US1708461A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

April 9, 1929. w, BQDMAN 1,708,461.

REFRIGERATOR Filed March 25, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet l April '9, 1,929. w L. BODMAN 1,708,461

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER LIGHT BODMAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE INSULATION COR- PORATION, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

REFRIGERATOR.

My invention relates to improvements in refrigerators, and the general object of my invention is to make the art of refrigerating either in houses, hotels, cars, or other places,

simpler, cleaner, and less expensive than at present. In the attempt to conserve refrigerants and prevent radiant losses, the most general type of wall construction is to make the containing walls of refrigerated space of layers of more or less flat insulating materials, or to attempt to produce a dead air space in the walls, or in some instances a vacuum or partial vacuum. This wall construction makes an expensive, heavy, and not very efficient construction. The objectof my invention is to improve this part of the refrigerator, using the term in its broad sense, by making the walls of spaced light materials which are rendered impervious to air, and then preferably by filling the contained space with numerous cells in the form of cheap waterproof impervious cartons which can be filled with a dry, heavy gas, such by preference as anhydrous carbon dioxide, which is of low conductivity. Thus it will be seen that if the walls are impervious, and the space between them filled by these cartons which do not align vertically, no convectional or other currents can be set up and a very complete insulation is obtained, so that whatever the refrigerant or whatever the interior construction, I get the advantage of small losses through the walls of the refrigerating chamber.

Another object of my invention is to produce va structure in which ice, which is the cheapest form of refrigerant now known, can be used to much better advantage than at present. While ice is a cheap refrigerant, its use is very annoying and ineffective for very 4 many reasons. As ordinarily used, it has to be renewed at frequent intervals, and its refrigerating efi'oct varies to such a degree that when a full supply is placed in the refrigerator it will at first chill the interior of the chamher to a greater extent than is necessary, and as the water runs away and the ice melts, ultimately the cooling effect is so small as to be of practically no use. Furthermore this renewal is a very nasty operation, and annoying to those who are dependent on it or who use it.

I have found that by using closed containers or batteries of containers, and freezing the liquid in them, then with proper wall construction and proper circulation the renewals 65 of the batteries or containers only need to be -j y Application flied March 25, 1926. Serial No. 97,392.

made infrequently because the refnigerant as it melts does not run to waste, and the water produced by melting serves as a regulator to prevent the rapid melting of the contained ce, and to absorb the heat from the surrounding chamber more gradually so that in this way the renewals need be made only at very long ntervals, and in addition the nastiness and inconvenience of a waste pipe through which the melted ice runs is avoided.

Another advantage of this system is that if (l GSIIOd the container may be filled with material having a very low melting point. These and other advantages of my improvements will appear more clearly from the description which follows.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts mall the views.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of an ice box showing my improvements.

Figure 2'is a vertical section on the line 2-2 A of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a front elevation of an ice box with the doors removed and illustrating my improvements.

Figure 4 -is a cross section on the line 44 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a vertical section of the box in a plane parallel with the front and back of the Figure 6 is a broken rear elevation with the back panel of the box removed, and

Figure 7 is a cross section on the line 7-7 of Figure 5.

The drawings are by way of example, because obviously so far as the construction of the walls, doors, etc. of the refrigerator is concerned, it can be made in a great variety of sizes and designs without affecting the invention. The refrigerator should have a skeleton frame which can be of any approved construction, but as I have shown a rectangular refrigerator, I have consequently illustrated 100 it with uprights 10 and 11 at the back corners, corner posts 12 and 13 (see Figure 4) separated in pairs 14 at the front corners, a. central vertical brace 15 at the back of the refrigerator, and horizontal braces 16, 17, 18 105 and 19, disposed to give the necessary stiffness to the frame. Obviously the framework or braces of the frame can be disposed as desired without affecting the invention in any way. In the upper part corresponding to the 110 ice box I have shown vertical braces 20 at the rear and 21 at the front, and also a cross brace 22 at the front of the part corresponding to with upper and lower doors 25 and 26 arranged in the conventional way, and these may be of any approved construction. I have shown them hollow to make them less conductive of heat, and if desired the space in the doors can be insulated after the manner of the rest of the wall, but ordinarily this is not necessary. The important feature of the wall construction is that the space between the outor and inner walls is broken by a great number of cells or cartons 27, which can be of paper treated to make them water proof and air tight, and these cartons are filled with a gas of low conductivity, preferably a heavy gas like anhydrous carbon dioxide, although other gases might-be used, or the carton might be made-so that each would be more or less of a vacuum. The cartons are of a length to extend from one wall to the other so as to fill the space between the two walls, and I have shown them as ordinary cylindrical cartons, but they can be given any shape desired. It will be seen, therefore, that the space between the walls while of itself offering poor conduction, is so broken up by the cartons or cells that there is no opportunity for convectional currents, and that even if the cartons contained nothing but air, the insulation would be rendered more perfect; but by treating them as specified, it is made very nearly perfect. Furthermore it will be noted that this construction is cheap.

In the upper part of the ice box are chambers 28 arranged in the general way after the manner of the ordinary ice box refrigerator, and each casing is preferably a substantially rectangular casing which fits nicely in the upper part of the refrigerator and extends from the door to the back of the refrigerator, the outer wall of each casing being bent or otherwise shaped as at 29 in Figure 4, so as to form a fine 30 between the casing and the side wall of the refrigerator. A continuation 31 of this flue is formed between the top of the casing 28 and the top inner wall of the refrigerator (see Figure 5), and a still further continuation is the down-draft fine 31 between the casing 28 and a casing 33 presently referred to and shown in Figures 4 and 5.

