Improvements in Block-ice.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Aug., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 3rd May, 1894-Accepted, 9th June, 1894
Improvements in Block-ice.
I HENRY VANDER WEYDE of 182 Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Artist and Electric Light Photographer do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
My invention has for its object to render blocks of ice, and particularly
blocks of artificial ice (under which term is included milk or any other frozen
alimentary liquid, readily breakable by a mere blow into pieces of easily
recoguisable shape for use, the blocks until so broken remaining whole and
sufficiently strong to permit of being freely handled in transport and otherwise.
It is preferred that the block should be made readily divisible into pieces of
uniform and regular size and shape, preferably that of small cubes of a size suited
for use at table, but the invention is not limited to any particular shape or to any
number of the cutting and freezing operations hereinafter described.
An incidental advantage of the invention as applied to artificial ice is that the
pieces into which the block is breakable being readily recognisable by their form
the consumer is able to identify the product as that of a particular factory using
my process and so satisfy himself of its bacteriological purity.
The method of rendering block ice easily breakable into pieces of regular form
consists in producing therein intersecting planes of easy cleavage by first sawing the
block into small pieces and then causing the pieces to adhere together by the
imperfect regelation of their moist contacting surfaces. The preferred mode of
attaining the desired object is to saw the block into slabs and then freeze the slabs
together, the sawing and refreezing operations being repeated three times in
different intersecting planes until the block has been cut up in three directions at
right angles to each other- -viz.; longitudinally, transversely, and horizontally.
By operating in this manner, the block is always presented to the saws in a solid
form notwithstanding that it has been already cut up by a previous sawing operation,
and in this way I am enabled to avoid the difficulty which would arise especially at
and after the third operation of the saws, namely of holding in position the
separate pieces whilst turning over the twice sawn block in order to present it to
the saws for the third time and during the subsequent handling in transport to the
refrigerating room.
It is preferred to employ a gang of saws which may be stretched in a suitable
reciprocating frame and operated in the ordinary way of a gang saw mill, the
block being fed up to the saws by suitable mechanism, or circular saws may be
used. It is important that the teeth of the saws should be coarse and have
considerable set in order that the surfaces of the ice shall be scratched or finely
grooved by the saw-teeth and the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere
should be such that the surfaces will not be too much moistened by melting,
otherwise the union by their subsequent regelation will be too strong to permit the
block to be easily broken in the planes of the joints. The roughening of the
surfaces by the saw teeth causes the air which fills the lines or saw-marks to be
imprisoned between the regelated surfaces which prevents a perfect union of the
said surfaces and leaves the joints easily severable under a smart blow.
The presence of air also serves to render visible the planes of the joints through
the heart of the block of ice before fracture, the block presenting a characteristic
appearance easily recognisable by the purchaser.
Care must be taken by regulating the temperature of the atmosphere and the
duration of exposure of the freshly cut surfaces thereto, that these surfaces do not

page_text: become excessively moist by superficial melting of the ice, the exact amount of
moisture which will produce a joint of sufficient, but not excessive, strength being
a question which can only be determined by practical experience.
In order to ensure the imprisonment of gas bubbles in the joints in lieu
of so regulating the melting of the surfaces, or in case of their becoming
excessively moist, the surfaces may be wetted with highly charged aerated
water and quickly clamped together, so that some of the carbonic acid gas con-
tained in the water will remain adherent to the surfaces and so become imprisoned
in the joints. Or, instead of using aerated water, I may blow into the joints, or
against the cut surfaces, air laden with fine particles of ice, such as the dust
produced by the saws or ice specially crushed for the purpose, whereby to ensure
the retention of air in the joints during the freezing together of the slabs.
Dated this 3rd day of August 1893.
HENRY VANDER WEYDE,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.
.
Improvements in Block-100.
I, HENRY VANDER WEYDE of 182 Regent Street, London, W., Artist and
Electric Light Photographer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention has for its object to render blocks of ice, and particularly blocks of
artificial ice (under which term is included frozen milk or any other frozen
alimentary liquid) readily breakable into pieces of uniform size and shape for
table, surgical, and other uses, the blocks until so broken remaining whole and
sufficiently strong to permit of being freely handled.
The method of rendering block ice easily breakable into pieces of regular form
preferably that of cubes, consists in producing in the ice intersecting planes of easy
cleavage by first sawing the block into pieces and then causing the pieces to adhere
together by regelation of their moist contacting surfaces. The preferred mode of
operating is to saw the block into slabs and then to freeze the slabs together, the
sawing and refreezing operations being repeated three times in three different sets
of planes intersecting each other at right angles.
By alternately sawing and refreezing in the manner above described, the block is
always presented to the saws in a solid form notwithstanding that it may have been
already cut up by a previous sawing operation. I find that if the block after being
thus treated be kept in a cold storage chamber it may not be easily breakable in
predetermined planes when the ice is fresh from the cold chamber, yet when the
block has been exposed for some little time to an ordinary temperature the joints
become weakened and easily cleavable.
It is preferred to employ a gang of circular saws for cutting up the block into
slabs but reciprocating saws might be employed.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this
Specification, wherein I have illustrated apparatus for carrying my invention into
effect.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a block of artificial ice as drawn from the ice
mould.
Figures 2, 3 and 4 are perspective views illustrating the three stages of
treatment, the lines in these figures indicating the planes in which the block is sawo
up and refrozen.

