IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR REFRIGERATING BY EVAPORATION AND RAREFACTION
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Harrison, of No. 58, Gowrie Road, in the Parish
of Battersea, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR REFRIGERATING BY
EVAPORATION AND RAREFACTION."
Sealed the 25th March 1879, and dated the 7th October 1878. ·
Sealed the 25th March 1879, and dated the 7th October 1878. ·
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Harrison at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th October 1878.
JAMES HARRISON, of No. 58, Gowrie Road, in the Parish of Battersea, in the
County Surrey, Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS
FOR REFRIGERATING BY EVAPORATION AND RAREFACTION."
The improvements relate to a process and apparatus for cooling and congealing
liquids by their own evaporation in vacuo, whereby the vapours are withdrawn
from the partial vacuum wherein they are formed, and condensed in another partial
vacuum with or without the aid of absorbents, and expelled by pressure, the
improvements being also applicable to the condensation and liquefaction of the
vapours of volatile liquids when employed to cool or congeal other fluids, as well as
to the compression, rarefaction, and cooling of air and other gases. The in prove-
ments also relate to the vessels and surfaces in and upon which the ice or other
solid is formed, or other refrigerating effect produced, and to the modes of applying
the cold and its carriers.
The apparatus consists in one of its forms of a horizontal revolving cylinder from
which the air is exhausted. The cylinder is in part filled with a non-evaporable
liquid, or one which evaporates only at a temperature considerably in excess of
that at which the evaporating liquid boils, and which is chemically neutral to the
vapour with which it is brought in contact, oil or mercury, for instance, standing in
these relations to water when the object is to cool or freeze water by its own
evaporation.
The revolving cylinder is fitted with divisions which form fixed buckets of as
great capacity as the space will allow, The vessel from which the vapour is to be

page_text: withdrawn is connected by a pipe with one end of a fixed hollow axle on which the
cylinder revolves, a continuation of the pipe rising inside above the level of the
contained non-evaporable liquid. The cylinder is rotated in the direction which
will carry the buckets with their mouths downwards, so that when the revolution
has been partly made they will deliver their contained vapor, compressed by the
head of the liquid under which it has been carried, into a fixed channel or casing
over and partly surrounding the axle; thence the compressed vapor passes through
the other end of the axle, which is hollow and perforated, to a surface condenser or
a vessel in which it is condensed by a jet, drip, or stream of liquid. The use of
valves is so far dispensed with. One form of the condenser consists of two chambers
or of two separate vessels, in one of which the vapor passes in a direction contrary
to a stream and drip of water or other liquid, which descends from shelf to sholf,
condensing the vapour and becoming heated as it flows downward to the floor of
the first chamber of the condenser. The second chamber of the condenser is either
separate with communications to the spaces occupied by vapour and liquid in the
first, or divided from the first by a perforated partition, the condensed liquid and
liquid of condensation, as well as any air that may be present passing through the
perforations. From the second chamber the liquid is withdrawn along with a
portion of such air as may be present, and expelled by a pump so placed that the
air shall be first thrown out, thus preventing its regurgitation. This pump is also
employed to produce the primary vacuum by exhausting water or other liquid from
the several vessels when these are above or on a level with the pump. Air is
exhausted from the several vessels by alternately filling and emptying the condenser
and freezing vessel. A separate vacuum apparatus on the same principle is also
employed. The compressing apparatus is modified by affixing the buckets to the
radial arms of a wheel revolving within the cylinder, the connection with the
evaporating chamber being made by a pipe entering the cylinder on its upper side,
and that with the condenser through the axle.
Other forms of the compressing apparatus consist of (1), a series of buckets attached
to endless chains dipping into a reservoir of the compressing liquid, and delivering
the compressed gas or vapour into a reservoir; of (2), a gasometer-shaped vessel
rising and falling in an annular space filled with a non-evaporable neutral liquid,
the vessel on being lifted becoming filled with the air or vapor, and on being
depressed delivering it under a head of the liquid, or through a valve into a fixed
central chamber, and thence, if vapour, to the condenser, or if air to a separate
chamber, the use of valves in both the moveable and fixed vessels being optional;
of (3), a tapering archimedian screw working in a reservoir of non-evaporable neutral
liquid, by which the vapour is taken in at the larger upper orifices and discharged,
compressed, or liquefied, at the lower or smaller end, the reservoir being of the saune
taper as the screw; and in combination with the other improvements of (4), pumps
with actuated valves, and with arrangements for complete expulsion of air or vapor;
and (5), fans working in the air or vapour, and forcing it from one compartment into
another, or exhausting it and forcing it into the air.
