Improvements in Ice Making Machines or Apparatus.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 21st July, 1898-Accepted, 27th Aug.,
1898
Improvements in Ice Making Machines or Apparatus.
A communication by THOMAS LOVEJOY RANKIN, of the Town of Sacket's Harbor,
in the County of Jefferson, in the State of New York, United States of
America, Gentleman.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Low Street, Liverpool, and 322, High Holborn, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil 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:-
The object of this invention is to construct an ice making machine or apparatus,
in which the ice, as frozen, is removed from the freezer and carried to a molding
device and from thence to a storage room or delivery outlet by continuous
operation; and, the invention consists in the combinations of devices or parts
hereinafter described and as pointed out in the claims.
In the drawings Figure 1 is a front elevation of the ice making apparatus,
showing a freezer, a saw for removing the ice therefrom, a carrier for trans-
porting the same in a loose or slushy condition to a chute or tube provided
with a hopper mouth and a scraper for taking the ice from the carrier and
conveying the same to a pair of rolls provided on their surfaces with molds
for compressing the ice into cakes, and delivering the same to a carrier for
transporting it to a chute leading to a storage room or delivery outlet. This
figure also shows various drain connections and a pump for returning the water
to a cylindrical jacket surrounding the ice receiving chute or tube which also
has connections with the trough or tank for supplying water to the freezer.
Figure 2 is a vertical section of a three storey refrigerated house provided
with an ice chute and a door opening outward for loading the ice to a delivery
cart or wagon.
Figure 3 shows an outside front view of the door appearing in section in
Figure 2.
Figure 4 is a sectional view across the ice compression rolls showing the
contour of the depression or concave spaces forming the molds as the two rolls
come together.
Figure 5 is a surface view of a portion of one of the compression rolls showing
cross ribs or partitions by which the molds are separated at the ends.
Figure 1 shows a device for regulating the distance of the saw from the surface
of the cylinder on which the ice is formed.
Figure 6 is a detail plan view of a portion of the conveyor E.
Figure 7 is a transverse vertical section on line 7-7 of Figure 1.
In these drawings A represents a rotary cylinder, having a gas inlet pipe
and a gas outlet pipe a¹. This cylinder receives motion from a gear wheel B.
connecting with a pinion operated by a pulley 61, and the gear wheel B is also
provided with side cogs for operating the pinion c connecting by a crank rod c¹
and braces d, d, with a saw C. The distance of the saw from the cylinder may
Price 877

page_text: be regulated by a screw bolt d' shown in Figure 14, which has a rounded head
resting against the surface of the cylinder of the ice remaining thereon. This
bolt is threaded all the way to its head and passes through the brace d having
a threaded opening to receive it so that the distance at which the bolt head is
regulated by the screw thread determines the distance of the saw from the
cylinder. Each of the braces d is provided with such a regulating screw, and
the saw is held down to the cylinder by means of springs or other suitable
devices. Upon suitable supports as 1, projecting from and secured to the frame,
is an angular plate or bar 2, arranged parallel with the axis of the freezing
cylinder, and on this plate 2 is carried a bar 3, to which the arms d, carrying
the saw C are jointed, substantially as shown in Figure 7 of the drawings. The
saw bar 3 is guided in its seat on the plate 2 by rollers 4, 5, the former of which
is mounted on the bar 3, and the latter on the plate 2; and to hold the saw in
proper operative contact with the surface of the freezer, springs 6 are connected
to the braces or arms das indicated in Figure 7. The saw is reciprocated by
the movements of the bar 3 imparted by the crank connections c, c¹.
The cylinder is mounted at its ends on suitable supports D, D, provided with
bearings for the hollow shafts de, da, through which the inlet and outlet pipes a a¹
pass for the circulation of ammonia gas or refrigerating agent on the interior
of the rotary freezer. The supports D, D, are also provided with bearings for
shafts ee, one of which may have one of its ends provided with a pulley, not
shown, for imparting motion, and these shafts ee carry rollers e¹e preferably
of a pentagonal form, as shown. A belt E passes over the rollers ele¹ for the
purpose of receiving the ice as it drops from the saw, and this belt is made of
open mesh cloth, or other suitable material, so as to permit any water that may
be in the ice to pass through the same and fall onto a drainer E¹ below such belt.
The ice is transported by the belt E to a vertical chute or open ended tube F
having a hopper mouth f at its upper end into which the ice is dumped. This
hopper mouth is provided with a scraper f¹ which is either weighted or held in
nearly a vertical position by a spring, not shown, and it is prevented from being
pulled too far back by one or more lugs or pins f2 on the inside of the hopper as
shown. By means of the belt and scraper all of the ice will be conveyed to the
vertical chute or open ended tube F and pass through the same to the rolls G, G,
located below the same.
The rolls G, G, are mounted on a suitable frame or post G¹ and are driven
or rotated by any suitable power connection. These rolls are provided with
concave or hollow peripheral receptacles 9, 9, separated one from another by
longitudinal and transverse ribs g¹g, as shown in Figures 4 and 5. The recep-
tacles g, g, on each roll form one-half of what are shown as oval-sided and square
ended molds, which during the rotation of the rolls grasp the ice as it comes
from the bottom of the chute or tube F and compresses the same as the respective
half-molds are brought together during rotation, and finally, after compressing
the ice in this form, it is discharged beneath the roll onto a short slide or guide h
placed below them, as shown in Figure 1. This guide permits the ice thus
molded to drop onto a carrier or belt H driven by suitable power over the
rollers h, h. This belt or carrier H is provided with suitable pockets or recep-
tacles for receiving and holding the cakes of ice during their further transporta-
tion to a slide or chute I, which leads either directly to a delivery wagon or to a
storage room, such as shown in Figure 2, which is also provided with a slide
or chute I¹, leading to an outlet double door J, J¹. The door J is arranged to
slide on a suitable rod i passing through a space within the outer insulated
door J. As shown in Figures 2 and 3 the ice by this means may be conveyed
from the storage room to a delivery cart or wagon K.
The water caused by melting as the ice drops from the freezer onto the carrier E
is caught in a trough or drainer El set on an incline and leading to a spout j and
pipe which empties into a tank or cistern L. The water is forced from this
cistern by a punip M connecting therewith by a pipe and passes from the

