IMPROVE- MENTS IN REFRIGERATING OR FREEZING LIQUIDS, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Gamgee, of Great Winchester Street, in
the City of London, Merchant, and Robert Allee Purkis, of Chcam,
in the County of Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN REFRIGERATING OR FREEZING LIQUIDS, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN.
"
"
Scaled the 26th January 1875, and dated the 27th July 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Gamgeo and
Robert Allee Purkis at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 27th July 1874.
We, JOHN GAMGEE, of Great Winchester Street, in the City of
London, Merchant, and ROBERT ALLEE PURKIS, of Cheam, in the County
of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATING OR FREEZING LIQUIDS, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
In frigerating or freezing liquids, the usual medium employed to
transfer the low temperature produced in the apparatus to the ice boxes
or ice moulds is brine, being a solution of chloride of sodium in water,

page_text: .
Now it is found that brine corrodes the material of the apparatus, and is
therefore very detrimental; and the first part of our Invention consists
in the use of an aqueous solution of glycerine as a substitute for brinc.
Pure glycerine does not freeze, and a solution containing 50 per cent.
water remains liquid at 0° Fahrenheit, and we prefer that strength for
solid ice making; whilo a solution containing 80 per cent. water does
not solidify above 25°, and is therefore quite equal to a solution of
common salt or brine, and does not possess the destructive properties of
the latter. It is known that a body of liquid to be cooled to a low
temperature, by contact with a medium of lower temperature con-
stantly passing through it, as in ice making by an ether machine, will
gradually lower the liquid to be cooled to within a few degrees of tho
temperature of the cooling medium, during which time a great wasto
takes place by the departure of the volumo of the cooling medium from
the liquid to be cooled at a very low temperature, always lower than the
temperature of the liquid to be cooled; for example, it has been found
that in making ice by ether machines of the best construction, tho
brinc, which is the liquid to be cooled, stands at say 20°, and that the
cther vapor which abstracts the heat from the brine and which is the
cooling medium will be at about 15° after it has left the refrigerator and
parted from contact with the brine. Thus at this low temperature the
vapor in large volumes is allowed to pass into the air pump of the
apparatus, having been only partially productive.
Now the second part of our Invention has for object to render the
vapor more productive. For this purpose we employ one or more sup-
plementary or additional refrigerators to intercept or prevent the wasto
above referred to, and we work the refrigerators alternately, as herein-
after described, so that the water in the ice boxes, which we work in
connection therewith, may be first lowered during one operation, and
when the working of the refrigerators is reversed be then frozen
during another operation; the two operations or processes being con-
ducted at one and the same time in the respective ice boxes
alternately.
Supposing we employ two refrigerators (which for the sake of distinc-
tion we will call No. 1 and No. 2) we connect No. 1 with No. 2 by an
ether vapor pipe; No. 2 is connected by a pipe with the air pump,
which in its turn is connected with the condenser; while the condenser
is connected with refrigerator No. 1 by a liquid other pipo; the whole

