Apparatus for Effecting the Interchange of Heat and Moisture by Means of Liquid Spray and Air Currents.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Apr, 1892
Complete Specification Left, 20th May, 1892-Accepted, 25th June, 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by Gesellschaft füR LINDES EISMASCHINEN, of
Wiesbaden, Germany, Manufacturers.]
Apparatus for Effecting the Interchange of Heat and Moisture by
Means of Liquid Spray and Air Currents.
I, THOMAS BELL LIGHTFOOT, of 35, Queen Victoria Street, in the City of
London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates on the one hand to apparatus for cooling purifying and
moistening a current of air by means of which rooms or localities (such as meat
refrigerating stores, breweries, sick rooms or assembly rooms &c.) require to be
refrigerated, and on the other hand to apparatus for cooling and evaporating
liquids by means of a current of air (such as the condensing water for steam
engines, refrigerating machines distilling apparatus &c.).
Among the apparatus heretofore employed for this purpose, the simplest are
those in which the liquid is raised to a certain height and is then made to fall in a
finely divided condition through the current of air with which an interchange of
heat and moisture is to be effected.
These apparatus suffer however generally from the disadvantage that on the
one hand the raising of the liquid entails a considerable expenditure of power and
that, on the other hand, the small openings through which the liquid has to issue
in order that it may be sufficiently finely divided, become more or less obstructed
by deposits and impurities.
According to the present invention these disadvantages are obviated by the
following arrangements.
The required expenditure of power is reduced to the lowest possible amount by
providing for a minimum quantity of circulating liquid a maximum amount of
contact surfaces between the liquid and the air, that is to say, by providing for an
exceedingly fine and uniform subdivision of the liquid while at the same time avoiding
the second above named disadvantage by providing a moderate number of moderate
sized openings that can be kept free from obstruction by suitable mechanical
means.
These conditions are fulfilled by the following principle of construction.
If in the curved surface of a vessel or conduit, for example a cylindrical pipe,
there be formed very narrow, long slits in the direction transversely to the
longitudinal axis of the curved surface, then the liquid contained under pressure
in the said vessel will issue at every point of the slit in a direction radial to the
curvature, and as the particles of liquid will consequently issue at every point of
the curved slit in a direction diverging from those issuing from the contiguous
points and will fall through a parabolic path, it follows that a fan-like spreading of
the issuing stream will take place, the spread, degree of fineness and uniformity of
which will depend upon the pressure existing in the vessel.
As the liquid jet thus produced from a single opening will afford a very large
surface of contact, a comparatively small number of such openings will suffice to
give the required total amount of surface, and as the slits have a considerable
length they can be readily kept clear of obstruction by causing a thin blade to
travel to and fro in them either continuously or periodically.
In practically carrying out this method of construction the liquid may according
to one arrangement be forced by a pump under any desired pressure into a
horizontal tubular chamber having at its lower side a semicylindrical projection

page_text: extending along its entire length, in which are formed the beforementioned
transverse narrow semicircular slits, through which the liquid consequently issues
as described. Within this projection is placed a longitudinal spindle carrying thin
blades that project through the said slits, the spindle being turned to and fro by a
crank handle at the projecting end, for causing the blades to travel to and fro in
the slits. This apparatus may be arranged in any convenient manner for bringing
currents of air into intimate contact with the finely divided liquid spray; thus it
may be fixed in the top of a closed casing through an opening at one end of which
the air is forced by means of a suitable propeller, so as to pass successively in a
transverse direction through the sheets of spray issuing from each of the slits.
The liquid falling into the bottom of the casing may either be simply withdrawn
by a pump, to be used over again, or there may be contained in such lower
part a number of coils of pipes through which liquid is caused to flow that may
either take up heat from the liquid flowing over them or that may impart heat to
such liquid so as to effect its evaporation, or the liquid flowing over the pipes may
effect the condensation of vapours passing through the same, according as may be
required.
Deted this 02-1 Al 1000
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Apparatus for Effecting the Interchange of Heat and Moisture by
Means of Liquid Spray and Air Currents.
I, THOMAS BELL LIGHTFOOT, of 35 Queen Victoria Street, in the City of
London, Engineer, 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 :-
This invention relates on the one hand to apparatus for cooling purifying and
moistening a current of air, by means of which rooms or localities (such as meat
refrigerating stores, breweries, sick rooms or assembly rooms &c.) require to be
refrigerated, and on the other hand to apparatus for cooling and evaporating
liquids by means of a current of air (such as the condensing water for steam
engines, refrigerating machines, distilling apparatus &c.).
Among the apparatus heretofore employed for this purpose, the simplest are
those in which the liquid is raised to a certain height and is then made to fall in a
finely divided condition through the current of air with which an interchange of
heat and moisture is to be effected.
These apparatus suffer however generally from the disadvantage that on the one
hand the raising of the liquid entails a considerable expenditure of power and that,
on the other hand the small openings through which the liquid has to issue in order
that it may be sufficiently finely divided, become more or less obstructed by deposits
and impurities.
According to the present invention these disadvantages are obviated by the
following arrangements.
The required expenditure of power is reduced to the lowest possible amount by
providing for a minimum quantity of circulating liquid a maximum amount of
contact surfaces between the liquid and the air, that is to say, by providing for an
exceedingly fine and uniform subdivision of the liquid while at the same time
avoiding the second above named disadvantage by providing a moderate number
of moderate sized openings that can be kept free from obstruction by suitable
mechanical means.
These conditions are fulfilled by the following principle of construction.
If in the curved surface of a vessel or conduit, for example a cylindrical pipe,

