IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LIQUID COOLERS OR REFRIGERATORS.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Gibb Henderson, of the Firm of
Henderson and Dickson, Coppersmiths, of the City and County of
Edinburgh, North Britain, and David Ritchie, Foreman to the said
Firm, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
LIQUID COOLERS OR REFRIGERATORS.'
"
Scaled the 13th November 1874, and dated the 21st May 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by tho said Alexander Gibb
Henderson and David Ritchie at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 21st May 1874.
We, ALEXANDER GIBB HENDERSON, of the Firm of Henderson and
Dickson, Coppersmiths, of the City and County of Edinburgh, Northi
Britain, and DAVID RITCHIE, Foreman to the said Firm, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF LIQUID COOLERS OR REFRIGERATORS," to be as follows :-
―.
This said Invention has reference to that class of refrigerators for

page_text: cooling the worts for brewing, and liquids for other purposes, in which
the liquid is cooled by being conveyed in long narrow open ducts or
channels undulating from side to side or from end to end thereof, until
the desired amount of heat has been extracted or radiated from it
through the sheet metal forming the channels made in the form of
close narrow undulating ducts for the cooling liquid to undulate through
in the reverse direction to that of the liquid being cooled, and so as thus
to receive or abstract the heat passed through the sheet metal forming
both sets of undulating channels, and which render these coolers more
simple and easily made, and more efficient in their action than such
coolers have been as heretofore constructed.
And the nature and novelty of this Invention consist in a new or
improved mode of forming or constructing these double undulating close
ducts and open channels, first, in making the close narrow ducts
individually out of sheet copper or other metal in the form of the
letter, either by rolling, bending, or drawing, or a combination of
these, or in the form of an inverted T, of a length equal to the width
or the length of the cooler desired, having the joint formed preferably
at the top of the vertical stem or limb, either with an ordinary brazed
or soft soldered overlapped or turned joint for the cooling liquids to pass
or undulate through them; secondly, in ranging these in sets, either
thus LLLLL, or thus, and having each joint soft soldered
along the lower limbs where they touch, so as to make the open
space between each sectional figure or close duct so formed liquid-
tight at bottom to form the undulating channels for the worts or other
liquid to circulate, and be cooled by the cooling liquid flowing (by
gravitation or otherwise, in a usual manner) through both the vertical
and horizontal limbs of each separate close duct at the same time and
in opposite directions in the adjacent close ducts, a short part of the
lower joints being cut away at each alternate end to thus reverse the
current of the cooling liquid in the close ducts, a piece of each vertical
limb of these close ducts at alternate ends being also cut away and
soldered close for reversing the current of the liquid to be cooled,
while a plain flange is soldered to the ends of the whole row of these
sectional close ducts and open channels to form the sides of the cooling
vessel, the close ducts being preferably closed in by a thin sheet of
india-rubber and outer cover in a usual manner.

page_text: This simple manner of forming these ducts and giving a surface
open
current cooling effect, both to the sides and bottom of the channels
constitutes
through which, the worts or other liquids to be cooled flow,
the essential novelty of this Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Gibb Henderson and David Ritchic in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th November 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALEXANDER
GIBB HENDERSON, of the Firm of Henderson and Dickson, Coppersmiths,
of the City and County of Edinburgh, North Britain, and DAVID
RITCHIE, Foreman to the said Firm, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Twenty-first day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Alexander Gibb Henderson
and David Ritchie, Her special licence that we, the said Alexander
Gibb Henderson and David Ritchic, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Alexander Gibb Henderson and
David Ritchie, our 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 In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LIQUID COOLERS
REFRIGERATORS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said Alexander Gibb Henderson and David Ritchic, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their,
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 Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
OR

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Alexander Gibb Henderson and
David Ritchie, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement in writing,
reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :—
Our said Invention has reference to that class of refrigerators for
cooling the worts for brewing, and liquids generally for other purposes, in
which the liquid is cooled by being conveyed in long narrow open ducts
or channels undulating from side to side or from end to end of these
combined in the form of a rectangular vessel until the desired amount
of heat has been abstracted or radiated from the liquid through the
sheet metal forming these channels made in the form of close narrow
undulating ducts, made with horizontal and vertical narrow channels
for the cooling liquids to undulate through in the reverso direction to
that of the liquid being cooled, as indicated by the blue arrows in the
several Figures on the accompanying Drawings, and so as thus to
receive or abstract the heat passed through the sheet metal forming
both sets of undulating channels, and which render these coolers more
simple and easily made, and more efficient in their action than such
coolers have been as heretofore constructed.
And in order that the nature, novelty, and mode of performing our
said Invention may be properly understood, we shall now proceed to
describe the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings, which we have
hereunto appended for the purpose of showing the best modes and means
we are at present aware of for so putting the Invention into effect or
practice, the same reference letters indicating the same or equivalent
parts in all the Figures where shown.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 are respectively a side and end elevation and a
plan of a medium sized cooler as suitable for cooling worts for a
brewery, all complete and constructed in accordance with and illustrative
of one modification of our said Invention; and Figures 4, 5, and 6 are
a longitudinal and transverse section and a plan, all respectively of a
part of the cooler shown in Figures 1 to 3, but to a large scale to show
the new or improved construction thereof; while Figures 7, 8, and 9

