IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATORS AND ICE SAFES, IN COOLING BY THE SOLUTION OF SALTS, AND PRO
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Harrison, of 52, Mornington Road, in
the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REFRIGERATORS AND ICE SAFES, IN COOLING BY THE SOLUTION OF SALTS, AND
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Harrison at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th April 1874.
I, JAMES HARRISON, of 52, Mornington Road, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATORS AND ICE SAFES, IN COOLING BY THE SOLUTION OF
SALTS, AND IN THE REGENERATION OF THE MATERIALS EMPLOYED," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to the production, preservation, and use of ice;
to the application of deliquescent salts, such as crystallised chloride of
calcium, and of non-deliquescent salts, such as nitre and sulphate of
magnesia, which produce cold by their solution in water; to the use and
A

page_text: application of such solutions; and to the recovery of the salts in such a
way that the cold is economised and the heat employed is utilized for
other purposes.
The apparatus and processes described are also applicable to freezing
mixtures, to the mixture of salts and their solutions with ice, and to the
construction of refrigerators and of safes and chests for containing ico
or for the cooling of provisions and liquors.
My improvements consist in arrangements whereby the solid salts
descend in a long, deep, and narrow trough, or series of such troughs,
wherein they are met by an upward current of water, which water, cooled
by dissolving the salts flows over the upper edge of the trough or passes
through perforations in the sides and flows downwards on the outside,
producing ice on opposite surfaces by radiation, convection, and evapo-
ration, or is conveyed away from the top of the trough and the ice
formed on the outer surfaces. When the solution flows over the outside
the trough may be of wood or other material, but when ice is formed
directly on the outer surface it is of metal. The surplus cold in the
solution drawn off or flowing downward is utilised either in producing
icc by radiation or by conduction, or by radiation and conduction com-
bined. The salts are fed into the trough from a hopper, and the water
is fed into the bottom through a pipe from a cistern above the level of
the overflow; that portion of the pipe which traverses the bottom of the
trough having perforations along its lower side. The water is also
supplied from the top and the solution drawn off from the bottom.
-
I also place the salts with the quantity of water required for their
solution in a vessel, square, cylindrical, or spherical, rotating on a hori-
zontal axis; and upon the outside of the vessel the water which is to be
frozen is kept continually dropping, the unfrozen surplus falling into a
trough, from which it drops on to a second vessel or flows away to be
otherwise used in making icc. The vessels are surrounded by surfaces
over which cold brine flows and aids the production of ice by radiation,
by convection of the air, by evaporation, the water of and condensation
on the brine surfaces. The operation is carried on until tlio solution
inside the vessel rises nearly to the freezing point unless it be deemed
desirable to continue the formation of ice by the radiating and other
external influences alone. When the required thickness of icc is pro-
duced the enclosed solution is drawn off and water or steam admitted to

page_text: detach the ice from the surface. The ice is sawn or broken off, or the
division is made by freezing into the ice sheets of tin or other metal at
the places where the partition is desired. When the revolving vessel is
a cylinder the drip of water on it may be dispensed with, the cylinder
supplying itself with water from a trough into which its surface .dips.
In this arrangement the upper part of the chamber is fitted with a
radiating surface which slopes at such an angle that the cold brine will
not drip from it until it has passed clear of the revolving icc vessel. A
mixture for the production of ice creams may be substituted for the
water in which the cylindrical vessel revolves, and the product scraped
off by a fixed slice as it is congealed. In like manner paraffin and other
solids are separated from solutions which drop on the revolving vessel or
are fed to it from a trough below, the solid being scraped off by a fixed
slice or allowed to remain till the operation is completed.
I also make ice in rectangular moulds by keeping the spaces between
them filled with soluble salts and passing a stream of water upward and
downward, or from side to side through the salts and over the surfaces of
the moulds, the water entering at one end of the trough and the solution
passing off at the other end. When this arrangement is adopted on a
large scale the solution before passing off is conveyed over moulds, the
compartments surrounding which are not supplied with the solid salts.
I also freeze ice creams in a vessel of the ordinary shape but fitted
with a crank so that it gives a plunging as well as a swaying motion to
the vessel whereby the water is caused to rise and fall among the crystals
of the salts, or the ordinary brine is kept in motion among broken ice.
When the object is the cooling of worts or other operation for which
a temperature above the freezing point suffices, the soluble salts are fed
into an upright cylindrical vessel or barrel, and the water supplied or
drawn off through a perforated false bottom in the quantity requisite to
produce the desired degree of cold. After the weak solution so produced
has done its work it is used over again to dissolve a second charge of the
salts, and so on until its saturation at the required temperature has been
reached. The cold solution is conveyed through a wort cooler made of
two sheets of corrugated metal with an intervening sheet of woven wire
fitting into the corrugations, the worts passing over the exterior.
I also employ a cooler consisting of two long sheets of metal with an
intervening sheet of woven wire coiled in a volute through which the