The casings 28 can be supported on ledges 32 or secured in any convenient way. The divisional or auxiliary casing 33 is arranged parallel with and between the casings 28 and carries a removable container 33 which can be filled with refrigerant, and ma or may not be used. It is in effect an auxiliary container, as will presently appear.

The front of the casing is closed by a plate or door 25 secured by bolts 25", and the door or plate carries a series of removable hollow plugs 34 which register with horizontal openings 35 in the container 33. These openings 35 carry small drawers 36 divided by transverse partitions 37 so as to form a series of water holding receptacles and these may be filled and left in the container so as to freeze small ice boxes for domestic or other use, and to facilitate the withdrawal of the drawers they are provided with suitable pulls 38.

The casings'28, of. whichtwo are shown,

but which may be of any desired number, carry the refrigerant containers 39 which substantially fill the casing, leaving a little space between their sides, tops, and that of the casing 28, and leaving a little space between the containers themselves. These may contain water or liquid having a lower freezing point, and it will be seen that they have no drainage, and therefore as the refrigerant melts, it does not run away but surrounds the ice as is melts, regulates the absorption of heat from the refrigerator, and tends to create an even low temperature for a very long time in the refrigerator. The containers should be provided with handles 39 to facilitate placing them in and removing them from their casings.

Each casing 28 is provided with openings 40 arranged to come between the-containers 39, andbelow the bottoms of the casings are sliding plates or dampers 41 (see Figure 5) having openings 42 therein, which may be placed in or out of registry with the openings 40 in the bottoms of the casings 28, thus regulating the circulation in thecasings around and between the containers 39. These dampers can be operated in any convenient way. As illustrated they are connected by a rod 43 which has a sliding connection with the crank 44 on the shaft 45 extending transversely from front to rear of the refrigerator, turning in suitable bearings and having a dle 46 at the front of the refrigerator. If desired the rod can be provided with an indicator or hand 47 moving over a graduated plate 48 to indicate whether the dampers 41 are in open, or closed, or partly closed position.

Beneath the casings 28 and 33 is a division plate 49 (see Figure 5) made in the form of a shallow dish, deepest in the center, and arranged so as to leave a space 50 between the side edges of the division plate and the side walls of the refrigerator. The middle perthe lower chamber walls 53. These chambers 53 are referably rectangular and fit snugly in the ower part of the refrigerator, being open in front onl and having shelves 54 arranged as desire They have openings 55 in the top to provide for air circulation, and the adjacent side walls 53 of the casings or chambers have openings 56 near the bottom as shown in Figure 5. A funnel 57 is arranged below the flue 52, and has a very small vent 58. This is not to provide for drainage of melted ice, but in case of any recipita' tion in the upper part of the re rigerator or in the flue 52, the slight water of precipitation will drain through the funnel and vent pipe. It will be observed that in the arrangement which I have shown the 'containers of refrigerant can be handled as a clean dry package and inserted singly or in batteries in the refrigerator, and that when ber 54.

the refrigerant has become too warm, can be as easily removed without any messiness and others-substituted for them.

Referring to Figure 5, the warm air from the chambers 53 will rise through the openings 55, pass upward through the spaces'50, deliver up its heat as it passes through the fines 30, 31 and 31', and descend cool through the flue 52. If desired the slots 40 may be opened too so that further cooling may be had by reason of the air which enters the casings 28, passing down between the containers 39 and fine 52 to the containing cham- From the foregoing description it will be apparent that I have shown a refrigerator 0 simple and economical construction which ihas unusual heat insulation, and that the allowing the liquid as it melts to be retained,

I keep a constant lar e cooling surface instead of a constantly iminishing surface, as in the case where ice is used and the drainage carried off. I wish to call attention further to the fact that the heavy inert non-conducting gas which I use as an insulating medium in the refrigerator walls can be confined in any suitable way without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I am aware that refrigerator walls have been made with cells embedded in a substance which makes the wall substantially solid and therefore more likely to crack and be conductive, and I am also aware that gases heavier than air are known to be good insulators and that it is old to have a vacuum or vacuum cell as an insulating means, but in my invention the cells or cartons between the outer and inner walls of the refrigerator, are filled and thus continue to be insulative. Where a vacuum is used either in a cell or wall, it is practically impossible to maintain the vacuum under conditlons of use because the air will find its way in, but where the insulating medium is heavier than air it is easily confined and the air cannot enter. Moreover by making the outer and inner walls impervious as possible to air and filling them with a heavier than air gas, the as is retained, and while it may not be the best possible insulator, it is better than anydof the more or less solid fillers generally use In this case while I have described the manner of maintaining a refrigerant therein, the claims are confined to the refrigerator structure and other features are coveredsomewhat in my a plication for Letters Patent of the United tates Serial No. 97,393, filed March 25, 1926.

1. A refrigerator having a wall of spaced plates or panels with the surfaces covered with metal foil rolled into intimate contact with said surfaces and with the space between the walls filled solely by transverse cells.

2. A refrigerator having a wall of spaced plates or panels, each plate having its outer and inner surfaces covered with metal foil rolled into intimate contact with the same, the spaces between the walls being filled with transverse tubular cells filled with an inert gas heavier than air. 7

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification this 17th day of March, 1926. 1

WALTER LIGHT BODMAN.

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