IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATORS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATORS."-A communi-
cation from abroad by John Jones Bate, of Brooklyn, New York,
United States of America, Merchant.
Sealed the 21st December 1874, and dated the 3rd November 1874.
.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 3rd November 1874..
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Hascltinc, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for “IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATORS,” a
communication, to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide a refrigerator for preserving
fruit, meat, vegetables, and the like, in which the cooling of the air and
its circulation within the refrigerating chamber shall be directly
dependent upon mechanical agencies and hence under easy and absolute

page_text: control, and in which moreover the ice melted by contact with the
mechanically circulated air in the lower part of the reservoir shall be
automatically replaced, so that the refrigerating effect exerted upon the
air with any given degree of circulation shall remain constant and
uniform irrespective of the total quantity of ice in the reservoir.
The said Invention consists in a novel combination within a
refrigerating chamber, closed against access of external air, of an ico
reservoir closed at the top and on all sides, but furnished at or near the
bottom with inlet and outlet passages, nearly or quite on the same level
as a fan blower or equivalent air forcing or exhausting apparatus,
whereby the air of the chamber is caused to pass in a horizontal current
through the lower part of the ice reservoir, and is thence forcibly ejected
in a cooled condition back to the chamber, the ice melted in the bottom
or lower part of the icc reservoir by the heat abstracted from the
horizontal current of air aforesaid is replaced by that from the upper
part of the said reservoir, which has not been in any way in contact with
the current; the ice reservoir is in fact self-feeding, inasmuch as it pro-
vides a continuous supply of ice to the air current to compensate for the
loss of ice by melting occasioned by the latter.
The said Invention further comprises a novel combination of inlet and
outlet pipes, with the inlet and outlet openings of the herein-before
indicated self-feeding reservoir and the closed chamber containing the
same whereby the more perfect circulation of the cooled air to all parts of
said chamber is effectually provided for. The air inlet opening has fitted
to it a pipe which extends upward nearly or quite to the ceiling of the
said chamber, and has its upper portion horizontal. This horizontal
upper portion of the said pipe is provided in each side with a longitudinal
series of holes or slots. The outlet opening has extending from it a pipe
which lics horizontally upon or near the floor of the said chamber, and
which is slotted at each side along its length with slots or holes, each of
which has adjacent to it a deflecting plate. At the inner end of this
pipe and adjacent to the opening is the fan or blower, the shell or casing
of which connects the said pipe with the said opening. It is preferred
that these pipes shall cach cross from one corner of the chamber
obliquely to another, the two pipes being in planes that vertically {
intersect each other.
In those cases where ico is not available cold water may be used as an
equivalent réfrigerant, but in such case provision should be made för

page_text: causing the water derived from any suitable source of supply to descend
through the reservoir in streams or in a showered or divided condition,
the air current pussing horizontally through the falling water in, the
lower portion of the reservoir; as the said water descends from the upper
part of the said reservoir and being cooled thereby, the surplus water
after reaching the bottom of the reservoir flows out and away through
the outlet pipe,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 30th April 1875,
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of November, 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 me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special licence
that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake, ` mý
oxecutors, 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 "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATORS," a communication to me. from abroad by
John Jones Bate, of Brooklyn, New York, United States of America,
Merchant, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Robert Lake, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawing forming a part of this Specification :-
The object of this Invention is to provide a refrigerator for preserving
fruit, meat, vegetables, and the like, in which the cooling of the air and
its circulation within the refrigerating chamber shall be directly
dependent upon mechanical agencies, and hence under casy and absolute
control, and in which morcover the ice melted by contact with the
mechanically circulated air in the lower part of the reservoir shall be
automatically replaced so that the refrigerating effect exerted upon the
air with any given degree of circulation shall remain constant and
uniform irrespective of the total quantity of icc in the refrigerator.
The said Invention consists in a novel combination within a
refrigerating chamber closed against access of external air of an ice
reservoir closed at the top and on all sides, but furnished at or near the
bottom with inlet and outlet passages, nearly or quite on the same level
with a fan blower or equivalent air forcing or exhausting apparatus,
whereby the air of the chamber is caused to pass in a horizontal current
through the lower part of the ice reservoir, and is thence forcibly ejected
in a cooled condition and returned to the chamber, the ice melted in the
bottom or lower part of the ice reservoir by the heat abstracted from the
horizontal current of air aforesaid is replaced by that from the upper
part of the said reservoir which has not been in any way in contact with
the current, the ice reservoir is in fact self-feeding inasmuch as it pro-
vides a continuous supply of icc to the air current, to compensate for the
loss of ice by melting occasioned by the latter.
The said Invention further comprises a novel combination of inlet and
outlet pipes with the inlet and outlet openings of the herein-before
indicated self-feeding reservoir and the closed chamber containing the
same, whereby the more perfect circulation of the cooled air through all
parts of said chamber is effectually provided for.