page_text: cold solution passes, with a narrow passage between each pair of plates
through which the worts pass in an opposite direction. These forms of
wort coolers may be used either for the cooling of worts from their initial
temperature or as adjuncts to any of the ordinary forms of coolers to
reduce the worts to a still lower degree. I also employ these wort
coolers in a compound form, the cold solution passing through a portion
only of the wired interspaces and water of the ordinary temperature
through the remainder.
The improvements further consist in an arrangement for the employ-
ment of air as an agent for carrying cold from the dissolving salts to the
worts, applicable also to any other purpose for which cold air is required.
The vessel containing the cold solution and dissolving salts is fitted
with a series of shelves made of metal, embossed, indented, or cor-
rugated, or of wood with alternate grooves, hollows, or indentions above
and below, with small perforations in the depressions and large or more
numerous perforations on the ridges or clevations. The lower perfora-
tions being for the downward passage of the solution, and the upper for
the passage of the air, which is forced through by a fan, bellows, or
pump. The upper part of this vessel is filled with the soluble salt, and the
water for its solution is showered down upon it. The air is then con-
veyed into another compartment containing a supply of the deliquescent
salt, where it is dried by coming in contact with the salt. When required
for the cooling of worts the air is conveyed into a vessel which contains
a scries of shelves over which the worts pass in a shallow stream,
the shelves having perforations through which the worts also drip..
These shelves are placed to right and left alternately, and air passes
upward in a zig-zag course, becoming saturated with vapor from the
worts as it flows on. The shelves may also be fitted with perfora-
tions, ridge and furrow fashion, as in the cold solution vessels, and in
like manner the right and left arrangement of the shelves may be adopted
in the vessel where the air is cooled. The air current may be also sus-
tained by exhaustion, the air being drawn into a chimney stack or waste
steam pipe, or withdrawn by a fan, bellows, or pump.
The cold solution after it has done its work of ice making is in part
applied to the cooling of the water which is next to be made into ice,
and of the water which is to be mixed with the next charge of solid
salts; it is also in part applied to the cooling of the next charge of salts,

page_text: This is accomplished by passing the solution over and among the com-
paratively hot salts, which are carried on an endless web of waterproof
cloth or canvas in an opposite direction to the stream of solution, whereby
a portion of the salts is dissolved, and the portion which remains undis-
solved is reduced to a temperature approximating to that of the cold
solution, which cold solution is available for the work of further refrigera-
tion. In a like way the operation of ice making is combined with tho
cooling of worts; or any two operation, one of which requires a greater
degree of cold than the other may be combined. The cold solution
is first used to make ice and to cool the next charge of materials,
after which it retains the capacity for doing secondary work not only.
to the extent of its low temperature but to that of its capacity to dissolve
more salts by the addition of which its temperature for the secondary
work is regulated.
My improvements in the regeneration of the materials consist in
evaporating the solution in a pan down which it flows in a zig-zag course
contrary to the products of combustion, which pass in a corresponding
zig-zag course beneath the pan, or in a vertical series of pans, the
solution descending and the products of combustion ascending. The
vapour from the boiling solution is conveyed to an adjoining receptacle
fitted with perforated plates, so that there is an upward current of steam
and a downward current of water; or where it is required that the steam
and water or other liquid shall be kept separate the steam is condensed
between sheets of metal kept apart by a lining of woven wire, so that in
either case its condensation can be applied to heating purposes. When
the solution has been concentrated in the pans to the point at which it
will crystallize on being cooled, which point is to be ascertained by a
hydrometer, it is drawn off into pans of similar construction but with a
current of cold water running underneath in an opposite direction to
the flow of the solution; the crystals as they are formed being removed.
Or the solution is run into revolving cylindrical vessels over which a
film of water is constantly kept flowing and evaporating. These vessels
may be the same that are used for refrigerating, in which case the
crystals may be allowed to remain, their cooling being accomplished by
passing the solution which has done its refrigerating work through the
vessels, when they will be ready on the addition of a proportionate
quantity of cold water to resume tlic work of refrigeration.
I also crystallize.the concentrated solution in deep and narrow troughs

