IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRI- GERATORS, MORE ESPECIALLY DESIGNED FOR RAILWAY PROVISION CARRIAGES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Wilson Bray, of Stockton, New Jersey, United
States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRI-
GERATORS, MORE ESPECIALLY DESIGNED FOR RAILWAY PROVISION CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 14th December 1869, and dated the 6th July 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Wilson Bray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th July 1869.
I, WILSON BRAY, of Stockton, New Jersey, United States of America,
5 do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS.
IN REFRIGERATORS, MORE ESPECIALLY DESIGNED FOR RAILWAY PROVISION CAR-
RIAGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in refrigerators, especially
applicable to railway provision carriages.

page_text: The said Invention consists in isolating the provision chamber of such
a carriage from the external air, and forming a current of air within the
said chamber by means of a rotary fan or otherwise, so that air may
be made to pass through an ice chamber and also through a vessel
containing an absorbent of moisture and noxious vapors, and then
returned to the provision chamber, and thus kept at a low temperature,
pure and dry, conditions which are essential to the preservation of
animal and vegetable substances. The body of the carriage is con-
structed with double sides, a double bottom, and a double top, a space,
say, of four inches being allowed between the double sides, bottom, and
top, which space is filled with charcoal or other suitable non-conducting
material in order to keep the interior of the carriage, that is, the provision
chamber, as free from external atmospheric influence as possible. Within
the said provision chamber and at one end thereof is placed an ice box,
which has a syphon at its lower end to permit the discharge of waste
water from the box and still exclude the air therefrom. On the top of
the ice box there is placed a vessel containing pulverized charcoal or
other absorbent of moisture and noxious vapors. Within a suitable box
at one end of the provision chamber is placed a fan, which is driven by
means of a belt or gearing from one of the carriage axles. It is not
designed that the fan box shall have any communication with the
external air, but it communicates with the provision chamber by means
of an opening in its top or at any other suitable part. The lower
portions of the fan box and ice box are connected by means of a
trunk or pipe. I design to have the inner surfaces of the provision
chamber lined with sheet metal in order that the vapor coming in
contact with it may condense and roll down the sides without being
absorbed. In localities where ice is scarce and very expensive a water
receptacle may be placed in the ice box and surrounded by any freezing
mixture, and a pipe may extend from the trunk connecting the fan box
and ice box, and pass down into the water in the said receptacle so as to
make ice therein. Stationary refrigerators must have their fans operated
by hand or other power.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
.
filed by the said Wilson Bray in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th January 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILSON
BRAY, of Stockton, New Jersey, United States of America, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Wilson Bray, Her special licence that I, the
said Wilson Bray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Wilson Bray, my 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 REFRIGERATORS, MORE
ESPECIALLY DESIGNED FOR RAILWAY PROVISION CARRIAGES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Wilson Bray, my executors or admi-
nistrators, 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 Wilson Bray, 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 :-
This Invention relates to improvements in refrigerators, especially
applicable to railway provision carriages.
The said Invention consists in isolating the provision chamber of such
a carriage from the external air, and forming a current of air within the-
said chamber by means of a rotary fan or otherwise, so that the air may
be made to pass through an ice chamber and also through a vessel

page_text: containing an absorbent of moisture and noxious vapors, and then
returned to the provision chamber and thus kept at a low temperature
pure and dry, conditions which are essential to the preservation of
animal and vegetable substances.
To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my Invention I
now proceed to describe its construction and operation.
The body of the carriage is constructed with double sides, a double
bottom, and a double top, a space, say, of four inches being allowed
between the double sides, bottom, and top, which space is filled with
charcoal or other suitable non-conducting material in order to keep the
interior of the carriage, that is, the provision chamber, as free from
external atmospheric influence as possible. Within the said provision
chamber, and at one end thereof, is placed an ice box, which has
a syphon at its lower end to permit the discharge of waste water
from the box and still exclude the air therefrom. On the top of the
ice box there is placed a vessel containing pulverized charcoal or other
absorbent of moisture and noxious vapors. Within a suitable box at
one end of the provision chamber is placed a fan, which is driven
by means of a belt or gearing from one of the carriage axles. It is not
designed that the fan box shall have any communication with the
external air, but it communicates with the provision chamber by means
of an opening in its top or at any other suitable part. The lower
portions of the fan box and ice box are connected by means of a trunk
or pipe. By this arrangement as the carriage is drawn along the fan is
rotated, and a current of air from the provision chamber forced through
the ice box and charcoal vessel, and then returned to the provision
chamber; thus the air within the provision chamber is kept at a low
temperature, and the charcoal absorbs the moisture and noxious vapors.
I design to have the inner surfaces of the provision chamber lined with
sheet metal in order that the vapor coming in contact with it may
condense and roll down the sides without being absorbed. In localities
where ice is scarce and very expensive a water receptacle may be placed
in the ice box and surrounded by any freezing mixture, and a pipe may
extend from the trunk connecting the fan box and ice box, and pass
down into the water in the said reciptacle so as to make ice therein.
The chief difficulty in keeping animal and vegetable substances in a good
state of preservation is due to the moisture and noxious vapors which

page_text: emanates from such substances. A provision chamber, even if kept at
a low temperature, will not, if damp, keep animal and vegetable sub-
stances in good condition. By my improvement I am enabled to
maintain a low temperature and a pure and dry air within the provision
chamber. Stationary refrigerators must have their fans operated by hand
or other power.
In witness whereof, I, the said Wilson Bray, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Fourteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
WILSON BRAY. (L.S.)