IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE Manufacture OF ICE." MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ICE
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Kyle, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE Manufacture OF ICE."
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ICE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Kyle at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th July 1873.
I, JOHN KYLE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
5 Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ICE," to be as follows,
that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object to improve, simplify, and cheapen
apparatus used in the manufacture of ice, and to produce the ice in a
O clear, solid, and dense condition,

page_text: The improved apparatus is of the kind in which currents of brine or
other fluid (liquid or gas) having a temperature below 32 degrees
Fahrenheit are used for producing the ice, the ice being formed on the
outsides of hollow partitions or vessels immersed in the water, a portion
of which is to be frozen.
In one modification the hollow partitions are made of cast iron and in
short lengths, which are connected together in sets of two or more
by longitudinal tie rods or bolts passing through them and by bolted
flanges at the top and bottom edges at the joints.
The combined set of two or more lengths comprises a pair of vertical
side plates (on the outer surfaces of which the ice is formed) these plates
being united at top and bottom, and also by a number of horizontal
partition strips, which divide the internal space into a series of longi-
tudinal passages communicating with each other alternately at opposite
ends, so as to combine to form one continuous serpentine passage. The
partition strips may be placed vertically or otherwise if preferred. The
passages are oblong in cross section, the long sides being formed by the
side plates; and in cases in which the passages cannot conveniently be
made as narrow as is otherwise desirable, bars of wood or other suitable
material are placed along their middles to reduce the actual passages for
the freezing fluid to very narrow spases along the sides. A number of
the hollow partitions are fixed vertically in a tank constructed of wood
or iron, or with the bottom sides and one end of wood, and the other end
of cast iron, the partitions being conveniently fixed to the iron end.
The tops and bottoms of the hollow partitions communicate with trans-
verse pipes connected by three-way cocks with the supply and return
pipes from the refrigerating apparatus.
The three-way cocks are by preference connected together by toothed
wheels or equivalent details, so as to be turned simultaneously, and are
arranged so as in one position to lead the freezing fluid in at the tops of
the partitions and out at the bottoms. When the currents have pro-
ceeded thus for some time the cocks are reversed, which makes the fluid
enter at the bottoms and pass out at the tops of the partitions, and so
equalises the freezing action on the sides of the partitions. The hollow
partitions are by preference fixed with their bottom edges some distance
above the bottom of the tank to allow space beneath them for the settle-

page_text: ment of impurities suspended in the water, and bars of wood are placed
along the bottom edges to prevent the formation of ice round those
edges, which would inconveniently unite the slabs of ice formed on the
opposite sides of each partition.
Each length of hollow partition may be a single casting with the
division strips subdividing the internal space cast in, or the sides may be
cast separately with the division strips formed on one or both or partly
on each, and be afterwards fixed together by rivetting, screwing, or
bolting, or the sides may be made of wrought or rolled metal plates or
sheets, the internal division strips being of metal or wood, and the whole
fixed together by screwing, rivetting, or bolting. Steel, malleable iron,
brass, or zinc, may be used instead of cast iron for forming the partitions,
and when sheet metal is used the partitions may be made in single
lengths of the length of the tank.
Brushes or flexible wipers are (by means of revolving cranks and
connecting rods and levers) made to reciprocate over the surfaces of the
ice whilst it is forming to remove air bubbles.
After the ice is formed the slabs are cut into convenient lengths for
removal by means of a sawing tool worked by hand or from a revolving
shaft.
In one modification the sawing tool is made double, two short lengths
of saw toothed plates being fixed on the bottom ends of vertical arms
jointed at their upper ends to a handled cross head. The saws face each
other, and are made to act simultaneously on the ice slabs on opposito
sides of a hollow partition. A screw connecting the saw arms below the
cross head is turned from time to time as the sawing proceeds to move
the saws closer together to cut more deeply into the ice.
In another modification either one revolving circular saw driven by
hand or steam power and carried by a frame is introduced between two
hollow partitions to simultaneously cut the ice slabs on each side, or
two circular saws on one frame are used for cutting the slabs on the two
sides of one hollow partition.
.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Kyle in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th January 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
KYLE, 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 Twelfth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Kyle, Her special licence that
I, the said John Kyle, my executors, administrators, and assigns
or such others as I, the said John Kyle, my executors, admini-
strators, 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
FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ICE," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said John Kyle, 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 John Kyle, 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 to improve, simplify, and cheapen
apparatus used in the manufacture of ice, and to produce the ice in a
clear, solid, and dense condition.
The apparatus to which my improvements are applicable is of the kind
in which
T 1