page_text: over the exterior of which a film of water flows and evaporates, the
evaporation being promoted by air currents. When the crystals are
formed in the pans they are collected and placed on the endless web of
cloth as before described, or when the operations are on a small scale
the previously used solution is showered upon them until they are
brought to the temperature required. In tropical regions, and where
water is not obtainable below eighty degrees Fah., the re-crystallization
(in the case of chloride of calcium) is promoted by the secondary cooling
power of the used solution; and if this is not sufficient the solution of
nitre, of sulphate of magnesia, or other salt with a higher melting point
than the deliquescent salt is employed to complete the crystallization.
.
My improvements in the construction of ice chests and safes consist
in the adoption of a perforated metallic ceiling fixed a little below the
bottom of the ice chamber. The ceiling plate is embossed, indented, or
corrugated, and the perforations are made in the elevations of the plate
with their rough edges upward, so that there may be free passage for
the air, while the drip of condensed vapor from the bottom of the ice
chamber flows off round the edges, the flow being further promoted by
strips of cotton wick or other absorbent of water, which act as syphons
for withdrawing the condensed vapor. The bottom of the ice chamber
is also embossed, indented, or corrugated, so that the water from the
melting ice may be conveyed away by the same means.
The same
object is also attained by making the bottom of the ice chamber slope
towards a depending point or ridge terminating in a tube, or hollow
partition, or a gutter, whereby the water from the melting ice or the
condensed vapor, or both, are drawn off. When a gutter is employed it
is continued round the walls of the safe, which are double, and the
water passes thence down the interspace to a receptacle below the floor
of the safe. The interspace is loosely fitted with an absorbent textile
fabric or a sheet of woven wire, which prevents the water from flowing
off too quickly. When the safe opens only from the top the ice is
placed in a hollow partition or well in the centre, the walls of which has
perforations, the rough edges of which open inwards, so that the air
· has free access to the ice, and deposits its moisture either on the ice
itself or on the inner wall without perforations. The chest is rounded off
at the corners inside, so that there is a greater thickness of protecting
material such as sawdust or charcoal at the angles, the interior thus
approximating to a sphere or oval. The doors or lids of the ice safe are

page_text: .
rendered air tight by surrounding the openings with a channel across
which a strip of india-rubber is placed, and fixing a corresponding
beading round the doors or lids, so that when they are shut the beading
shall press on the centre line of the india-rubber. When the object is
to keep the contents of the safe at or below freezing point the water
from the melting ice is mixed with salt, or the salt is placed among the
ice, and the brine is thereafter dropped in a regulated stream on the ice,
and after passing down the hollow walls of the chest is drawn off from
time to time to be again passed over the ice. When great dryness is
required, trays, on which chloride of calcium or other deliquescent salt,
is strewn, are placed in the interior of the safe. These several details
in the arrangements of chests and safes are capable of being combined
in various ways.
My improvements further consist in the application of soluble salts to
the cooling of chests and safes without ice. The salts which produce
cold by solution are placed in a chamber with a constant drip of water
maintained over them, or with a regulated depth of water in the
chamber containing them, so that a long continued and steady degree of
refrigeration is maintained. The drip is regulated by syphon cloths
vandyked at their lower edges dipping into a trough containing the
water, or by short lengths of cotton wick or its equivalent passed
through perforations in the bottom of a trough. This form of cold safe
is also used for the preservation of ice, so that it will not melt while the
freezing mixture is in slow action.
My improvements further consist in the application of freezing mixtures
to the cooling of liquids in casks or other vessels, and while being drawn
off for consumption. For this purpose the ice or cold producing salt is
placed in a tube inserted in the bung hole of the cask or other opening
in any vessel, or in a tube surrounding or enclosed within that through
which the liquid is drawn off. The brine is supplied to the ice or the
water to the salt by a smaller tube which reaches to the bottom of the
larger, and the melted ice or dissolved salt runs off by another small
tube near the top. The brine or water may also be fed in at the top,
and the resulting liquid be drawn off by the tube which reaches to the
bottom. Ice alone will suffice where the temperature does not require
to be much lowered; the water from the melting ice passing off by a
small tube below the top, which tube may be carried to the bottom,
so that it shall convey the water from below and yet leave the tube

page_text: full. To keep this arrangement in full action the ice must be piled up
above the outflow to about one-eighth of the whole length of the large
tube. The policy of drawing off the dissolved ice or salt from the top
or bottom is determined by its temperature, it being obviously most
advantageous to take away that which is warmest. This will usually be
to the top, but with water below thirty-nine degrees Fah., it will be at
the bottom.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Harrison in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th October 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HARRISON, of 58, Gowrie Road, in the County of Surrey, formerly of 52,
Mornington Road, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Harrison, Her special licence,
that I, the said James Harrison, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Harrison, 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
yend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REFRIGERATORS AND ICE SAFES, IN COOLING BY THE SOLUTION OF SALTS, AND IN THE
REGENERATION OF THE MATERIALS EMPLOYED," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Harrison, my executors or administrators,
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 James Harrison, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
This Invention relates to the production, preservation, and use of ice;
to the application of deliquescent salts, such as crystallised chloride of
calcium, and non-deliquescent salts, such as nitre and sulphate of
magnesia, which produce cold by their solution in water; to the use and
application of such solutions, and to the recovery of the salts in such a
way that the cold is economised and the heat employed is utilised for
other purposes.
The apparatus and processes described are applicable to freezing
mixtures, to the mixture of salts and their solutions with ice, to the use
of cold liquids generally, and to the utilization of waste heat from other
processes, and to the construction of safes and chests for containing ico
or for the cooling of provisions and liquors.
My improvements consist in arrangements whereby the solid salts
descend in a deep and narrow trough, where they are met by an upward
current of water, which water, cooled by dissolving the salt flows over
the upper edge of the trough, and passes through perforations at the
sides and flows downwards on the outside, producing ice on the opposite
surfaces by radiation, convection, and evaporation, or is conveyed away
from the top of the trough and tho ice is formed on the outer surface.
When the solution flows over the outside the trough may be of wood or
other material, not necessarily a good conductor, but when ice is formed
directly on the surface it must be of metal. The surplus cold in tho
solution drawn off or flowing downward is utilised either in producing
icc by radiation or conduction, or by conduction and radiation combined.
The salts are fed into the trough from a hopper, and the water is fed in
near the bottom through a pipe leading from a cistern above the level of
the overflow, that portion of the pipe which traverses the bottom of the
trough having perforations along its lower side. The water is also
supplied from the top, and the solution drawn off from the bottom.
In Figure 1, which is a sectional elevation of a pair of radiating and
ice forming troughs, and Figure 2, which is a cross section of one of tho
radiating troughs, A¹ is the trough into which the soluble salt, say
crystallised chloride of calcium, is fed by the hopper ; and the water by
the pipe. The hopper is kept continuously filled with crystals of the
salt, so that they may subside as the melting goes on. The pipe
is

