IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COOLING AND FREEZING LIQUIDS AND PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATIONLECT THE RESULTING CONGEALED PRODUCT
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Patrick Moir Crane and Dennis McGrath, both
of the City of Manchester, Oil Manufacturers, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COOLING AND FREEZING LIQUIDS AND
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Patrick Moir Crane
and Dennis McGrath at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 6th November 1871.
We, PATRICK MOIR CRANE and DENNIS MCGRATH, both of the City of
Manchester, Oil Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of our
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COOLING AND FREEZING
LIQUIDS AND COLLECTING THE RESULTING CONGEALED PRODUCT," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar combination of apparatus for
facilitating the cooling and freezing of liquids, more especially oils, and
for collecting the congealed product.

page_text: The essential feature of this combination consists of a stationary
horizontal or nearly horizontal cylinder fitted in a trough or provided
with a jacket, which trough or jacket contains cold brine or any well-
known freezing mixture, or can be cooled by a current of cold air
caused to pass between the jacket and the cylinder: The said cylinder
contains an archimedean screw, which accurately fills it so as to bear
upon the whole of the interior circumference thereof, and this screw is
rotated in any well-known manner. A feed pipe with a funnel mouth
is fitted on to the upper side of the cylinder near one end thereof, and a
discharge pipe is fitted on to the opposite end of the cylinder, to which
the usual bag is attached for the reception of the congealed oil or other
congealed liquid. The oil or other liquid to be operated upon is supplied
from a tank or cistern fitted with a cock placed over the funnel mouth
so as to admit of the said liquid flowing continuously or otherwise
into the stationary cylinder.
A thin film of the liquid adheres to the interior surface of the
cylinder, and as fast as it is congealed by the action of the freezing
medium outside the cylinder it is removed from the internal surface by
the scraping action of the archimedean screw blades, and by them urged
along to the end of the cylinder and forced through the delivery pipe
into the receiving bag.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Patrick Moir Crane and Dennis McGrath in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th May 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, PATRICK
MOIR CRANE and DENNIS McGrath, both of the City of Manchester,
Oil Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of November, in tho
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
35th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Patrick Moir Crane and Dennis
McGrath, Her special license that we, the said Patrick Moir Crane and

page_text: Dennis McGrath, our exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Patrick Moir Crane and Dennis McGrath, our
executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term thercin expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exer-
cise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COOLING AND FREEZING LIQUIDS AND COLLECT-
ING THE RESULTING CONGEALED PRODUCT," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Patrick Moir Crane and Denis McGrath, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and scals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 we, the said Patrick Moir Crane and Denis
McGrath, do hereby declare the nature of our, said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had
to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say :-
Our said Invention relates to a peculiar combination of apparatus for
facilitating the cooling and freezing of liquids, more especially oils, and
for collecting the congealed product.
The essential feature of this combination consists of a stationary
horizontal or nearly horizontal cylinder fitted in a trough or provided
with a jacket, which trough or jacket contains cold brine or any well-
known freezing mixture, or it may be cooled by a current of cold air
being caused to pass between the jacket and the cylinder. The said
cylinder contains an archimedian screw, which accurately fills it so as
to bear upon the whole of the interior circumference thereof, and this
screw is rotated in any well-known manner. A feed pipe with a funnel
mouth is fitted on to the upper side of the cylinder near one end
thereof, and a discharge pipe is fitted on to the opposite end of the
cylinder, to which the usual bag may be attached, or opposite which any
convenient receptacle may be placed for the reception of the congealed

