IMPROVEMENTS IN FREEZING AND REFRIGERATING MACHINES, AND IN. UTILIZING THE HEAT CONTAINED IN COMPRESSED AIR FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Paul Ernst Kaeuffer at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th.
July 1871.
I, PAUL ERNST KAEUFFER, of 14, Foxley Road, Brixton, in the County
of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FREEZING AND REFRIGERATING MACHINES, AND IN.
UTILIZING THE HEAT CONTAINED IN COMPRESSED AIR FOR OTHER PURPOSES," to,
be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is the construction of machinery or.
apparatus for the production of cold air for refrigerating purposes, and
for the manufacture of ice by first compressing atmospheric air, and
afterwards passing it through or in contact with surface or other con-
densers; also to utilize the compressed air in generating a power from
volatile liquids for driving machinery. I provide a cylinder with
ingress and egress valves at each end, and I cause a piston working to
and fro therein by steam or other power to force the air out at each end
alternately into a receiver, which may be provided with a condensing
apparatus for reducing the temperature of it to any degree, the receiver

page_text: being fitted with valves arranged for the purpose. The air in its cold
state then passes to an expansion cylinder in which a heavy weight or
piston is fitted, and which has to be lifted by it to a height corresponding
to the pressure derived from the compression piston. If the cold air
is to be used for refrigerating purposes it can be withdrawn from the
expansion cylinder through pipes, and led into any apparatus in which
the material or substance to be cooled or frozen is placed, the pressure
at which it issues being regulating by the size of the openings and
the desent of the weight. If ice has to be formed or produced I pass the
cold air into a vessel containing trays or troughs in which water or
other body to be frozen is placed. I prefer that the troughs should be
suspended in tiers, and that the frame which supports them should have
a rotating motion given to it by crank handle and pinions or otherwise,
so that the troughs can be brought near a doorway or opening for the
purpose of removing them, and for replacing others which have not
been acted upon, the vessel having shut-off valves to prevent the escape
of the air when the doors are open.
I propose that the passage of air to and from the expansion cylinder
should be intermittent, and that the opening and closing of the valves
should be governed by tappets which are actuated by the cross heads of
the piston rod, and that the weight which is connected with it by chains
guided by pullics should be moved a distance corresponding with the
difference in the sizes of the cylinder and the expansion chamber.
The air in a compressed state can be brought into contact with a
vessel containing volatile liquid, or a gascous body which ignites or
becomes heated thereby, and increases in energy, this power can then be
directed into a cylinder of any prime mover. The air employed for this
purpose can afterwards be cooled down by water or otherwise, and again
forced into the expansion chamber to be utilized for refrigerating or
freezing purposes.