IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATING FOR THE MANUFACTURE CF ICE AND CHIP PURPOSES.
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Joseph West, of No. 4, King Edward
Street, Southwark, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATING FOR THE MANUFACTURE
CF ICE AND CHIP PURPOSES.'
"3
Scaled the 19th July 1870, and dated the 29th January 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Joseph West at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th January 1870.
I, HENRY JOSEPH WEST, of No. 4, King Edward Street, Southwark, in
the County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATING FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF
ICE AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention is designed for the more economical production and
application of cold resulting from the evaporation of volatile liquids in
vacuo, and has reference to an improved method according to which the
cooling properties of the vapour are more perfectly utilized than has
heretofore been usual. For these purposes a vacuum is produced by thẻ

page_text: ordinary means within a serpentine or other tube or tubes of suitable
section communicating with a separate vessel containing the ether or
other volatile liquid, and thereupon cold vapour ascending from the
volatile liquid passes thro' the tube or tubes, which is or are surrounded
by the uncongealable or other liquid (or it may be air) to be refrigerated;
this liquid is caused to circulate outside the tube or tubes in a contrary
direction to the vapour within; and in order to fully utilize the cold
produced the body of liquid (or air) to be refrigerated is divided or
traversed as much as possible by the tube or tubes, or the liquid to be
cooled may be subjected to the cooling surface of the tube or tubes in
thin streams or spray. The arrangement of the tube or tubes and of
the vessels for containing the volatile liquid and the uncongealable or
other liquid (or air) to be cooled may obviously be modified in various.
ways to suit the requirements of particular applications. The vapour
from the tube or tubes may be condensed and returned to the vessel in:
the ordinary manner to be used over again.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Joseph West in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th July 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
JOSEPH WEST, of No. 4, King Edward Street, Southwark, in the County
of Surrey, Engineer, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by. Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Joseph West, Her special
licence that I, the said Henry Joseph West, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Joseph West,
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 vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
** IMPROVEXENTS IN REFRIGERATING FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ICE AND OTHER

page_text: PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry
Joseph West, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Joseph West, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention is designed for the more economical production and
application of cold resulting from the evaporation of volatile liquids in
vacuo, and has reference to an improved method according to which the
cooling properties of the vapour are more perfectly utilised than has
heretofore been usual. For these purposes a vacuum is produced by the
ordinary means within a serpentine or other tube or tubes, either flat or
round, or of other suitable section, communicating with a separate vessel
containing the ether or other volatile liquid, and thereupon cold vapour
ascending from the volatile liquid passes through the tube or tubes, which
is or are surrounded by the uncongealable or other liquid (or it may be
air) to be refrigerated. This liquid is caused to circulate outside the
tube or tubes in a contrary direction to the vapour within; and in order
to fully utilise the cold produced the body of liquid or air to be
refrigerated is divided or traversed as much as possible by the tube or
tubes; or the liquid to be cooled may be subjected to the cooling surface
of the tube or tubes in thin streams or spray. The arrangement of the
tube or tubes and of the vessels for containing the volatile liquid, and
the uncongealable or other liquid (or air) to be cooled, may obviously
be modified in various ways to suit the requirements of particular
applications. The vapour from the tube or tubes may be condensed and
returned to the vessel in the ordinary manner to be used over again.
According to the method hitherto usually adopted for producing cold
by the evaporation of volatile liquids in vacuo the volatile liquid has
been contained within a cylinder of large diameter closed at its ends, and
having a number of vertical or horizontal tubes passing through its entire
length, and the liquid to be cooled has been caused to circulate through
the said tubes, the cold being produced by vapour caused to rise around

