IMPROVEMENTS IN COOLING LIQUIDS AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Carnegie Kirk, of Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COOLING LIQUIDS AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
Scaled the 22nd June 1869, and dated the 27th March 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Carnegio
Kirk at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 27th March 1869.
I, ALEXANDER CARNEGIE KIRK, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COOLING LIQUIDS AND IN APPARATUS
THEREFOR," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object the cooling of liquids in a more
convenient and economical manner than hitherto, but only to tem-
peratures not below their freezing points, and it is applicable in
breweries and otherwise.

page_text: In carrying out the Invention the cooling action is obtained by the
alternate compression and expansion of air, and is effected in and by
apparatus of the kind described in the Specification of Letters Patent
granted to the present applicant, and dated 25th April, 1862,
(No. 1218.)
The present improvement consists in injecting the liquid to be cooled
directly into the cold compartment of the apparatus, and in injecting
the liquid used for removing the heat produced during compression of
the air directly into the hot compartment, by which means the elaborate
and extensive surfaces described in the Specification herein-before
referred to as interposed between the liquids and the air are dispensed
with. The liquids may be allowed to flow from the apparatus through
suitable apertures, or when the air employed in the apparatus is at a
pressure above that of the atmosphere the consequent energy of the
escaping liquids may be utilised by employing them to drive an engine
or otherwise. The liquid used to remove the heat generated while the
air is being compressed must be such as will not freeze at the lowest
temperature produced in the apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Carnegie Kirk in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 25th September 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
CARNEGIE KIRK, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in
the thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Carnegie Kirk,
Her special licence that I, the said Alexander Carnegic Kirk, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alexander Carnegie Kirk, 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

page_text: Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COOLING LIQUIDS AND IN
APPARATUS THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Alexander Carnegie Kirk, 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 Alexander Carnegie Kirk, 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 in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object the cooling of liquids in a more
convenient and economical manner than hitherto, but only to tem-
peratures not below their freezing points, and it is applicable in
breweries and otherwise.
In practically carrying out my Invention the cooling action is
obtained by the alternate compression and expansion of air and is
effected in and by apparatus of the kind described in the Specification
of Letters Patent granted to me and dated 25th April, 1862,
(No. 1218.)
My present improvement consists in injecting the liquid to be cooled
directly into the cold compartment of the apparatus, and in injecting
the liquid used for removing the heat produced during compression
of the air directly into the hot compartment, by which means the
extensive and elaborate surfaces described in the Specification herein-
before referred to as interposed between the liquids and the air are
dispensed with.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood I have hereunto appended a
Sheet of explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to and
representing by way of example a convenient modification of apparatus
for effecting my improved cooling process.
Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Figure 2 is a plan partly in section.
The arrangement comprises three parallel horizontal cylinders, the

page_text: middle one 1 being the air compressing cylinder whilst the side
cylinders 2, 3, are those in which the liquids to be cooled and to
remove the heat developed by the compression are acted upon. The
compresssing cylinder 1 is provided with a tightly packed piston and
piston rod 5, and it communicates by a passage 6 at one end with
one end of one 2 of the side cylinders and by a passage 7 at the other
end with the opposite end of the other side cylinder 3. The side
cylinders 2, 3, are provided with moving regenerators 8 actuated by
rods 10, 11; these regenerators being cylindrical boxes filled with wire
gauze or other suitable permeable material presenting an extensive
surface, and the ends of the boxes having openings to allow the air
to pass through. The compressing piston rod 5 and the regenerator
rods 10, 11, are made to reciprocate by a steam engine or other suitable
prime mover, and if connected to cranks or eccentrics on a revolving
shaft the regenerator piston rods which move simultaneously are worked
by a crank or eccentric placed at about a quarter of the circle from
that working the compressing piston rod. The liquid to be cooled is
injected by means of force pumps by preference continuously through
pipes 12, 13, tapped into the ends of the two side cylinders 2, 3,
furthest from the passages 6, 7, from the compressing cylinder 1, and
the liquid to remove the heat developed by the compression is injected
by force pumps through similar pipes 14, 15, tapped into the opposite
ends of the side cylinders. The liquids are injected through nozzles with
small bores and with such force as to make them enter in a minutely
subdivided state. The two liquids drain into pockets 16, 17, 18, 19,
formed to receive them in the bottoms of the side cylinders, these
pockets being provided with gauge tubes 20 to show the quantity of
liquid in them, and with stop-cocks 21 for withdrawing the liquids.
Or instead of these stop-cocks 21 the apparatus may be provided with
any convenient self-acting float valves to allow the liquids to pass off
as they flow into the pockets. When the air employed in the apparatus
is at a pressure above that of the atmosphere the consequent energy
of the escaping liquids may be utilised by employing the liquids to
drive an engine or by leading them upwards in pipes when required
at a higher level than that of the apparatus, which level they will reach
without pumping or with less pumping power than would otherwise
be necessary. The pressure of the air employed in the apparatus may
be varied, the higher pressure requiring the greater driving power and
yielding the greater cooling effect; but in practice I find sixty pounds

page_text: per square inch to be a convenient maximum pressure. When the
pressure employed is greater than that of the atmosphere it must be
maintained by an air pump to compensate for leakage, and when of
the atmospheric pressure inlet valves must be provided to admit air
should the internal pressure become lower. The liquid used to remove
the heat generated whilst the air is being compressed must be such
as will not freeze at the lowest temperature produced in the apparatus.
The regenerators may be placed in the passages 6, 7, suitably enlarged
to receive them, and displacing pistons must be substituted for them
in the side cylinders to cause the air to pass backwards and forwards
through the regenerators.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not
restrict myself to the precise details herein described or delineated, but
that what I believe to be novel and original and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the hercin-before in part recited Letters Patent is,
the constructing or arranging and working of apparatus for cooling
liquids so that one or both of the liquids employed is or are injected
directly into the compartment or compartments containing the air, by
the alternate compression and expansion of which the cooling is effected,
substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Carnegie Kirk, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of
September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-nine.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
ALEXANDER C. KIRK. (L.S.)