US1599891A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

, 1,599,891 Sept. 14 1926' W l.;- HILL REFRIGERATOR Filed VMarch 1o, 192e m mil Patented Sept'.` 14, 1926.

UNITED ASTATE-s 1,599,891 APaxlzezlar OFFICE.

WILLIAM :ELLIS HILL, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNR 0F SEVEN TWENTY-FOURTHS TOIRANK H. BORDEN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

REFRIGERATOB.,

.Applicauon mea March 1o., 1926. 'serial No. 93,730.

This invention -relates to refrigerators. The `invention is applicable generally to the refrigerating art,1 but for purposes of illustration will be described and shown as 'applied to a refrigerating show caseor display cabinet.

Someof the objects of my invention are: to provide a case of high efficiency; to pro culation through the case; to provide av case in which cooled 1air 'streams are caused pass along two sides of a platter or material support; to provide a case in which'removal of one or more trays carrying materials to be preserved has no appreciable effect upon the circulation in the case; to provide an 1mproved-circulatory method in a refrigerating case; to provide a case in which a plurality of cooled air streams are pro'ectedin `stratas;

and many other objects an advantagesas will be aparent from the followingJ description. In carr ing out the invention a case is provided 1n which the current ofcooled air 1s divided into a plurality of streams and circulates in the case.

` The invention is shown4 for purposes of illustration as embodied in a refrigerating show case, and in the accompanying drawings: Fig. 1, represents a vertical section through a s'how case inl accordance with my invention, Fig. 2` is a similar section through a slightly modified form of show case, indicating by long arrows the primary, and by short arrows, the secondary air streams, and Fig. 3 is a fragmentary diagrammatic view of a further slight modification of the' invention.

Referring now to Fig. 1, the case comprises bottom wall 10, recessed as at 11, drainedby convention trap drain l2. The case is provided with side or end walls 13, rear wall 14, icing lid 15, sliding doors 16, top 17, sight windows 18, supported by the front wall 20.' All of the walls are insulated in any desired manner, and when so insulated the point of attack for external heat is the sight windows, through which the heat passes with comparative ease. It is because the heat is really driven through theglass and a certain proportion of it contacts with materials o n display andruins such materials, that all other show cases of this description with which the public is acquainted, so far as known, fail in preserving the -materials closest to the front of the case. This is largely due to faulty circulation permitting the formation of dead air pockets in proximity to the front of the tray carrying the displayed materials, and which this invention obviates, as ,will be ,more clearly seen as the description proceeds.

Accessible through the icing lid 15, is the ice or refrigerant supporting tray or support 21, preferably supported at the rear by legs such as 22, and upon which ice or a desired refrigerant or ice machine may be mounted. The tray 21 is perforated so that cooled air may pass through theltray from .the refrigerant. In the present case, for lllustrative purposes the refrigerant is shown as a block of ice 19, although any equivalents may be used.

Supported on the side Walls or ends 13 1s a guide means 30, shown as a solid baille but which vconceivably7 might be a series of shutters-or some suci arrangement, so arranged that there is a space or clearance between the upper end thereof and the case as at 8, and so that there is practically av similar space 9 between the bottom and the tray support 28, to be later described.

In the preferred form material tray supports are provided extending longitudinally of vthel case mounted on the end walls, as for instance as at 31 at the front ofthe case, and as at 28 toward the rear of the case. Support 31 is an angle iron, and support .28, comprises a stepped or off-set unit, in which the tray receiving shelf 24 terminates in an upstanding portion 27, which in turn is bent to form the horizontal tread 26 and vertical riser 23 of a diverting device, arranged to support the front edge of the ice tray 21, and to deflect or divert a certain portion of the cooled air stream falling through the ice tray, and to' project it in a horizontal plane 'in spaced relation to the bottom wall of the case, just above the plane ofthe shelf portions of the material tray supports. It isto be noted that the distance above the tray plane that the diverted or secondary air stream is projected is determined by the extent or width of the vertical or upstanding portion 27. This width should-be appreciable in order to space the secondary air stream from the primary air stream which falls from the refrigerant 19 to the bottom wall of the case, across the bottom to tlie'front wall 20, then part passes upward against the inner face of the sight window for a slight` distance whilethe other part bathes the front portion of the tray, when it curls or curves over toward the space 8 above the guide or baille 30, over the refrigerant and down again. In its course it will absorb such heat units as have been transmitted through the glass and thus eliminate any air pocket that might otherwise form toward the front portion'of the case in proximity to the materials on the tray. This action is facilitated tremendously by the secondary air stream which is projected from the tread section 26 through the space 9 under the baille or ide 30 and travels across the case toward1 the front subjecting the materials on the tray to its influence, then curving or curling upwardly and back, merging with the primary air stream as it passes over the upper end of the balile 30.