The modification consisting of a series of buckets attached to endless chains
working over wheels or drums above and below is especially adapted to the com-
pression of air under a head of water, the cold being produced by the subsequent
rarefaction of the air. The air is partially cooled while undergoing compression by
being brought intimately in contact with the water by a ramifying network in the
interior of the bucket, which network becomes saturated with water in the ascending
buckets, and cools the air as it changes bulk during their descent. The cooling is
completed by causing the air after it has left the buckets to pass in a contrary
direction to a stream of liquid. A large per-centage of the power is recovered by
conveying the compressed air into a duplicate series of buckets in a separate reservoir
filled with a liquid or brine not congealable at the temperature required, the air
expanding and cooling itself and the brine as the buckets rise. The two series
being connected together, the expanding air aids in the work of compressión;
buckets are also made like the discs of a chain pump. The gasometer-shaped vessel
the

page_text: is applicable to the same purpose, but it is worked preferably in an annular reservoir
of mercury, the compressed air being conveyed to a second vessel of a similar shape,
where it exerts power by its expansion, the cooling of the compressed air being
partially effected in the compressing gasometer by pendent material and completed
in a separate vessel by a current of liquid maintained in a direction contrary to the
air. When the compression is performed by a pump the cooling of the air is accom-
plished by a modification of the arrangements already mentioned.
Another modification of the process consists in effecting the condensation of the
vapor by materials having an attraction for it, as by deliquescents and hygro-
scopics, such as potash, nitrate of lime, chloride of calcium, or sulphuric acid when
water is the evaporant. The hygroscopic agent is placed in a revolving drum or on
shelves or trays, and the resulting liquid mixed with air or vapour is withdrawn by
a pump. This arrangement can be worked without compression, or the vapour may
be forced into the condensing chamber by fans. The hygroscopic material is rege-
nerated and used over again.
When cooling is produced by the evaporation of volatile liquids which are
recovered and used over and over again, one of the improvements consists in an
arrangement whereby the liquid resulting from condensation of the vapour is forced
under pressure along with any air that may be present through a tube enveloping
that by which the cold vapour is conveyed from the evaporating vessel to a reser-
voir, whence the liquid passes to the evaporator, and the air escapes through a valve
into the atmosphere or into a vessel supplied with an absorbent of the vapour. When
the vapor is withdrawn by an archimedian screw working in a liquid (such as
mercury or glycerine when either is employed) incapable of dissolving the condensed
vapour, the condensation is effected in the screw itself by a contained network, the
compressing liquid being kept cool by external aspersion and evaporation of water,
or by water circulating in tubes coiled round the interior of the reservoir.
The improved apparatus comprises arrangements for the production of ice,
paraffin, and other solids within the vessels from which the vapors of their respectivo
liquids are withdrawn. These vessels are spherical or cylindrical, fixed or rotary,
the fluids to be frozen being added gradually and regularly, any surplus being
pumped out, the thickness and shape of the blocks being regulated by the inter-
position of loose partitions to facilitate removal, so that the liquids may be gradually
frozen until the required bulk is produced. The fixed ice chambers may be of such
dimensions as to serve for ice houses after they have been filled, so that the supply
may be drawn through a man-hole from one while the manufacture is being carried
on in another. Smaller vessels are flanged in the middle or lower end, so that the
bottom cover and the ice may be lowered into a cellar; or they are mounted on axles
and slowly rotated, the vapours being withdrawn thro' the axles, and the ice and
other solid formed in films equally round the inside of the cylinder or sphere, the
flange being either in the middle or at one end, according to the shape of the vessel.
If the oil from which paraffin is solidified be not sufficiently volatile to produce the
requisite degree of cold it is mixed with one that is more volatile, and this is used
over and over again.
When volatile liquids of a kind different from those intended to be solidified are
employed to produce the cold required, the ice is formed or a cold carrying stream
of brine is passed on either side or on both sides of a pair of horizontal sheets of
metal, an arrangement which is particularly suited for the production of ice for
skating on, the volatile liquid or cold carrying medium being drawn, not forced
through the space between the plates.
When air is the cold carrying medium it is caused to pass over the surfaces and
bottom of the vessel filled with water, or over the surfaces of vessels along which
a film or thin stream of water flows, as when liquids are cooled or frozen by their
own evaporation, the freezing in both cases being continuous and direct, and free
from the retarding influence of conduction through intervening surfaces or through
the ice already formed. In the same way paraffin may be solidified, and any kind
of liquid cooled, or solid recovered from the liquid. For the cooling of liquids

page_text: without freezing the air is also drawn upwards through perforated plates, the air
expanding and cooling as it rises.
The cold air is also available for meat preserving, bacon curing, ventilation, and
other similar purposes, either as the primary or secondary object in any series of
processes.
