IMPROVEMENTS IN ICE PRODUCTION AND ICE HOUSES AND STORE ROOMS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Thomas Hughes, of the Firm of
Hughes and Son, Patent Agents, 123, Chancery Lane, London,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ICE PRODUCTION AND ICE HOUSES
AND STORE ROOMS."-A communication from abroad by Gottlob
Currle, Merchant, of Ulm, Wurtemburg, and Philipp Holzmann,
of Frankfort-on-the-Maine.
caled the 8th February 1876, and dated the 11th August 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Thomas
Hughes at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 11th August 1875.
I, EDWARD Thomas Hugues, of the Firm of Hughes and Son,
Patent Agents, 123, Chancery Lane, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ICE PRODUCTION AND
ICE HOUSES AND STORE ROOMS," a communication to me from abroad by
Gottlob Currle, Merchant, of Ulm, Wurtemburg, and Phiilipp
Holzmann, of Frankfort-on-the-Maine, to be as follows:-
This In vention relates.
-

page_text: Secondly. To the storing of such ice in buildings constructed above
ground generally termed ice houses.
And, Thirdly. To improvements in the construction of store and other
cellars and rooms or buildings, in which there may be maintained a
uniformly low temperature approaching to that of freezing point, as well
as a dry and pure atmosphere.
In carrying out the first part of the Invention advantage is taken of
the processes of nature but slightly reversed, inasmuch as the ice is
produced in an upward direction to any desired thickness instead of from
the surface downwards, and without resorting to any chemical means or
adjuncts but the cold of autumn and winter. For this purpose water
under a pressure of at least two atmospheres is forced through pipes
fitted with "roses," finely punctured with holes of about the size of a
fine sewing needle, the water thus being distributed in the forn of a dust
shower upon a metal floor, and is there frozen in an upward direction
very rapidly. This ice production is carried on in an ice house or
chamber of peculiar construction with window openings provided with
shutters, working on a pivot or other suitable arrangement for opening
and closing with facility. At a temperature below zero the shutters or
other arrangements will be thrown open for the purpose of the pre-
paration of icc, and closed at temperature above zero to protect the ice
produced from the higher temperature.
The cellars and other chambers which form the subject of the second
and third parts of the Invention are constructed, that the entrance of
heat by conduction through the subsoil shall be next to impossible, and
that the entrance of the outer atmosphere shall be under control and
admitted only in such quantity as may be deemed necessary for
ventilating purposes.
The chambers, store rooms, or cellars, will be placed wholly or partly
under ground or may be entirely above ground, and be built of brick,
stone, or concrete, or other suitable material, and with an inner and
outer wall or partition, the space between which inner and outer wall or
partition is to be filled with cement or non-conducting composition.
The floor and foundations will be treated in a somewhat similar way,
and both floor and walls be thus rendered to a degree not hitherto
attained proof against the cutrance of heat by conduction.

page_text: The appartment in which ice is to be produced is constructed directly
over these cellars or store houses, in such a manner that the temperature
of the latter may be directly influenced and regulated thereby, whilst
full provision is made for condensing and carrying off in liquid form all
aqueous vitiations of the air arising from storage of perishable sub-
stances, and shafts are provided for ventilation regulated by valves.
The ice production when in connection with cellars or store chambers
will be commenced on a metal floor in the ice house, which at the same
time forms the ceiling of the cellars or chambers below, and thus acts
most effectively in lowering the temperature.
It is preferred to place the level of the floor of ice houses above the
ground, and when the ice manufacture is complete the non-conducting
composition is applied to the walls.
When it is desired to produce ice only the metal floor may be
dispensed with, and the floor constructed in the same manner as in the
case of store cellars, only it must be made perfectly water-tight.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Thomas Hughes in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 11th February 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
THOMAS HUGHES, of the Firm of Hughes and Son, Patent Agents,
123, Chancery Lane, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of August, 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 Edward Thomas Hughes, Her
special licence that I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward
Thomas Hughes, 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 law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom

