Improvements in Refrigerating or Ice Making Apparatus.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd June, 1890
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Mar., 1891-Accepted, 25th Apr., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Refrigerating or Ice Making Apparatus.
We, JOSEPH PRICE, of 11, Belmont Drive, in the City of Liverpool, Engineer.
and MAUNSEL CASSWELL BANNISTER, A.M.I.C.E., 6, West Seacombe Terrace,
Seacombe, in the County of Chester, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to certain improvements in refrigerating apparatus
generally and more particularly in that special class of refrigerating apparatus
employed for the manufacture of ice. Its object, as applied to refrigerating
apparatus in general, is to obtain and maintain a higher efficiency of the cooling
surfaces, and, in the case of ice-making apparatus, to produce a better quality of ice,
while in both cases there results a decreased expenditure of power.
In many varieties of refrigerating apparatus, a current of air is cooled by being
brought into contact with metallic surfaces, themselves kept cool by any suitable
means. In such apparatus, the efficiency of the cooling surfaces has hitherto been
considerably impaired by reason of the moisture in the air being deposited on such
surfaces and forming thereon a non-conducting coating of snow, which interferes
materially with the transmission of the heat from the air to the cooling medium.
To remove this deposited moisture, and maintain the apparatus at its maximum
efficiency, a strong solution of brine is employed, or other solution which will
dissolve the snow from the cooling sufaces without itself freezing thereon. The
brine solution may be simply allowed to flow over the cooling surfaces by gravity
or it may be projected over or among them in the form of spray. Any suitable
mechanical arrangement may be employed for applying the solution to the cooling
surfaces. In constructing new apparatus, the cooling surfaces may be specially
arranged with a view to facilitating the application of the brine to the cooling
surfaces thereof, whilst existing apparatus may be converted or modified, if necessary
or desirable. The brine and dissolved snow are collected in a suitable reservoir,
and the liquor can be used repeatedly, until it becomes too diluted to be any longer
advantageously employed. The diluted brine can be drawn off from time to time
and concentrated, or strong solution may be added thereto at intervals.
In cases where the velocity of the air past, or over, the cooling surfaces is
insufficient for the requirements of the user, such velocity may be increased by any
suitable mechanical means, such as a fan, exhaust pump, etcetera.
In that class of refrigerating apparatus which is employed in the manu-
facture of ice, instead of using a series of bamboo pumps or flexible balls
alternately self-inflated and compressed, for the purpose of effecting the requisite
circulation of the water in the ice tanks-as set forth in the Specification of Letters
Patent No. 9023 granted to Maunsel Casswell Bannister (one of the parties in the
present application) and dated June 20th, 1888,- -we employ a series of injection
chambers, preferably of a more or less globular form, and constructed of glass or
of some other material of a low degree of conductivity. Each of these chambers is
of a capacity sufficient to contain the amount of water required for each injection,
and each communicates at its upper end, by means of a flexible connection, with a
common connecting tube, the lower end of each chamber being provided with an
injection nozzle (preferably of bamboo) which dips into the water in the adjacent
ice tank.
The common connecting tube aforesaid is filled with air which is alternately
attenuated and compressed, thus causing the injection chambers to be alternately
filled and emptied. Each of the said common tubes has free communication with
the upper end of an air chamber (or chambers), which is or are connected in a

page_text: suitable manner with any convenient form of alternate suction and force device,
such, for example, as a cylinder with a reciprocating piston, said cylinder being
connected, say at its lower end, with the lower end of the said air chamber (or
chambers). The arrangements for operating the said piston are preferably of such
a nature as will impart a slow movement to the piston when attenuating the air in the
air chambers, connecting tube and injection chambers, and a quick return movement
when compressing the air to expel the water from the injection chambers. The
lower part of each air chamber may be formed with a flexible diaphragm so that a
liquid may be used between the piston and the adjacent side of the diaphragm. By
this means a much smaller body of air has to be operated upon, namely, that
contained between the opposite side of the diaphragm and the injection chambers.
It may sometimes be found desirable to place a flexible diaphragm in the injection
chambers, or such a diaphragm may even be dispensed with altogether.
The action of the apparatus is such that on the in-stroke of the piston the afore-
said liquid is drawn into the cylinder and forms a partial vacuum in the air
chambers, connecting tube and injection chambers, causing the required amount of
water to pass preferably slowly into the latter, from the ice tanks below them.