To utilize the remainder of the cold in the air after it has been raised to the
freezing point, the air is conducted over or through brine or other cold carrier, and
thence to the reservoir wherein the air is expanded, or is employed to cool the
compressed air when passing from the compressing to the expanding buckets,
whereby the brinė is heated and becomes available for being again cooled by the
air at 32° and upwards. This air is also available for cooling purposes, for which a
cold short of freezing is sufficient.
When cold air is applied to the refrigeration and preservation of meat or pro-
visions on board ship the compartment of the hold is lined with an envelope of
fibrous and porous material, dusted or sprinkled with sulphur or other germ-
destroying substance, and next to this is a double skin of wood and sheet metal,
with an intervening space into which the cold air is first introduced, and from
which it passes through perforations in the inner plate to the central space in which
the meat is stowed. The cold air having passed round and through the meat passes
from above a false ceiling to perforated pipes embedded in the porous and fibrous
material near the bottom, and after passing through the substance of the material
is collected and withdrawn from a similar perforated pipe embedded in the envelope
at the top. When it is inconvenient to inake these arrangements the cold air is
simply delivered at the bottom of the enclosed space and withdrawn from the top.
Similar arrangements are suitable for the storage of provisions on land. When
water, wort, a cold carrying solution, or other liquid is cooled by its own evapora-
tion without being frozen, it is either cooled in bulk or admitted to the evaporating
chamber in a regulated stream at one end of the cylinder, and withdrawn by a
pump from the other end, its passage from one end of the cylinder to the other being
being obstructed by ledges, under and over which it flows; or by zig-zag divisions
which throw the stream from side to side till the requisite cool is attained. When
the water or solution is required for cooling floors an arrangement similar to that
described for the production of skating ice is available.
The various modifications described may be worked in conjunction with each
other so as to produce a cumulative effect; thus air may be compressed and
rarefied by one form of apparatus, and further compressed or rarefied by either of
the others. Each modification may also be employed so as to produce the compres-
sion by successive stages, so that a number of small machines may be made to
produce the work of a larger, and with a less aggregate expenditure of power.
In vessels and tubes wherein a vacuum is maintained the possibility of the
leakage of oil inwards is obviated by making the outer shell doublo, with or without
an intervening sheet of woven wire, and filling the interspace with oil or with a
liquid similar to that which is contained in the inner vessel or tube, or which does
not destroy its efficacy, and so that the temperature may be regulated and work
done:

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said James Harrison in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th April
1879.
JAMES HARRISON, of No. 58, Gowrie Road, Parish of Battersea, in the County
of Surrey, Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR
REFRIGERATING BY EVAPORATION AND BY RAREFACTION."
The improvements relate to a process and apparatus for cooling and congealing
liquids by their own evaporation in vacuo, whereby the vapours are withdrawn
from the partial vacuum wherein they are formed and condensed in another partial
vacuum with or without the aid of absorbents and expelled by pressure; the
improvements being also applicable to the condensation and liquefaction of the
vapours by volatile liquids when employed to cool or congeal other fluids, as well
as to the compression, rarefaction, and cooling of air and other gases. The improve-
ments also relate to the vessels and surfaces in and upon which the ice or other solid
is formed, or other refrigerating effect produced, and to the modes of applying the
cold and its carriers.
The apparatus consists in one of its forms of a horizontal revolving cylinder from
which the air is exhausted. The cylinder is in part filled with a non-evaporable
liquid, or one which evaporates only at a temperature considerably in excess of that
at which the evaporating liquid boils, and which is chemically neutral to the vapour
with which it is brought in contact, oil or mercury for instance standing in
these relations to water when the object is to cool or freczo water by its own
evaporation.
The revolving cylinder is fitted with divisions which form fixed buckets of as
great capacity as the space will allow. The vessel from which the vapour is to be
withdrawn is connected by a pipe with one end of a fixed hollow axle on which the
cylinder revolves, a continuation of the pipe rising inside above the level of the
contained non-evaporable liquid. The cylinder is rotated in the direction which
will carry the buckets with their mouths downward, so that when the revolution
has been partly made they will deliver their contained vapour, compressed by the
head of liquid under which it has been carried, into a fixed channel or casing over
and partly surrounding the axle. Thence the compressed vapour passes through
the other end of the axle, which is hollow and perforated, to a surface condenser or
a vessel in which it is condensed by a jet, drip, or stream of liquid. The use of
valves is so far dispensed with. One form of the condenser consists of two chambers
or of two separate vessels, in one of which the vapour passes in a direction contrary
to a stream and drip of water or other liquid which descends from shelf to shelf,
condensing the vapour and becoming heated as it flows downward to the floor of
the first chamber of the condenser. The second chamber of the condenser is either
separate, with communications to the spaces occupied by the vapour and liquid in
the first, or divided from the first by a perforated partition; the condensed liquid
and liquid of condensation, as well as any air that may be present, passing through
the perforations. The liquid is withdrawn along with a portion of such air as may
be present, and expelled by a pump so placed that the air shall be first thrown out,
thus preventing its regurgitation. This pump is also employed to produce the
primary vacuum by exhausting water or other liquid from the several vessels which
are above or on a level with the pump. Air is exhausted from the several vessels
by alternately filling and emptying the condenser and freezing vessel. A separato
vacuum apparatus on the same principle is also employed. The compressing apparatus
is modified by affixing the buckets to the radial arms of a wheel revolving within
the cylinder, the connection with the evaporating chamber being made by a pipe
entering the cylinder on its upper side, and that with the condenser through the
axle.

