IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR USE IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTERS DURING Transit or STORAGE
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Evatt Acklom, of No. 43, Montpelier Terrace,
Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucester, late Captain, H. M. 16th Regiment
of Foot, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR USE IN
PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTERS DURING Transit or STORAGE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Evatt Acklom at the
Office of the Cominissioners of Patents on the 24th March 1877.
"
GEORGE EVATT ACKLOM, of No. 43, Montpelier Terrace, Cheltenham, in the
County of Gloucester, late Captain, H.M. 16th Regiment of Foot. IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR USE IN PRESERVING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MATTERS DURING
TRANSIT OR STORAGE."
The object of the Invention is to economize the use of the refrigerating means.
For this purpose atmospheric air is caused to pass through felt or other suitable
open porous material, kept moistened with cold water or other suitable fluid, also
through a double layer of dry felt, or between the particles of ice contained in an ice
chamber. The relative positions of the felt and ice may be varied. The air thus
cooled is then conducted by suitable passages or pipes perforated for the more full
distribution of the air into the upper or other suitable part of a chamber containing
the matters to be preserved. From this chamber the air after circulation therein is
drawn off at or near the lower part thereof, and is conducted into a chamber or
jacket surrounding the chambers containing the matters to be preserved for the
purpose of more completely insulating that chamber and preserving its cooled con-
dition. The outer surface of this outer chamber or jacket is kept cool by a coating
of felt or flannel, or other suitable absorbent matter or material, which is kept
saturated with the water formed from the ice chamber.
When required the chamber may be provided with a second jacket by constructing
a third wall or partition, which may be of wood or other suitable material, at a
proper distance, and the cold air from the inner jacket may be passed into the outer
jacket. Any heat therefore that reaches the chamber must pass the outer jacket,
Dainn l

page_text: the layers of felt or other suitable material kept wet with the water from the
melting ice, and then through the inner jacket; in this way the quantity of ice
or other refrigerating material will be reduced to a minimum. By these means
more perfect insulation of the chamber containing the matters to be preserved is
secured.

page_text: the perforated ceiling a³. After circulation in the chamber a, the air supplied
thereto is drawn off therefrom by a pipe e¹ in connection with a suitable pump or
exhausting means through the floor a³ formed of openwork. This air is thence
conducted into the chamber c, d, surrounding the chamber a by means of a pipe e²,
and this outer jacket is kept cool by a coating of felt, flannel, or other suitable
absorbent matter or material, indicated by the dotted line w. This felt or other
suitable material is held in position by perforated openwork v or otherwise, and it is
in most cases also kept saturated with cold water or other suitable material, which
is supplied in numerous jets from pipes u, which I prefer to be fed from the water
formed by condensation from the ice chamber b, or it may be otherwise cooled.
Figure 2 shows a modification of the above adapted to domestic purposes, and the
parts thereof are marked with corrresponding letters of reference.
Figure 3 shows a longitudinal section of another arrangement of apparatus,
and Figure 4, a portion of a transverse section, and Figure 5, an external view
thereof.
.
In each of these Figures the same letters are employed to indicate corresponding
parts.
a represents the chamber in which is to be placed the animal or vegetable matters
to be preserved, and a¹ the door or cover for entrance thereto. The ice or other
matters used as the refrigerating ineans is placed in the chamber b, where to facilitate
the more equal distribution of it there are provided perforated shelves b¹, on which
blocks of ice may rest, whilst the perforations admit of the free passage downwards,
and thence out by the pipe b³, of any water from the ice; b is a door from the
chamber a to the ice chamber b; c and d are chambers or jackets surrounding both
the chambers a and b for the purpose of receiving cold air to aid in keeping down
the temperature of the compartments a and b. Both the floor a² and the ceiling a³
of the chamber a are perforated with numerous siınall holes. The object of the per-
forations in the floor a² is that the air from the chamber a may freely circulate in
the chamber at below, to be thence withdrawn at intervals when required by any
suitable pumping apparatus c.
This pumping apparatus may be worked by a steam engine or other suitable
power, or by a winch handle applied to the wheel f, and the air withdrawn by the
apparatus e through the pipe c¹ from the chamber a will be forced by the pipe e
into the chamber c, and thence to the chamber d, and from the chamber d by an
opening g' into the pipe g, down which it will be conducted to the lower cross or
inverted T piece thereof, which is perforated with numerous small holes through
which the air is allowed to escape and to rise up in the chamber b, and in doing so
it becomes cooled by the action of the ice thereon as it rises up between the blocks or
lumps of ice. The air thus cooled by the ice in the chamber b is thence conducted
by the longitudinal and transverse perforated pipes h and h', and i and i¹, into the
chamber a formed over the perforated ceiling a³ of the chamber a to replenish the
chamber a. The bell-shaped mouths h², 2, and 3, of the pipos h and j may be
covered with felt, or other filtering material. j is a passage with a bell-mouth
opening from the external air to the upper part of the pipe g, by which when
required a fresh supply of external air may be drawn in to fill the respective
chambers. This passage j is opened or closed by means of the tap or valve j', and
when open the passage into the pipe g from the jackets is closed by a tap or valve g³.
By these means the air employed is caused to performn a double duty, that is to say,
after having been for a time utilized in the chamber a, it is caused to circulate
through the surrounding chambers or jackets to exclude access of heat from without
to the chamber a, and when desired fresh atmospheric air may be drawn in by the
valve j¹ to replace that which has been utilized; k is an escape valve for the escape
of excess of air from the chambers c and d, and by avoiding the necessity for the
continuous passage of air through ice and reducing such passage to intervals of
time, say, for two out of each twonty-four hours, economy of the ice will result.
Having now described my Invention, I would have it understood that what I
claim as means or apparatus constructed substantially as described, whereby the

page_text: cold air caused to pass through ice or other refrigerating means into the chamber a
is passed therefrom for circulation through the surrounding chamber or jacket c, or
chambers or jackets c and d, thereby excluding heat from such chamber a, and
whereby facility is afforded for the occasional or intermittent intake of fresh air by
the passage j, and expulsion or escape of foul air by the valve with economy of the
ice or other refrigerating means employed.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Evatt Acklom, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-s
-seven.
Witness,
ALFRED G. BROOKES,
62, Chancery Lane,
London.
G. E. ACKLOM. (L.S.)