Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Feb., 1888
Specification Accepted, 16th Mar., 1888
I JOHN POST LAWRENCE of 34 Worship Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communication
from abroad by Clement Biddle of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of
America Merchant) and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
=
This invention relates to refrigerating apparatus for the preservation of food, for
the cooling of liquids and for similar purposes.
Refrigerating apparatus, the air within which is rendered cold by means of ice and
without being changed, should be so arranged that the confined air circulates
automatically and at the same time comes into contact with a sufficiently large surface
to condense and attract all the moisture; and that the water of condensation, which
also carries the impurities should escape with the drip water from the ice.
To accomplish these ends I arrange, in a closed refrigerating chamber, an air
conduit in combination with an ice containing chamber, open above and below, for
giving a determined direction to the current of cold air.
As the air in the ice chamber is cooled its specific gravity is increased relatively to
that of the air in the other parts of the apparatus, whereby such cooled air is caused to
descend through the conduit and enter the lower part of the refrigerating or
preserving chamber. At the same time air from the upper part of the refrigerating
chamber enters the ice chamber. As the cooling of the air in the latter chamber is
continuous it follows that a constant current of cold air will descend through the
conduit and enter the refrigerating chamber.
Upon the inner vertical walls of the circulating conduit are arranged metallic
troughs, preferably of V-shape in transverse section and one above the other; the said
troughs being inclined alternately in contrary directions. These troughs serve to
receive and retard the flow of the drip water from the ice and they discharge into a
drip pan with a water seal on the floor of the refrigerating chamber. The troughs are
made cold by the flowing drip water, and, as the air impinges directly upon their
surfaces in its descent through the conduit, they serve to condense the moisture in the
D

page_text: the ice.
To enable my invention to be clearly understood I will describe how it may be
advantageously carried into practice by reference to the accompanying drawings in
which
Figure 1 is a vertical section of a refrigerator constructed according to my
invention and
Figures 2 and 3 are a side elevation and plan respectively of a detail.
Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 1 illustrating a modification of my invention
and
1
Figures 5, 6, 7 and 8 are views of details.
a is the wall or casing of the refrigerator and b, b are the refrigerating chambers or
food compartments, access to which is obtained through the doors c, c.
d is the ice box, e is the conduit or flue down which the cold air flows from the ice
chamber and ffaro the alternately inclined metallic troughs, through which the drip
water runs. The sides of the conduit to which the troughs are secured are preferably
hinged to afford free access thereto. 9 is a board placed directly over the conduit e to
prevent any water from the ice from falling down into the drip pan h and splashing
the water out into the refrigerator, and i is a rack to hold the ice at a proper distance
from the bottom of the ice box, so as to allow the air as it cools to fall freely from the
ice and pass down the conduit."
jis a trap to form a water-seal below the conduit and prevent the escape of the cold
air from the refrigerator, a pipe k connected with the said trap serving for the
discharge of the surplus water.
The arrows in figure 1 show the direction of the current caused by the cooling of the
air in contact with the ice, the air as it leaves the ice box passing down through the
conduit and the openings at the bottom thereof into the food compartment, the air
as it becomes slightly warmer entering the top of the ice box at m to be again cooled.
All the air in the refrigerating or food compartments is thus constantly moving
upwards so that several kinds of food can be kept in the lower compartment without
the flavour of one being imparted to the other as any impurities which the air may
contain when it enters the ice box are condensed and deposited during its downward
passage through the conduit and before it again enters the refrigerating chambers.
The apparatus shewn in Figure 4 is constructed in the same manner as that shewn
in Figure 1 except that it is provided with only one refrigerating chamber.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A refrigerator having at its upper part an ice chamber which communicates
with the lower part of the refrigerator by means of a conduit, so that as the air in the
said ice chamber is cooled it falls through the said conduit, air at the same time
entering the ice chamber at or near its upper side, substantially in the manner and
for the purpose, specified.
2. In a refrigerator, the series of metallic troughs on the inner wall of the conduit
for utilizing the cold of the drip water, in combination with an ice-box open at its
top and bottom, and an air-tight preserving chamber, arranged substantially as
described for the purpose specified.
3. The combination with an ice-box open at its top and at its bottom and the
air-tight preserving chamber, of a vertical air circulating conduit open at its top and
at its bottom and having metal troughs on its inner wall or walls, substantially as
described for the purpose specified.
4. The combination with an ice box open at its top and at its bottom and the air-tight
preserving chamber, of a vertical air circulating conduit open at its top and at its
bottom and having interior troughs arranged as described, and the seal drip pan as
herein described for the purpose specified.
5. The combination with an ice-box, and an air-tight preserving chamber, of a

page_text: vertical air circulating conduit formed by one or more solid hinge sides, prov i
metallic troughs arranged on the inner wall thereof, substantially as described for the
purpose specified.
6. In a closed refrigerating chamber, an ice box open at the top and bottom, in
combination with metallic troughs carried by a door hinged vertically to the wall of
the said chamber so as to be open within the latter, substantially as described for the
purpose specified.
7. The combination in a closed refrigerating chamber of an ice box open at the top
and at the bottom, and a vertical conduit lined with projecting troughs extending
from its upper end to its lower end and opening into the said chamber, substantially
as described for the purpose specified.