat exchanger C by a pipe 38, and
if of less than the atmospheric temperature, may be led back to the apparatus A
and be used therein more economically than fresh atmospheric air.
of
Having thus particularly described our said Invention and the manner
performing the same, we have to state that we do not restrict ourselves to the
precise details herein described or delineated, but that what we believe to be novel
and original, and claim as the Invention secured to us by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is,
one,
1. The combination of the compression and expansion cylinder (1, 2,) in with
the two pistons (4, 9,) and trunks (3, 7,) arranged substantially as and for the
purposes herein-before described.
2. The arrangement of valve gear or details for moving the valves (16, 17,) as
herein-before described, and as shown on the accompanying Drawings.
3. The combination of Corliss inlet valves (27) with disc or stamper outlet
valves (17) in connection with cylinders worked by the expansion of air or steam,
substantially as herein-before described, and as shown on the accompanying
Drawings.
4. The fitting of a cylinder worked by air or steam, with a casing at one or each
end, in which casing there is at one part an inlet port with a Corliss valve, whilst
at another part there is a port having a disc or stamper valve arranged to open
inwards, as herein-betore described.
5. The cooling of atmospheric or pure air to be used for preservative or other
purposes, by passing it through heat-exchanging apparatus, wherein heat is

page_text: abstracted from it by air cooled by re-expansion after compression, and cooling
in the compressed state, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Inglis, on behalf of the said William
Hargreaves and myself, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-
seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-eight.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
WILLIAM INGLIS. (Ls.)