On the out-stroke of the piston, the air is rapidly compressed and the water forcibly
expelled from the injection chambers into the tanks, thus setting up a vigorous
circulation of the water therein.
The injection chambers being flexibly connected with their common tube, the
constant vibration of the air in such flexible connections causes the injection nozzles
to move about in the water in the tanks to an extent sufficient to prevent them from
being frozen into the block. This movement of the nozzles also serves to distribute
the circulation more equably throughout their respective tanks.
Suitable attachments may also be provided for controlling the flow of water into
and out of the various injection chambers.
Dated this 21st day of June 1890.
WM. P. THOMPSON & CO.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, l'atent Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Refrigerating or Ice Making Apparatus.
We, JOSEPH PRICE, of 11, Belmont Drive, in the City of Liverpool, Engineer,
and MAUNSEL CASSWELL BANNISTER, A.M.I.C.E., 6, West Seacombe Terrace,
Seacombe, in the County of Chester, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to certain improvements in refrigerating apparatus
generally and more particularly in that special class of refrigerating apparatus
employed for the manufacture of ice. Its object, as applied to refrigerating
apparatus in general, is to obtain and maintain a higher efficiency of the cooling
surfaces, and, in the case of ice-making apparatus, to produce a better quality
of ice, while, in both cases, there results a decreased expenditure of power.
The invention may be carried into effect as follows, reference being had to the
accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figure 1 is a vertical section illustrating one way in which the invention may be
applied to a refrigerating apparatus of the ordinary vertical type.
Figure 2 is a similar section showing a modified arrangement of the above,
especially applicable for small users.
Figure 24 is a plan of a portion of the apparatus shown in Figure 2.
Figure 3 is a sectional elevation of an ice-making apparatus to which the
invention has, in part, been applied, said apparatus being, by preference, worked
in conjunction with that shown in Figure 1.

page_text: igare is a plan of re
Figure 5 is a side elevation of part of the apparatus shown in Figure 3.
Figures 6 and 7 are vertical section (partly in elevation) and plan respectively of
the pump shown in Figures 3, 4 and 5.
Figures 8 and 9 are sections of modified forms of the air vessel and injection
chamber respectively, shown in Figure 3.
Figures 10 and 11 are longitudinal and transverse sections respectively of another
modified form of injection chamber.
In many varieties of refrigerating apparatus, a current of air is cooled by being
brought into contact with the cold metallic surfaces of a series of pipes, tubes
or chambers, which are themselves kept cool by a suitable cooling medium,
contained in, passing through or over, or wholly or partly surrounding said
tubes, pipes or chambers. In such apparatus, the efficiency of the cooling
surfaces has hitherto been considerably impaired by reason of the moisture in
the air being deposited on such surfaces and forming thereon a non-conducting
coating of snow, which interferes materially with the transmission of the heat
from the air through the metal to the cooling medium.
In the apparatus shown in Figure 1, which is an ordinary form of refrigerating
apparatus for cooling air, the air is caused to enter one end of a chamber A, as
at A', by any convenient device, such as a fan A, and to pass out at the
opposite end of the chamber, as at A³ In its passage through the chamber, it
is cooled by coming into contact with the outer surfaces of a series of concentric
coils of pipe B containing a suitable cooling medium, which enters at B' into the
lower ends of the coils and passes out at the upper ends thereof as at B2 or
vice versa.
As the air passes between the coils, the moisture in it is deposited on
their outer surfaces in the form of snow as aforesaid.
To remove this deposited moisture, and maintain the apparatus at its maximum
efficiency, there is employed a strong solution of brine or other solution which
will dissolve the snow from the cooling surfaces without itself freezing thereon.
The brine solution may be simply allowed to flow over the cooling surfaces by
gravity, or it may be projected over or among them in the form of spray. Any
suitable mechanical arrangement may be employed for applying the solution to the
cooling surfaces. In the apparatus shown, the chamber A is provided at its upper
end with a tank C having a perforated bottom C through which the strong brine
falls in a shower upon and among the coils B and washes off the snow thereon.
The brine and the dissolved snow are conveniently collected at the bottom of the
chamber below the level of the air outlet in a tank C2 The brine may be
supplied either continuously or intermittently to the tank C by a pipe C³ It
is preferable, however, to spray it at intervals over the perforated bottom C¹ by
means of a perforated ring C. Or the perforated bottom C may be dispensed
with, in which case the spray is projected over and among the coils.
