IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING ICE
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bristow Hunt, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's
Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING ICE."-A communication
from abroad by Robert Riley, of Singapore.
Sealed the 15th November 1872, and dated the 18th September 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bristow Hunt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th September 1872.
I, BRISTOW HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County
3 of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING ICE," (a com-
munication to me from abroad by Robert Riley, of Singapore) to be
as follows:-
This Invention relates to the production of ice by means of currents
of brine or other fluid having a temperature below thirty-two degrees
Fahrenheit, and more particularly to apparatus of the kind described in
the Specification of Letters Patent granted to John Norman and James

page_text: Copeland, and dated 28 February 1866 (No. 613.) And the present
Invention consists in agitating the water to be frozen whilst the freezing
operation proceeds, such agitating having the effect of very much
expediting the process. The agitating apparatus consists by preferenco
of pendulous vibrating bars, which project down into the several com-
partments of the freezing tank from a series of transverse rocking bars,
which are made to rock by means of cranks or levers at one side of the
tank, such cranks or levers being acted on by a connecting rod or rods
from a revolving shaft or any convenient prime mover. The cranks aro
on short spindles or shafts set in bearings in the upper edge of the tank
side, and the inner ends of these spindles are formed with open sockets,
into which the ends of the rocking bars are shipped, this arrangement
admitting of the agitators being removed or replaced as required with
great facility.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bristow Hunt in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th March 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRISTOW
HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred. and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Bristow Hunt, Her special licence that I,
the said Bristow Hunt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Bristow Hunt, 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 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR PRODUCING
ICE" (a communication to me from abroad by Robert Riley, of Singa-
pore), upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Bristow
Hunt, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing

page_text: 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 Bristow Hunt, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
bo performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement in writing, and on reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to the production of ice by means of
currents of brine or other fluid having a temperature below thirty-two
degrees Fahrenheit, and more particularly. to apparatus of the kind
described in the Specifications of Letters Patent granted to Alexander
Carnegie Kirk, and dated 13th September 1864 (No. 2235), and of
Letters Patent granted to John Norman and James Copeland, aud dated
28 February 1866 (No. 613). And the present Invention consists in
agitating or giving motion to the water that is to bo frozen whilst the
freezing operation is proccoding, such agitation or movement of the
water not only very much expediting the process, but also freeing the
water 'of air, and thereby improving the solidity and clearness of
the icc.
It is obvious that the agitation or movement of the water may be
casily produced in a variety of ways, but a convenient and simple
arrangement of apparatus for the purpose is delineated on the accom-
panying Sheet of explanatory Drawings, and is herein-after particularly
described in order that the Invention and the manner of performing it
may be properly understood. In the said Drawings the same reference
numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are
repcated.
Figure 1 is a plan, and Figures 2 and 3 are transverse and longitudinal
vertical sections, showing a rectangular freezing tank fitted with longi-
tudinal vertical hollow partitions 1 for the passage of the brine: or
freezing fluid. Each hollow partition 1 is formed with longitudinal
strips 2, dividing the interior into a set of horizontal passages communi-
cating alternately at each end, and the brine entering by a pipe 3 at the

page_text: bottom traverses theso passages, and passes out again by a pipe 1 at the.
top, or vice verså.
The ice is formed on the outer surfaces of the hollow partitions 1, and
the spaces 5 between them are so large that the water is never frozen
completely across. The ice is thus made in slabs, which are separated!
into convenient lengths by hollow dividers 6, into which warm water is
poured when the ice is to be removed. The agitating apparatus consists
of a number of pendulous vibrating bars 7, which project down into the
several water spaces 5, being fixed to transverse horizontal rocking
bars 8, which are made to rock by means of levers 9 or cranks at one 1
side of the tank. The levers 9 are connected by rods 10, and the end
one of the series is made to rock by means of a connecting rod 11 from a
crank on a revolving shaft driven by any convenient prime mover. The
levers 9 are on short spindles or shafts 12 set in bearings in brackets 13
fixed to one side of the tank, and the inner ends of these spindles 12 are 1
formed with open sockets, into which the ends of the rocking bars 8 are
slipped. The other ends of the rocking bars 8 are rounded, and rest in
open bearings 14 fixed in the top edge of the other side of the tank.
These arrangements admit of the agitators being removed or replaced as
required with great facility.
Amongst the various means that might be adopted for producing the
agitation or movement of the water there may be mentioned paddles or
screws revolving continuously or intermittently, and centrifugal or other
pumps, drawing the water from one part of the tank, and delivering it
into another part. Or the agitation or movement may be produced by
giving an oscillatory or rotatory motion to the hollow partitions 1, through
which the brine passes, these partitions being mounted on trunnions for
the purpose, and receiving the brine through the trunnions or through
flexiblo tubing. It is not a violent agitation or very rapid movement
that is required, but a slow movement or circulation, by which different
parts of the water may be brought in succession in contact with the
partitions 1, or with the ice formed on them. With the apparatus shewn
in the Drawings it is sufficient for the bars 7 to make about thirty double
vibrations per minute.
Having thus particularly described the said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to
the precise details herein described or delineated; but that what I claim
as the Invention communicated to me by the said Robert Riley, and

page_text: secured by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the pro-
viding of vibrating bars or other equivalent means for agitating or
giving motion to the water that is being frozen in apparatus for pro-
ducing ice, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bristow Hunt, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
BRISTOW. HUNT. (L.S.)