An Improved Mode of and Apparatus for Cooling, Purifying, and Drying Air for Ohilling and Freezing Purposes.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Aug., 1896-Accepted, 21st Nov., 1896
An Improved Mode of and Apparatus for Cooling, Purifying, and
Drying Air for Ohilling and Freezing Purposes.
A communication from CHARLES ARTHUR MACDONALD, of Sydney, in the
Colony of New South Wales, Australia, Engineer.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 111 Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent 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 has been specially devised for cooling, drying, and purifying
air by means of a non-congealable liquid, such, for instance, as brine, and is to be
applied more particularly to chilling or freezing perishable articles of food.
In the application of the invention, the non-cougealable liquid will also be
purged from any impurities, and maintained at its proper strength before being
brought into contact with the air.
The invention comprises a whole cycle of operations. The brine or other non-
congealable liquid is pumped by an ordinary pump from a brine-distributing tank
into distributing pipes, from whence it will fall upon a battery of perforated or gauze
plates so that it shall be ensured that the brine from the distributing tank shall be
properly divided in such a way that the air as it passes through the battery shall
be brought into intimate contact with the non-congealable liquid. The battery
stands on a tray, from whence the non-congealable liquid may be conveyed back,
either to the brine tauk or diverted into an evaporator and purifier that is heated
by the exhaust steam from the engine that is employed to work the apparatus. In
the evaporator and purifier the temperature will be considerably raised, the surplus
water will therefore be evaporated, and any noxious germs that may have been
intercepted by the battery will be destroyed or rendered innoxious. From the
evaporator and purifier the purified brine will pass into a surface cooler-coil con-
sisting of coils that are cooled by a spray of water. From the cooler-coil the brine
will be conveyed to a tank that is supplied with a coil through which the ammonia
or other cooling agent will circulate. In this tank the brine will be sufficiently
cooled to allow it to pass back into the brine tank when the cycle of operations
will re-commence.
The apparatus employed is shown in the accompanying sheet of drawings, in
which―
Fig. 1 is a plan of the apparatus employed, with the top removed so as to
show the arrangement of the plant.
Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same.
The other figures are details of the appliances used, and which will be referred
to in their order.
A is the chilling chamber, which is surrounded by walls constructed of any
suitablo insulating material. Running through the ohilling chamber A is a trunk
duct or passage B, within which is placed the battery of porforated or gauze plates.
The air is caused to circulate in the chilling chamber A by any suitable mechanical
device, that shown in the drawings consisting of a fan C which will cause the air
to follow in the direction of the arrows shown in Fig. 2. The battery shown on an
enlarged scale in Fig. 3 is of peculiar construction, and forms one of the main
features of the invention. It consists of a box having perforated, gauze, or wire

page_text: sides D, through which the air can pass freely. The box stands in a tray E, aud
above the top side are placed spray pipes f, into which the non-congealable liquid
is pumped by the pump G from the brine tank II, which may be placed in any
suitable position. Within the perforated sides D are a number of parallel plates,
which are really sieves, and may be constructed of perforated metal, opeu mesh
canvas, wire gauze, or other material which would not be injured by contact with
the brine that trickles down them, and which will, at the same time, allow a
circulation of air freoly through them.
From the battery box the air will pass through a series of horizontal sieves, of
no special construction, and will then enter the chilling chamber A in order to chill
the contents thereof.
It is now necessary to follow the circulation of the brine or other non-congealable
liquid. As before mentioned, the sweet or purified brine is contained in the
brine tank H, which may be placed above the chilling chamber A, or below, or
on the same level with it, as shown in the drawings. From the brine tank the non-
congealable liquid may gravitate or be pumped by the pump G to the spray pipes f
that are placed above the battery. The brine will then be split up by the battery
and so finely divided that all the air passing through the battery shall be brought
into intimate contact with the brine, which latter will gravitate down the gauze or
wire plates of the battery into the tray E, from whence it will pass by the pipe e
either back into the brine tank H, or into the evaporator or purifier J that is shown
on an enlarged scale at Fig. 4. There is nothing particular in the construction of
this evaporator, although I consider it advisable to show details of its construction.
The evaporator or purifier J is heated by exhaust steam from the steam engine K,
shown in Fig. 1, the steam circulating through the pipes j. Iu this way the tem-
perature of the brine may be raised to such an extent that the surplus water that
is taken up in the battery from the carcases or other food material that is in the
chamber A, or from the air that circulates through the battery, will be given off in
vapour, and any noxious gorms that might have been in the air, and were inter-
copted by the battery, would be destroyed or sterilized. In order to reduce the
temperature of the brine after it leaves the evaporator or purifier J, it is passed
into a surface cooler-coil L, over which water will trickle from the ammonia
condenser M shown in Figs. 1 and 2. In the cooler-coil the heat will be absorbed
from the brine, which latter will then pass through a pipe into the tank M, from
whence it will gravitate into the briuo tauk H for use over again.
The ammonia or other chilling agent will circulate in the following manner,
although it has not been considered necessary to unduly complicate the drawings
by showing all the pipe connections, it being considered sufficient to merely explain
the direction of the circulation :-The ammonia, or other chilling agent, will travel
from the ammonia pump O into the coils M' of the ammonia condenser M, and
from thence will be expanded into the pipes of the brine tank H, and from thence
it will be returned through the coil n of the tauk N back to the ammonia pump O,
where the ammonia cycle will recommence.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In apparatus for chilling air, a battery consisting of a box coustructed with
perforated gauze or wire sides, above the box being a spray pipe, and within the
box a number of parallel perforated plates, gauze or wire screens, through which
the air can freely circulate, as and for the purposes herein set forth.
2. In chilling apparatus, a chilling chamber that is provided with insulating
walls, and with a trunk, duct, or passage, in which trunk, duct, or passage is placed
a battery, such as that referred to in Claim 1, and through which insulated chamber
and duct or passage the air is caused to circulate by any apparatus that will induce
or force a draught, as and for the purposes specified.
3. In chilling apparatus, in combination, a chilling chamber that is provided

page_text: with a duct or passage, in which is placed a battery such as that referred to in
Claim 1, a brine tank from which tho brine gravitates or is forced to the battery in
the duct, an evaporator or purifier to which the brine is conveyed from the battery
in the duct, a cooler-coil through which the brine will flow after leaving the purifier,
a cooling tank to receive the brine after it leaves the cooler-coil, and an ammonia
pump or other apparatus for circulating the chilling agent through pipes in the
brine tank whore it will do the work that is required of it, after which its excuss of
cold will be utilized in the cooling tank before returning to the ammonia pump, as
specified.
Dated this 24th day of August 1896
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.