C³ is a pipe whence the cooled brine may be run or drawn off into the
freezing chamber D, Figure 3, of the ice-making apparatus, or otherwise, as
desired. The supply of brine to the upper tank C may be obtained from the
chamber D aforesaid (preferably from the upper or warmer part thereof) or
from other suitable reservoir, or it may be pumped up directly from the tank C².
If the latter arrangement be adopted, the brine with the dissolved snow can be
used repeatedly until the liquor becomes too diluted to be advantageously employed.
The brine thus diluted can be drawn off from time to time and concentrated, or
strong solution may be added thereto at intervals.
It will thus be seen that the strong brine is first employed for maintaining the
cooling surfaces of the refrigerator at their maximum efficiency and is then either
utilised as a freezing medium in the ice-making apparatus or is again employed in
the refrigerator.
In order to extend the course of the air through the apparatus and thus keep
it longer in contact with the cooling surfaces, any suitable arrangement of per-
forated diaphragins or baffle plates may be employed, the same being placed

page_text: intermediate to the coils in positions more or less transverse to the general direction
of travel of the air through the apparatus, so that the said air is caused to take a
zig-zag or spiral course through the apparatus. A convenient arrangement and one
in which the perforations in the diaphragms are not liable to be frozen up is shown in
Figure 1. It consists of a layer B' of loose fibrous material, such as "kus-kus,"
coir, or bamboo fibre, which is laid upon the upper surface of one or more of the
series of spiral coils B3 B, so that it forms a spiral passage or passages for the air
while offering little impediment to the falling brine spray.
"Kus-kus" is an Indian root fibre which is now coming into use for packing (P
jacketing refrigerators and for similar purposes.
The brine spray also serves to wash or cleanse the air in its passage through
the apparatus. Should the air be much vitiated by coming into contact with putrid
matter, as for example, when it is employed for cooling meat stores, a suitable dis-
infectant medium, such as boracic acid, Condy's fluid, or charcoal, may be used with
the brine to disinfect the air before it re-enters the stores. To this end, the disin-
fectant may be placed in the lower tank Cand the inner casting A' of the apparatus
may be extended downwards to touch or dip into the liquor in said tank.
In constructing new apparatus, the cooling surfaces may be specially arranged
with a view to facilitating the application of the brine thereto, whilst existing
apparatus may be converted or modified, if necessary or desirable. Our invention
is not, however, limited to any particular arrangement for applying the brine, as it
will be obvious that various arrangements may be employed, their construction and
operation depending largely upon the type of apparatus to which the invention is to
be applied.
In Figure 2, there is shown an air-cooling apparatus, suitable more especially
for small users, in which a mixture C of crushed ice and salt is employed as
the cooling medium. In this apparatus, the crushed ice and salt is placed within
the tank upon the perforated plate Cand the coils Bare replaced by a series
of vertical diaphragms B² formed by sewing or otherwise securing a loose fibrous
material, such as one of those already mentioned, upon a suitable backing, such as
canvas or wire netting. The diaphragms may be conveniently hung from a frame B³,
as seen on the left hand side of the figure, or they may be formed as endless bands
and suspended from rotating rollers C, as seen on the right of the figure. The
lower ends of the bands dip into the brine in the tank C2 where they pass, by pre-
ference, round guide rollers C or round fixed or weighted rods. To permit of the free
passage of the air through the bands, they may he set at a short distance apart
on the rollers C7, as seen in Figure 24, or they may be otherwise provided with
suitable openings or spaces. The melting ice and salt produce a constant shower
of cold brine over and between the diaphragms which are saturated thereby. The
constant movement of the travelling diaphragms through the brine in the tank C2
also assists to keep them saturated. The air enters at A', passes over and between
the cold diaphragms 132 and issues at A³. The liquor in the tank C2 may be drawn
off as desired by pipe C³.
In that class of refrigerating apparatus which is employed in the manufacture of
ice, instead of using a series of bamboo pumps, or flexible balls alternately self-
inflated and compressed, for the purpose of effecting the requisite circulation of the
water in the ice tanks-as set forth in the Specification of Letters Patent No. 9023
granted to Mansel Casswell Bannister (one of the parties in the present application)
and dated June 20th, 1888-we employ a series of injection chambers, preferably of
a more or less globular form, and constructed of glass or of some other material of
a low degree of conductivity.