page_text: forming a hermetically sealed system of pipes wherein the ether or its
vapor is caused to circulate by the action of the air pump in the manner
well understood. Outside these pipes, in the tanks of the refrigerators,
the space is filled with the liquid to be cooled, glycerine, for example.
We employ two (or more according to the number of refrigerators) icc
boxes (No. 1 and No. 2) having copper walls according to the well-
known method of construction, and on each side of these walls are cells
containing the water to be frozen into ice, which gathers gradually on
the sides of the walls to some thickness after an exposure of say
24 hours.
On the engine plate are two circulating pumps which respectively
cause the contents of refrigerator tanks No. 1 and No. 2 to circulato
through the copper walls of either of the ice boxes, as required, tho
process being governed by pipes and suitably placed cocks. While ice
box No. 1, for example, is at the close of the 24 hours (or other
necessary interval) producing ice at 32° from water at about 30°, ice box
No. 2, by means of the intercepted and hitherto unproductive portion
of the ether vapor, is producing cold water at about 30° from water of
the natural temperature of the season, say 60°. During the next 21
hours the ice boxes are reversed, No. 2 then producing ice from its
water at 30°, while No. 1 produces water at 30° from water at 60°, thọ
ice having been of course previously removed therefrom and water at
the ordinary temperature of say 60° substituted. The operations are
continued in this manner alternately, the whole being governed by
opening and closing the proper cocks, as herein-before mentioned.
When a second supplementary refrigerator is employed, water may.bo
1
11
Blommande wood for condencing
30
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Gamgee and Robert Allee Purkis in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 27th January 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JoHN
GAMGEE, of Great Winchester Street, in the City of London, Merchant,
and RODENT ALLEE PURKIS, of Chcam, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said John Gamgco and Robert
Alleo Purkis, Her special licence that we, the said John Gamgec and
Robert Allco Purkis, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said John Gamgee and Robert Allee Purkis, our
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 REFRIGERATING OR FREEZING LIQUIDS, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that wc, the
said John Gamgee and Robert Allee Purkis, our executors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or one of our, or
their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 we, the said John Gamgee and Robert Alleo
Purkis, do hereby declaro the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
In refrigerating or freezing liquids the usual medium employed to
trunsfer the low temperature produced in the apparatus to the ice boxes
or ice moulds is brine, being a solution of chloride of sodium in water.
Now it is found that brine corrodes the material of the apparatus, and
is therefore very detrimental; and the first part of our Invention
consists in the use of an aqucous solution of glycerine as a substituto
for brine. Pure glycerine does not freeze, and a solution containing
50 per cent. water remains liquid at 0° Fahrenheit, and we prefer that
strength for solid ice making; while a solution containing 80 per cent.
water does not solidify above 25°, and is therefore quite equal to a
solution of common salt or brino and does not possess the destructive

page_text: properties of the latter. It is known that a body of liquid to be cooled
to a low temperature by contact with a medium of lower temperaturo
constantly passing through it, as in ice making by an ether machine,
will gradually lower the liquid to be cooled to within a few degrees of
the temperaturo of the cooling medium, during which time a great
waste takes place by the departure of the volume of the cooling medium
from the liquid to be cooled at a very low temperature, always lower
than the temperature of the liquid to be cooled; for example, it has
been found that in making ice by ether machines of the best construc-
tion, the brine, which is the liquid to be cooled, stands at say 20°
Fahrenheit, and that the ether vapor which abstracts the heat from the
brine, and which is the cooling, medium, will be at about 15° after it
has left tho refrigerator and parted from contact with the brine. Thus
at this low temperature the vapor in large volumes is allowed to pass
into the air pump of the apparatus, having been only partially pro-
ductive.
Now the second part of our Invention has for object to render the
vapor more productive. For this purpose we employ one or more sup-
plementary or additional refrigerators to intercept or prevent the wasto
above referred to, and we work the refrigerators alternately, as herein-
after described, so that the water in the ice boxes, which we work in
connection therewith, may be first lowered or partly frozen during one
operation; and when the working of the refrigerators is reversed, bo
then frozen during another operation, the two operations or processes
being conducted at one and the same time in the respective ice boxes
alternately.
Supposing we employ two refrigerators (which for the sake of dis-
tinction we will call No. 1 and No. 2) we connect No. 1 with No. 2 by
an ether vapor pipe; No. 2 is connected by a pipe with the air pump,
which in its turn is connected with the condenser, while the con-
denser is connected with refrigerator No. 1 by a liquid ether pipe,
the whole forming a hermetically scaled system of pipes wherein
the ether or its vapor is caused to circulate in the manner well under-
stood. Outside these pipes, in the tanks of the refrigerators, the
space is filled with the liquid to be cooled, glycerine, for example.
We employ two ice boxes (No. 1 and No. 2) having copper walls,
according to the well-known method of construction, and on cach side
of these walls are cells containing the water to be frozen into ice which