page_text: oil or other congealed liquid. The oil or other liquid to be operated
upon is supplied from a tank or cistern fitted with a cock placed over
the funnel mouth so as to admit of the said liquid flowing continuously
or otherwise into the stationary cylinder.
A thin film of the liquid adheres to the interior surface of the
cylinder, and as fast as it is congealed by the action of the freezing
medium outside the cylinder it is removed from the internal surface by
the scraping action of the archimedian screw blades, and by them
urged along to the end of the cylinder and forced through the delivery
pipe into the receiving bag or other receptacle.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood, wo
shall now proceed for particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of our Drawings is a longitudinal side elevation of our
improved apparatus for cooling and freezing oils and other liquids;
Figure 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same; Figure 3 is a
ground plan of the same and shewing the screw actuating gear; and
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the stationary cylinder or barrel
and screw.
a, a, is the box or trough containing the freezing mixture or ice.
This box or trough is represented as being made of wood, but may be
made of any other suitable material; or instead of a trough filled with
solid cooling material the working barrel or stationary cylinder b may
be surrounded by a casing of iron or any other suitable substance, with
sufficient space to allow brine or any other cooling liquid to flow
through between the said barrel or cylinder and its casing. The ends of
the cylinder are shewn projecting beyond the trough in Figures 1
and 4. c is the supply cistern containing the oil or other substance
requiring to be cooled, and provided with a branch and valve at d for
regulating the supply; e is the filter for directing the liquid into the
cylinder; is the screw which fills the inner diameter of the cylinder,
within which it rotates; 9, 9, are the driving wheels for rotating the
screw; h is the delivery pipe, which can be arranged so as to raise the
product to any convenient height; is the cistern for receiving the
cooled or congealed liquid; k is the valve for regulating the withdrawal
of the contents of the said cistern.
a

page_text: The cooling power of this apparatus may be increased by casting the
barrel on which the screw is fixed or formed hollow, as shewn in
Figure 2, and filling the inside thereof with freezing mixture or with
that which melts in the trough a, a. This can be raised to the required
level by means of a small pump.
We propose to make the screw f (by preference) of cast iron, turned
outside perfectly true and also bored out inside, say to about half-inch
thick, but any other suitable material or thickness will do. The space
between the body of the screw barrel and the interior of the cylinder
6 should be as small as practicable, say about to of an inch. is
the nozzle for filling the interior of the screw barrel with cooling
mixture. When so employed the said nozzle being closed or stoppered
when at work in order to prevent the escape of the congealed liquid
through it.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-The screw f is set in
motion by means of the gearing 9, the speed of which must be regu-
lated so as best to suit the nature of the work required (thus a quick
speed will produce a greater result in a given time but the produce will
not be so called). Colder results are sometimes more required than at
other times, according to circumstances. The filter e is supplied with
the crude oil or other liquid by means of the cistern c, and the said
oil or other liquid finds its way and is forced along the interior of the
cylinder 6 in a thin film by the blade of the screw f, which revolves in
contact with and fills the interior of the cylinder b. The liquid is
thus effectually cooled, and is delivered at the other end of the cylinder b
by the pipe to any convenient height. Care must be taken in the
case of cooling a watery solution not to render the temperature so
low as to solidify the contents and stop the screw.
Although we have described this process as being principally applicable
to the cooling of mineral carth or petroleum oils in order to obtain the
greatest amount of paraffin scale or wax therefrom, yet we do not
limit ourselves to this use of the Invention, as the same apparatus may
be used for cooling any liquid the temperature of which it may be
desirable to reduce, such as chemical solutions, creams, jellies, and the
like. In the latter case the machine can be made of a size suitable to be
worked by hand.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or

page_text: carried into effect, we would observe in conclusion that what we con-
sider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
combination of an outer trough or jacket containing refrigerating
material, or stationary horizontal or nearly horizontal cylinder placed in
the said trough or jacket, and provided with inlet and outlet pipes and a
revolving screw, the thread or blades of which completely fill the bore
of the said stationary cylinder, the whole being arranged to operate
substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, tho said Patrick Moir Crane, on behalf of
myself and the said Dennis McGrath, have to this our Specifica-
tion set my hand and seal, the Sixth day of May One thousand
cight hundred and seventy-two.