page_text: the tubes from the volatile liquid by the action of an air pump. But
the method here referred to is open to the serious practical objection that
the vapour escapes too readily, and is not kept in contact with the outer
surfaces of the tubes sufficiently long to utilise its powers of absorbing
caloric from the liquid circulating within the tubes. Moreover in the t
vertical arrangement those portions of the vapour which are not directly
in contact with the outer surfaces of the tubes pass away to the air
pump almost if not entirely unutilised, so that in practice I have
frequently found the suction pipe of the air pump outside of the
refrigerating vessel at a low temperature or covered with frost. Now I ]
have found by experiments that according to my Invention the vapour
after passing along within the tube or tubes in a contrary direction to
the liquid surrounding the same has entered the suction pipe of the air
pump quite warm, instead of entering at a temperature near or below
freezing point and leaving the suction pipe coated with frost. Moreover
by my Invention I have cooled a given quantity of water to a fixed low
temperature in about one-third of the time that it has taken to cool the
same quantity of water to the same extent by the ordinary method.
The manner of carrying my said Invention into effect will be fully
understood from the following description thereof, reference being had
to the accompanying Drawings, in which the same letters of reference
are used to denote corresponding parts in all the views.
In applying my Invention to purposes in which a partial or total
solidification of bodies is required, as, for instance, when extracting
paraffin from oils, solidifying tallow, or making ice, I prefer the arrange-
ment shewn in Figs. 1 and 2, the former being a side elevation and the
latter an end view.
The scrpentine tubes are contained within a tank or casing 6. They
communicate at one end with the receptacle c containing the ether or
other volatile liquid, and at their other ends are connected with the air
pump d, by whose action a vaenum is created within the tubes, into
which cold vapour immediately rises from the receptacle c, and travels
in the direction of the pump d, as indicated by the black arrows. From
the pump the vapour is conducted by the pipe a¹ to the condenser to be
condensed and used over again. The fluid to be cooled enters the
casing by the pipe band falls over and circulates around the serpentine
tubes a in the direction shown by the red arrows, finally leaving the tank
or casing by the pipe 6º. The relative sizes of the tubes a and tank or

page_text: casing bare such as only just to leave sufficient room between them for
the passage of a thin stream of the liquid or air to be cooled. The sides
of the tank or casing are arranged so that they may be removed for the
purpose of cleaning the tubes. The receptacle c should be coated with a
non-conducting material, and may be made of any convenient size and
shape; or the lower portions of the serpentine tubes may be made of
larger diameter so as to serve the same purpose, but I do not recommend
this arrangement, because it involves a loss of cooling surface, and is not
so simple as the arrangement I have illustrated.
In carrying out my Invention in the manner just described when a
partial or total solidification of the substances contained in the tank or
casing is to be effected, I close or dispenso with the outlet pipe 62, and
remove the whole or portions of the sides of the tank or casing on
completing the operation of freezing its contents.
Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section (through the line A, B, of
Fig. 4) shewing another method of carrying out my Invention; Fig. 4,
a plan section thereof; and Fig. 5, a section through the lines C, D,
of Figs. 3 and 4.
The arrangement here illustrated is more especially adapted for
reducing the temperature of fluids, such as water, brewers' worts, or air,
the body to be acted upon travelling in a directly opposite course to that
of the cooling vapour within the serpentino tubes at a speed which is
regulated according to the temperature required. The serpentine tubes a
in this case are somewhat flattened in cross section, and are arranged
within a series of outer tubes b, within which the fluid to be cooled
circulates. These tubes b are made in sections connected at their ends
by doors or covers 6', provided with divisions b* for directing the course
of the fluid to be acted upon from one tube to another. The tubes b
completely enclose the serpentine vapour tubes a, and when arranged in
series, as shewn, form continuous tubes, having one common inlet ở¹ and
one outlet. The serpentine tubes a may be readily taken out for
cleaning or repairs by removing the doors or covers and separating
the sections. Any number of sections may be attached together according
to the capacity of refrigerator required. The tubes a should be made of
copper or other good heat conducting material. The tank or casing b
(Figs. 1 and 2) and the tubes 6 last described may be made of copper,
cast iron, or other material, and should be coated with some good
non-conductor.

page_text: My Invention may be advantageously applied to most of the
refrigerators or attemperators ordinarily used by brewers, distillers, and
others; and in the first two cases will entirely save the enormous
quantities of water which have to be used in cooling worts by the
ordinary process.
- E
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that
what I consider to be new and desire to have secured to me by the
hercin-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the method of refrigerating
by the evaporation of volatile liquids in vacuo within a serpentine or 1
other tube or tubes in contact with whose exterior the fluid to be cooled
is caused to circulate in a contrary direction to the vapour, substantially
as described for the purposes specified.
In witness whercof, I, the said Henry Joseph West, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of July, in the year 1
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.