IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRI- GERATING OR COOLING APPARATUS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF MEAT AND OTHER PERISHABLE SUBSTANCES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Rush Frisbie Mason, of Queen Victoria Street, in the
City of London, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRI-
GERATING OR COOLING APPARATUS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF MEAT AND
OTHER PERISHABLE SUBSTANCES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 9th September 1876, and dated the 14th March 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Rush Frisbie Mason at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th March 1876.
RUSH FRISBIE MASON, of Queen Victoria Street, in the City of London, Merchant,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATING OR COOLING APPARATUS FOR THE PRESER-
VATION OF MEAT AND OTHER PERISHABLE SUBSTANCES, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES."
My Invention relates to apparatus for preserving meat and other perishable
substances, for cooling or refrigerating liquids and for other like purposes.
The chief object of my Invention is the adaptation of cooling or refrigerating
apparatus to railway vans or wagons, and to ships for the preservation of meat and
other perishable substances during the carriage or transport of the same, and it
consists in the combination of parts as hercin-after described.
In applying this Invention to a railway van or wagon the body of the vehicle is
constructed as usual, but there is an extension at the top of the same provided with
a manhole or two or more manholes. The apparatus has an ice chamber of the
usual size, provided with slats upon which ice is to be placed. I place a series of
shelves upon each side of the said chamber, these shelves are inclined and placed a
little distance one above another. They are supported in any suitable manner, and
are preferably of different widths. Between and behind them are spaces for the
passage of air. A trough extends the whole length of the chamber to receive the
water from the melting ice. A partition that forms one side of the ice chamber
extends the whole or nearly the whole length of the wagon or van, and it also
extends down nearly to the bottom of the van a little distance from one side of it,
and upon one side of the door forming an air chamber, which is a continuation of
[Price Gd.]

page_text: the upper chamber. The only inlet to this chamber, when the van is closed is
over the top edge of the said partition, which is so located that there is a passage
between it and the wall of the top extension of the van or waggon.
In combination with the parts above described, I provide a tube to carry off the
water from the trough, the said tube extends back and forth through the aforesaid
chamber or passage, then up to a point somewhat below the bottom of the trough,
then down through the bottom of the van. A second trough is placed below the
tubes in the said chamber to catch any water of condensation, and has an outlet
through the bottom of the van.
It will be understood that I may construct the said apparatus with two or more
ice chambers, ico troughs, and tubes arranged in combination with each other, and
the other parts of the apparatus as above described.
The above described apparatus is designed for the use of a mixture of ice and
salt as a refrigerant. The articles to be transported or preserved are placed in the
body of the apparatus, and a quantity of this mixture of ice and salt is placed in
the ice chamber. As the air in this chamber cools it will pass between and behind
the shelves into the air chamber and down through the passage into the body of
the apparatus, and among the articles there placed at the same time air will pass
up through the passage over the top of the partition into the ice chamber, and a
constant circulation will be kept up. The water formed by the melting of the ice
will pass into the upper trough and thence into the tube, and so much of this tube
as is in the passage will be constantly filled with water, which will be very cold, and
will aid materially in keeping the air cold as it passes through the passage. The said
apparatus is adapted to a steam ship or other vessel with scarcely any modification,
and stationary refrigerators may be constructed to embody the same principle, that
is to say, such refrigerators may be provided with an ice chamber with air passages,
and a tubo extending through the same as above described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Rush Frisbie Mason in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th September 1876.
RUSH FRISBIE MASON, of Queen Victoria Street, in the City of London, Merchant.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATING OR COOLING APPARATUS FOR THE PRESER-
VATION OF MEAT AND OTHER PERISHABLE SUBSTANCES, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES."
My Invention relates to apparatus for preserving meat and other perishable
substances, or for cooling or refrigerating liquids, and for other like purposes.
The chief object of my Invention is the adaptation of cooling or refrigerating
apparatus to railway vans or wagons, and to ships for the preservation of meat and
other perishable substances during the carriage or transport of the same, and it
consists in the combination of parts as herein-after fully described, and as illustrated
in the accompanying Drawing, in which Figure 1 is a vertical transverse section
of the body of a railway van or wagon fitted with my Invention. Figure 2 is
a longitudinal vertical section of a portion of the same. Like letters indicate the
same parts throughout the Drawing.
A is the body of the railway van or wagon; B is an extension at the top of the
same; C is a manhole, one or more of which may be provided; D is an ice chamber;
a, a, are slats upon which ice is to be placed; b, b, are shelves upon each side of
the chamber D. These shelves are inclined as shown and are placed a little distance
one above another, and are supported in any suitable manner. They are of different
widths as shown. Between them and behind them are spaces for the passage of
air; c is a trough extending the whole length of the chamber D to receive the