As noted this plurality of circulatory air streams is maintained even with the material tray removed, and its action yis of course the 'saine with a tray in position as they are then physically se arated by a barrier, the tray, which is pre erably solid and will not permit the passage of air throu h it. With the tray in position it will be o served that the bottom thereof is in contact with the primary, air stream keeping the tray cooled and simultaneously the upper surface o the tray and the materials displayed thereon are in contact with the secondary air stream.

The case shown in Fig. 2 is practically the same, at least externally, as the A case shown in Fig. 1. However there is a slight change that might be noted. It is desirable in some cases to provide a trough in connection with the diverting means to carry off the melted ice and similar matter, and therefore the diverter shown in the figure noted comprises'a vertical lin 33 curving at the bottom to form the trough or gutter 34, then upwardly 'again to form the projecting edge 3'5, across which the secondary air stream is drawn. For neatness and an attractive appearance, shutters 36and 37 on the diverter 33 and bale 38 respectively may be applied to shield the contentsof trough 34 and recess 12 from the eyesv of an observor looking through the window 18.

With this form of diverting means it is perfectly feasible to use tlie shutter 36 and an angle iron, (not shown) to support a tray carrying the materials for display, yet a simpler device may be used, as shown in Fig. 2, This may comprise aperforated or longitudinally corrugated slatted rest 39, mounted either Adirectly upon the bottom wall 10, or upon short legs (not shown), and upon which the platter may rest.

The'action in Fig. 2, is the same as in the other form of the invention, in which the cold air stream is divided the lower and colder primary stream passing along the bottom, to the front wall under the rest 37, where it curves up, some passing u the front wall and some curving back to AIba the front of the tray in cold air, then up and over the baie, while the secondary air stream is projected horizontally above the rest and bathes the materials on the tray with cold air, then it mixes or merges with the rimary circuit over the baffle.

any applications of the principal involved will occur to those skilled in the refrigerating art, and all such should be considered as within the scope of the following claims, except where they may be otherwise limited,

I claim as my invention 1. A refrigerant oase including a refrigerant support, a material support and means for directing cooled air on both sides of said material support.

2. A refrigerating case including a refrigerant support, a baffle adjacent the support overwhich warmed air passes, and means for directing a plurality of cooled streams of air under or beneath said bale.

2l. A case including a refrigerant support, guiding means adjacent the support over the upper portion of which an incoming air stream is arranged to pass, and means diverting a portion of the cooled air stream from its course below the support so that' the diverted stream passes toward the opposite end of the case `and then up with the incoming air stream.

4. A case including a refrigerant support, a material support below the level of the refrigerant support and spaced therefrom.

and means for directing a layer of cooled air across the upper surface of said material support.

5. A case including a refrigerant support, a material ,Support below the level of the refrigerant support and having a space beneath it, and means for providing a plurality of spaced air streams about said material support.

6. A case including a refrigerant support, a material sup ort, and means for directing a plurality o cooled air streams in the same direction but in spaced planes from the plane of the material support.

7. A show case having a window in one wall, a refrigerant support toward an oppothe site Wall, a primary cooled air stream passing from the refrigerant support to the Wall having the Window, and a secondary cooled air stream passing from the support in spaced relation to the primary cooled air stream.

8. In a case the combination With a refrigerant support, of guiding means adjacent the support, and diverting means beneath the support, said means cooperating to divide the cooled air into a plurality of streams circulating in the case.

9. In a show case having a bottom wall, a refrigerant support mounted in the case adjacent one end of said bottom Wall, a guide means adjacent the support, and a diverting element terminating in a projecting edge beneath and spaced from the guide means and arranged to direct a stream of cooled air across the case in substantial parallelism With but above the bottom Wall.

ment providing a primary air stream from the support under the material supporting means to the front Wall thence over the guiding means to the refrigerant sup-port, and means for maintaining a secondary air stream from the refrigerant support above the material supporting means toward the front wall which mixes with the primary air stream and passes over the .guiding means to the refrigerant support.

11. In a refrigerator, the combination with a rest for a platter, of a refrigerant, the refrigerator having a channel for the passage of a primary air stream from the refrigerant on one side of the rest, means from which a secondary Yair stream passes from the refrigerant on the other side of the plane of saidrest.

12. A method/of refrigerating which consists in bathing the bottom of a platter tray with a stream of cooled air, and simultaneously in bathing the upper portion of the tray with a stream of cooled air.,

In testimony whereof I ax my signature;

WILLIAM E. HILL.

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