US2144985A - Liquid cooler - Google Patents

Description

`R. MARKLEY, JR

LIQUID COOLER Filed July 3l, 1936 Patented Jan. 24, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE LIQUID COOLER Application July 31, 1936, Serial No. 93,739

11 Claims.

Liquid coolers are suitable and adaptable for use in many varied ways, but for the purpose of illustrating one form which the present invention may take I have in the drawing and in the hereinafter following description illustrated and made reference to a liquid cooler which is particularly adapted for the purpose of cooling milk in. cans.

The agitator which comprises a very important feature of the present invention is a particularly 4advantageous additionv to a cooler utilized for the purpose of cooling milk for the reason that it has been found necessary to cool milk as rapidly and quickly as possible, and my improved agitator when applied to a milk cooling cabinet speeds up greatly the refrigerating or cooling action of the cooler with the result that a rapid cooling of the milk can be quickly obtained.

Although in the drawing and description I have illustrated a liquid cooler cabinet in which the water or other liquid is cooled by a vertically disposed cooling coil it is to be understood that the coil could be disposed horizontally or otherwise or that the coil could be entirely dispensed with and replaced by ice or any other well known cooling or reirigerating medium.

I have found however that an electric refrigerating medium in the form of a vertically disposed coil constructed and installed in the cabinet in the manner illustrated in the drawing and hereinafter described, is particularly well adapted for obtaining rapid cooling of the liquid. Notwithstanding this fact it is to be distinctly understood that the present invention is not limited to a cabinet built in exact accord with that illustrated and described nor to a refrigerating element built and installed in theexact 'manner illustrated and described, but to the contrary my present improved Water or liquid impeller or agitator will when applied to any liquid cooler speed up materially the cooling of the liquid, and is therefore an invention which can be advantageously used in connection with any liquid cooler.

I have found that the oper-ation of a liquid cooler is materially speededv up by providing means to cause a circulation of the water to. be cooled over, about or around the refrigerating element or medium. I have also found that to accomplish this circulation of the liquid the impeller or agitator to obtain the best results should be constructed sothat in its operation eddying of the liquid is reduced to the minimum if not entirely eliminated, all of which will be explained in more detail hereinafter.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that the present invention has as an object the provision (c1. ca -101)' of a liquid cooler which is highly eiiicient an rapid in operation. Another object will be understood as being that of providing in combination with a liquid cooler improved means for causing 'invention showing its application to a liquid cooler or cabinet utilizing a vertically disposed coil as the refrigerating element, a portion of the figure being .broken away and shown in section to better illustrate the invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary enlarged view in vertical section illustrating the movement of the liquid obtained when the agitator or impeller is in operation.

It being understood, as mentioned, that the drawing illustrates only one embodiment which the invention may take, specific description of the cooler and cabinet appearing in the drawing will now be given.

A rectangular cabinet i is provided with a top comprising a fixed portion 2 and a hinged portion 3. This cabinet is preferably formed with spaced walls between which are arranged insulating material, but the particular configuration and structure of the cabinet forms no part of the present invention and further detail description of it is unnecessary.

The refrigerating element, when a vertically disposed coil type is utilized, is preferably sevcured to the rear wallof the cabinet by a bracket 4. The cooling coil is illustrated at 5 and a refrigerant is ada'pted to be circulated through this coil in the well understood manner common to refrigerating coils and as the means for producing and causing the circulation of the refrigerant forms no part of the present invention and as any of the well known makes of machines'now in use can ybe used for this purpose no illustration of it is'glven norV is any detail description o! it considered necessary.

The coil is preferably mounted between batiies one of which is designated at 1 and is positioned at the front or outer side of the coil and is supported by a bracket 6 which is secured to the bracket l. The other baille is designated at 'I' and is carried by the bracket 4. Both oi' these baiiles are preferably in actual and intimate contact with the coils and serve as fins for transmitting heat from the water, in which the coil and baiiles are submerged, to the coil. The baffles 'I and I terminate short of the top and bottom of the coil but are completely submerged within the water to be cooled, as clearly appears in Figure 2 of the drawing.

In utilizing the cabinet or cooler for` cooling milk in cans the cans are placed within the cabinet and completely submerged within the water. Due to the baille arrangement there is a natural circulation of water due to the fact that the water enclosed between the bailles is quickly refrigerated and tends to settle to the bottom thus drawing warm water to the coils. I'his water circulation is inherent in a liquid cooler built in the manner thus far described.

It has been found however, that this natural circulation of water'is not suilciently rapid to obtain the rapid cooling of the water and in turn the rapid cooling of the milk which is necessary and desirable. It is for this reason that the present improved agitator or impeller is utilized in conjunction with the cooler cabinet.

