AN ECONOMICAL FOOD AND ICE PRESERVING APPARATUS AND VENTILATOR AND PORTABLE REFRIGERATOR
Year: 1874

page_text: 1
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frederick Coles at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th May
1874.
I, FREDERICK COLES, of No. 13, Red Cross Square, Great Tower Street,
in the City of London, Confectioner, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN ECONOMICAL FOOD AND ICE PRESERVING APPARATUS
AND VENTILATOR AND PORTABLE REFRIGERATOR," to be as follows:-
The apparatus for food and ice preserving consists of a rectangular or
other shaped wooden chest or cabinet with two or more doors divided
into three or more compartments, the outer one of which comprises the
food preserving chamber, which I line with glazed or other tiles or
metal and fit with perforated or other shelves or hooks as occasion may
require.
The second chamber consists of a metal bath which I fill with a
mixture of rough ice and salt or brine, or other known substances or liquids
for creating an intense cold when mixed with ice.
The third chamber comprises the ice preserving chamber, the bottom

page_text: charcoal, or other non-conducting substances, except the front end or
side next the bath which I construct of metal, earthenware, or other
suitable conducting material, but I prefer metal from its not being
liable to fracture from intense cold.
When I use a fourth chamber I make the back as well as the front of
the ice preserving chamber of metal, earthenware, or other suitable
conducting material, and such fourth chamber consists of a bath similar
in all respects to the second chamber, and I fill it in the same manner
with a similar mixture. I prefer using a fourth chamber as the tem-
perature required for the food preserving chamber would not be
sufficiently low to preserve the ice in the third chamber, and by the use
of a fourth chamber I can by increasing the quantity of salt, brine, or
other substances or liquids as aforesaid mixed with the rough ice,
reduce the temperature of the ice preserving chamber, so that not only
the ice is preserved but by the addition of water in small quantitics it
can be increased in bulk and form a partial source of supply for the
baths.
Grooves are cut in the sides of the chest or cabinet, or projections
raised so that the baths slide and fit into the chest or cabinet. These
baths can be made fixed or moveable, and stop cocks can be screwed
into the baths through the chest or cabinet in a suitable position for
drawing off the liquid caused by the action of the salt on the ice.
I prefer the bath being moveable as being more readily cleansed and
supplied, and attach moveable handles to each bath to facilitate their
removal.
For food preserving only I use only two chambers, namely, the food
preserving chamber and a bath. I can use the food preserving chamber
as a wine cooler, and for that purpose I provide a moveable rack for
bottles.
I can by adding an additional or fifth chamber next the last
mentioned chamber or bath, which I prefer making with a domed
shaped top, procure a supply of cold air, which I can utilize at
pleasure in ventilating or conducting a current of cold air into any part
or parts of the house or premises in which such apparatus may be
used by means of pipes or tubes connected with the said domed shaped
top furnished with stop cocks and carried into the place or places to be

page_text: ventilated. I also furnish the last mentioned chamber with a rotating
fan working on air-tight bearings, for the purpose of forcing the cold air
through the pipes or tubes. This fan can be worked by steam or manual
power.
I can also apply this Invention to the ventilation of churches, public,
and other buildings, and mines, which I accomplish by forcing the
air by means of one or more rotating fans through an apparatus
consisting of one or more chambers with intermediate baths or chambers
containing the mixture of rough ice and salt or brine as before
described, the outer casing of which I make air-tight, and so constructed
that the air passes from the chamber, it first enters over the bath, then
through the next chamber and under the succeeding bath, and so on
until the air thus cooled passes into the pipes or tubes for distributing
the air connected with the said apparatus and supplied with stop cocks.
This apparatus can be constructed with or without an ice preserving
chamber.
I can also apply this Invention to the cooling of beer at public houses,
which I accomplish by passing the pipes connecting the beer engine with
the barrels through the cold air or ventilating chamber, before referred
to as the fifth chamber of the first described apparatus, or through a
bath of rough ice and salt or brine as before described.
And lastly, I propose applying this Invention in substitution for ice
for medical and surgical purposes. This I accomplish by means of a
hollow vessel constructed of metal, glass, earthenware, or other suitable
substance (but I prefer metal as less liable to fracture) fitted on the top
with an aperture for supplying the vessel with the mixture of rough ice
and salt or brine as before described in the case of the baths, which I
close by means of a screw or lid made water-tight. This vessel can be
made in any shape for application to any particular part of the person,
and any degree of cold down to twenty degrees below zero and even
lower can be obtained by regulating the respective quantities of ice &
salt or brine.