page_text: perforated along its lower side, and its external prolongation is con-
nected by an india-rubber tube with a cistern placed at a height of about
two feet above the top of the trough, the supply of the water being
regulated by a. tap at the cistern. The water should be nearly in the
proportion of two to three of the salt dissolved, and is to be regulated
either by the average ascertained consumption of crystals by the
temperature of the solution, or by its specific gravity. a, a, are the
apertures through which the solution passes and runs down the outside
of the trough. These perforations are covered on the outside by a loose
cloth (not shown), the lower edge of which is trimmed or scrrated to
secure an equable flow. The vessel A³ is also supplied with crystals by
the hopper . The water is supplied by a tap t, and the solution is
drawn off at t, which is a pipe perforated below and connected by an
india-rubber tube cither with a reservoir a little below the top of A³, or
to a refrigerating trough supplied with moulds, such as in Figure 4, as
hereafter described, or to the top of another vessel similar to A', when a
series of pairs of radiating and ice forming troughs are employed. The
water to be frozen is supplied from a reservoir to the surfaces of A² by
the pipes, which are perforated along the top and covered with a cloth
trimmed or serrated at its lower edge. These tubes have india-rubber
connections, and are slung so that they can be moved outward as the ice
forms. The vessels A₁ and A³ are placed in trays with overflow pipes
at,, leading to reservoirs, not shown, and is an overflow pipe
leading to the brine reservoir. The water from is pumped up to the
cistern which supplies the tubes tº, to be again passed over the ice

page_text: which has done its work in A', A', Figure 1, flows from the tap to;
passes through and among the crystals in A³, and thenco over the
surfaces of the moulds B', B3, B³, becoming heated as it flows. In
passing through A' it dissolves a further quantity of crystals, and then
passes over the surfaces of the moulds B', '; &c., the number of alternate
vessels being increased at pleasure, the proportion of ice moulds
increasing as the trough is lengthened. Thus between A³ and A' there
are three moulds, between A* and the next compartment for crystals
there may be four moulds, between the next two six moulds, and so on,
the series finishing with ice moulds alone.
Figure 5 is a sectional plan of a trough whercin the moulds are placed
zig-zag, and the saline crystals are placed in a compartment at the end of
each mould. These compartments A, A, &c., are formed on two sidos
with perforated metal walls, so that the solution in passing from one ice
mould surface to the next will pass through and among the crystals.
About three-fourths of the trough is so fitted, the remaining fourth
consisting of icc moulds alone for the making of thinner ice. For
making ice on a large scale these troughs should contain not less than
thirty moulds, the supply of the water or solution being so adjusted that
it shall flow off at a temperature of 31° F. When these various ice
forming processes are worked in connection the supply of crystals to
the troughs in Figures 4 and 5 is not so great as when it is worked by
itself and supplied with water instead of weak solution. I also place
the salts with the quantity of water required for their solution in a
vessel, cylindrical, square, or spherical, rotating on a horizontal axis, the
exterior of the vessel being kept covered with a thin film of water. The
vessels are surrounded by surfaces on which cold brine flows and aids
the production of ice by radiation, by convection, and by evaporation
from the water and condensation on the brine surface. The operation is
carried on until the solution inside the vessel rises nearly to the freezing
point, unless it be deemed advisable to continue the formation of ice by
the radiating and other external influences alone. When the required
thickness of ice is produced the solution is drawn off and steam or water
admitted to detach the icc from the surface. The ice is then broken or
sawn off into convenient pieces or slabs, or the division is made by
freezing into the ice sheets of tin or other metal at the places where the
partition is desired. When the revolving vessel is a cylinder it supplies
itself with water from a trough in which the lower surface of the