page_text: of Great Britain and Ircland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ICE PRODUCTION AND ICE HOUSES AND
STORE ROOMS," a communication to me from abroad by Gottlob Currle,
Merchant, of Ulm, Wurtemburg, and Phiilipp Holzmann, of Frank-
fort-on-the-Maine, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Edward Thomas Hughes, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
that is to say :-

page_text: Hugues Improvements on Iroaucony und Doorny 100.
shutters, working on a pivot or other suitable arrangement for opening
and closing with facility. At a temperature below zero the shutters or
other arrangements will be thrown open for the purpose of the pre-
paration of ice, and closed at temperature above zero to protect the ice
produced from the higher temperature.
The cellars and other chambers which form the subject of the second
and third parts of the Invention are constructed that the entrance of
heat by conduction through the subsoil shall be next to impossible, and
that the entrance of the outer atmosphere shall be under control and
admitted only in such quantity as may be deemed necessary for venti-
lating purposes.
The chambers, store rooms, or cellars will be placed wholly or partly
under ground or may be entirely above ground, and be built of brick,
stone, or concrete, or other suitable material, and with an inner and
outer wall or partition, the space between which inner and outer wall or
partition is to be filled with cement or non-conducting composition.
The floor and foundations will be treated in a somewhat similar way,
and both floor and walls be thus rendered to a degree not hitherto
attained proof against the entrance of heat by conduction.
The apartment in which ice is to be produced is constructed directly
over these cellars or store houses, in such manner that the temperature
of the latter may be directly influenced and regulated thereby, whilst
full provision is made for condensing and carrying off in liquid form all
aqueous vitiations of the air arising from storeage of perishable sub-
stances, and shafts are provided for ventilation regulated by valves.
The ice production when in connection with cellars or store chambers
will be commenced on a metal floor in the ice house, which at the same
time forms the ceiling of the cellars or chambers below, and thus acts
most effectively in lowering the temperature.
It is preferred to place the level of the floor of ice houses above the
ground, and when the ice manufacture is complete the non-conducting
composition is applied to the walls.
When it is desired to produce ice only the metal flooring may be
dispensed with, and the floor constructed in the same manner as in the
5 case of store cellars, only it must be made perfectly water-tight.

page_text: A is the chamber in which the ice is produced and preserved; B,
metal floor upon which the ice is produced and stored; C, upright posts
forming the sides of ice chamber; C¹, moveable wooden frames or
boards covered with zinc; C², shutters; D, ceiling of the ice chamber;
E, pipes through which the water used in the production of the ice is
passed, said pipes being provided at their upper ends with roses of
proper form and size punctured with holes of the smallest possible
dimension; F, the storeage cellar; G are air or ventilating shafts; H,
hinged doors or valves with rod attached on under side for establishing
and regulating communication with passage running round ice chamber,
or for more direct communication with outer atmosphere; J, zinc
gutters for carrying off condensation water; K, wooden scantlings laid
obliquely for carrying metal floor; K', openings in scantlings for direct
passage of water; L wooden beams supported by girders carrying whole
structure of floor; M, iron girders; N, gutter lined with zinc for
carrying off condensation water collected by gutters J; N', fall pipe
conducting water to outlet in floor of cellar; O, union with cap; O',
bell trap through which ice water from ice chamber passes when the
caps are removed; P, pipe passing ice water and condensation water
into gutter N.
The foundation of the storeage cellar as shown in Fig. 3, and detail,
Fig. 9, consists, firstly, of a bed of concrete coated on the upper side
with tar, and then papered with continuous packing paper. Upon this
is placed a layer of silicate cotton which is then covered with roofing
felt, and upon this is laid a second bed or layer of concrete, which is
finished with a coating of cement or rock asphalt. The floor itself is to
be laid with an inclination, and be provided with a gutter for carrying
off water through the trapped outlet at its lower end communicating
with outside drain.