page_text: into a slightly different modification of this said new or improved
cooler.
"
11-
The nature of our said Invention consists of a new or improved mode
and means of forming or constructing the reverse undulating close ducts
and open channels, first, in making the close narrow ducts A, A¹, each
individually, out of sheet copper (or other metal) in the form of an open
letter in transverse section, as shown to a large scale detached at
Figure 1A; or it might be in the form of an inverted T, as shown at
Figures 7 A, and 7, 8, and 9. Each tube or duct A, A¹, in either
case is folded and "cressed
or swedged out of a sheet, first made to
the required width, and of a length equal to the width 1. 2 of the
cooler, Figures 2 and 3 (or it might be of the length of the cooler when
the ducts are required to be undulated longitudinally), or otherwise;
each tube might be rolled or drawn or formed as other shapes or
sections of thin copper and brass tubes are usually done. In this case
the two edges of the sheet are closed together at the top of the vertical
limb A and folded or doubled down and "cressed close on each other
as a tinsmith's joint at a, but these edges might be checked or over-
lapped and soft soldered or brazed as a coppersmith's joint when
preferred, and the joint might be formed at any other edge, side, or
angles of these tubes, as at the part A¹¹, when desired.
"
And a second improvement consists in forming the body of the
refrigerator of a series of these close ✓ shaped tubes or ducts A, A',
ranged in a set transversely, as shown in the sectional view Figure 4,
each laid close along the end or edge of its horizontal limb A¹ and
lower part of the vertical limb A of the adjacent tube, where they are
united fluid-tight by a soft soldered (or other) joint at a', so as to form
or make the open space B between each sectional close tube or duct,
or the vertical limbs A thereof, liquid-tight along the bottom to form
the undulating open ducts or channels B, B, for the worts or other liquid
to circulate in and be cooled by the cooling liquid flowing (by gravita-
tion or otherwise in a usual manner by liquid-forcing or circulating
apparatus) through both the vertical and horizontal limbs A, A', of cach

page_text: .
separate close duct at the same time and in opposite directions to the
flow of the liquid being cooled in the adjacent open ducts B, B. A
short part of the lower joints at a¹¹ is cut away (and turned up and
formed into the upper and lower overlapped horizontal joint, either soft
or hard soldered at a¹¹) at each alternate end of the horizontal limb part A¹
where this joins the vertical limb A to thus reverse the current of the
cooling liquid in the adjacent close ducts A, A¹, and A, A¹. A piece of cach
vertical limb A of these close ducts at alternate ends 6 is also cut away,
preferably in an angled manner as shown in Figure 5, and soldered close
as a continuation of the top joint a for reversing the current of the worts
or liquid to be cooled within the open ducts B, B. A longitudinal
flange or plate C made of brass or other suitable metal is soldered by
small lateral flanges c to and above the horizontal limbs or ducts A¹,
and to the ends of the alternate rows of the vertical sectional close
ducts A at each side 1, 2; Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the cooler to form the
sides or frame of the cooling vessel and reversing ends of the open
channels B, B, and a narrow angled flange of brass or other suitable
metal C¹ is soldered along the lower horizontal ends of these ducts A¹,
the close ducts A, A³, being preferably made open through these flat
sides C, C¹, as shown in Figure 4, and finally closed in by a thin sheet
of india-rubber or other equivalent joint C", and by an outer cover or
plate C bolted over this and the outer surface of these flat sides C, C',
by the bolts c¹ in a somewhat usual manner, either in one plate or in
sectional pieces or lengths, so as to admit of easy removal and access for
cleaning the close ducts A, A¹, through their open ends from either
side 1 or 2 of the cooler.
The worts or other liquid to be cooled is admitted through any
suitable pipe E¹ jointed to the coupling branch E into the first open
channel B of the set forming the cooler at the end 3, and led from the
ordinary supply cooler "hop back" or other vessel or duct, either
supplied by gravitation to the cooler or by pumps or other liquid-forcing
apparatus from below it. The worts then flow and undulate in reverse
directions from side to side, reversing at the ends 6 where a part of the
vertical limb A of the alternate close tubes A, A³, forming the sides of
the wort channels is cut away for that purpose, all as indicated by the
arrows in these open channels B, until the cooled liquid reaches the last
one B' of the set at the end 4, where it flows off through the discharge

