IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PRESERVING ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES BY MEANS OF COLD
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sydney Pitt, of Sutton, in the County of Surrey, for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PRESERVING ALIMENTARY
SUBSTANCES BY MEANS OF COLD." A communication from abroad by Leon
Ribourt, of Paris, in the Republic of France, Engineer.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sydney Pitt at the Office of
"IMPROVEMENTS
the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd April 1880.
SYDNEY PITT, of Sutton, in the County of Surrey.
IN
APPARATUS FOR PRESERVING ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES BY MEANS OF COLD." [A
communication from abroad by Leon Ribourt, of Paris, in the Republic of France,
Engineer.]
The apparatus is applicable generally to the solution of the problem of the
preservation of substances by cold, and specially for the conveyance on board ships
of fresh provisions, for example, from America and the south of Europe.
As regards more especially the transport of fresh provisions on board ship, to
counteract the passing in of heat by the contact of the sea with the sides of the
vessel and the contact of the outer air, and the radiation from the sun in the
tropics, it is necessary to form around the bulk of the goods a sort of envelopo
which shall be energetically cooled, and even to introduce into the midst of the
mass of goods cold surfaces to maintain the requisite low temperature for the perfect
preservation of provisions.
The ordinary source of negative temperatures, or rather the apparatus by which
heat is absorbed, is a freezing machine.
A circulating liquid is used as an intermediate vehicle between the mass of
provisions to be cooled and the freezing machine. It is preferably chloride of
magnesium dissolved in water; it possesses the advantages of being absolutely neutral
for the good preservation of metal, of not forming a deposit, and of being well fluid.
It may be dissolved in the proportion of 50 per cent. by weight, and form a liquid
which will not freeze even at 30° Centigrade. The apparatus forming the cold
surfaces consists of frigorific cylinders which I will now describe. They are stowed
closely together between decks on board ship, and are connected with the freezing
machine by pipes suitably placed to allow of flow and return currents of the

page_text: incongcalable liquid being directed from the upper deck in such a manner that the
temperature in all parts of the vessel can be kept under control. The provisions
are stowed outside and inside these cylinders, and care is taken to leave between
the ship's side, which is coated with a slow conductor of heat, and the nearest
cylinders sufficient space to form a passage for purposes of inspection.
This small
tunnel formed on each deck need only be formed on one side of the ship so as not
to leave too much space unoccupied.
Each frigorific apparatus is formed of two concentric cylinders of sheet iron of
3, 4, or 5 millimetres in thickness, according to circumstances. These two cylinders,
say, for example, 3 metres in length, have between then an annular space of say
50 millimetres, the outer diameter of the larger one being about two metres. They
are connected together at the two ends by two rings of Ụ shaped iron, to which
the sheet iron is rivetted so as to make watertight the annular space in which the
- circulation of the uncongealable liquid is to take place.
To ensure a systematic circulation of the uncongealable liquid, and to obtain a
uniform exchange of heat at all parts of the surface of the apparatus, divisions
formed of strips of wood, for example, about 50 millimetres thick are placed
between the two cylinders. If, say, there are eight of theso strips, the first one
will be the entire length of the space between the two end rings, the others will be
shorter, and will be placed so as to touch alternately one end ring and then the
other, so forming a zig-zag passage. The inlet pipe admits the liquid between the
first and second strip, and the outlet pipe leads it off from between the eighth and
first. These wooden strips also serve to keep the proper distance between the
cylinders and to strengthen the apparatus, as they distribute shocks and pressures
coming on the exterior or interior of the cylinders.
As to the pressure of the liquid which determines the circulation, the cylindrical
form naturally sustains it without deforination, and the thickness of the sheet iron
is more than sufficient to sustain the pressure, which is comparatively sinall.
It is above all in respect to economy in original outlay and small amount of
space occupied in a vessel that apparatus of the above kind is advantageous. It
permits also of maintaining a circulation of liquid sufficiently cold to ensure the
inaintenance of the low temperature necessary for the proper preservation of
provisions.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Sydney Pitt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st October
1880.
