Year: 1898

page_text: I, WILLIAM NELSON, of Tomoana, in the Provincial District of Hawke's Bay,
in the Colony of New Zealand, Sheep Farmer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
My invention consists of the improved apparatus hereinafter described for
refrigerating or cooling air in a simple economical and efficient manner.
All the forms of air-cooling or refrigerating apparatus which have to my
knowledge been constructed heretofore have had various disadvantages such as
imperfect contact of the air to be cooled with the refrigerating surfaces the large
amount of space occupied the difficulty of even distribution of the refrigerating
medium the excessive weight and the large cost of material and construction and
in many cases difficulties in the way of application. Now the object of my
invention is to obviate these disadvantages.
In order to refrigerate the air I propose to use either water or brine or other
liquid suitable for the purpose. In the case of using water it may be used either
direct from a natural source (e.g. an artesian well where it is sufficiently cold) or
in the case of brine or water not naturally sufficiently cold or other suitable liquid
such brine water or other suitable liquid may be cooled by any of the well-known
methods at present in use. Now in order to conveniently refrigerate the air an
intermediate agent must be introduced and it is to this intermediate agent that
my invention relates.
My improved apparatus consists of a stack of any finely subdivided metal such
as perforated plates fine wire netting thin bars or rods or metal of such other
forms as will when placed in partial contact or in juxta-position form a stack
having therein a multitude of fine interstices through which water brine or other
suitable liquid may be caused to trickle so that the metal thus cooled shall absorb
to the greatest possible extent the heat contained in the air which is being forced
or drawn through the said interstices. I prefer to use fine galvanised iron wire
netting. This stack is built in an air-trunk of convenient dimensions and
extends completely across the sectional area of such trunk and the bottom of the
said stack rests on the bottom of a trough which extends across the said trunk
and contains the cold brine or water or other suitable refrigerating liquid to be
used which brine or water or other liquid is pumped from the said trough into a
Din 1

page_text: dish or tray which is provided with a perforated bottom and is placed upon or
affixed above the top of the stack so that the cold or artificially cooled water or
the cooled brine or other suitable liquid shall be evenly distributed over the
stack by the said perforated bottom and shall percolate or trickle down through
the said stack and thence fall into the aforesaid trough and after being again
cooled shall be again pumped up into the said perforated dish or tray and that thus
the cycle of the said water brine or other liquid shall be completed. The air to be
cooled or refrigerated is drawn or forced along the said air-trunk and through
the said stack coming into contact during its passage with the surfaces of the
wire netting or of the bars or other forms of finely divided metal of which the
said stack is composed which metal is continuously cooled by the cold liquid
percolating as aforesaid through the said stack.
The air after passing through the said stack is delivered into any room required
to be chilled or refrigerated which in its turn is connected with the said air-
trunk in such a manner that the air being thus forced or drawn round and round
completes the cycle.
My improved apparatus is especially applicable to the freezing or refrigerating
or cooling of meat and other articles of food and to the cooling of butter factories
but is also applicable to any other purposes or processes for or in which cold
air is required.
Π
1
0
100
I, WILLIAM NELSON, of Tomoana, in the Provincial District of Hawke's Bay,
in the Colony of New Zealand, Sheep Farmer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:―
My invention consists of the improved means or apparatus herein-after described
for refrigerating or cooling air in a simple economical and efficient manner.
All the forms of air-cooling or refrigerating apparatus which have to my
knowledge been constructed heretofore have had various disadvantages such as
imperfect contact of the air to be cooled with the refrigerating surfaces the large
amount of space occupied the difficulty of even distribution of the refrigerating
medium the excessive weight and the large cost of material and construction and
in many cases difficulties in the way of application. Now the object of my
invention is to obviate these disadvantages.
In order to refrigerate the air I propose to use either water or brine or other
liquid suitable for the purpose. In the case of using water it may be used either
direct from a natural source e.g. an artesian well (where it is sufficiently cold) or
in the case of brine or water or other suitable liquid such brine water or other
suitable liquid may be cooled by any of the well-known processes at present in
use. Now in order to conveniently refrigerate the air an intermediate agent must
be introduced and it is to this intermediate agent that my invention relates.
My improved apparatus consists of a stack of any finely sub-divided metal such
as perforated plates fine wire netting thin bars or rods or metal of such other
forms as will when placed in partial contact or in juxta-position form a stack
having therein a multitude of fine interstices through which water brine or other
suitable liquid may be caused to trickle so that the metal thus cooled shall absorb
to the greatest possible extent the heat contained in the air which is being forced

