IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS OR APPA- RATUS FOR PRESERVING MEAT AND OTHER ARTICLES OF FOOD
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Kershaw, of Warwick Place, Maida
Hill, in the County of Middlesex, Ice Safe Manufacturer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS OR APPA-
RATUS FOR PRESERVING MEAT AND OTHER ARTICLES OF FOOD."
Sealed the 8th March 1870, and dated the 11th September 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Kershaw at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 11th September 1869.
I, BENJAMIN KERSHAW, of Warwick Place, Maida Hill, in the County
of Middlesex, Ice Safe Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS OR
APPARATUS FOR PRESERVING MEAT AND OTHER ARTICLES OF FOOD," to be as
follows:-
My Invention chiefly refers to the employment of charcoal in vessels.
for preserving meat and other food in the manner hereafter described;
also to a means of establishing a flow of atmospheric air through the
vessel. I place the charcoal between the outer casing of the vessel and
a lining or inner casing; the inner casing is perforated for the preserving
properties of the charcoal to pass through, and in order that the meat or

page_text: other food placed in the vessel may not come in contact with the
perforated sides of the inner casing, I employ a second perforated casing
a short distance from the other one. I prefer to make the bottom of it
of only one sheet of metal non-perforated, and I turn the edges up to
form a tray for holding any water or liquid that may fall upon it;
above this I fit a perforated false bottom, upon which the meat may
be placed. Trays or shelves may be fitted or slid into the vessel, and
rested upon supports or rails in any suitable manner. The upper part
of the vessel is formed of corrugated ribs or rails, into the recesses of
which bottles or other articles may be placed for cooling; above this
vessel I place another vessel, the bottom of which is formed of a corru-
gated plate, and which rests upon the rails before mentioned; each of
the corrugations or recesses corresponds with the recesses in the rails.
In the upper vessel and upon the corrugated plate I place ice or other
cooling medium, which throws off its cooling properties into the first-
named vessel, and acts upon the meat placed therein. I form apertures
in the sides or ends of the first-mentioned vessel, and when the door or
doors are opened I cause shutters or valves to move upon centres or
otherwise, and cover the openings up; but when the doors are closed the
valves are removed and leave the apertures open for the passage of
atmospheric air to act upon the charcoal placed inside. I fit a shield
near each aperture to break up and distribute the air over the entire
mass of charcoal. The doors are made in a similar manner to the vessel.
I propose to fit a cistern to some part of the vessel and fill it with water
for drinking purposes; this water is kept cold by the action of the ice.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Benjamin Kershaw in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 11th March 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
KERSHAW, of Warwick Place, Maida Hill, in the County of Middlesex,
Ice Safe Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her.
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give

page_text: and grant unto me, the said Benjamin Kershaw, Her special licence that
I, the said Benjamin Kershaw, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Benjamin Kershaw, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF
VESSELS OR APPARATUS FOR PRESERVING MEAT AND OTHER ARTICLES OF FOOD,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Benjamin Kershaw,
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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Benjamin Kershaw, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention chiefly refers to the employment of charcoal in vessels
for preserving meat and other food; also to a means of establishing a
flow of atmospheric air through the vessel, in the manner hereafter
described. I place the charcoal between the outer casing of the vessel
and a lining or inner casing; the inner casing is perforated for the
preserving properties of the charcoal to pass through, and in order that
the meat or other food placed in the vessel may not come in contact with
the perforated sides of the inner casing I employ a second perforated
casing a short distance from the other one. I prefer to make the bottom
of it of only one sheet of metal non-perforated, and I turn the edges
up to form a tray for holding any water or liquid that may fall upon it;
above this I fit a perforated false bottom, upon which the meat may be
placed. Trays or shelves may be fitted or slid into the vessel and rested
upon supports or rails in any suitable manner. The upper part of the
vessel is formed of corrugated ribs or rails, into the recesses of which
bottles or other articles may be placed for cooling; above this vessel
I place another vessel, the bottom of which is formed of a corrugated-

