AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PROCESS OF REFRIGERATING
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hector Auguste Dufrené, of No. 10, Rue de la
Fidélité, Paris, in the Republic of France, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PROCESS OF REFRIGERATING."
- A communication from Monsieur Charles Tellier, residing at
No. 99, Route de Versailles, Paris, in the Republic of France.
Scaled the 12th July 1872, and dated the 24th January 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hector Auguste
Dufrené at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 24th January 1872.
I, HECTOR AUGUSTE DUFRENÉ, of No. 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris,
in the Republic of France, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PROCESS OF
REFRIGERATING," to be as follows, that is to say :-
The Invention consists in passing a current of air or other suitable
gas over ordinary ether, sulphuret of carbon, or other highly volatile

page_text: liquid having nearly a similar boiling point, by which means I accelerate
its evaporation, and effect a rapid lowering of temperature in the
atmosphere or liquid with which such agents are placed in contact. I
effect this object by means of any known suitable apparatus.
The vapours produced are again liquified either by pressure under a 5
force pump or by passing them together with the gases with which they
are combined over or through any body susceptible of absorbing them,
such as sulphuric acid as regards ordinary ether. The cold produced
is then used for ordinary refrigerating purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Hector Auguste Dufrené in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd July 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HECTOR
AUGUSTE DUFRENÉ, of No. 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the Republic
of France, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Hector Auguste Dufrené, Her
special licence that I, the said Hector Auguste Dufrené, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Hector
Auguste Dufrené, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PROCESS OF REFRIGERATING," a com-
munication from. Monsieur Charles Tellier, a person resident at No. 99,
Route de Versailles, Paris, in the Republic of France, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said. Hector Auguste Dufrené, my executors-
their, or
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or.
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great

page_text: Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Hector Auguste Dufrené, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is
to say:
The Invention consists in passing a current of air or other suitable
gas over ordinary ether, sulphuret of carbon, or other highly volatile
liquid having nearly a similar boiling point, by which means I accelerate
its evaporation and effect a rapid lowering of the temperature in the
atmosphere or liquid with which such agents are placed in contact. I
effect this object by means of any known suitable apparatus, but I prefer
using the arrangement of apparatus herein-after described and represented
in the accompanying Drawing.
The vapours produced are again liquified cither by pressure under à
force pump or by passing them together with the gases with which they
are combined over or through any body susceptible of absorbing them,
such as sulphuric acid as regards ordinary ether. The cold produced is
then used for ordinary refrigerating purposes.
The arrangement of apparatus I prefer using to carry out this.im-
proved process consists of a cylindrical vessel a, a, a, a, Figure 1, of
sheet iron in which are enclosed tubes b, b, b, b, b, b, and a circular
gutter B, B, at the top. The tubes are supported on the sides of the
vessel by cast-iron holdfasts and form a worm with horizontal spires,
each spire being connected to the preceding one by means of an elbow.
piece formed on the tube itself or by a joint v, Figure 2. The uncon-
gealable liquid forced in by the pump C passes right through the worm.
A current of ether conducted by the tube d is continuously passed into
the gutters B, B, perforated with a number of small holes so as to spread
the ether over all the tubes b, b: The ether falls in showers over the
whole surface, of the tubes as far as the channel formed by the side a
and the corner piece. e. This channel extends as far as E, in which is
the pump e for carrying back the ether into the gutters B, B, tọ
complete the circulation. Fresh ether is introduced through the tube f
into E. The spires of the worm are surrounded with cotton web or