page_text: In the accompanying Drawing Figure 1 is an elevation in section of an apparatus
for freezing water by its own evaporation. A is a reservoir of water completely
filled and shut off from the pressure of the atmosphere. This water is admitted
gradually to B, the freezing chamber, through the pipe and stop-cock a. The vapour
from this chamber passes in the direction of the arrows through the hollow fixed
axle b and ascending pipe e to the compressing cylinder C which is fitted with
chambered buckets d, d. The cylinder is revolved and the buckets carry the vapour
under a head of oil and deliver the compressed vapour into a central reservoir D
which is a fixture on the axle. Thence the vapour passes through perforations into
the hollow fixed axle to the right of the stop e and out in the direction of the arrows
to the surface of the condenser E, the tubes of which have a shower of water
descending on them from the perforated pipe f. The water resulting from the
condensation, together with any residual air that may be in the apparatus, is drawn
off by the pump F. The reservoir A is of the same capacity as the vessel B. Tho
water is drawn off from it through a flexible tube g within the reservoir, the opening
of which floats about an inch below the surface so that the pressure may be regular.
The stop-cock a is graduated so that it may be set with such an opening as
experience may show to be sufficient to supply the water at the same rate as it is
converted into ice. To commence with, about 2lb. weight of water per minute will
suffice, to be varied according to the temperature and speed of rotation of the
cylinder C. The vessel B is slightly tapered, being larger in diameter below than
above; it rests on a fixed flange h, and the bottom is removable at the flange i so
that it may be lowered with its load of ice into a cellar or ice-house. After the
bottom is fixed in its place a pan j containing water is raised up so that the
flange may be completely immersed, the object being to prevent the leakage
of air inward, the leakage of a little water being no serious detriment. The
revolving cylinder C is made of boiler plate or galvanised iron of a thickness
sufficient to resist the atmospheric pressure, and is strengthened and made rigid
by rings of thicker metal or angle iron. It has at each end a stuffing box which
is a fixture on the cylinder and revolves with it. The stuffing box is made to
fit the fixed axle, and its exterior surface is also fitted to an external bearing h, k,
So as to relieve the fixed axle from strain. The cylinder is driven by a
belt on the fixed pulley at either end or at both ends if there be any
tendency to unsteadiness. The interior of the cylinder is fitted with the
buckets d, d, which are fixtures moving with the cylinder. It also contains the
central reservoir of vapour D which is a fixture on the axle. In putting the
apparatus together the axle with its fixtures is inserted, the left-hand cover is then
put on and fixed by the flange t, t, and the external connections made. The surface
condenser E consists of a series of tubes arranged in a similar way to the tubes in
a brewer's refrigerator, the water dropping from the perforated tube f to the top
tube of the condenser, from that to the next below and so downward, the chief
cooling effect being produced by the evaporation of the trickling water. The pump
is for convenience shown in longitudinal section, but it is really placed transverse
to the tubes or on either side of the condenser, its position being a matter of
convenience. The refrigerating vessel B is fitted with loose sheets or partitions of
tin or galvanised iron 8, 8, 8, to facilitato the breaking up of the ice after removal.
These partitions are loosely placed on the bottom of the vessel not in continuous
contact, so that the flow of the water may not be impeded; their use is however
optional. The vessel may also optionally be fitted with horizontal shelves similar
to those in Figure 8, the shelves being built up on the lower flanged end of the
refrigerating vessel B, and removeable with the ice downward. The vessel B may
be of any required dimensions, and it may even assume the proportions of a large
spherical ice house built up of sections of cast-iron imbedded in masonry or puddled
clay, and if in duplicate the supply of ice may be drawn through a man-hole in one,
while the manufacture of ice is being carried on in the other. To set the apparatus
in operation the stop-cocks m¹ and m² are shut, the oil which must be non-
evaporable, such as the olive and whale oils, and limpid, is admitted through an

page_text: opening with a cap at n until it stands at the level o, a small aperture not shown
being left at that level, so that when the oil runs out at it the supply is sufficient,
and both openings are closed. The vessels A and B and the condenser E are then
filled with water, the connection between B and E being through the pipe p, the
air escaping through the small pipes and cocks 7, 1, which are shut when the water
appears. The three vessels being thus filled the water is pumped out by F. On
this being accomplished the stop-cock m¹ is very gradually opened, and air passes
from C to the other vessels till the pressure is equalised. The stop-cock m' is again
shut and the vessels A, B, and E, once more filled with water and again pumped
out. This operation is repeated till the vacuum is so reduced that the engine is
powerful enough to revolve the cylinder, after which the working of the apparatus
completes the vacuum as the gauge w will show. Before setting the engine to
work the stop-cocks m³, m³, are opened, and the stop-cock on the pipe p closed.