page_text: perature below 32 degrees Fahrenheit are used for producing the ice, the
ice being formed on the outsides of hollow partitions or cells, or vessels
immersed in the water, a portion of which is to be frozen, and my
Invention comprises improvements in the modes of constructing, com-
bining, or putting together such apparatus.
My Invention also comprises improved means for removing air bubbles
from the ice whilst the ice is forming, and also apparatus for cutting the.
slabs of ice into portions convenient for handling.
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing
modifications of apparatus as made with my improvements. In these
Drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like
parts wherever they are repeated.
:
One modification of my improved ice boxes is shown in Figures 1, 2, 3,
of the Drawings, these Figures being respectively an end elevation, a
longitudinal vertical section, and a transverse vertical section. Parts of
the same apparatus are also shown enlarged in horizontal and transverse
vertical section in Figures 4 and 5. In this modification the hollow
partitions or cells 1 are made of cast iron and in comparatively short
lengths, which are connected together in sets of four, as shown, or in sets
of other convenient number, by longitudinal tie rods or bolts 2, and by
bolted flanges 3 at the top and bottom edges at the joints, the joints.
being planed and made quite tight by means of red lead cement.
The partition 1, or combined set of two or more lengths, comprises a
pair of vertical side plates (on the outer surfaces of which the ice is
formed) these plates being united or connected at top and bottom, and
also by a number of horizontal partition strips 4 (Figure 5), which divide
the internal space inte a series of longitudinal passages communicating
with each other alternately at opposite ends, so as to combine to form
one continuous serpentine passage throughout the entire partition or
cell. The partition strips 4 may be placed vertically, or otherwise if
preferred. The passages are oblong in cross section, the long sides being
formed by the vertical side plates, and in cases in which the passages
cannot conveniently be made as narrow as is otherwise desirable, bars 5,
of wood or other suitable material, are placed along their middles to

page_text: reduce the actual passages for the freezing fluid to very narrow spaces
along the sides. When the spaces are narrowed in this way the velocity
of a certain quantity of water passing through is increased, and more
particles of the water sweep along the inner sides of the partition in a
given time, and so take up the heat more rapidly. The bars 5 are cut
away angularly at the ends to allow the currents from the two sides to
unite and mix. A number of the hollow partitions 1 are fixed vertically
in a tank 6 constructed of wood or iron, or, as I prefer, and as shown in
the Drawings, with the bottom and sides of wood, and the ends 7, 8, of
cast iron externally covered with wood, the partitions 1 being con-
véniently fixed to the iron end plates 7, 8. The tops and bottoms of the
hollow partitions 1 communicate by branches formed in the cast iron
end 7, with transverse pipes 9, 10, connected by three-way cocks
11, 12, with the supply and return pipes 13, 14, from the refrigerating
apparatus.
The three-way cocks 11, 12, are by preference connected together by.
toothed wheels or equivalent details, so as to be turned simultaneously,
and are arranged so as in one position to lead the freezing fluids in at
the tops of the partitions 1 and out at the bottoms. When the.currents
have proceeded thus for some time, the cocks 11, 12, are reversed, which
makes the fluid enter at the bottoms and pass out at the tops of the
partitions, and so equalises the freezing action on the sides of the
partitions. These hollow partitions or cells 1 are by preference fixed, as
shown, with their bottom edges some distance above the bottom of the
tank 6, to allow space beneath them for the settlement of impurities
suspended in the water, and bars 15 of wood are placed along the bottom
edges to prevent the formation of ice round those edges, which would
inconveniently unite the slabs of ice formed on the opposite sides of each
partition 1.
Each length of hollow partition or cell 1 may be a single casting with
the division strips 4 subdividing the internal space cast in, as shown in
Figure 5, or the sides may be cast separately with the division strips 4
formed on one or both, or partly on each, and be afterwards fixed
together by rivetting, screwing, or bolting. Or the sides of the cells or
partitions 1 may be made of wrought or rolled metal plates or sheets,
the internal division strips 4 being of metal or wood, and the whole
fixed together by screwing, rivetting, or bolting. Figure 6 is a longi-