In Figures 3 and 4, D is the freezing chamber, and E are a series of ice-tanks
supported therein, as by cross bars E. The ice tanks are filled with the water to
be frozen, and the chamber D with the freezing medium. If the medium employed
be brine, it may be supplied to the chamber D by a pipe D', from the tank Cshown
in Figure 1, and a second pipe D2 may serve for supplying brine from the upper
part of the chamber to the tank C on the top of apparatus shown in Figure 1.

page_text: Above each ice-tank there is located one or more injection chambers FF. Each
of these injection chambers is of a capacity sufficient to contain the amount of water
required for one injection, and each chamber communicates at its upper end, by
means of a flexible connection F1, with a cominon connecting tube G. The lower
end of each chamber is provided with an injection nozzle H (preferably of bamboo)
which dips into the water in the adjacent ice-tank and is also, by preference, con-
nected with its chamber by a flexible connection F².
The chambers are, in this case, supposed to be glass globes, each provided with a
pair of necks for attachment to their flexible connections F and F
The common connecting tubes G are each filled with air which is alternately
attenuated and compressed, thus causing the injection chambers F F to be alternately
filled and emptied. Each of the tubes G has free communication with the upper
end of an air chamber (or chambers), which is or are connected in a suitable
manner with any convenient form of alternate suction and force device, such, for
example, as a cylinder K having a reciprocating piston, said cylinder being con-
nected, say at its lower end, with the lower end of the said air chamber or chambers.
In the arrangement shown in the drawings, several air chambers are all connected
by branch pipes with a main pipe J which communicates with the lower end
of the cylinder K by a branch K¹.
The lower parts of the cylinder and air chambers and the pipes J' J and K'
connecting the same are filled with liquid, and the capacity of the cylinder bears
such a relation to that of the air chambers that the liquid displaced on the down
stroke of the piston will fill all the air chambers to the required height. It is pre-
ferable so to proportion these parts to each other and to the amount of liquid
employed, that the down stroke of the piston shall serve to fill the air chambers to
the tops of their cylindrical portions, while the up stroke shall not empty them
below their junctions with their respective branch pipes J. The capacity of each
air chamber is also proportioned in a similar manner to that of its series of injection
chambers.
It will thus be seen that there is an air cushion interposed between the pump
cylinder K and the injection chambers, and that such air being a bad conductor of
heat, the loss of heat from the ice-tanks by way of the injection tubes G is much
less than if the entire connections between the pump and injection nozzles were
filled with liquid. It is advantageous, however, to fill the pipes JJ and K' with
liquid as aforesaid, as, by this means, a much smaller body of air has to be operated
upon, namely, that between the lower ends of the air chambers and the injection
chambers.
The parts of the connecting tubes G G are by preference made flexible or
capable of being readily disconnected, for the purpose of enabling the tubes, injec-
tion chambers and nozzles to be moved out of the way when the ice-tanks are
to be removed.
The arrangements for operating the piston within the cylinder K are preferably
of such a nature as will impart a slow movement to the piston when attenuating the
air in the air chambers J, connecting tubes G and injection chambers F, to fill the
latter with water, and a quick return movement when compressing the air to expel
the water from the injection chambers. Any suitable arrangement may be
employed for this purpose. In the drawing (Figures 6 and 7) the rod 1 of the
piston L' is shown provided with a rack which gears with a pinion M. The
latter is mounted loosely upon a continuously rotating shaft M. M is a clutch
coupling sliding upon and rotating with the shaft M' and adapted to be placed in or
out of gear with a clutch M³ on the pinion by means of a clutch lever M' in the
well known manner. The lever M is pivoted at M and has a lateral arm M° pro-
jecting past the side of the piston rod and adapted to be engaged at its upper and
lower edges respectively by pins L L on the upper and lower ends of said rod.
The clutches being in gear, the rotation of the pinion raises the piston with a
sufficiently slow speed until the pin L' comes in contact with the lever arm M and
disengages the clutches. The piston and rod now fall rapidly to the bottom of the

page_text: cylinder, and the pin L3, striking the arm Min a reverse direction, puts the clutches
in gear again and another up stroke commences. L' are rubber blocks to buffer the
piston as it reaches the bottom of the cylinder.