When in full work the vacuum in B must be destroyed every time the ice is
removed. So soon as all the water from the tank A has been passed into the
vessel B and frozen the stop-cocks n and m¹ are closed, the air tap 71 opened, the
lower flange of B disconnected, and the ice lowered down into the cellar. On the
lower flange i being reconnected the vessels A and B are again filled with water,
and the water pumped out from B only. The apparatus is then ready for another
start. In the Drawings I have, to avoid needless complication, shown only one
freezing chamber B, but in economical practice where continuous working is
required the vessels A and B should be in duplicate with extra pipes and stop-cocks
mand, so that immediately upon the completion of one vessel of ice work inay
be commenced on the other. In a large establishment it will be advisable to havo
a separate vacuum pump, but I have thought it sufficient to show how the
apparatus makes its own vacuum. Beneath the revolving cylinder C an open
trough u supplied with water is fixed, the object of this arrangement being to keep
the outside of the cylinder continually wet, so that by the evaporation of the water
the cylinder with its contents may be kept cool.
When the object is to cool water, wort, a cold-carrying solution, or other liquid
without freezing, the liquid is introduced, and when the requisite degree of cold is
obtained withdrawn continuously by a pump so that the vacuum need never be
broken. In this operation the vessel A is not an essential requisite. A suitable
form of cooling chamber for this purpose is shown in Figure 2, which is a cross
section in elevation of a horizontal segment of a cylinder B, into which the liquid
is admitted in a regulated stream at one end and withdrawn by a pump from the
other end, the vapour being drawn out through b. The passage of the liquid
from one end to the other is delayed by about twelve alternate ledges at three-inch
intervals, under and over which ledges the liquid flows or falls, one ledge rising
above the surface but allowing a passage below, and the next being close to the
bottom but of lower elevation, or by as many zig-zag divisions at the same
distances which throw the stream of liquid from side to side till the requisite
degree of cold is obtained. The latter is the arrangement shown in the Figure.
The zig-zag partitions a are not fixtures in the vessel, the framework on which
they are mounted being removable at a flanged end of the vessel in order that they
may be cleaned. By the alternate ledges or zig-zag divisions the mixture of the
entering liquid with that which is being withdrawn by the pump is prevented.
A similar result may be obtained in the vessel B, Figure 1, by breaking the fall of
the entering liquid before it reaches the bottom by shelves or trays placed right
and left alternately.
Figure 3 is a cross section of the cylinder C between the points x, x, and
Figure 4 is a cross section at 2, 2, with the left hand end of the cylinder removed.
The cylinder is rotated in the direction of the arrows. The letters on Figures 1, 3,
and 4, refer to the same parts in all. At v, v, the corner of each bucket is rounded
or bevilled to allow an inch space for the vapour to pass into the next following
bucket. Having thus described the process with a preferable form of apparatus,
I do not consider it requisite to give Drawings of the modification for rotating the

page_text: condensing buckets and making the shell of the cylinder a fixture, or of the
alternative kinds of condenser already referred to.
Figure 5 represents another forin of refrigerating chamber B mounted on
gudgeons, through one end of which a the water or other fluid enters, and through
the other end 6 the vapour is withdrawn. The axle ends are fitted with stuffing
boxes, where the ends of the tubes enter at a and b. This refrigerator is slowly
rotated, and the solid ice or other substance is formed in concentric rings on the
interior surface of the vessel. When one charge has been operated upon, the solid
is withdrawn by separating the vessel from the flanged end c, and the operation
repeated. This is a modification which is well adapted for the separation of solid
paraffin. If the oil from which it is obtained be not sufficiently volatile to produce
the requisito degree of cold, it is mixed with one which is more volatile, such as
petroleum spirit, and the oil withdrawn from the condenser is used over again for
the same purpose. The vessel B may also be spherical or egg shaped, or may
consist of two cylindrical vessels tapering slightly towards either end, in which
cases the flange is at the middle, and the two halves must be supported on a
table or platform while the work of making and unmaking the connection is
carried on.
One half of the vessel is then removed with the whole of the contained
solid.