page_text: cylinder dips.
For other shaped vessels the water is supplied from
above by a drip arrangement similar to that shown in Figures 1, 2,
and 3. The revolving vessel is surrounded by a radiating surface which
slopes at such an angle that the cold brine will not drip from it until it
has passed clear of the revolving vessel.
In Figure 6, A8 is an end section of a cylinder, the length of which is
about double the diameter. The cylinder is filled with previously cooled
crystals of the soluble salt through the manhole m. The cover fitted
with an india-rubber washer is screwed down and the cylinder rotated
on its axis x till the tubular aperture (" is uppermost. There is a
corresponding small tube and stop-cock at the other end for the escape
of air. Water previously cooled is filled in through " till the cylinder
is nearly full. C is a vessel supplied with cooled water, and A' is a
trough filled with crystals of the soluble salt, into which a sufficiency of
cooled water is kept running to maintain the constant flow of a film of
solution over the canvas or other textile covering d, d. The trough is
perforated, and the flow. provided for as in Figures 1 and 2. The
cylinder is kept in slow rotation, and supplies itself with water from the
trough C, which water is frozen on its surface by conduction from the
intérior, and by radiation, &c., from the surrounding fabric d, d. The
cylinder may be charged with crystals of chloride of calcium and water,
one by weight of water to two of crystals, for the complete solution of
the crystals at the freezing point; and when the solution is complete
and the temperature within the cylinder has risen to near the freezing
point, the solution may be drawn off, steam is admitted by fixing a flexible
tube to the tube t", and the ice thus detached may be sawn or broken
off, or a fresh charge of crystals and water may be put in without
disturbing the ice and the rotation resumed. Successive charges may
be inserted at pleasure until the required thickness of ice is produced.
The air cock is opened occasionally in case there should be any formation
of gas by chemical reaction within the chamber. In the intervals
between the charging of the cylinder the ends are protected by a covering
of felt or other imperfect conductor of heat, this covering being made to
fit the ends of the cylinder which are recessed. These cylinders may be
of any dimensions suitable to materials and requirements, and of any
number, and placed either over or alongside of cach other. When large
or numerous they are driven by belting from a shaft in the usual way.
The framework, bearings, and pulleys are not shown, there being no

page_text: novelty about them. A mixture for the production of ice creams may
be substituted for the water in which the vessel revolves, and tho
product scraped off by a fixed slice as it is congealed. In like manner
paraffin and other solids are separated from their solutions, which drop
on the revolving vessel, or are fed to it from a trough below, the solid
being scraped off by a fixed slice, or allowed to remain till the operation
is repeated.
I also freeze ice creams in a vessel of the ordinary shape, but fitted
with a crank, which gives a plunging as well as a swaying motion to
the vessel, whereby the water is caused to rise and fall among the
crystals of the salt, or the ordinary brine is kept in motion among broken
ice. The arrangement is shown in Figure 7, where k, k, are the cranks
and p, p, a perforated false bottom with a central aperture, through
which the freezing vessel passes. The space below this false bottom is
filled with water and the space above it with a deliquescent salt. When
salt and icc are used the space below the false bottom becomics a
receptacle for the resulting brine. The cold solution, after it has done
its work of ice making by either of the before described arrangements,
is in part applied to the cooling of the water, which is next to be made
into ice, and of the water which is to be mixed with the next charge of
solid salts. This is accomplished by any of the ordinary and well-known
modes of interchanging temperature between two opposite streams of
fluids, or by the cooler herein-after described and shown in Figure 10.
It is also in part applied to the cooling of the next charge of solid salts.
This is accomplished by passing the solution over and
the
comparatively hot salts, which are carried on an endless web of water-
proof cloth or canvas in an opposite direction to the stream of solution,
whereby a portion of the salts is dissolved, and tho portion which
remains undissolved is reduced to a temperature approximating that of
the cold solution, which solution is available for the work of further
secondary refrigeration..
among
:
In Figure 8 e, e, is an endless web of waterproof cloth or of canvas or
similar texture, which is but slightly permeable by water, stretched on
the rollers, 3, and supported by the rollers. These rollers are
tapered slightly towards the middle, so that the cloth may be stretched
tightly at its edges. The roller is slowly rotated by belting from a
shaft in the direction of the arrows; 7 runs loosely on its bearings and
so do the supporting rollers. The comparatively warm crystals are

page_text: fed on to the web from the sloping board f, and cold solution is supplied
from the pipe 2, which is perforated on its upper side; the water in
flowing downwards among the crystals cools them, and the cold crystals
are delivered into the receptacle g¹, the solution collecting in a cistern g³,
whence it is transferred to the evaporating pans.
When the object is the cooling of worts or other purpose, for which
a temperature above the freezing point suffices, the soluble salt is fed
into an upright cylindrical vessel or barrel, and the water supplied or
drawn off through a perforated false bottom in the quantity requisite to
produce the desired degree of cold, and after tho weak brine so cooled
has done its work it may be used over again to dissolve a second chargo
of the salt, and so on till its saturation at the temperature required has
been reached. The cold solution is conveyed through a cooler made of
two sheets of corrugated metal with an intervening sheet of woven wire
fitting into the corrugations, the worts flowing over the exterior.
In Figure G, which is a sectional clevation of the cylinder or barrel
and of the wort cooler, A' is the cylinder, which is kept supplied with
crystals of the soluble salt. The water or weak solution is supplied at
13, and the cold solution is drawn off at t. This cold solution descends
to the bottom of the cooler and rises upward in the wired interspace
between the two sheets of corrugated metal h, h, and flows away from
1 into a back, where it is left till it has cooled to the ordinary tempe-
rature, after which it may bo used to dissolve more salt. The worts are
supplied from the trough i, which does not present any novelty.
"
I also employ a cooler consisting of two long sheets of metal with an
intervening sheet of woven wire, coiled in a voluto, through which the
cold solution passes, with a narrow space between the pair of plates,
through which the worts pass in an opposite direction.
Figure 10 is a horizontal section of such a refrigerator, in which the
cold solution is supplied through the pipe t, and passes off at t¹, while
the worts enter at n¹ and pass out at n². These forms of coolers may be
used either for the cooling of worts from their initial boiling temperature
or as adjuncts to any of the ordinary forms of coolers to reduce the
worts to a still lower degree. I also employ these wort coolers in a
compound form, the cold solution passing through the first or lower
portion only, about one-fourth of the wired interspace and water of the
ordinary temperature through the remainder.

