IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE TRANSPORT OF LIVE FİSH
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Eli Lemon Sheldon at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th July 1882.
ELI LEMON SHELDON of 8 Bloomsbury Place in the County of Middlesex
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE
TRANSPORT OF LIVE FİSH”
My invention has for its object to provide means for aerating and maintaining
at a fixed low temperature the water in which live fish are to be transported so
that they may be conveyed long distances at a moderate cost.
Certain kinds of fish, and notably the famous Black Bass of America have
hitherto been successfully introduced into new lakes and rivers by transporting
the live male and female fish only, the transport of the ova having been
unsuccessful. The transport of live, and especially full grown fish over long
distances has however hitherto been attended with great difficulty and expense,
the work of aerating the water having been done by hand, hence but very few live
fish have been brought across the Atlantic, the 21 Black Bass recently imported by
M* George Shephard Page and placed in Loch Booras being the most successful
experiment of the. kind.
'
According to my present invention the fresh water contained in suitably sized
and shaped tanks or vessels in which the live fish are placed is kept at a suitable
low temperature by coils of pipes passing either through or around the tanks or
vessels, through which pipes cold air or water is made to circulate. The water or
air in the pipes can be kept cool by any of the well known refrigerating methods
now in use for the preservation of meat and other purposes. Preferably I utilise
for this purpose a part of the compressed air used on steamers employed in meat
transportation, although a refrigerating apparatus for the special purpose could be .
employed. The proper temperature of the water, as ascertained by a thermometer
could be regulated by a valve by the turning of which the flow of air or cold water
could be regulated at will. The tanks have a perforated false bottom through
which the dirt and sediment drops and from below which it can be drawn off by a
stop-cock. Near the upper side of this falsè bottom of the tank or tanks or vessels
a pipe is inserted through which the water of the tank or vessel can be pumped by
hand or power by a suitable force pump, the pipe being extended to a point some

page_text: height above the tank, where it is fitted with a spray apparatus through which
the water is forced in the form of spray back into the tank. In this manner the
circulation of the water is secured and at the same time it is aerated in its passage
through the air in the form of spray. The opening from near the bottom of the
tank into the pipe is protected by wire gauze.
When several tanks or vessels are
used branch pipes from near the bottom of each can be made to join a main pipe
connected with the force pump and a main pipe leading from the force pump can
in like manner be connected to branch pipes leading to above the several tanks
and provided with spray nozzles. In this manner a single pump can be made to
secure the circulation and aeration of any number of tanks.
According to another arrangement, applicable when compressed air is used as a
means of cooling, the water from the tanks containing the fish is caused to flow by
gravity through a pipe or pipes into an open receiving tank "A" in which the
water is maintained at nearly the same level as that in the fish tanks. From this
open receiving tank the water is pumped by hand or power into an airtight
reservoir "B" placed at a suitable height above the fish tanks, the pipe commu-
nicating with the reservoir being provided with a check valve for preventing
back-flow of the water. From the reservoir B a pipe provided with a regulating
cock or valve leads to above a distributing tank "C" terminating in a spray
nozzle and serving to convey the water from the closed reservoir "B" into the
tank "C."
Compressed air is caused to flow from a compressed air cylinder through a pipe
into the reservoir "B," where it is allowed to expand to near the atmospheric
pressure, the reservoir being made of such a shape as to allow of the exposure of a
large surface of water to the air, which in expanding effectually takes up heat
from the exposed surface of the water, thus reducing it to the required low
temperature, which may be regulated at will by a regulating cock or valve on the
air pipe and by an escape valve or turncock at the top of the closed reservoir by
which the air is allowed to escape. A thermometer is provided by which the
temperature of the water in the reservoir B is observed and regulated accordingly.
When the apparatus is employed on board vessels used for the transport of meat,
a small portion of the compressed air from the refrigerating apparatus may be
employed for the above purpose, so as to dispense with a separate air compressing
apparatus. The water in the closed reservoir B, after being reduced in temperature
as above described passes thence through the beforementioned outlet pipe and
issues through its spray nozzle in the form of spray into the distributing tank C,
into which it falls either by gravity alone or its flow can be accelerated by the
action of the circulating pump, the water becoming aerated by contact with the air
as it falls into the tank. From the distributing tank the water passes by pipes
into the several fish tanks, maintaining in, them about the same water level as in
the distributing tank C, and thus a constant circulation is kept up, the warmed
water deprived of its oxygen being made to pass from each fish tank into the
receiving tank A, and thence into the closed reservoir B where it is cooled and
from which it descends in the form of spray in an aerated condition into the
distributing tank C in order to flow thence back into each of the fish tanks, in all
of which a mean level is maintained. In some cases the receiving and distributing
tanks might be dispensed with and the water led directly from the fish tanks into
the closed reservoir B in order to pass thence as aerated spray directly into the
fish tanks again.