A
SYDNEY PITT, of Sutton, in the County of Surrey.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR PRESERVING ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES BY MEANS OF COLD."
communication from abroad by Leon Ribourt, of Paris, in the Republic of France,
Engineer.
The apparatus is applicable generally to the solution of the problem of the
preservation of substances by cold, and specially for the conveyance on board ships
of fresh provisions, for example, from America and the south of Europe.
As regards more especially the transport of fresh provisions on board ship, to
counteract the passing in of heat by the contact of the sea with the sides of tho
vessel and the contact of the outer air, and the radiation from the sun in the
tropics, it is necessary to form around the bulk of the goods a sort of envelope
which shall be energetically cooled, and even to introduce into the midst of the
mass of goods cold surfaces to inaintain the requisite low temperature for the
perfect preservation of provisions.
The ordinary source of negative temperatures, or rather the apparatus by which
heat is absorbed, is a freezing machine.
A circulating liquid is used as an intermediate vehicle between the mass of
provisions to be cooled and the freezing machine. It is preferably chloride of
magnosium dissolved in water. It possesses the advantages of being absolutely
neutral for the good preservation of metal, of not forming a deposit, and of being
well fluid. It may be dissolved in the proportion of 50 per cent. by weight, and
forms a liquid which will not freeze even at 30° Centigrade.
The apparatus forming the cold surfaces consists of frigorific cylinders which I
will now describe. They are stowed closely together between decks on board ship,
and are connected with the freezing machines by pipes suitably placed to allow of
flow and return currents of the incongealable liquid being directed from the upper
deck in such a manner that the temperaturo in all parts of the vessel can be kept
under control.
The provisions are stowed outside and inside theso cylinders, and care is taken to
leave between the ship's side, which is coated with a slow conductor of heat, and
the nearest cylinders sufficient space to form a passage for purposes of inspection.
This small tunnel formed on each deck need only be formed on one side of the
ship, so as not to leave too much space unoccupied. Each frigorific apparatus is
formed of two concentric cylinders of sheet iron of 3, 4, or 5 millimetres in
thickness, according to circumstances. These two cylinders, say, for example, 3 metres
in length, have between them an annular space of, say, 50 millimetres, the outer
diameter of the larger one being about 2 metres. They are connected together at
the two ends by two rings of U shaped iron, to which the sheet iron is rivetted so
as to make watertight the annular space in which the circulation of the uncongealable
liquid is to take place.
To ensure a systematic circulation of the uncongealable liquid, and to obtain a
uniform exchange of heat at all parts of the surface of the apparatus, divisions
formed of strips of wood for example, about 50 millimetres thick, are placed between
the two cylinders. If, say, there are eight of theso strips, the first one will be the
entire length of the space between the two end rings; the others will be shorter,
and will be placed so as to touch alternately one end ring and then the other, so
forming a zig-zag passage.
The inlet pipe admits the liquid between the first and second strip, and the outlet
pipe leads it off from between the eighth and first. These wooden strips also serve

page_text: to keep the proper distance between the cylinders and to strengthen the apparatus,
as they distribute shocks and pressures coming on the exterior or interior of the
cylinders.
As to the pressure of the liquid which determines the circulation, the cylindrical
form naturally sustains it without deformation, and the thickness of the sheet iron
is more than sufficient to sustain the pressure, which is comparatively small,
It is above all in respect to economy in original outlay, and small amount of
space occupied in a vessel, that apparatus of the above kind is advantageous.
It permits also of maintaining a circulation of liquid sufficiently cold to ensure
the maintenance of the low temperature necessary for the proper preservation of
provisions.
To reduce to a minimum the space occupied by the cylindrical refrigerators they
may be made of several sizes varying in diameter, so that they may be put the one
inside the other like the tubes of a telescope. The central space which remains
empty in the smallest cylinder can be used for storing hides or other cargo..
It can easily be managed that the apparatus thus arranged telescopically shall
not occupy more than one tenth of the space which the cold chamber occupies
within the ship.
The Invention is illustrated by a Drawing annexed.
What I claim is the arrangement of apparatus for preserving alimentary
substances by means of cold, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sydney Pitt, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty third day of September, in the year of our Lord Ona
thousand eight hundred and eighty.
GUAY
DIMA