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provided with teeth a, b, Figure 2, so as to make the ether fall in drops.
To vaporize the ether a current of air having an initial velocity of three
to six feet per second is introduced through F, F, and rising escapes
through the upper part of the apparatus or through the gutter B, B, at
a very low temperature, videlicet, about ten degrees centigrade, while it
enters at the ordinary temperature of say thirty degrees. This difference
must be reduced; for this purpose I separate the space allowed for
vaporization by means of a cylindrical partition g, 9, 9, 9, and I form in
it an annular part g³, gª, 9ª, g³, in which the vaporization takes place.
Another casing j, j, j, j, is employed to form a second space g j, j g,
gj, jg, through which the air charged with ether vapours is brought
back to the bottom of the apparatus at o, o. It rises again through
the annular channel j h, j h, j h, into the chimney F, A, but the
current of air to be circulated arriving from the bottom G, H, and which
has entered the cylinder i, i, i, i, arrives at O and descends through hi,
hi, hi, hi, and completes the vaporization. Thus there is a current
rising into j h, j h, j h, j h, at a low temperature, and another
descending into h i, hi, hi, hi, at a high temperature. The casing
h, h, h, h, thus serves as a means of exchanging the caloric; to render its
action more complete I fasten in it long nails or pins k. The air which
escapes through the condensing pipe F, A, is charged with ether vapours
which are collected; the air escapes through the chimney f a, ƒ a,
and is conducted back to the apparatus B. This apparatus is constructed
of two cylindrical vessels, one interior v, v, v, v, the other exterior x, x,
The annular space inside v g, v g, contains a worm similar to
that at A. Sulphuric acid is poured into B, B, and water is caused
X, X.
to pass through the worm by means of the pump M. Thus the spires
are surrounded by a thin layer of sulphuric acid which absorbs
energetically the ether, and the current of air arriving through fa,
gives up the ether to this liquid and the heat formed is taken up by the
current of air.

page_text: >
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The acid charged with ether collects in as channel z, z, which com
municates with a recipient Z containing a pump, which sends it back
to the part of the apparatus where the ether is regenerated and heats
the sulphuric acid to about one. hundred and forty degrees centigrade
in a recipient D. The condensed ether collects at E.
(1
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234
To again exchange the temperature I employ the apparatus c con
sisting of a worm the exterior of which is immersed in the acid to be
cooled by means of the pump k, which 'sends it into the gutter r, r,
through the tube 8, 8, while the interior, is swept by two cold currents,
O videlicet, firstly at b, b, 6, 6, by the current of water escaping at o's, v'a,
from the absorber B; secondly, at a, a, a, a, by the saturated sulphuric
acid' introduced into the upper' worm by the pump and the tube
,, thus the saturated liquid is heated and the désaturated liquid is
cooled.
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The still D consists of a worm receiving steam at a pressure of four
atmospheres.
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The sulphuric acid poured into the gutter n, n, falls on to the spires of
this worm j, j, j, which by reversing the direction of the steam brings
back the condensed water to the boiler. The caloric absorbed is taken
0 up by the ether vapours which escape and are condensed in the
worm h, h, h, h, of the condenser E, which is fed with water by the
pump W. Thus the same air, the same acid, and the same ether are
used over and over again.
Instead of employing sulphuric acid or other absorbent to extract the
5 ether vapours carried off by the air I can liquify them by compressing
the air. For that purpose I employ the apparatus shewn in Figure 3.
A is a force pump which takes the air from the chamber B, forces it
into C under a pressure of five to six atmospheres. The caloric dis-
engaged by the compression is taken up by a current of liquid arriving
O ate or at f. The compressed air egresses at about the temperature of
the water employed, it forces its way into a, descends through the vertical
tubes d, d, d, d, and enters at g where it is confined by the cock i.
When the steam gauge j, indicates the required pressure the cock i is
opened, and the compressed air is admitted at E into the cylinder or
5 pump body in which the air expands, the motive power produced being
transmitted by a connecting rod to the main shaft M. The pump body E

page_text: is enclosed in a cistern 8, 8, 8, 8, serving as a congealer, and is provided
with ice moulds n, n, n, n..
.
The freezing action is produced in the following manner; firstly by
the passing of the expanded air through the worm v, v, v, v; secondly
by the ether or other analogous liquid employed and filling the con-
gealer, giving up its caloric to the air escaping from u, v, u, v, and which
passes through it. The air thus saturated escapes through the tube o, o,
and returns to the force pump A. As it is at a very low temperature I
conduct it to the bottom of B, and cause it to circulate round the tubes
d, d, d, d; there is thus an exchange of caloric between the air arriving
from the pump A and that returning to it. The air egressing from B
through the tube r, r, r, is conducted to the pump A and is again com-
pressed, and thus continuously so as to continue its circulation in a
similar manner. The ether liquified by compression arrives at B and
collects at g, a level q registers the quantity collected, and a cock p
allows of regulating its return into 8, 8, 8, 8.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hector Auguste Dufrené, have
hereto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of July One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.