Referring now to the impeller or agitator it will be seen that angle irons 8 and 9 are secured to the bracket 6 and that a guard I0 is in turn secured to and supported by these angle irons.

The fixed top portion 2 of the cabinet is provided with brackets I I carrying an electric motor I2 the shaft I3 of which is vertically disposed and extends into a suitable opening Id formed in the top and through the medium of a coupling member I5 has connection with a vertically disposed shaft extension I6 carrying at its lower end a propeller I 'I preferably disposed slightly below the guard I0 to prevent the propeller from being in- :lured by milk ca'ns as they are placed into or removed from the cabinet.

A disc I8 which for want of a better' name I have termed a turbulence disc, is secured tothe propeller shaft I 6 at a point slightly above the guard I0 and this disc is fixed to and revolves with the shaft.

It is to be noted that the propeller and its disc are quite close to the surface of the Water. By placing the propeller in this position i-t is possible to use a short propeller shaft, and due to the shortness of the shaft any tendency for the shaft to whip is eliminated notwithstanding the fact that no shaft bearing is provided.

A s hort propeller shaft and the elimination of a shaft bearing is however only one of the advantages of placing the propeller close to. the water surface or level. To bring about the rapid cooling of the water it is desirable to pull or force the warmsurface water downwardly and mix it with the cool water adjacent the bottomvof the cabinet and also to cause circulation of the water about the refrigerating element or the refrigerating medium or coll 5. However, without provision of the disc I8 it would be impossible to place the impeller as described. This disc prevents water swirl or eddying which would be inherent in connection with the use of a propeller placedv close to the surface of the water. Without thisdisc there would be swirling and eddying and large quantities of air would unquestionably be pulled or sucked down through the water and particularly around the rotating propeller shaft. This swirling or eddying would reduce materially the circulation of the water by the propeller and would cause objectionable noise and would additionally cause vibration. The vibration would be extremely disadvantageous and would require a propeller shaft bearing. Furthermore the vibration would increase thewear on the working parts and would of course shorten the life of the entire unit.

The provision of the turbulence disc has, I have found, overcome all of these objections and has permitted the positioning of the propeller closely adjacentor only slightly below the water surface to obtain all of the advantages due to this particular positioning of the propeller. The disc permits the use of a propeller or impeller having largerxblades than would be possible without the provision of the disc with the result that the impeller can circulate and move alarge volume of water per minute. It is of course to be understood that the size of the propeller, the pitch of the blades and thespeed or revolution of the propeller can all be varied and adjusted to suit the particular conditions to be met.

In actual operation of a cooler such as is here shown and described, assuming that the water level is, slightly above the upper edges of the bailles and that a refrigerant is being forced through the coils, the water will start to circulate as the Water between the bailles becomes quickly refrigerated and settles to the bottom and thereby drawing to the coils the warm water. When the electric motor is started and the propeller is revolved at the desired and proper speed an additional circulation of the water within the cabinet is obtained and this additional circulation is suchthat the water is forced downwardly in all directions and as the propeller is preferably located adjacent the coil baffles the water which is forced downwardly will pass under the lower edges of the battles and up and through the coils and enter the main volume of water in a much cooler condition with the result that as this operation is repeated continuously the water within the cabinet can be cooled quickly and rapidly to any desired tern- .perature and can be maintained at that temperature so as to quickly and rapidly cool the milk within the cans and maintain the milk in` a cool condition throughout any period of time desired. It has actually been found that it is only necessary, once the milk has been cooled to the desired temperature, to operate the propeller at intervals.

In speaking of the ability of the present invention to rapidly cool milk I have reference not only to a cooler having a mechanical refrigerating element but to any cooler irrespective of the particular type of refrigerating element utilized as a means for cooling the water. The important feature is that of the circulation of Water caused by the propeller and the construction of the propeller or impeller which permits it to be positioned at a point only slightly below the surface of the water.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have -provided an improved means for circulating type of refrigerating element, to a liquid cooler of any particular configuration or construction, or that the propeller be necessarily driven by an electric motor as other driving means for the propeller can be equally well utilized.

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of the turbulencedisc which enables the impelier or agitator to be positioned closely adjacent the surface of the water so as to have-all of the aforementioned and enumerated advantages and to guard positively against churning the water or causing water eddies which would tend to de `crease to a very large degree theemciency of the propeller in moving a large volume of water rapidly.

Attention is also directed to the fact that the impeller or agitator is constructed as a unit and therefore it need not be originally built into the cooler but as a unit can be quickly and readily Vapplied to and used in conjunction with coolers already manufactured and in use.