page_text: Figure 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view of the same; Figure 4 is
a detached view on a larger scale, showing the construction of one of the
pipes used in the said apparatus.
A is the chamber designed for containing the meat, fruit, vegetables,
or other substances to be kept at a low temperature. B is the ice
reservoir which when in uso is to be filled to any requisito degree with
icc in blocks or fragments. This icc reservoir is closed at all parts
except that at the lower part or near the bottom adjacent to its two ends
it is provided with two openings as at a and b, these openings communi-
cating with the chamber A near the floor thereof and at. or near the
same level, in such manner that a current of air from one to the other
will pass horizontally through the bottom portion only of the ice
reservoir. The opening a is an air inlet to the said bottom portion of
the ice reservoir, the other opening being the air outlet from the same.
The opening a has fitted to it a pipe C which extends upward nearly or
quite to the ceiling of the chamber A, and has its upper portion
horizontal, as shown more fully at f, in Figures 2 and 3. This horizontal
upper portion of the pipe C is provided in each side with a longitudinal
series of holes or slots a'. The outlet opening 6 has extending from it a
pipe D which lies horizontally upon or near the floor of the chamber A,
and which is slotted at each side along its length with slots or holes c²,
each of which has adjacent to it a deflecting plate c, as shewn in
Figure 4; at-the inner end of this pipe D and adjacent to the opening b
is the fan or blower F, whose shell or casing connects the pipe D witli
the said opening b. It is preferred that the pipes C, D, shall each cross
from one corner of the chamber A obliquely to another, the two pipeš
being in planes that vertically intersect cach other, as will be under-
stood by reference to Figure 3.
The fan or blower being set in motion by any suitable power, as for
example by a small hydraulic motor, the air is drawn inward from the
upper part of the chamber A through the holes or slots a¹ in the upper
horizontal part of the inlet pipe C, and entering the ice reservoir, at a
passes horizontally through the interstices of the ice in the lower and
bottom part thereof, and out at 6 to and through the casing of the fan
blower F to the pipe D, whence through the holes or slots c² thereof it
is ejected to the lower part of the chamber A, the deflecting plates.c
directing the air in jets as it issues from the pipe D in all directions to
the further portions of the lower part of the chamber A. It will there:

page_text: fore be seen that the air of the closed chamber A is caused to pass
continally through the ice in the lower or bottom portion of the ice
reservoir, so long as the action of the fan is maintained, and is thereby
kept at a reduced temperature, proportionate to the rapidity of the
current in contact with the ice, as above set forth. And this being
solely and directly dependent upon the fan the refrigeration of the air
may for all practical purposes be controlled by regulating the operation
of the fan; the ice in contact with the current remains constant, inas-
much as the current passes through only the ice in the bottom or lower
part of the reservoir, which bottom or lower part is kept continually
supplied with ice by the feeding or falling of that from above as fast as
that below is dissipated by the heat absorbed from the horizontal current
of air.
The lowest or most depressed portion of the bottom of the ice reservoir
should be furnished with suitable means for drawing off or permitting ]
the outflow of the water resulting from the melting of the ice. For this
purpose a pipe g bent to provide a water seal at e¹ to prevent the ingress
of external air to the reservoir may be used.
When desired the fan blower or equivalent device may be arranged to
drive the horizontal current through the ice instead of drawing it 2
through the same as herein-before described.
In those cases where ice is not available cold water may be used as a
refrigerant, but in such cases provision should be made for causing the
water derived from any suitable source of supply to descend through the
reservoir in streams, or in a shower or finely divided condition, the air 2
current passing horizontally through the falling water in the lower
portion of the reservoir as the said water descends from the upper part
of the said reservoir and being cooled thereby. The surplus water after
reaching the bottom of the reservoir flows out and away through the
outlet pipe g.
:
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same I wish it understood that I claim,—
3
First. The combination within the chamber closed against access of
external air of the self-feeding ice reservoir closed at its top and at all 3
sides, and provided at its bottom or lower part with inlet and outlet
openings a, b, with the fan blower or equivalent air forcing mechanism,

page_text: the whole arranged to provide for the forced circulation of the air of the
aforesaid chamber in a horizontal current through the bottom or lower part
of the ice reservoir, and for the automatic supply of ice to the said
current, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Second. The combination within the chamber closed against access of
external air of the pipes C, D, with the inlet and outlet openings a, b,
provided in the self-feeding ice reservoir closed at its top and at all sides,
substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Twenty-ninth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-
five.
•
Witness,
JA". EDWARDS,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
WM. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)