IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPLICABLE TO REFRIGERATORS AND REFRIGERATING APPARATUS
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by David M'Gregor Foster at tho
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with lus Petition, on the
29th July 1875.
I, DAVID M'GREGOR FOSTER, of the City of Brooklyn, State of New
York, United States of America, but at present of 15, Water Street,
Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of
thic said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPLICABLE TO REFRIGERATORS
AND REFRIGERATING APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to provide a refrigerator and a rc-
frigerating process or method, by the use of which a condition of
atmosphere can be readily produced and retained which will hinder the
decomposition of, and preserve in a fresh and wholesome condition
during a comparatively long period of time, articles of food, both animal
and vegetable, such as meats, fruits, fish, vegetables, and like articles,
thic cooling and drying of the air, and its circulation within the rooms
or chambers to be refrigerated, being accomplished by mechanical
agencies under absolute controul.

page_text: My Invention is applicable not only to refrigerators proper, but to
railway refrigerating carriages, or cars so called, for the complete pre-
servation of the said perishable articles of food during their trans-
nortation.

page_text: exhauster, or its equivalent, which when in motion exhausts the atmo-
spheric air from the air receiving ice tank, and forces it through the air
disbursing ice tank, and broadcast into the refrigerator, storehouse, room,
or refrigerating car Below or in proximity to the ice tank or tanks
there is arranged a series of pipes, channels, apertures, or their equi-
valent, by which atmospheric air enters below or in proximity to the ice
contained in the air receiving ice tank. The air in its passage through
such pipes or their equivalent is both cooled and dried by surface
contact. The air issues from these pipes or their equivalent broadcast,
and in close proximity to the icc, and is drawn up through the air
receiving icc tank by the exhaust fan or its equivalent, and forced into
the air disbursing ice tank. The vacuum thereby constantly created in
the air receiving ice tank draws the air from the admission pipes or
their equivalents through the air receiving ice tank, and it is discharged
by the fan through the air disbursing ice tank.
The refrigerator, store house, room, or refrigerating car consists of a
double or encased chamber of the usual description, but it is provided
with a perforated floor with a passage way beneath. The perforated
floor may be of metal or timber, with holes duly spaced and distributed
thercon. The passage way beneath the perforated floor has direct
communication with the air disbursing ice tank, which ice tank may be
also slightly perforated for the discharge of air, such perforations,
however, being kept near the bottom of said ice tank. The ice tanks
are also provided with suitable syphons to carry away drippings and
drain the ice tanks.
The refrigerator, store house, room, or refrigerating car is fitted at a
point furthest from the air disbursing ice tank, with a series of discharge
pipes or their equivalents which lead from the interior of the refrige-
rating chamber and discharge outside the refrigerator. These pipes or
their equivalents are fitted with suitable valves by which the dis-
charge from the refrigerating chamber can be regulated or altogether
stopped.
The refrigerator, store house, or room constructed as just described is
particularly applicable to refrigerating and drying warm damp sub-
stances, and extracting the gases therefrom, and in chilling and drying
the carcases of hogs, cattle, or sheep, which give off moisture and gases

page_text: and the superiority of this portion of my Invention over refrigerators as
at present constructed consists in discharging from the refrigerator, store
house, or room the air that has absorbed such moisture and become
heated and damp instead of re-circulating it through the ice tanks.
The second portion of my Invention, being for the continuous
circulation of the contained air in the refrigerator, store house, room, or
refrigerating car, is a further construction and carrying out of the
apparatus just described. The refrigerator chamber is provided with a
perforated ceiling of similar construction to the perforated floor herein-
before described. A passage way leads from the perforated ceiling and
continues down behind the air receiving ice tank and opens out at a
point in close proximity to the supply or admission--pipes or their
equivalents herein-before described. This passage way is provided with
a valve or valves, damper or dampers, so that when it is required to
circulate the air from the outside of the refrigerating chamber through
the ice tanks, broadcast through the refrigerating chamber, and then
discharge outside, this can be done by closing the valves or dampers.
When, however, it is required to circulate the air contained in the
refrigerating chamber continuously through the ice tanks the valves or
dampers are open and the valve of the discharge pipes from the
refigerating chamber closed. The air then circulates continuously
through the icc tanks, through the perforated floor, and broadcast
through the refrigerating chamber, then through the perforated ceiling
and through the passage way back to the air receiving ice tank, and so
on continuously.
The third portion of my Invention, being for regulating and con-
trolling the amount of air in the refrigerator, store house, room, or
refrigerating car, consists in so proportioning the parts herem-before
described constituting the apparatus so that there is always a pressuro
in excess of ordinary atmospheric pressure inside the refrigerating
chamber. The apparatus is also automatic in its working or supply of
fresh air to make up for leakage or escape caused by opening the door
of the refrigerating chamber. The arrangement is such that the
admission pipes and circulating passages controul cach other, namely,
when the pressure or amount of atmospheric air in the refrigerating
chamber is at the required balance the circulation is continuous, but
when the pressure is reduced the balance is automatically regained by a

page_text: supply of fresh air through the admission pipes to the air receiving icc
tank.
The fourth portion of my Invention, which relates to the pressure,
consists in constructing the apparatus so that there is always a superior
pressure in the refrigerating chamber which tends to drive out through
the discharge pipes all heated lighter or damp air in the said chamber.]