page_text: there be formed very narrow long slits in the direction transversely to the
longitudinal axis of the curved surface, then the liquid contained under pressure in
the said vessel will issue at every point of the slit in a direction radial to the
curvature, and as the particles of liquid will consequently issue at every point of
the curved slit in a direction diverging from those issuing from the contiguous
points and will fall through a parabolic path, it follows that a fan like spreading
of the issuing stream will take place, the spread, degree of fineness and uniformity
of which will depend upon the pressure existing in the vessel.
As the liquid jet thus produced from a single opening will afford a very large
surface of contact, a comparatively small number of such openings will suffice to
give the required total amount of surface and as the slits have a considerable
length they can be readily kept clear of obstruction by causing a thin blade to
travel to and fro in them either continuously or periodically.
The accompanying drawing shews an apparatus constructed and operating
according to the above described invention.
Fig. 1 shews a longitudinal section of the water spraying apparatus,
Fig. 2 shews a cross section of the same;
Figs. 3 and 4 shew a longitudinal and cross section of a complete apparatus for
the interchange of heat and moisture between an air current and a liquid.
r
The cylindrical chamber G, into which the liquid to be cooled or evaporated or
which is to refrigerate the air current, is made to flow, has a longitudinal slot at
its underside, to which is fixed a semi cylindrical extension a having at certain
intervals apart transverse slots b, through which consequently the liquid issues in
fan shaped jets. A longitudinal axis A carries a series of thin metal blades c.
projecting through the slots b so that when the axis is turned backwards and
forwards through an angle of 180° either by hand, by the crank handle A¹ or by
other suitable means the blades will travel to and fro in a corresponding manner
in the slots and will clear these of any solid deposits that might otherwise obstruct
the flow of the liquid. This apparatus being fixed at the top of a casing B through
which a current of air is forced by the air propeller V, while at the same time
the liquid is raised to the chamber G by a pump P, it will be seen that the air
current will be made to pass consecutively through the fan like jets of finely divided
liquid spray issuing from each of the slots b, and in thus being brought into very
intimate contact with the particles of liquid, will effect the required interchange of
heat and moisture therewith.
The falling liquid may either be withdrawn directly from the casing B by the
pump to be supplied to the chamber G again, or the casing may contain a chamber F
at bottom in which are a series of pipe coils R through which a heating or cooling
fluid is made to pass so as either to evaporate or refrigerate the falling liquid, or
the latter may be made to condense steam or other vapour flowing through the
tubes.
It will be readily understood that the construction of the spraying apparatus the
arrangement of the curved slots and the mode of bringing the spray in contact
with air currents may be variously modified without departing from the nature of
this invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what 1
claim is :-
1. In apparatus for effecting the interchange of heat and moisture by means of
liquid spray and air currents the use for producing finely divided liquid spray, of a
chamber having a series of curved narrow slots through which the liquid issues in
fan like jets and which are kept clear of deposits by thin metal blades connected
together in such manner that, motion can be imparted simultaneously thereto
causing them to travel to and fro in the said slots, substantially as described.
2. Apparatus for effecting the interchange of heat and moisture by means of

page_text: liquid spray and air currents combined and operating as herein described with
reference to the drawings.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.