page_text: pump through a pipe m which leads through the rolls G, G, and empties into
a jacket N surrounding the. ice chute or tube F. The water jacket N is entirely
closed at top and bottom and is provided at its top with a pipe n leading into a
receptacle or trough A which supplies water to the freezer A. The force of the
pump M is sufficient to cause an overflow from the tank N through the pipe n to
the water supply receptacle A¹. By passing the water pumped from the cistern
through the rolls G, G, and water jacket N, the temperature will be sufficiently
raised to cause the ice to have a watery or slippery condition, which will insure
its passing from the chute or tube F to the rolls G, G. and make it sufficiently
weighty and compact to permit an easy solidification in the molds of the rolls
as well as its dropping therefrom when compressed. In the water tank A¹ is
laid a coil of pipe 7, which is fed or supplied with the refrigerating gas from
a return pipe 8, leading back from the discharge pipe a', 'and connected to the
pipes of the coil in the water tank; the gas thus lending its well known agencies
to the reduction of the temperature of the water in the tank
Means are also provided for draining off any water which may be squeezed
out of the ice by the rolls or come from the ice on the carrier H, and for leading
the same into the cistern L through a spout indicated by the dotted lines.
It will be observed that the ice chute or tube F and molds are within a room 0
which is refrigerated or kept at a sufficiently low temperature, by the expansion
of a liquefying gas in pipes o, o, which may be connected with and form part of
the system for supplying the refrigerating agent to the freezer A. In this way
the ice when molded is prevented from melting and the cakes will, by reason
of the low temperature in the room become harder so that they may be conveyed
or transported without loss. The low temperature in the room makes the
water circulation through the rolls G, G, and in the water jacket N highly impor-
tant for the purpose of keeping the ice sufficiently soft until after it has passed
through the rolls and become molded in the manner already described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. An ice plant or apparatus, comprising the freezing cylinder within a suit-
able room, means for removing the ice from the surface of the cylinder, a
horizontally disposed conveyor on which the ice is deposited from the cylinder,
a vertical chute at the delivery end of the said conveyor and extending down
into a lower refrigerating chamber, ice-compressing rollers, and an offtake con-
vevor inclined upwards from below the ice compression rollers and at its upper
end delivering into the upper portion of a storage-compartment.
2. An ice plant or apparatus comprising the water tank the freezing cylinder
therein, means for removing the ice therefrom, and endless horizontal pervious
conveyor to receive the ice as removed from the cylinder a vertical jacketed chute
into the upper end of which said conveyor delivers, hollow ice compression
molding rollers at the lower end of the chute, a slide to receive the ice from the
said rollers, an offtake conveyor leading from the molding rollers to a storage
chamber, a reservoir at a lower level than the molding rollers to receive the
drip therefrom, a trough under said horizontal conveyor and also connected with
the said reservoir, a pipe to raise the water from said reservoir and discharge
it down into the interior of the molding rollers, a pipe connecting the outlet
from said molding rollers with the lower end of the chute jacket, and a pipe
connecting the upper end of the jacket with the main water tank.
3. The combination with the water tank, the rotating freezing cylinder therein,
and a vertical jacketed chute into which the ice is discharged from the cylinder,
the upper end of the jacket having a pipe discharging into said tank, of hollow
ice molding rollers at the lower end of the vertical chute and having their outlet
connected with the lower end of said chute-jacket, a reservoir to receive the
water expressed by the said ice molding rollers, a pump having a supply pipe

page_text: connected with the said reservoir, and a discharge pipe connected with the inlet of
the molding rollers.
4. An ice machine comprising a tank, a rotating cylinder mounted longitudin-
ally in the tank, means for supplying the cylinder with a refrigerant, a
reciprocating saw or scraper to remove the ice from the surface of the cylinder,
and means to reciprocate the saw.
5. The combination with the tank and rotary cylinder, of a reciprocating bar
arranged parallel with the cylinder and provided with braces or arms projecting
towards the cylinder, a saw blade secured to the ends of the braces or arms
adjacent to the cylinder and parallel with said reciprocating bar, and mechanism
for operating the cylinder and the bar.
6. The combination with the cylinder and its tank of a guide-way mounted
longitudinally with the tank and cylinder, a reciprocating bar in the guide-way,
spring pressed arms hinged to said bar and projecting towards the cylinder, a
saw blade secured to said arms to remove the formed ice from the cylinder, and
means for operating the cylinder and the bar with the saw.
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1000
...
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
322, High Holborn, London, W.C., Patent Agents for the Applicant.