MENTS IN REFRIGERATING AND PRODUCING ICE, AND IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1857

page_text: application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles William Siemens, at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th July 1857.
I, CHARLES WILLIAM SIEMENS, of John Street, Adelphi, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the, nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN REFRIGERATING AND PRODUCING ICE, AND IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY
FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be as follows;:—
The Invention relates to freezing and refrigerating by the expansion of air
or elastic fluids. The air is first compressed by a cylinder or pump of any
suitable construction, by which its temperature is raised, and it is cooled
while in the compressed state, and it is then allowed to expand in a cylinder
or engine of any suitable construction by which its temperature is lowered.
The air thus cooled is brought in contact with the articles to be cooled or
frozen, and, is then conducted through an interchanger or apparatus by which
it is made to cool the compressed air, which enters the interchanger in the
opposite direction. The pump for compressing the air is worked by a steam
engine or other power, and the engine in which the air expands is made to
assist in working the pump. I prefer to connect, the steam engine and the
air engine and the pump to the same rod or moving part, so as to transmit
the power directly from one to the other. If the atmosphere be at 70° Fah-
renheit, and the air be heated 50° by the compression, and be then cooled to
70°, and allowed to expand, its temperature will be lowered to about 20°,
more or less. This cold air will then enter the interchanger and cool the

page_text: next portion of compressed air, say to 30°, and will itself be heated say to
about 110°, and will pass away into the atmosphere. The compressed air at
30° being allowed to expand, will be cooled to about 20° below zero, and in
passing through the interchanger will cool the next portion of compressed air,
say to 10° below zero. This on expanding will be reduced to about 60° below
zero, and so on. These temperatures are mentioned not as the absolute tem-
peratures, but to shew that the principle of the Invention is adapted to
produce an accumulated effect or an indefinite reduction of temperature.
I construct machinery or apparatus for carrying out the Invention by
immersing the engine in brine or a solution of chloride of calcium or other
suitable fluid which will not congeal at the temperature which it is required
to produce. I cause the air, after expanding in the engine, to pass into
a series of tubes immersed in the brine or other fluid. These tubes are
perforated on their under sides, so that the air passes through the brine
in a multitude of streams or bubbles and thus cools the brine; or the air is
admitted into a casing surrounding the brine vessel, and allowed to pass
through perforations in the sides. The vessel which contains the brine is
covered, and the cold air is conveyed from it through the interchanger, which
consists of a series of tubes inclosed in a case. The cold air is conveyed
through the tubes, while the compressed air passes in the contrary direction
through the case or vice versa. The compressed air thus enters warm and
passes out cold, while the expanded air enters cold and passes out warm.
The water or other liquids or articles to be cooled or frozen, are immersed
in the aforesaid brine or other fluid; thus the heat which is continually
abstracted from the articles to be cooled or frozen, is carried off by the heated
air. This current of heated air may be allowed to escape into the atmosphere,
or it may be employed for any purpose for which such a current of heated air
may be required. The construction of the interchanger may be varied, or two
or more regenerators or respirators filled with wire gauze or metallic plates,
or other suitable materials may be employed alternately for the compressed
and expanded air. The water or other liquid to be cooled or frozen may
also be conducted through tubes in the interchanger, or exposed to the contact
of the cold air, so as to cool it down before it enters the vessels in which it is
to be frozen. When it is required to supply cold air to a cellar or chamber
of any sort, the cold expanded air is conducted into such chamber, and on
leaving the chamber it passes through the interchanger as before.