I claim:

1. 1n a. uquic cooler of the und described. the

combination with a container adapted to contain water in which cans of liquid are submergedfor cooling, means'. disposed within said container for cooling said water, baiiles arranged at opposite sides of said cooling means, said baiiiester- Inlnating short of the water level insaid container and terminating short Yof the bottom of the container, and va propeller mounted within the water of the container at a point slightly below the surface ofthe water andhaving its axis arranged at right angles to the surface, of said water, means to drive said propeller, and means 'in theform of-a disc mounted above said propeller for preventing churning vandeddying of the water by thepropeller.

2. In a liquid cooler of the kind described, the

combinationwith a container adapted to con-l tainwater in which cans of liquid aresubmerged for cooling, of a cooling coil disposed withinV said vcontainer carrying a baille, the baille terminating short of the top and bottom of the coils and adapted to be submerged within the water and a propeller mounted within the water. lof vthc container at a point slightly below the surface ofthe water and having its axis arranged at right angles to the surface of the water anda turbulence disc disposed in ahorizontal plane above the propeller and below the water surface.

3. A milk cooierof/ the'kind described, comprising a cabinet adapted to contain water in which cans of milk are disposed, a cooling coil through which a refrigerant, is adapted to pass disposed in said cabinet, a bame for said coil ter. minating short of the top'and bottom of said coll and adapted to be submerged within the water of the cabinet, a vertically disposed propeller shaftF extending through'the top of said cabinet and having a propeller mounted on the lower end thereof for causing a circulation of the water withinthe cabinet anda turbulence disc` mountedon said propeller shaft above said propellei-,forthepurpose described.

4'. A milk coolingcabinet havingla nxed and movabletopandadsptedtocontainacooling medium such as water, a cooling coil disposed alongfonewallof said cabinet and spaced therefrom,abaiilearrangedagainsttheinnerfaceof saidcoilterminatlnsshortofthetopandbottom of said coil to provide a space between said bane' and the inner wall of'the cabinet, an electric motor mounted onthe fixed topof said cabinet overvan opening disposed therein, s vertically disposed propeller shaftcconneeted to the motorshaft and adapted to berotated thereby, apropellerilxedonthelowerendofsaidpropellershaftandaturbulsnoedisc'nxedonsaid propeller shaft above said propeller and adapted to be rotated therewith.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination witha container adapted to contain liquid in 'whichcans of milk or the like are submerged for cooling, container for cooling said liquid, a propeller within vsaid liquidV positioned adjacent the surface thereof and rotatable-on a vertical axis, a

. disc disposed slightly above said propeller and below the surface of said liquid, and said disc being of a diameter at least as great as the diameter of the propeller, for the Purpose described.

6. In a device of the character described, the combination with a container adapted to contain liquid in which cans of milk or the like are submerged for cooling, means disposed within said container for cooling said liquid, a propeller withvin the liquid of the container and disposed slight- `ly below the surface thereof and rotatable one.

vertical axis, and means disposed between said `propeller and the surface of said liquid to prevent said propeller from causing water swirl and eddying such as would be naturally inherentin connection with a propeller rotating close to the surface of the liquid. a

7. In a device of the" character described, a container having liquid therein, means to cool said liquid, a drive shaft vertically disposed in said liquid, means to drive said shaft, a propeller .carried'by said shaft and positioned slightly below ,the surface of the liquid in said container and through rotation on its vertical axis adapted to circulate water from the surface of the liquid towards the bottom of the container, and a disc of a diameter of at least as great as the diameter 'of vthe .propeller positioned between said prof .peller and the surface of said liquid, for the lPurposes described.

f8. In a device of the character described, the combination with a container adapted to contain water in which cans of Aliquid are submerged for cooling, means disposed within said container for cooling said water, a propeller within the water face of the cooling medium `to provide a-space between said baille and the inner wall of said cabinet, a vertically disposed propeller shaft extending into said cooling' medium and carrying a propeller disposed t/hereon at a point slightly below the surface of said coooling medium, means to drive said shaft, and a turbulence disc, disposed in a horizontal plane abovesaid propeller and below the surface of said cooling medium,

'for the purpose described.

icmamucturesucnasdennedlnelaime,

means disposed within said' wherein the turbulence disc is fixed to'and rotatable with said propeller shaft.

1l. In a construction such as defined in claim 9, wherein the turbulence disc is of a diameter at least as great as the diameter of the propeller :lrllittis fixed to and rotatable with the propeller RICHARD MABKLBY. Ja.

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