IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATORS FOR COOLING WORTS AND OTHER LIQUIDS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Alfred Pontifex, of Shoe Lane, in the
City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATORS
FOR COOLING WORTS AND OTHER LIQUIDS."
Sealed the 22nd March 1870, and dated the 6th October 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Alfred
Pontifex at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 6th October 1869.
I, EDMUND ALFRED PONTIFEX, of Shoe Lane, in the City of London,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REFRIGERATORS FOR COOLING WORTS AND OTHER LIQUIDS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in refrigerators for
cooling worts and other liquids. For this purpose I rivet or otherwise
fix together two flat sheets of copper or other metal so as to form a
hollow vertical cooling wall or plate. The metal sheets are kept the
necessary distance apart by strips of metal or other material, through
which by preference the rivets pass, such strips alternately touching one
end and leaving a space at the other, the ends being closed by a flange

page_text: or other means; these spaces then form a zig-zag channel for the
passage of the cooling water, whilst the wort to be cooled is distributed
on to the top of the cooling wall and flows in a thin film down the out-
side surfaces of the metal sheets. In place of having distance pieces or
guide strips between the sheets of metal to form the partitions the
sheets may be brought close together at certain distances and rivetted
or otherwise fixed together, and the water spaces formed by bulging out
the copper between the lines of rivets, thus making horizontal cor-
rugations. In this arrangement the water may be made to pass from
one horizontal space to the next through ends arranged for the pur-
pose, or by leaving out some of the rivets at the end of each row
alternately.
This arrangement does not afford the same facilities for cleaning as the
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 6th April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMUND
ALFRED PONTIFEX, of Shoe Lane, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex, Her special licence
that I, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex,
my 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 Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN REFRIGERATORS FOR COOLING WORTS AND OTHER LIQUIDS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
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 saine

page_text: was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Sea!
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same.
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in refrigerators for
eooling worts and other liquids. For this purpose I rivet or otherwise
fix together two flat sheets of copper or other metal so as to form a
hollow vertical cooling wall or plate. The metal sheets are kept the
necessary distance apart by strips of metal or other material, through
which by preference the rivets pass, such strips alternately touching one
end and leaving a space at the other, the ends being closed by a flange
or other means. These spaces then form a zig-zag channel for the
passage of the cooling; water whilst the wort to be cooled is distributed
on to the top of the cooling wall and flows in a thin film down the out-
side surfaces of the metal sheets. In place of having distance pieces or
guide strips between the sheets of metal to form the partitions the sheets
may be brought close together at certain distances and rivetted or other-
wise fixed together, and the water spaces formed by bulging out the
copper between the lines of rivets, thus making horizontal corrugations.
In this arrangement the water may be made to pass from one horizontal
space to the next through ends arranged for the purpose, or by leaving
out some of the rivets at the end of each now. alternately.
This arrangement does not afford the same facilities for cleaning as
the flat wall.
Figure 1 shows a vertical section full size of the upper part of a
cooling wall constructed in the first of the ways above described, and
Figure 2 shews a vertical section of a cooling wall constructed in the
manner secondly described; Figure 3 shows a side view, and Figure 4 a
perspective view of a refrigerator made up of such vertical cooling
walls.
The cooling wall shewn at Figure 1 is made up of two flat plates of
metal a, a, by preference of copper, kept apart at intervals by horizontal
metal strips 6, each of which touches one end of the cooling wall, whilst
at the other end a space is left, and the strips are arranged alternately to
touch the opposite ends of the wall, as indicated by the dotted lines in

page_text: Figure 3, so as to form a zig-zag channel for the passage of the cooling
water. Through or it might be near to the strips or distance pieces 6
rivets are passed to hold the two plates up to them, as shewn. The top
edges of the plates are rivetted or otherwise fastened together as shewn
and the bottom edges of the plates are similarly connected together, or
the rivets at one end might be dispensed with if the plate were made
long enough to double cover. The side edges of each plate are formed
with flanges a', a', as shewn, and these flanges are bolted to end plates c,
or they may be connected with the ends in any other suitable manner.
The bottom of one end plate is suitably formed with a water inlet d to
admit water to the lower end of the vertical cooling wall, whilst at the
top of the end plate is an outlet e for water to pass away from the top of
the cooling wall, and a stream of water can thus be caused to flow
upwards continuously through the zig-zag channel of the cooling wall.
The worts or other liquid to be cooled is caused to flow in a thin stream
down each side of the cooling wall, and is for this purpose allowed to
escape through fine perforations in a pipe for it might be a trough, as
shewn at Figure 4 which is in connection with a pipe leading from the
vessel containing the worts or liquid to be cooled. Any desired number
of cooling walls such as above described may be placed side by side
according to the quantity of worts or liquid which it is desired to cool,
sufficient space being left between them to allow of access for cleaning.
In the cooling wall shewn at Figure 2 in place of distance pieces being
placed between the two plates a, a, horizontal indentations or corruga-
tions are made in the two plates opposite to one another, as shewn, and
the indentation in one plate is rivetted to the indentation in the opposite
plate. A passage for the water is formed as in the cooling wall first
.described alternately at one end and then at the other of the wall, and
these passages may
either be formed in the end plates or by not rivetting
the plates together at the places where water passages are to be left. I
prefer to solder over the lines of rivets so as not only to make tight joints
but also to form a smooth surface for the downward passage of the wort
or liquid to be cooled. By forming a refrigerator of vertical cooling
walls constructed as above described the refrigerator may readily be kept
clean so as always to act with its original efficiency, as the cooling walls
can readily be disconnected from their ends and the interior of the water
spaces cleaned out in case of any deposit settling in them, or moveable
doors can be made in the ends to admit of this; the surfaces of the
cooling wall can also readily be washed down,

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim
is, the construction of refrigerators substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Alfred Pontifex, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.