Other forms of the compressing apparatus consist of a series of buckets attached
to endless chains dipping into a reservoir of the compressing fluid, and delivering
the compressed gas or vapour when at its lowest point into a central reservoir of a
gasometer-shaped vessel rising and falling in an annular space filled with a non-
evaporable neutral liquid, the vessel on being lifted becoming filled with the air or
vapour, and on being depressed delivering it under a head of the liquid, or through
a valve into a fixed central chamber, and thence, if vapour, to the condensor, or, if
air, to a separate chamber, the use of valves in both the movable and fixed vessels
being optional; of pumps with actuated valves, and containing surplus liquid to
ensure complete expulsion of vapour, in combination with the other improvements;
and of fans working in the air or vapour, and forcing it from one compartment into
another, or exhausting it and forcing it into the air. Of these forms the pump with
actuated valves is the most suitable for dealing with the freezing or cooling of water
by its own evaporation. On account of the extreme tenuity of the vapour of water
at low temperatures the pump must be of very large size, and there must be an
absolutely free passage for the vapour. This is accomplished by the use of slide
valves on the end covers of the pump cylinder. The valve by which the vapour
enters the pump is set so that it shall be open throughout the whole length of the
stroke, while the valve through which the vapour is forced to the condenser should
be open during the last sixth part of the stroke only, when the vapour is drawn
in at 32° Fahr. and condensed at 85°. For other temperatures reference may be
made to tables of the volume of steam at different temperatures. Exactitude how-
ever is not essential to the success of the process, the opening of the outlet valve a
little too soon or too late involving only a slight waste of power. The slide valves
are kept in close contact to their faces by slight springs at their backs, the pressure
never exceeding 12 ounces on the square inch. The ports are made as large as the
space on the cylinder ends will allow. The slides on the inlet side are actuated by
excentrics and wipers, and those on the outlet side by cams and wipers. Oil is
supplied to the pump in sufficient quantity to fill up the lower portion of the space
between the piston and the cylinder cover at the end of each stroke. The refri-
gerating vessel and supply tank and the condenser and exhaust pump are precisely
the same as in the apparatus first described, and of the same dimensions, a pump
of 30 inches diameter being equivalent to a revolving cylinder of 5 feet diameter.
In Figure 6 a is the inlet pipe; b, the outlet; c, c, c, c, the valve boxes. The
metl:od of making the primary vacuum is the same as that described in reference
to Figure 1. This pump is the preferable compressing agent when paraffin is
dealt with.
The modification consisting of a series of buckets attached to endless chains

page_text: working over wheels or drums above and below is especially adapted to the com-
pression of air under a head of water, the cold being produced by the subsequent
rarefaction of the air. The air is partially cooled while undergoing compression by
being brought intimately in contact with the water by a ramifying network in the
interior of the bucket, which network becomes saturated with water in the ascend-
ing buckets, and cools the air as it changes bulk during their descent. The cooling
is completed by causing the air after it has left the buckets to pass in a contrary
direction to a stream of water. A large per-centage of the power is recovered by
conveying the compressed air into a duplicate series of buckets in a separate reser-
voir filled with a liquid or brine not congealable at the temperature required, the
air expanding and cooling itself as the buckets rise. The two series being connected
together the expanding air aids in the work of compression. The buckets are also
made like the discs of a chain pump. In Figure 7, which is a sectional elevation of
this modification of the compressing apparatus, A is a tank of water 30 feet or more
in depth; B is a wheel or drum which is driven by an engine, the lower wheel C
being carried round by the chains to which the buckets arc atttached. The buckets
D, D, are fitted inside with a network of textile fabric, or with pendant strings of
the same, which get saturated in the ascending buckets, and cool the air in the
descent. When at their lowest point the buckets give up their compressed air into
the collecting chamber E, from which it passes through the pipe F to the brine
tank G, which contains a similar arrangement of buckets, but without the network
of the first series. The air in ascending expands, and cools itself and the brine in
the tank. The air in its passage from the tank A to the tank. G passes through a
series of small tubes, and a stream of water supplied through the pipe a passes in a
contrary direction to the tank A. When the brine in the tank G falls below the
freezing point it is conveyed away to be used in any of the modes already in
practice for the making of ice and other cooling purposes to which a stream of cold-
carrying brine is now applied. The tank G has an air-tight cover, under which the
cold air is received from the buckets; there is no pressure on this covering. This
air becomes a cold-carrying medium, and from this point it passes over the surfaces
and bottoms of vessels filled with water, or over the surfaces of vessels along which
a film or thin stream of water flows, as when liquids are cooled or frozen by their own
evaporation, the freezing in both cases being continuous and direct, and free from
the retarding influence of conduction through intervening surfaces, or through the
ice already formed. In the same way paraffin may be solidified, and any kind of
liquid cooled or solid recovered from the liquid. Figure 8 shows an ice-making.
chamber in which these conditions are observed. The vessels A, A, are open at top
and at one end, the open ends being placed alternately, so that water may flow
from the tail of one to the head of the one next below, the lowermost B being
closed on all four sides. These vessels are removable through the doors d, d.