page_text: 1
or drawn through the said interstices. I prefer to use fine galvanised iron wire
netting. This stack is built in an air-trunk or chamber of convenient dimensions
and extends completely across the sectional area of such trunk or chamber and
the bottom of the said stack rests upon bearers above a trough which extends
across the said trunk or chamber and contains the cold brine or water or other
suitable refrigerating liquid to be used. If artificially cooled brine water or other
liquid be used such brine water or other liquid is drawn from the said trough
through a cooler and pumped therefrom into a dish or tray which is provided with
a perforated bottom and is placed upon or fixed above the top of the stack so that
the cold or artificially cooled water or the cooled brine or other suitable liquid
shall be evenly distributed over the stack by the said perforated bottom and shall
percolate or trickle down through the said stack and thence fall into the aforesaid
trough and after being again cooled shall be again pumped up into the said per-
forated dish or tray and that thus the cycle of the said water brine or other liquid
shall be completed.
If a plentiful supply of water which is in its natural state sufficiently cold be
obtainable such cold water may be delivered direct into the aforesaid disli or tray
and after passing through the stack into the aforesaid trough may be run there-
from as waste water.
The air to be cooled or refrigerated is drawn or forced through the said air-
trunk or chamber and through the said stack coming into contact during its
passage with the surfaces of the wire netting or of the bars or other forms of
finely divided metal of which the said stack is composed which metal is con-
tinuously cooled by the cold liquid percolating as aforesaid through the said
stack.
The air after passing through the said stack is delivered into any room which is
required to be chilled or refrigerated which in its turn is connected with the said air
trunk in such a manner that the air being thus forced or drawn round and round
completes the cycle.
My improved apparatus is especially applicable to the freezing or refrigerating
or cooling of meat and other articles of food and to the cooling of butter factories
but is also applicable to any other purposes or processes for or in which cold
air is required.
Having thus described the nature of my invention I will proceed to describe
the manner in which the same is to be performed reference being had to the
accompanying drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section (taken on the line A A Figure 2) of
my improved apparatus and Figure 2 is a transverse vertical section of the said
apparatus the said section being taken on the line B B Figure 1. The same letters
of reference indicates the same parts in both figures.
a is the stack which consists of galvanised iron wire netting and which is sup-
ported by bearers a¹ a¹. The said stack is built between side and end plates cc
d is the trough herein-before referred to
and is open at its top bottom and ends.
which is supported by bearers 2 and is the pipe leading from the said trough
to the brine cooler (where brine is used) e is the tray herein-before referred to
which is supported by bearers e3e3. e¹ is the perforated bottom thereof. is the
pipe leading from the centrifugal pump f to the said tray. The suction-pipe fl
communicates with the brine-cooler. is the air-trunk or chamber in which
the stack a is built which air-trunk or chamber is built with double walls g' g¹
the space between which is filled with pumice or other suitable insulating sub-
stance. is the inlet air-trunk through which the air to be cooled passes from
the refrigerating chamber into the air-trunk or chamber and g³ is the outlet
air-trunk through which the cold air passes from the trunk or chamber g to the
refrigerating chamber or room requiring to be chilled or refrigerated.
The action of my improved apparatus is as follows. The cooled brine is pumped
by the pump f from the brine cooler into the tray e whence it passes through the
perforated bottom e¹ on to and through the stack a and thence into the trough d

page_text: from which the said brine is pumped into the brine cooler and thence back into
the tray e the course of the brine being indicated by the arrows h h. The air to
be cooled or refrigerated is drawn or forced by means of a fan or other suitable
device from the refrigerating chamber through the inlet air-trunk g² and through
the stack a whence it passes by the outlet trunk 3 back to the refrigerating
chamber or other room requiring to be chilled or refrigerated the course of the ai
being indicated by the arrows i i.
I do not limit myself to any particular size of mesh or any particular gauge of
wire for the wire netting hereinbefore referred to.
From the foregoing description of an air-trunk containing a stack of iron wire
netting arranged according to my invention the modifications of my said inven-
tion in which iron bars or perforated plates are substituted for such wire netting
will be understood the principle being the same viz. that the air to be cooled shall
be drawn or forced through a stack of finely sub-divided metal through which cold
water brine or other suitable cooling liquid is caused to percolate so that such air
may be deprived of its heat as rapidly as possible. But I prefer to use a stack of
iron wire netting as it is lighter and cheaper relatively to the space which it
occupies and the cooling area which it affords.
I am aware that iron plates of various forms but unperforated have been
arranged in juxta-position so that air passing between them may be cooled by
water or other liquid trickling down the surfaces of the said plates but I make no
claim to any such arrangement.
I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise details herein-
before described as they may be modified without departing from the nature of
my invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed. I declare that what I
claim is:-
The improved apparatus herein-before described and illustrated in the accom-
panying drawings to be used for cooling air in refrigerating or freezing processes
that is to say a stack composed of any finely sub-divided metal such as wire netting
or thin metal bars or rods such stack being built up in an air-trunk or chamber
so arranged relatively to inlet and outlet air-trunks that the air to be cooled shall
luring its passage through the said stack be brought into intimate contact with
the cooled brine water or other cooling liquid caused to pass from a tray above the
said stack and to percolate through it and thence to fall into a trough beneath it
essentially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this Tenth day of August 1898.