page_text: plate, and which rests upon the rails before mentioned; each of the
corrugations or recesses corresponds with the recesses in the rail. In
the upper vessel and upon the corrugated plate I place ice or other
cooling medium, which throws off its cooling properties into the first-
named vessel, and acts upon the meat placed therein. I form apertures
in the sides or ends of the first-mentioned vessel, and when the door or
doors are opened I cause shutters or valves to move upon centres or
otherwise, and cover the openings up; but when the doors are closed the
valves are removed and leave the apertures open for the passage of
atmospheric air to act upon the charcoal placed inside. I fix a shield
near each aperture to break up and distribute the air over the entire
mass of charcoal. The doors are made in a similar manner to the vessel.
I I propose to fit a cistern to some part of the vessel and fill it with water
for drinking purposes; this water is kept cold by the action of the ice.
In
The Invention will be well understood by referring to the accom-
panying Drawings, of which Figure 1 is a front elevation of a vessel or
apparatus constructed according to the description before recited.
this Figure one of the doors is thrown open to show a part of the
interior of the vessel. Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of the same
vessel or apparatus; and Figures 3 and 4 are respectively an end
elevation and transverse section.
A is the exterior or outside casing of the apparatus, which in this
instance is constructed in the form of a refrigerator or cooling closet and
fitted with doors B, B, which are hung upon hinges at the sides, so that
they can be opened from the centre, and thus expose a full opening for
the insertion or withdrawal of any article of food placed therein. The
exterior casing may be made of wood or of metal, but I prefer that it
should be made of wood, both for the sake of economy and appearance;
it is mounted upon feet or legs, so that it can be set at any height above
the floor or ground upon which it has to stand. The bottom C of the
outer case supports an inner case d of perforated metal or of wire gauze,
which is so placed as to leave a space between the two casings A and d;
this space is to be filled with some material such as charcoal, so that
the antiseptic properties of it can be communicated to the meat or other
food within the vessel to be preserved; there is another perforated
lining or casing d' a short distance from the first-mentioned perforated
inner case d to serve as a protector to the meat or other food, so that
it cannot come into contact with the perforated lining in which the

page_text: charcoal is placed. The inner perforated lining d³ need not extend all
over the sides of the lining d, but only up to a sufficient height above
the top tray to act as a protector. The bottom of the vessel A also
carries a frame, preferably of wood, to form a support to the inner vessels.
The frame has a ledge on which the lower tray c rests. This tray has its
end and side edges turned up to form a trough for receiving the water or
other moisture that runs from the meat or other articles which may be
placed upon the trays b, b, in the body of the apparatus, as hereafter
explained. The trough also receives the water that flows from the ice
or other cooling medium which is placed in the upper part of the
apparatus, from which it is led by the pipe g³, as shown in Figure 4,
into the well or trap joint c¹ of the trough. The trays b, b, are held in
position in the apparatus by resting upon pins, studs, or side ledges
secured to the sides of the inner lining d or in any other convenient
manner. They may be so arranged as to suit the height of the articles
placed upon them. Above the top tray I hang or suspend a corrugated
plate or a series of corrugated rails a', a', to form a bottle rack, so that
bottles containing wine or other liquid requiring to be cooled may be
placed in the corrugations; above this I fit a sheet metal plate a, also
formed with corrugations, which corrugations are in the reverse order to
those below them, so that circular apertures are formed for receiving the
bottles upon their sides. The plate a serves as a cover to the interior of
the apparatus as well as for receiving the ice or other cooling medium
which may be placed upon it. There are here and there deep cor-
rugations or chambers, in which beakers or decanters may be placed in
an upright position so as their contents may be cooled. Both of the
corrugated plates a and a' are hung upon the top edges of the inner
lining d in the manner shewn, to admit of their easy removal and
replacement should such an act be required. The apparatus is provided
with a lid of the same material as the outer case or body, and to facilitate
the introduction of the ice without raising the entire lid, I make an
aperture in the centre or other part of the lid, which aperture can be
closed by a flap or cover in any convenient manner. The side walls of
the outer case have circular grating valves or ventilators attached to
them, so that when the valves are open atmospheric air will be free to
enter and mix itself with the body or layer of charcoal which is between
the two casings. I cause the air to distribute itself through and among
the charcoal by means of shields or plates fand f', which are placed on
the outer side of the inner case or lining d, and the other at the inner