They are fitted with small rollers or wheels e, e, e, which run on iron bars f. f.
passing from the front to the back of the freezing chamber. The number of the
freezing vessels is determined by the point at which the air in its upward course
reaches 32°, and above this point they are supplemented by a fixed series of
shallower trays C, C, in which the feed water undergoes a preliminary cooling, so
that it may enter the deeper vessels at a leat only a few degrees above 32°. The
air will still possess some cooling power, and to utilize this it is conducted over the
detached series of vessels D, D, ultimately passing off at the temperature of the
entering water. The surplus water thus cooled is employed as a carrier of cold to
the tubes a, a, in Fig. 7, passing into the tank A in that Figure, and flowing
away from the top. The air, or the water cooled by it, is also available for cooling
purposes for which a cold short of freezing is sufficient. For the cooling of worts or
other liquid without freezing the air is also drawn or forced upwards by fans
through perforated plates, the liquid descending through alternate perforations. The
cold air is also available for meat-preserving, bacon-curing, ventilation; and other
similar purposes either as the primary or secondary object in any series of processes.
When cold air is applied to the refrigeration and preservation of meat or provisions

page_text: on board ship, the compartment of the hold is lined with an envelope of fibrous and
porous material, such as tanners' spent bark dusted or sprinkled with sulphur or
other germ-destroying substance, and next to this is a double skin of wood and
sheet metal, with an intervening space into which the cold air is first intro-
duced, and from which it passes through perforations in the metal plate to the
central space in which the meat is stowed. The cold air, after having passed round
and through the meat, passes to perforated pipes imbedded in the porous and fibrous
material near the bottom, and after passing through the substance of the material
is collected in and withdrawn from a similar perforated pipe imbedded in the
envelope at the top. When it is inconvenient to inake these arrangements the cold
air is simply delivered at the bottom of the enclosed space and withdrawn from the
top. Similar arrangements are suitable for the storage of provisions on land.
Figure 9 represents in sectional elevation the gasometer-shaped vessel A, which
effects compression by being raised and lowered in an annular space B, in the
centre of which it is kept by upright rods of metal on which it slides. The annular
space is filled with oil or mercury. If, filled with oil a depth of from 20 to 24 inches
is sufficient for the compression of the vapour of water at 32°; and if filled with
mercury to the depth of 30 inches it is sufficient for the compression of ether vapour
raised at any temperature below 32° for condensation at any temperature below 90°.
It is also sufficient for the compression of air to a degree equal to its depression
under a head of water of 33 feet. The arrangement shown in Figure 9 is that
suitable for the compression of air. The annulus is half filled with mercury, and
the upper half with water. The gasometer hood A. is raised and depressed by engine
power, the air entering by the valve a and passing out by the valve b into the
closed chamber C. A small stream of water enters by the pipe c, with a ball valve
at d, and the redundancy is at every stroke pressed out with the last of the com-
pressed air through the valve b. The gasometer hood is fitted with a number of
pendant strips or strings of absorbent fabric e¹, and these at every stroke become
saturated with water, the air, by contact therewith during the descent, becoming
cooled. The port of the valve b is covered with a grating of wire gauze to prevent
the pendants from entering the valve. The redundant water is received below the
valve on a perforated shelf f, under which there are more pendant strings of
absorbent fabric e, down which the water trickles and passes off by the pipe g, the
outlet of which is fitted with a floating valve h to prevent the egress of the con-
densed air. The air thus partially cooled passes off through the tubo i into another
chamber fitted with shelves over which a stream or film of water flows downward,
while the air ascends by a zigzag course to the upper part of the chamber.
thence it passes to a second gasometer-shaped vessel similar to that shown in Figure
9, but of six inches less diameter and without the pendant fittings and continuous
water supply. In this second vessel the valves are reversed; the compressed air
enters by the lower valve and passes off by the upper into a closed chamber under
the normal pressure of the atmosphere, whence it is conveyed to the refrigerating
chamber. The valves in this second chamber are actuated, so that the lower is open
during the first half of the ascent and the upper is open during the whole of the
descent. The air in expanding does work in raising the second gasometer hood and
the power thus gained may be either applied to aid the power required to work the
compresser or to other purposes.
From
A steam engine of three horse power should be sufficient to work either of the
varieties of compressing apparatus above-described and figured.
