Improvements in and relating to Cool Storage or Refrigerating Chambers, specially applicable to Railway Cars.
Year: 1891

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Cool Storage or Refrigerating
Chambers, specially applicable to Railway Cars.
I, EDMUND TAYLOR of No. 248 Latrobe Street Melbourne in the Colony of
Victoria, 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 more particularly to those railway cars that are intended
to be used for the carriage of meat and other alimentary substances.
Its object is to provide a truck of this description in which there will not be so
much waste of cold air as heretofore and in which the temperature will be
approximately the same throughout the car.
It consists firstly in the employment of removable ice moulds in lieu of blocks of
ice; secondly, in surrounding such removable moulds with walls of rock salt for
the purpose of preventing the formation of snow upon them; thirdly, in the.
employment of a partition across the car so as to enable the chamber or compartment
in which the ice moulds are placed to be entirely shut off from the remainder of the
car; and fourthly, in providing such partition with two ventilators or traps, one
near the roof and the other near the floor in order that the supply of air
circulating from the chamber containing said removable moulds through the body
of the car may be regulated at will.
Referring to the accompanying drawing:
Figure is a longitudinal vertical central section of a refrigerating or cool
storage car embodying my improvements, whilst;
Figure 2 is a vertical transverse section on line 2, 2 Figure 1.
The first part of this invention consists in the use of removable moulds A.
preferably filled with a solution such as salt and water, which freezes at a lower
température than fresh water instead of employing 'bare blocks of fresh water
ice as has hitherto been customary. When these latter are used the ice is made
in moulds, then the surface is thawed and the ice is taken out and placed in
boxes within the chambers to be cooled, where they gradually thaw. The ice
moulds have then to be filled before freezing.
Now by employing the removable moulds A filled with salt water ice, they can
when their contents are thawed, be simply lifted out placed bodily within the
freezing apparatus so as to again freeze their contents and then be replaced in the
ice chamber as before.
BB represent the walls of rock salt which surround the removable ice moulds A
said walls being contained within a frame or casing 6 of wire netting or other
material, which will keep such rock salt in position and yet allow the air to have
free access to it. The object of using these walls is to prevent the formation of
snow upon the surface of the removable moulds A it being obvious that the brine
formed by the snow settling upon the rock salt would simply run off the surface
thereof down into the trough or receptacle C and thence down the discharge pipe c
through the S-bend c on to the ground outside. The removable ice mould A is by
preference provided with an eye bolt d to enable said mould to be easily lifted out
of the truck and be replaced therein whilst a trap or door D is fitted in the
roof of the truck or cool storage car and is adapted to allow the removable ice
mould A to be passed through it so that said mould can readily be either placed in
position within the car or be removed bodily from it. .

page_text: E, E, E represent a partition formed across the car so as to cut off the chamber
in which the ice mould is placed froin the main body of the car as will be well
understood by reference to Figure 1. This partition may be provided with a
door ee which is packed with sawdust and can be closed except when to have
access to such chamber.
FF represent two openings in the partition EE one being formed near the roof
and the other near the floor of the car. Each of these openings is provided with a
a trap or valve which is preferably so arranged that it can be adjusted into any
desired position according to the amount of cold air which it is desired shall pass
from the ice chamber into the body of the vehicle.
One result of employing these ventilating openings in the partition E is that the
cold air will be caused to thoroughly circulate around the interior of the car, it
being obvious that it will pass down to near the bottom and will travel along the
floor to the end of the car furthest from the ice chamber where it will ascend to
near the roof and will travel along the upper part of the car and will finally re-enter
the ice chamber through the uppermost of the two openings F.
If required the traps or valves ff might be connected with the main door of the
car by an arrangement of cords passing around suitably arranged pulleys or wires,
or rods and bell cranks so that upon said door being opened said traps or valves
will automatically close and vice versu upon said door being closed said traps will
automatically open the object being to prevent the escape of the cold air from the
ice chamber when the door of the car is opened at a station thus effectually
preventing any loss of cooling power from that cause.
It will be evident to persons who have had experience in cooling chambers and
refrigerating cars that my improvements offer many advantages. For instance in
the case of a refrigerating car such as that herein described for conveying perishable
products by rail, the ice moulds after they have been charged at a central depot
may be placed in the ice chamber of the car, and if the door leading from the said
chamber into the main body be kept closed they may be sent to any distant depot
or to any place where it is desired to load such cars with but little or no material
lessening of their cooling powers.
I would wish it understood that although I have only described my improvements
with reference to a cool storage or refrigerating car I do not intend to limit them
to that purpose it being obvious that some parts of my invention are equally
applicable to all kinds of refrigerating or cool storage chambers.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :
First. In a cooling or refrigerating chamber the employment of removable ice
moulds (such as A) filled by preference with salt water ice substantially as and for
the purposes herein described and explained and as illustrated by way of example
in the accompanying drawings.
Second. In a cooling or refrigerating chamber the employment of walls of rock
salt enclosed in wire netting or its equivalent substantially as and for the purposes
herein described and explained and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Third. In a cooling or refrigerating chamber the employment of a partition
(such as E E E) between the ice chamber and the main body of the car or cool
storage chamber whether such partition be fitted with a door (such as e e) or not
substantially as and for the purposes herein described and explained and as
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Fourth. In a cooling or refrigerating chamber the combination with a partition
(such as EEE) between the ice containing chamber and the main body of the cool
storage chamber of two openings (such as FF) one being formed in said partition
near the roof of the chamber and the other near the Hoor whether said traps or
openings are automatically opened and closed by the main door or not substantially"

page_text: as and for the purposes herein described and explained and as illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this Second day of July One thousand eight hundred and ninety-one.
EDWARDS & Co.,
35, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.