page_text: I also combine the operations of ice making and the cooling of worts
or any two operations, one of which requires a greater degree of cold
than the other. The cold solution is first used to make ice and to cool
the next charge, after which it retains the capacity for doing secondary
work, such as the cooling of worts, not only to the extent of its low
temperature but to that of its capacity to dissolve more salt, by tho
addition of which its temperature for the secondary work is regulated.
My improvements further consist in arrangements for the employment
of air as an agent for carrying cold from the dissolving salt to the worts,
which arrangements are also applicable to any other purpose for which
cold air is required. The vessel containing the cold solution and
dissolving salts is fitted with a series of shelves made of metal, embossed,
indented, or corrugated, or of wood with alternate grooves above and
below, with small perforations in the depressions, and larger or more
numerous perforations on the ridges, the lower perforations being for the
downward passage of the solution, and the upper for the passage of the
air, which is forced through by a fan, bellows, or pump. The upper.part
of the vessel is filled with the soluble salt, and the water for its solution
is showered down upon it. The air then passes into another compartment
containing a supply of the deliquescent salt, where it is dried by coming
in contact with the salt. When required for the cooling of worts the
air is conveyed into a vessel which contains a series of shelves over
which the worts pass in a shallow stream, the shelves having perforations
through which the worts also drip. These shelves are placed to right
and left alternately, and the air passes upward in a zig-zag course,
becoming saturated with vapor from the wort as it flows on.
shelves may also be fitted with perforations, ridge and furrow fashion, as
in the cold solution vessel, and in like manner the right and left
arrangement of the shelves may be adopted in the vessel where the air is
cooled. The air current may also be sustained by exhaustion, the air
being drawn into a chimney stalk or waste steam pipe, or withdrawn by
a fan, bellows, or pump.
The
In Figure 11, which is a sectional elevation of an air wort cooler, D is
a rectangular columnar vossel, the top compartment of which A is
5 filled with crystals of the soluble salt. The cold water is supplied at 118,
and after passing among the crystals flows off by the pipe t, which is
fitted with an air escape pipe *, and conveys the cold solution to the
top of the perforated plate s¹. The air is forced in by a fan or other

page_text: blower at , and passes through the upper perforations in the embossed
or corrugated plates 82, the aggregate area of the perforations in which
is greater than the area of the tube ; the cooled air passes off
through. The solution passes through the downward apertures and
flows off by the overflow pipe . D is loosely filled with crystals of
the deliquescent salt. The air passes in contact with them, and thence
into the column D' by the pipe t, any liquid from the salts flowing
away by the pipe 23. The air pursues a zig-zag course over the
shelves, which are of slate, copper, or other solid not injurious to
worts. The wort is delivered by the pipe to. The shelves are perforated,
but not to such an extent as to carry off the whole of the wort, the
surplus accumulating on the shelves and falling over the edge on to the
shelf next below, the wort flowing off fiually by the pipe ". The
shelves rest on ledges, and are removable in order that they may be
cleaned. The height of the liquid in A, in 1, in 1, and in 7, must
always be in excess of the pressure of the air from the blast.
My improvements in the regeneration of the materials consist in
evaporating the solution in a pan or pans down which the solution flows
in a zig-zag course, contrary to the products of combustion, which pass
in a corresponding zig-zag course beneath the pan or pans, or in a series
of pans placed over cach other. Figure 12 shows a plan of the furnace
and passages over which the paus are placed. F is the furnace, and G
the chimney shaft. The solution from which the crystals of salt are to
be recovered is fed into the pans nearest the shaft, and after flowing
through the pans placed over the fluc m³ passes into the pans which
arc over the flue m³, and then into those over m¹. A suitable size for
the pans is 2 feet wide by 6 feet in length and 8
inches in depth,
connected by inch pipes near the bottom. The hot concentrated
liquid is cooled, and its heat utilised by passing it through the open
spaces of the cooler shown in Figure 10, while the cold solution on its
way to the pans passes through the enclosed spaces or the reverse.
When it is considered desirable to save the heat in the vapor from tho
boiling solution the pans are covered, and the vapor from the boiling
solution is conveyed to an adjoining receptacle fitted with perforated
plates similar to that in D', Figure 11, the steam entering at t", and
water being supplied on the top plate s¹, so that there is an upward
current of steam and a downward current of water; or where it is
required that the steam and water should be kept separate the steam is