page_text: tudinal vertical section of a tank or ice box 6, as furnished with cells or
hollow partitions 1 made of sheet metal rivetted together with division
strips indicated by dotted lines between them; and Figures 7, 8, are
enlarged transverse vertical sections of such sheet metal cells or
partitions 1. Steel, malleable iron, brass, or zinc, may be used instead
of cast iron for forming the partitions 1, and when sheet metal is used
the partitions may be made in single lengths of the length of the tank
6. One end of such a sheet metal partition 1 can be entirely closed up,
or, if desired, even both ends may be closed (excepting the inlet and
outlet orifices.) I, however, prefer to fix angle iron at the ends for
bolting the partition by to the end plates 7, 8.
.
:
Brushes or flexible wipers 16 are made to reciprocate, by preference
vertically, over the surfaces of the ice whilst it is forming to remove air
bubbles. Such brushes or wipers may be arranged and worked in a
variety of ways, but the arrangement shown in Figures 2, 3, 4, 5, will, I
believe, be found simple and convenient in practice. In this arrange-
ment the brushes or wipers 16 are fixed in pairs on horizontal rods 17,
connected to a central lifting bar 18 by arms 19, formed of steel wire,
which is coiled round the lifting bar 18 with a moderate elastic strain so
as to gently press the brushes or wipers downwards and outwards against
the slabs of ice which face each other, and between which each pair of
brushes or wipers works.. The arrangement of spring arms 19 also.
allows of the brushes or wipers receding towards each other from the
cells 1, as the thickness of the ice slabs increases without too greatly
increasing their pressure. The lifting bars 18, of which there is one in
each space, into which the tank 6 is divided by the hollow partitions 1,
are connected to cross heads 20, which are made to reciprocate vertically
by overhead revolving cranks or in any other convenient way. The
action of these brushes or wipers will prevent the enclosing of air
bubbles in the ice, and the ice will in consequence be rendered perfectly
clear and solid. The brushes or wipers may be made of hair, rubber,
cloth, or any other suitable flexible material.
As the ice slabs formed on long cells 1, like those shown in the
Drawings, are inconvenient to handle, I cut them into short lengths by
means of a sawing tool worked by hand or from a revolving shaft.
In one modification shown in Figures 9 and 10, which are elevations
as at right angles to each other, two short lengths 21 of saw toothed.

page_text: plates are fixed on the bottom ends of vertical arms 22 jointed at their
upper ends to a handled cross head 23. The saws 21 face each other, and
are made to act simultaneously on the two ice slabs on the opposite sides
of a hollow partition 1. A screw 24, connecting the saw arms 22, is
turned from time to time as the sawing proceeds to move the saws 21
closer together to cut more deeply into the ice.
Figures 11 and 12 are elevations as at right angles to each other,
showing another modification, in which two circular saws 25 are fixed
on horizontal spindles carried by a pair of pendent brackets 26 shaped
to enter down between the hollow partitions 1, and movable vertically
by means of a pinion 27 and rack on a vertical tubular guide 28 project-
ing down from a saddle or slide 29 carried on a horizontal beam 30.
The spindles of the saws 25 are driven by bevil wheels from vertical
shafts 31 actuated by bevil wheels 32, carried by the saddle 29, these
bevil wheels having keys engaging in grooves on the shafts 31, which
rise and fall with the brackets 26. The bevil wheels 32 are driven by.
bevil wheels on a short spindle having on it a pulley 33 driven by a cord
or band 34. The beam 30 is movable on overhead rails in a direction at
right angles to itself and to the ice boxes, and the saddle 29 is movable
along the beam 30 so as to bring the saws 25 over any point in the length 2
of an ice box at which it is wished to make the saws act. If preferred,
a single circular saw may be used with similar driving apparatus instead
of the two. The saws are not allowed to cut quite through the ice to the
surface of the partition, the ice, however, casily separates when cut
nearly through and when loosened from the partition by passing a warm 2
current through.
Having thus particularly described my 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 believe
to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by the a
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The constructing of ice boxes in any of the improved modes herein-
before described.
2. The applying of brushes or wipers to work over the surface of
the ice as it forms in order to remove air bubbles, as herein before 3

page_text: 3. The applying of saws for dividing the ice slabs, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Kyle, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this. Fourth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JOHN KYLE. (L.S.)