The employment of a fan as a compressing agent is only available when the con-
densation of the vapour is effected by materials having an attraction for it, as by
deliquescents and hygroscopics such as potash, nitrate of lime, chloride of calcium,
or sulphuric acid, when water is the evaporant. The hygroscopic agent is placed
in a revolving drum such as is shown in Figure 5, or on shelves or trays, and the
resulting liquid, mixed with air or vapour, is withdrawn by a pump. This arrange-
ment can be worked, when the presence of air is absolutely prevented, without
compression, but as this is rarely attainable the vapour is proferably forced into the

page_text: condensing chamber by fans. This arrangement is shown in Figure 10, where E is
a cylindrical vessel which constitutes the condensing chamber. The shelves a, a,
are made of double sheets of metal bolted together so as to leave about a quarter of
an inch of interval between; these are connected with each other at the ends (not
shown) so that a stream of cold water entering at b and passing out at c shall
traverse the whole scries. The end is flanged and removable. When this end
is open a series of trays, e, e, filled with fused chloride of calcium or other deliques-
cent salt are inserted and the end closed. The vapour is driven by the fan G into
this chamber and is absorbed by the deliquescent salt, the resulting heat being
carried off by the water circulating in the interspace between the plates a, a. The
resulting solution is drawn off along with any air that may be present by the pump
F, as shown in Figure 1. The plates a, a, must be secured sufficiently to withstand
the atmospheric pressure, which tends to separate them, or a series of tubes may be
substituted for them. The deliquescent salt is recovered by evaporation, and is
used over and over again.
When cooling is produced by the evaporation of volatile liquids which are
recovered and used over and over again, one of the improvements consists in an
arrangement whereby the liquid resulting from condensation of the vapour is forced
under its own pressure, when that exceeds the atmospheric pressure, or under the
pressure exerted by a pump when further pressure is required, along with any air
that may be present through a tube enveloping that by which the cold vapour is
conveyed from the ether boiler or other evaporating vessel to the compressing
pump or other compressing apparatus. The condensed liquid and air pass to a
reservoir, whence the liquid passes to the evaporator, and the air escapes through a
valve into the atmosphere or into a vessel supplied with an absorbent of the vapour.
This improvement is available for application to existing vapour machines. Figure
11 shows the application of the improvement to one of iny ether machines shown in
my Patent No. 2362 of 1857. A is an enveloping tube outside of B the vapour tube.
The condensed ether enters at a into the enveloping tube and passes out at b. An
intervening spiral wire is wound round the tube B, so, as to prolong the contact of
the liquid and air with the inner tube. The arrangement is also available for
machines where other evaporating agents than ether are employed.
In vessels and tubes wherein a vacuum is maintained, the possibility of the
leakage of air inwards is obviated by making the outer shell double, with or
without an intervening slicet of woven wire, and filling the interspace with oil or
with a liquid similar to that which is contained in the inner vessel or tube, or which
does not destroy its efficiency, glycerine for instance being a good enveloping sub-
stance for ether vessels and tubes. The temperature may be regulated, and thus
work alone by the circulation and renewal of the enveloping liquid.
The various modifications described may be worked in conjunction with each other
so as to produce a cumulative effect. Thus air may be compressed or rarefied by one
form of apparatus and further compressed or rarefied by one of the others.
Each
modification may also be employed so as to produce the compression by successive
stages so that a number of sinall machines may be made to produce the work of a
larger. By the combination of two machines, such as is shown in Figure 9 for instance,
air may be compressed with the weight of two atmospheres. The second machine
of such a series would require to be of only half the cross sectional area of the first.
Only one application of each form of compressing apparatus has been shown, but
the subsidiary arrangements suitable to one form are, with obvious modifications,
interchangeably available for the others.
In all the Drawings a scale of one inch to the foot has been adopted.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the way in which it is to
be worked, I now wish it to be understood that what I claim is,-
1. The process of refrigerating by the evaporation of the liquid which is to be
cooled or congealed, by carrying its vapour under a head of neutral non-evaporable
liquid, condensing the compressed vapour at the ordinary temperature and removing
the resulting liquid and air by a pump.

page_text: 2. The special apparatus for accomplishing these, purposes, substantially as
described, in connection with Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
3. The same arrangement of refrigerator and condenser, with the substitution of
the pump shown in Figure 6 as the compressing agent.
4. The same arrangement with the substitution of the compressing apparatus
described in connection with Figure 9.
5. The modification of condenser when materials absorbent of the vapour are
employed, substantially as described and as shown in Figure 10.
6. The arrangement described for compressing air and cooling it as the pressure
proceeds by a head of water as in Figure 7, and of mercury as in Figure 9.
7. The cooling or freezing chamber described in connection with Figure 8.
8. The arrangement for the circulation of cold air in and around meat-preserving
chambers, as described.
9. The return condensed ether pipe enveloping the vapour pipe, as shown in
Figure 11.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Harrison, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-nine.
JAMES HARRISON. (L.S.)