page_text: side of the outer case. The plates f¹ are perforated in. order to break up
the current of air into fine divisions as it passes into the apparatus. The
movable plates e of the valves or ventilators are attached to rods,
which are connected to rocking levers centred to the under part of
the apparatus, and they in their turn are operated by another lever
terminating in a cross piece, which cross piece is struck by the doors on
being opened, so that the valves or ventilators can be closed the instant
one or other of the doors are opened. These cross pieces are not in all
cases necessary, for instance, when the apparatus- has only one door, a
projecting lever is acted upon by that door; when more than two doors
are used the levers are so placed that on opening either door the
ventilators are shut. To ensure the plates shifting themselves to open the
ventilators when the doors are shut I fit them with counterpoises e¹, e',
which overcome the weight of the rods, etc., so that they act auto-
matically. The back of the ice chamber may be provided with a cistern g,
from which cold water may be drawn by the opening of the cock or tap h.
Figure 6 shows a modified form or manner of supporting the trays.
In this Figure I have shewn hinged flaps b, b, which can be turned up
against the sides to enable large articles to be placed in the apparatus ;
these hinged flaps may in some cases meet at the central part of the
apparatus, so as to form trays of themselves. There is no limit to the
shape of the top vessel or ice holder, as in some kinds of apparatus
the corrugations may be of great depth so that other articles besides
bottles can be lodged therein.
I do not confine myself to any mode of securing the seams or corners
of the inner vessels, but in Figure 5 I have shown the way I prefer to
do so, viz., by making the side linings separate from the back linings,
and placeing pieces or lengths of webbed or winged metal bars in the
corners, which not only hold the linings upright, but also serve to hold
the trays. It is obvious that I can dispense with the trays and place
gratings or perforated plates upon the supports in their stead.
I have hitherto spoken of vessels or apparatus for cooling and
preserving food and other articles of a heavy construction suitable for
kitchens and other places; but I am at liberty to make them of a
portable form, so that the food or other article of a perishable nature can
be placed in and conveyed to any distance with safety.
In Figures 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 I have shown a portable apparatus of
such a construction and size as to be capable of being lifted and carried

page_text: from place to place. The letters of reference correspond in all these
Figures to those referred to in the previous Figures, so that they need
not be repeated.
In conclusion I wish it to be understood that I do not in any
way confine myself to the special forms or construction of vessels or
apparatus for preserving meat and other articles of food, as above
described and shown, as I can vary the same to suit the particular
position or place they are intended to occupy; but what I desire to
claim as my Invention under my Letters Patent is,―
Firstly. The construction of vessels or apparatus arranged and acting
in the manner and for the purpose substantially as above described and
represented in the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly. Fitting inner perforated casings in such vessels or apparatus,
in the manner substantially as described.
.
Thirdly. Arranging and fitting a water tray in the vessel or apparatus,
substantially as described and shewn.
Fourthly. Arranging trays or flaps in such vessels, in the manner and
for the purposes herein-before described.
Fifthly. I claim fitting an ice holder or vessel of the construction
herein-before described, substantially in the manner and for the purposes
herein-before described.
Sixthly. I claim the arrangement of the levers, rods, and ventilators,
to vessels or apparatus for preserving meat and other articles of food, and
their mode of action, substantially as described and shewn.
And, lastly. I claim the means employed for distributing the air
among the charcoal placed between the outer and inner casings of such
vessels or apparatus for proserving food, substantially in the manner
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Kershaw, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of March One thousand
eight hundred and seventy.