page_text: gathers gradually on the sides of the walls to some thickness after an
exposure of say 24 hours.
On the engine plate are two circulating pumps, which respectively
cause the contents of refrigerator tanks No. 1 and No. 2 to circulato
through the copper walls of either of the ice boxes, as required, the
process being governed by pipes and suitably placed cocks. While ico
box No. 1, for example, is at the close of the 21 hours (or other necessary
interval) producing ice at from 32° to 30° from water at about 30°, ico
box No. 2 by means of the intercepted and hitherto unproductive
portion of the other vapor, is producing cold water and some ice at
about 30° from water of the natural temperature of the season, say 60°.
During the next 24 hours the ice boxes are reversed, No. 2 then pro-
ducing ice from its water at 30°, while No. 1 produces cold water and
some ice at 30° from water at 60°, the ice having been of course
previously removed therefrom and water at the ordinary temperature, of
say 60°, substituted. The operations are continued in this manner
alternately, the whole being governed by opening and closing the proper
cocks, as hercin-before mentioned.
When a second supplementary refrigerator is employed water may
bo cooled therein, and be afterwards used for condensing the other
vapor. This will be advantageous in hot climates.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a general plan
view of an apparatus constructed according to our Invention.
Figure 2 is a vertical section taken through the refrigerators, air
pump, and condenser.
Figure 3 is a view in vertical section of one of the copper walls.
A and B are primary and supplementary refrigerators; C is the air
pump; D, the condenser; E, F, the two circulating pumps; G, II, the
two ice boxes, each containing copper walls I and cells K; L is the ether
vapor pipe conuceting the pipes in the two refrigerators A, B; M, a
pipe connecting the pipes of the refrigerator B with the air pump C;
N, the pipe connecting the air pump with the condenser D; O, the
liquid ether pipe connecting the condenser with the pipes in the
refrigerator A; P is a pipe leading from the pump E to the tank of the
refrigerator A; Q, a pipe from the same pump E and communicating
by branches Q', Q, respectively with the copper walls of the two ice

page_text: +1-
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די כי
boxes. Each of these branches Q', Q, is provided with a cock marked
in the Drawings a and b respectively. R. is a pipe leading from the
pump. to the tank of the refrigerator B; S is a pipe from the same
pump F and communicating by branches S', S', respectively with the
5 copper walls of the two ice boxes. Each of these branches is likewise
provided with a cock marked c and d, respectively. T is a pipe leading
from the refrigerator tank A and communicating by branches
respectively, with the copper walls of the two ice boxes, tlie branches
being provided with cocks marked e and f, respectively; U is a similar
O pipe leading from the refrigerator tank B, and likewise communicating
by branches U', U₁, respectively, with the copper walls of the two ico
boxes, the branches being provided with cocks marked and h
respectively; is a cock in the liquid ether pipe O.
Supposing the last operation effected was to produce cold water at
5 about 30° from water at 60° in the ice box G, and to produce ice at 32°
from water at 30° in the ice box H; at the commencement of the next'
operation the ice is taken out of the ice box H, which is then filled with
water at 60°. The cocks a, c, d, h, must then be opened, while the
cocks b, f, c, and g, must be closed. The pump E will thus cause the
0 glycerine or brine in the tank A, at the low temperature of say 20°
to circulate through the copper walls of the ico box G and freeze the
pure water of 30° in the cells into ice of 32°; while at the same time
the other pump F will cause the glycerine or brine in the tank B, at a
temperature of say 27°, to circulate through the copper walls of the ico
5 box H and cool the water in the cells of this box from say 60° to 30°.
At the end of this operation the process is again reversed, the ico in
the box G being replaced by water at 60°, the cocks a, e, d, h, are
closed and the cocks b, f, c, g, opened, so that the contents of the tank A
now circulate in the copper walls of the ice box H, and those of the
o tank B in the copper walls of the box G.
We do not limit ourselves to any particular arrangement of pipes
and other usual parts of the refrigerators or condensers, nor to any
particular arrangement of copper walls and cells in the ice boxes,
but we prefer those represented in the Drawings, and herein-before
5 described.

page_text: our "Improvements in Refrigerating or Freezing Liquids, and in
Apparatus employed therein,"―
1. The employment of an aqueous solution of glycerine in lieu of
brine or other saline solutions as a medium for transferring the low
temperature produced by ether or other volatilizable liquid to the water
or body to be refrigerated, as herein-before described.
2. Constructing refrigerating or freezing apparatus with two (or
more) refrigerators and ico boxes so connected together that the brine
or other contents of the two refrigerators can respectively be made to
circulate through the one and the other ice box, for given periods
alternately, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein-
before described.
3. When a second supplementary refrigerator is employed we claim
the cooling of water therein, and the using of this water afterwards for
condensing purposes, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Gamgee, on behalf of myself
and the said Robert Allco Purkis, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-five.