page_text: branch coupling E3 and pipe E" attached to it, by gravitation or by a
liquid suction pump or other equivalent means, all otherwise in an
ordinary manner. While the water (or other cooling liquid) for
refrigerating the worts or liquid, so flowing in the open channels B to
be cooled, is led from any ordinary source of supply through the pipe F¹
and coupling branch F into the first close tube or duct A, A¹, at this
end 4 of the cooler 1, 2, 3, 4 (near the end and coupling E³ where the
worts are drawn off), and carried and undulated in reverse directions in
the adjacent tubes A, A¹, throughout the whole set to the end 3 of the
refrigerator, and finally drawn off at the outlet coupling branch F2 and
pipe F, all otherwise in an ordinary manner, by gravitation or from a
pump or other liquid-forcing apparatus, so as to give the greatest cooling
effect, and be able to draw off the worts nearly as cold as the water used
for cooling, as is well known by present practice; the drawing-off ducts E
and F being fitted rather lower than the bottom level of the ducts B
and A respectively completely draw off all the liquid therefrom, or the
worts might be admitted or drawn off through the sides C or bottom A"
of the cooler.
Referring to Figures 7, 8, and 9, these show only a slightly different
form and construction of the close tubes A, A¹, each of the inverted
T shape, as shown in the cross section in Figure 7 A, so that the
separating divisions between these undulating cooling tubes formed by
the two adjacent walls of their horizontal limbs A are soldered at a¹, so
that the said joint in this case is formed in the centre of the channels B, B,
as shown in Figures 7 and 9, and not at the angle A¹, a, formed with
the vertical limbs A, as in the former construction and arrangement of
these parts shown in Figures 1 to 6. At each alternate end a" of these
wall divisions and joints a one part or thickness of the division is cut
away, and the other cut and folded up and down to form a horizontal
overlap joint and cross duct at a¹¹ to reverse the current of the cooling
liquid from one tube to the other; and at the inner end of this overlap
joint or that of the part where the vertical limbs A are cut away a
thin piece of sheet metal about the size of a penny piece is or may be
soldered on the under side or within the close ducts
in Figures 5 and 8, and dotted in Figures 6 and 9.
A', as shown at 6"
These tubes A, A¹,
to form a cooler, as
Figure 7 A, are put together and arranged in a set
shown at and described in reference to Figures 7 to 9, and otherwise.

page_text: substantially as described and shown in reference to Figures 1, 2,
and 3.
A cover may be fitted over the whole and hinged to the top of the
side frames C, Figures 1 to 3, of the machine, and fitted with liquid
circulating and cooling tubes running across these covers between and
parallel to the vertical limbs A of the cooling ducts or tubes A, A¹,
within the open channels B, B, and liquid being cooled (of the body or
lower part of the cooler), thus increasing the cooling surface and power,
and also protecting the worts from the ill effects of the atmosphere.
Thus in all the modifications of this improved cooler described the
tubes A, A¹, form the cooling water passages, and also the wort
channels B, and act as the usual inner copper case required in the other
coolers of the same class.
The advantages of these improvements are that the tubes A, A¹,
employed, in addition to forming the wort and water passages, form the
entire body of the machine or cooler, strengthened by the side and end
flanges C, C¹, C", thus giving great economy of material and con-
centration or extent of cooling surface for any given size of cooler,
besides dispensing entirely with the usual wooden frame.
Having thus particularly described the nature of our said Invention
and the manner in which the same is or may be performed, we have to
state that we do not restrict ourselves to the precise details herein
described or delineated, but what we believe to be novel and original,
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The general construction and arrangement of the parts of
refrigerators or coolers, as a whole, for cooling worts or other liquids in
breweries and other places, all substantially in the new or improved
manner herein described and shown in the accompanying Drawings, or
any mere modification thereof.
Second. The construction and use of liquid coolers formed of close
tubes or ducts, with vertical and horizontal passages for the cooling
liquid to flow through, and jointed together to form the channels for
the liquid being cooled to flow through, all substantially as herein.

page_text: described and shown in the accompanying Drawings, or any mere modi-
fication thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Gibb Henderson, on
behalf of the said David Ritchic and myself, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
W. R. M. THOMSON,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
A. G. HENDERSON. (L.S.)