page_text: water from the melting ice; d, d', d², is a partition. The part d forms one side of
the ice chamber D; it extends the whole length or nearly the whole length of the
van or wagon. The part also extends nearly the whole length of the van, and
is located a little distance below the top of the body of the van forming an air
chamber E. The part d extends down nearly to the bottom of the van a little
distance from one side, and upon one side of the door in the side of the van or
wagon forming an air chamber F, which is in fact a continuation of the chamber
E. The only inlet to the chamber D, when the van is closed, is over the top of the
part d, which is so located that there is a passage e between it and the wall of
the extension B.
In combination with the parts above described, I provide a tube to carry off the
water from the trough c. It is carried back and forth through the chamber or
passage F, then up to a point i somewhat below the bottom of the trough c, then
down through the bottom of the van or wagon; g is a trough below the tubes f,
which are placed in the chamber F to catch any water produced by condensation.
The said trough has an outlet h through the bottom of the van or wagon.
It will be understood that I may construct the said apparatus with two or more
ice chambers, ice troughs or tubes arranged in combination with each other, and the
other parts of the apparatus in the same manner as those above specified.
The above described apparatus is chiefly designed for the use of a mixture of
ice and salt as a refrigerant. The articles to be transported or preserved are to be
placed in the body of the apparatus, and a quantity of ice, or preferably ice and
salt, is to be placed in the chamber D. As the air in this chamber cools it will
pass between and behind the shelves b into the air chamber E, and down through
the passage F into the body of the apparatus, and among the articles there placed;
at the same time air will pass up through the passage e over the top of the part d,
into the chamber D, and a constant circulation will be maintained. The water
formed by the melting of the ice will pass into the trough c, and thence into the
tube f, and the portion of this tube in the passage F, and below the point i, will be
constantly filled with water, which especially when salt is used with the ice will
be very cold, and will aid materially in keeping the air cold as it passes through
the passage F. The tubing in the passage may be in a perpendicular position if
desired; I draw off the water in this tubing when necessary by means of a cock
at n.
In the Drawing I have shown only the part of the van on one side of the door.
But I prefer to provide a second passage corresponding with the passage F upon
the other side of this door, and provide a second tube corresponding with the tube
f, and passing through such second chamber or passage. Similar passages may be
located upon the opposite side of the van if desirable or necessary. Such passages
could be located at each end of the van or in the middle instead of upon the side
of the same. The van should be constructed with double walls.
The said apparatus, although particularly above described as applied to railway
purposes, may be adapted to a steam ship or other vessel with very slight modi-
fications, and refrigerators for warehouses or other buildings may be so con-
structed as to embody the essential features of the said Invention, that is to say,
such refrigerators may be provided with an ice chamber and with air passages and
tubes extending through the saine as above set forth.
Having thus fully described the said Invention and the manner of performing
the same, I wish it understood that I clain-
First. In and forming part of a refrigerating or cooling apparatus the combination
of parts comprising the ice chamber, the air passages and trough, and the tube bent
upward nearly or quite to the top of the apparatus, or a combination of parts
comprising two or more of such ice chambers, troughs, and tubes as above set forth,
and for the purposes specified.
Second. The combination of the said ice chamber, air passages, trough, and
tube, or two or more of the same or either of them with the other parts of the

page_text: apparatus, as shewn in the Drawing, or with other suitable apparatus for the
purposes specified.
•
•
In witness whereof, I, the said Rush Frisbie Mason, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
RUSH FRISBIE MASON. (L.S.)