Instead of working several series of injectors from one piston and cylinder, each
row may be operated independently, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 4. In this
case, the in stroke of each piston may be effected by a spring K, and the out strokes
of an entire row of pistons may be effected by a continuously revolving shaft armed
with tappets adapted to draw out the piston rods and then suddenly release them,
or the spring may be arranged to effect the out stroke, and the tappets the
in stroke.
It will be obvious that other devices, the mechanical equivalent of a cylinder
and reciprocating piston, could be employed for working the injection nozzles, such,
for example, as a collapsible bellows.
Each air chamber may, if desired, be provided with a flexible diaphragm N as in
Figure 8, to separate the liquid below it from the air cushion above it. During the
pulsations of the pump KL, the diaphragms are distorted to a greater or less
extent, as seen in dotted lines in Figure 8. Similar diaphragms F³ may, if desired,
be provided in the injection chambers as shown in Figure 9.
In most cases,
however, these diaphragms will hardly be found necessary.
In Figures 10 and 11, a modified form of injection apparatus is shown. The
injection chambers are formed by a series of recesses Fx in the bottom of a wooden
trough, the upper part G× of which forms the common connecting tube for all the
chambers or recesses. Each chamber is, as before, provided with a nozzle H
connected flexibly thereto. A glass disc is provided in the side of each injection
chamber so that the attendant is enabled at any time to see whether the chamber is
working properly. is a short branch, whereby the series of chambers may be
connected by a flexible pipe to the air chamber as in Figure 3.
The action of the apparatus is such that, on the in stroke of the piston L', the
liquid below it is drawn into the cylinder K and forms a partial vacuum in the air
chambers JJ, connecting tubes G G and injection chambers FF, causing the
required amount of water to pass-preferably slowly--into the latter, from the ice-
tanks below them. On the out stroke of the piston, the air is rapidly compressed
and the water forcibly expelled from the injection chambers into the tanks, thus
setting up a vigorous circulation of the water therein. The circulation, as seen by
the arrows in Figure 3, takes place down the centre of the tank and up the face
of the newly formed ice therein, thus washing off the air bubbles and impurities from
the ice before they become frozen in and carrying them to the top of the tank.
The size of the injection nozzles is so proportioned that the outflow of the water is
throttled. The injection thus continues for some time after the piston has completed
its down stroke, the water being forced out of the chambers by the expansion
of the air cushion. In this way, the duration of the injection can be much
prolonged.
The injection chambers being flexibly connected with their common tube G, and
the nozzles being also flexibly connected to the chambers, the repeated pulsations
which occur in such flexible connections cause the injection nozzles H to move about
in the water in the tanks to an extent sufficient to prevent them from being frozen
into the ice block. This movement of the nozzles also serves to distribute the
circulation more equably throughout their respective tanks.
Suitable attachments may also be provided, where necessary or desirable, for
controlling the flow of water into and out of the various injection chambers, and air
chambers.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :--
1. In a refrigerating apparatus for cooling air by bringing it into contact with
cold surfaces cooled in the manner described, the method of maintaining said

page_text: surfaces at their maximum efficiency by washing off, or preventing the deposition of,
the snow deposited or liable to be deposited thereon (through condensation of the
moisture in the air being cooled) by means of a strong solution of brine (or other
liquid capable of dissolving the snow without itself freezing upon the cooling
surfaces) the said solution being applied to said surfaces either intermittently or
continuously, substantially as described.
2. In an ice-making apparatus in which there is employed, for the purpose of
promoting the proper circulation of the water in the ice-tanks, a series of injection
nozzles as described, and a pump or its mechanical equivalent adapted to effect the
alternate filling and discharging of said nozzles, the employment of an air cushion
between the pump and the water in the injection nozzles or in upper enlargements
thereof, substantially as and for the purpose described.
3. The improved apparatus for promoting the proper circulation of the water in
ice-making tanks, taken as a whole substantially as described and shown in
Figures 3, 4 and 5 with the modifications shown in Figures 10 and 11.
4. In a combined apparatus for air-cooling and ice-making, the utilisation of the
warmer portion of the brine from the freezing chamber of the ice-making apparatus
for the purpose of washing the cooling surfaces of the air-cooling apparatus, and
the returning of the brine thus cooled to the said freezing chamber, substantially
as described.
Dated this 21st day of March 1891.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, and London, Patent Agents.