Improvements in Refrigerators for Butter and other Articles of Food.
Year: 1893

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Refrigerators for Butter and other Articles
of Food.
I, CHRISTIAN FREDERIK VILHELM MATTHISSEN, of Vesterbrogade 41,
Copenhagen, Denmark, Butcher, 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 :-
In one
Refrigerators play, as may be generally known, a conspicuous part, it being
possible by their help to preserve food &c. for a considerable length of time
without their being spoiled even under an unfavourable temperature.
regard, however, this excellent way of keeping butter and food generally has not
found the use which it merits in so high a degree in stores and places of business
and dwellings viz.: an apparatus capable of satisfying the demands necessarily put
to it.
:
A refrigerator for preserving butter and the like should possess the following
qualities, viz. it must not take up too much space; it must serve for some time
with a proportionately small consumption of ice to maintain the temperature most
suitable for the butter &c.; and lastly it must be so constructed that the goods
placed in it can be seen without the necessity of opening the refrigerator.
The aim of the present invention is to produce a refrigerator which complies
with all requirements and thus in a sanitary respect will be of special importance
for dietary purposes.
Figure 1 on the accompanying drawing shows a front view of the apparatus.
Figure 2 a vertical section from the side, and
Figure 3 the apparatus seen from above.
The apparatus which may be placed on legs, or on a stand consists of a closet,
the front of which has a glass door a. The sides bare, as usual, double ones and
filled with a suitable non-conducting material. c is an ice-reservoir of semi
circular form set vertically and provided at the lower part with serrations to be in
communication with the compartments c', c', which reach right down the apparatus,
and is in connection with a receiver d wherefrom the condensed water can be
drawn through a cock e. f is a cover to the ice-reservoir and has on its lower side
a projecting frame shaped flange g, fitting into a groove h in the top of the
apparatus, which groove when partly filled with water, produces a completely
hermetical sealing.
The apparatus, provided with shelves or not, can according to circumstances be
made semi-circular or square inside, in which latter case the compartments c' and c³,
may be made either as one single compartment at the back, or in two compart-
ments at the sides. The object of the side compartments and c is to produce
a sufficiently large cooling space, while the hermetical closing by means of the
water-trap (9 and 4), as described above, prevents the entrance of air in the ice-
reservoir, thus reducing the consumption of ice in a considerable degree.
The glass door is not only intended to afford the public a view of what is inside
without the apparatus being opened, but serves also, as proved by experience, to
moderate the temperature.
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 I
claim is :-
A refrigerator specially adapted for the keeping of butter, and other articles of
food, and the like in stores, shops, and dwelling houses, consisting of a closet, the
double walls of which are filled, as usual, with a suitable non-conducting material,

page_text: and moreover characterized by the ice-reservoir c, the cooling compartments c¹
and c, the water trap g, h, and the front glass door a, as set forth, and substantially
as indicated by the annexed drawings.
Dated this 16th day of November 1893.
H. GARDNER,
Patent Agent, 166, Fleet Street, London,
Agent for the said Christian Frederik Vilhelm Matthissen.·