A. NEW MODE OF COOLING (REFRIGERATING) HOT LIQUIDS AND CONDENSING STEAM
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henning Boetius at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th.
May 1862.
I, HENNING BOETIUS, of 3, Great George Street, in the County of Middlesex;.
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A.
NEW MODE OF COOLING (REFRIGERATING) HOT LIQUIDS AND CONDENSING STEAM,""
to be as follows:-
For cooling liquids as is required especially in breweries and distilleries,.
and for condensing steam by surface, condensers, an apparatus. has been.
generally used consisting of a number of tubes, pipes, or channels, through
which or round which the hot liquids or the steam passes, whilst on the other
side of these surfaces a current of cold water is flowing, which takes up the
heat thus imparted to the said surfaces by the hot liquids and carries it away
without its having been usefully employed. To prevent this disadvantage and
waste of heat, I propose to adopt the following plan:--I bring the materials to
be cooled or condensed in direct contact with cold solid substances, as slates,
tiles of earthenware, strips of iron or glass, or other suitable materials. For
cooling liquids I place these materials in an open cask or casks, and for con-
densing steam in well-closed chambers, so that they may offer a great cooling
surface to the hot liquids or steam when passing through the said casks or
chambers. By this operation the liquids or steam is deprived of its heat, which
is taken up by the solid substances; a certain quantity having been thus cooled

page_text: or the steam condensed, cold water is forced in an opposite direction through the
cask or cooling chamber to that in which the hot liquid entered, which water
re-absorbs the heat from the solid substances, becomes heated, and in that stato
may be used for different purposes. The temperature of the solid substances
having been thus reduced by a flow of cold water through the chamber, the
operation of cooling may be again repeated. If I want to cool hot liquid, I
bring it directly from the copper or other boiler to my cooling apparatus or
refrigerator, and make it flow in a direction from the top of the cask to the
bottom, where there is a pipe or other suitable means provided for leading it
away to wherever it may be required. By this operation the cold substances
at the top will first rob the hot liquid of its heat, and become heated to the
temperature of the latter, while others of these substances which are nearer to
the bottom remain cold, but become heated in a downward direction succes
sively when more and more hot liquid is conveyed to be cooled. The liquid
will escape from the bottom of the cask or chamber in a cold state until
nearly all the solid substances are heated to the temperature of the hot liquid,
I construct the vessel large enough to contain a quantity of cooling substances,
'sufficient to cool at one operation the whole of the hot liquid contained in one
boiler. For cooling the solid substances again, I use, as above mentioned,
cold water, generally taken from a well or fountain, which water I sometimes
reduce to a very low temperature by means of ice. This cold water is forced
in a direction from the bottom to the top of the cask, re-absorbs the heat from
the solid substances, and arrives at the top in a hot state, until nearly all the
solid substances are cooled to the temperature of the cold water. For
condensing steam I use at least two closed chambers, generally filled with very
thin strips of wrought or cast iron. By means of self-acting mechanism, the
steam is alternately brought to condensation in one or other of these chambers,
whilst one or other of the said chambers is being cooled, which may be done in
a similar way as before described. For this cooling process I sometimes use
sea water or fresh water from a river or lake, but I prefer to cool with
distilled water, which, when heated by being passed through the condensing
chamber, may be partly pumped into the boiler, whilst the remaining part may
be cooled to its original temperature and used over and over again. I some-
times prefer to employ a small air pump, though the apparatus may be worked
without it.