page_text: condensed between sheets of metal kept apart by a lining of woven wire,
similar to the walls of the cooler in Figure 9, the water flowing down
the exterior, but sccluded from the air as much as possible, so as not to
cncourage evaporation. When the solution has been concentrated in
the pans to the specific gravity at which it will crystallisc on being
cooled, which point in the case of crystallised chloride of calcium is
1,500, water being 1,000, it is drawn off into a pan or pans of similar
construction to the boiling pans, but with a current of cold water
running underneath in an opposite direction to the flow of the solution,
the crystals being removed as soon as convenient after they are formed;
or the solution is run into revolving cylinders over which a film of water
is continually flowing, the whole of the liquid in the interior being
converted into crystals. The cylinders are similar to those which are
used for refrigerating, as in Figure 6, the crystals being raked out at
the man-hole, and it may be occasionally convenient to allow the
crystals to remain, the cooling of the crystals being accomplished by
passing cold solution or water over or through the cylinder, when they
will be ready on the addition of a proportionate quantity of cold water to
resume the work of refrigeration.
I also crystallise the solution in deep and narrow troughs, over the
exterior of which a film of water flows and evaporates, the evaporation
being promoted by air currents. When the crystals are formed in the
pans or troughs they are collected and placed on the endless web of cloth,
as before described, or when the operations are on a small scale the
brine is showered upon them until they aro brought to the temperature
required. In tropical countries and places where water is not obtainable
below 80° Fahrenheit, the solution of nitre, of sulphate of magnesia, or
other salt with a higher melting point than the crystallised chloride of
calcium is employed to complete the crystallisation.
My improvements in ice chests and safes consist in the adoption of a
ceiling of perforated metal to the chest or safe fixed a little below the
bottom of the icc chamber. The ceiling plate is corrugated, embossed,
or indented, and the perforations are made with their rough edges
upward, so that there may be a free passage for the air while the drip of
condensed vapor from the bottom of the ice chamber flows off at the
edges, the flow may be further promoted by strips of cotton wick
or other absorbent water, which act as syphons for withdrawing the
condensed vapor. The bottom of the ice chamber is also corrugated,
B

page_text: bo
embossed, or indented, so that the water from the melting ice may
conveyed away by the same means. This water flows down one or more
sides of the safe, the walls being double, to a receptacle below the floor
of the chest or safe. The interspace is loosely filled with an absorbent
textile fabric or a sheet of woven wire, which prevents the water from.
flowing off too quickly. When the ice safe opens only from the top the
ice is placed in a hollow partition or well in the centre, the walls of
which have perforations, the rough edges of which open inwards and
downwards so that the air from the safe has free access to the icc, or to
an inner wall without perforations on either of which the moisture is
deposited. The doors or lids of the ice safe are rendered air-tight by sur-
rounding the openings with a continuous strip of india-rubber stretched
across a channel, to fit which the doors are shaped, or they are surrounded
by a beading so that when they are shut the beading shall press on the
central line of the india-rubber.
'
Figures 13 and 14 are sectional elevations of one of these forms of ice
safe; I' is the ice compartment; E, the pantry fitted with shelves for the
reception of the articles to be kept cool; n¹is the corrugated floor of the
ice compartment with perferations in the depressions; n³, the ceiling of
the pantry with perforations in the elevations; n³ is a sheet of metal
forming tho back of the pantry with a space between it and the back
wall, and n is the floor of the pantry. The air passes through the
perforations in n³, and the drip from the ice through the perforations
in n'. This drip and the condensed vapor passes down behind n³ to W,
the water well; o¹, o¹, are the sides of the chest ; o³, the back, and o³,
the doorway. In Figure 14 the section passes through one of the
depressions in n¹, n². These sheets are turned up on the edge next the
doorway to prevent any drip on that side. When the chest is shut air
will circulate by passing up through the perforations nearest the sides
and front, and descending through the central and furthest back pcr-
forations. At p, p, strips of sheet india-rubber arc stretched and
continued round the doorway, so that when the door is shut its rounded
edge will press upon the rubber, the edges of the door being rounded as.
in the fragment o'. The water well W is fitted with a tap t which has
a subsidiary overflow pipe (28..
Figure 15 is a section of an ice chest which opens only from the top;
I is the ice compartment which divides the chest leaving the pantries
E³, E³, on the sides. These pantries are fitted with moveable shelves
"