page_text: Figure 5 is a sectional side elevation. Figure 6 a cross section and Figure 7 a
plan of a saw bench suitable for the purpose.
I prefer to operate on six inch blocks and to render them divisible into 216. one
inch cubes. Such blocks may be formed from oblong blocks A of distilled water
ice of the form shown in Figure 1. This block is slightly tapered to facilitate
drawing from the mould and is six inches square at the smaller end. The first
operation is to cross cut it on lines a into lengths of six inches each, care being
taken to make the planes of these cross cuts at right angles to two of the tapered
faces and to guide the blocks by these right angled faces in passing them through
the machine hereafter described.
In Figures 2, 3, 4, the taper of the original block is ignored, the planes of the
several sets of cuts being illustrated in a block of perfectly cubical form. In these
figures the series of lines b, c, d, indicate the three sets of intersecting planes through
which the block is sawn at three successive operations, the slabs into which the
block is sawn at each operation being pressed together immediately after the
sawing operation, so that their freshly sawn surfaces which have necessarily become
slightly moistened in the sawing operation become frozen together. The slabs thus
united constitute a block which is sufficiently solid to be again sawn in another
direction.
The saw bench shown in Figures 5, 6, 7, comprises a set of six circular saws B
secured upon a shaft C with distance pieces c between them. For six inch blocks
these saws would be about 24 inches diameter and revolve at about 500 revolutions
per minute.
The blocks D of ice are fed up in continuous succession to the saws and are
guided during the sawing operation by the table of the bench on which they rest
and by the fence E at one side, the bench being open at the opposite side to allow
the outer slices of ice, which are of irregular thickness owing to the taper of the
original block, to be thrown out. The slabs d into which the blocks are sawn pass
between the saws and then between pairs of springs 9 or other means of applying
pressure whereby to press the freshly sawn faces of the slabs into close contact.
this point a blast of cold air might be directed upon and between the slabs so as to
hasten the reunion of the slabs. The pressing together of the slabs by the springs
need not be long continued and the momentary deviation of the slabs under the
lateral pressure of the springs has the effect of breaking any union by the freezing
together of consecutive slabs in passing through the saws.
At
Each block is sawn a first time in the planes indicated by the lines 6 Figure 2,
and after the slabs have reunited, the block is again presented to the saws in such
direction as to be sawn in the planes indicated by lines c in Figure 3, and after the
slabs have again been united the block is turned over on to one side and presented
a third time to the saws so as to be sawn as indicated by d in Figure 4 in planes
perpendicular to the planes of the cuts b, c.
Instead, however, of operating on blocks frozen of the form shown in Figure 1,
the ice may be frozen in the form of slabs say six inches square by one inch thick
whereby the sawing operations referred to in Figures 1 and 2 may be dispensed
with. Such slabs may be sawn by two successive operations, in planes at right
angles to each other, first into bars and then into cubes without first freezing the
bars together, the cubes being then built up and united by freezing together to form
a divisible block of the required size. Or the bars may be frozen together after
each sawing operation to form divisible slabs, which may then be superposed and
frozen together to form easily divisible blocks.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. The herein described method of rendering block ice easily breakable in
predetermined planes, which consists in sawing the block into slabs or pieces and
reuniting the slabs or pieces by freezing them together, as specified.

page_text: 2. The herein described method of rendering a block of ice easily breakable into
cubes or pieces of regular form and dimensions, which consists in sawing the block
in three series of intersecting planes and reuniting the cut surfaces by freezing, as
described.
3. The herein described method of rendering a block of ice easily breakable into
cubes or pieces of regular form and dimensions, which consists in sawing the block
into slabs and reuniting the slabs by freezing them together, the sawing and
freezing operations being repeated in alternate order three times in three series of
planes, each intersecting the other two at right angles, as specified.
4. A block of ice having predetermined planes of weakness or easy cleavage
formed in it by sawing it in those planes and reuniting the sawn surfaces by
freezing them together, as specified.
H. VANDER WEYDE,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.