page_text: The walls of the cellars, Figs. 1, 3, 4, and 10, may be of brickwork,
rubble, concrete, or other suitable material. They are to be coated on
the outside with tar and then sprinkled or covered with sand or cement,
and then regularly coated or compoed" in the usual manner. The
insides of walls are also to be coated with tar, and then papered with
continuous packing paper. At a short distance from the insides of the
walls are then placed the wooden posts or framing between which and
flush with the side of the posts next the walls is placed the boarding.
The space between this boarding and the wall is packed with silicate
cotton, and the boarding papered with asphalte paper. The space a, b,
Fig. 10, that is, the thickness of framework is to be filled out with
concrete and finally coated with cement.
The floor of ice house or chamber is accurately shown in Figs. 5, 6, 7,
and 8;
it is supported by the iron girders M which are fixed in the walls
of the store cellar, said girders carrying the double beams L running in
the longitudinal direction of the ice chamber, said beams being boarded
on the upper side with the boards L', and upon which the zinc gutters
are placed between said boards L', and the oblique scantlings K with
openings K', Fig. 6, for passage of water.
The metal floor placed directly upon these scantlings is formed of
sheet or plate iron and angle iron properly rivetted and jointed together
with lead, cement, putty, or other suitable jointing material for securing
a water-tight floor.
The floor is laid with an inclination similar to that of the storeage
cellar, and the lower flat or gutter portions thereof are provided at their
lower ends with union openings O, Fig. 7. Whilst ice is being manu-
factured these openings will be closed by a cap to be screwed thereon.
As soon as the ice has been obtained of the desired size and thickness,
these caps will be removed and replaced by the water trapped outlet O¹.
This latter discharges its ice water through the pipe P into the
gutter N.
In Fig. 8 is shown another mode of constructing the floor, which rests
upon and is carried by transverse beams fixed into the side walls of the
store room.
Zinc gutters for carrying off the condensation water are first placed on
the top side of these beams, upon which the construction of the iron floor

page_text: is then commenced, the condensation water and ice water from the floor
itself being finally carried off in the same manner as already described.
The floor upon which the ice production is to be carried on will be
formed of sheet or plate iron with pointed arches rivetted together, and
to an inverted T iron at top as well as strengthened with T iron ribs, and
jointed water-tight as before described.
The construction of the storeage cellar F is shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 4.
The hinged doors or valves H. which close the grated openings in passage
above the cellar, will be opened so soon as the temperature of the outer
atmosphere is low enough to allow of a commencement being made with
the ice production, so as to admit in this manner direct into the cellar
itself the colder atmospheric air.
As soon as the temperature of the outer atmosphere rises above
freezing point, or the production of ice as required has been completed,
these doors or valves will be closed. The air shafts G which are shewn
for example in the Drawing at the four corners, but which may be
increased in number as may be necessary or desired, then serve the
purpose of ventilation, said shafts being provided with valves by means
of which the admission of fresh air and exit of vitiated air may be
regulated as desired. The storeage cellar is provided with double
doors.
The construction of the ice house or chamber is shown by Figs. 1, 2
3, 5, 6, and 7. The outer walls of this storey are to be provided with as
many openings as possible, capable of being closed or thrown open by
shutters or other arrangements with rapidity and facility.
The sides of the ice chamber proper are formed by a framing of
vertical posts C, between which frames or boards covered with zinc are
dropped as the ice production proceeds, a groove being formed on each
side of the vertical posts by means of two laths secured thereto, which
serve to guide the zinc frames into their proper position, when in
position the joints are to be made water-tight by any plastic mixture,
putty, or cement, which does not injure the zinc covered boards for
future use, the whole space within the wooden framing or partition thus
forming a water-tight chamber, and when the ice block is finished the
whole chamber must be packed all round with the best non-conducting
material, as shown more particularly at Q, Fig. 7.

page_text: The ice water from chamber will be carried off by the outlet provided
at O through water trap O¹ as previously fully set forth.
Having now described the nature and particulars of the said Invention
as communicated to me I claim the improvements in ice production
and ice houses and store rooms, substantially as herein described and
shown by the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.
E. T. HUGHES. (L.S.)