page_text: resting on brackets, so that they may be taken out and variously
arranged. The walls of the ice well are perforated, the perforations
having the burr inside and pointing downward, and there is an over-
flow pipe. The lid is made air-tight by strips of india-rubber as in
Figure 14. The space or channel behind the india-rubber is filled with
cotton, wool, or other yielding flocculent material, and the india-rubber
is kept in its place inside and outside the safe by a strip or beading of
wood or metal nailed or screwed into the wall of the safe. When the
object is to keep the contents of the safe at or below the freezing point,
the water from the melting ice is mixed with salt, and the brine thus
made dropped in a regulated stream on the ice, the mode of regulating.
being herein-after described in connection with Figure 16, and after.
passing down the hollow walls of the chest is drawn off from time to
time to be again passed over the ice. When great dryness is required
trays on which chloride of calcium is strewn are placed in the interior of
the safe. These several details in the arrangement of chests and safes
are capable of being combined in various ways.
My improvements further consist in the application of soluble salts to
the cooling of chests and safes without ice. The salts which produce
cold by solution are placed in a chamber with a constant drip of water
maintained over them, or a regulated depth of water in the chamber
containing them, so that a long continued and steady degree of
refrigeration is maintained. The drip is regulated by syphon cloths
trimmed or vandyked at their lower edges dipping into a trough
containing the water, or depending from a slit in the bottom of the
trough, or by short lengths of cotton wick or its equivalent passed through
perforations in the bottom of a trough. Figure 16 shows a safe of this
description; J is a compartment for the reception of crystals of chloride.
of calcium or other salt whose solution produces cold; W³ is a tray
containing cold water which is carried over by the syphon cloths .v, v,
and drips on the crystals; 130, 131, arc overflow pipes rising from the
perforations in the hollows of the floor, the solution passing away as the
water does in Figure 14. The ceiling of the pantry is perforated as in
Figure 13. There is a door to the pantry E and a lid to the compart-
ment J secured against the access of air as already described. This
form of cold safe is also used for the preservation of icc, so that it will
not melt in the compartment below, while the freezing mixture is in
slow action.

page_text: My improvements further consist in the application of freezing
mixtures to the cooling of liquids in casks or other vessels, and while
being drawn off for consumption. For this purpose the ice or cold
producing salt is placed in a tube inserted in the bung hole of the cork
or other opening in any vessel, or in a tube surrounding that through
which the liquid is drawn off. The water is supplied to the salt by a
smaller tube which reaches to the bottom of the larger, and the dissolved
salt or melted ice runs off from near the top, as in Figure 17, where J' is
filled with crystals of chloride of calcium, the water being supplied
by, and the solution passing off at 1; or the water is fed in at the top
and the resulting solution drawn off by the tube which reaches to the
bottom.
In Figure 18, the ice or ice and salt is fed in at J³, and the melted ice.
or brine flows off at t³¹. Ice alone, when the temperature is not required
to be much lowered, will suffice. To keep this arrangement in full action:
the ice must be kept piled up above the outflow. With the exceptions
of Figures 2, 3, and 12, the Drawings are on the scale of one inch to the
foot.
Having thus described my Invention and the manner of performing
the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is,-
1st. The solution of salts in water in deep and narrow vessels or in a
series of such vessels without other mechanical agitation than is caused.
by the flow of the water for cooling the exterior of such vessels, with a
view to the production of icc on an opposite surface as well as for the
production of ice directly on the exterior of the vessels, substantially as
described and as illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3.
.
2nd. The production of ice in rectangular moulds by conduction alone
in troughs constructed and arranged as described, and as illustrated in
Figures 4 and 5.
3rd. The formation of ice on the exterior of cylinders, spheres, or
other vessels containing saline substances and water, as described and
as illustrated in Figure 6, with or without the surrounding radiating
screen.
4th. Imparting a plunging and swaying motion to a portable freezer
as described and as illustrated in Figure 7.
5th. The cooling of saline crystals on an endless sloping web of cloth,
the motion of which carrries the crystals upward while a stream of

page_text: cold solution flows down the web, as described and as illustrated in
Figure 8.
6th. The cooling of worts or other liquids by allowing them to flow
over the exterior of corrugated sheets of metal enclosing a sheet of
woven wire up through which a cold saline solution passes, as described
and as illustrated in Figure 9.
7th. The cooler described in connection with Figure 10.
8th and 9th. The cooling of worts by a current of air artificially cooled
by being passed in an opposite direction to a drip of cold solution as
described and as illustrated in Figure 11. The arrangements for cooling
the air and for cooling the worts are claimed separately as well as
conjointly.
10th, 11th, and 12th. The arrangements for evaporating the solution
for re-crystallising the salts and for recovering the heat of the vapour,
substantially as described conjointly and separately.
13th. The construction of ico safes with perforated, corrugated, or
embossed ceilings, with perforated floors and walls to the ice chamber;
and 14th, with doors and lids made air-tight by india-rubber fittings as
described and as illustrated in Figures 13, 14, and 15.
15th. The adaptation of soluble salts to the cooling of safes without
ice, as described and as illustrated in Figure 16.
16th and 17th. The cooling tubes as described and as illustrated
in Figures 17 and 18.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Harrison, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Ninth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
JAMES HARRISON. (L.S.)
Witness,
T. MORGAN,
Secretary,
Inventors' Patent Right Ass". Limited,
21, Cockspur Street,
Charing Cross, S.W.