US2287256A - Ice machine - Google Patents

Description

`lune 23, 1942. c. E. LANGGAARD VICE MACHINE Filed June 13, `l941 U )9 Eva/U or freezing containers.

Patented June 23, 1942 UNITED STATSI PATNT OFFICE ICE MACHINE Carl E. Langgaard, Mineola, N. Y., assigner to George G. Sloan, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application June 13, 1941, Serial No. 397,908

5 Claims.

This invention relates to ice machines of the type disclosed in a companion application Serial Number 397,907 led June 13, 1941 with this application and entitled Ice making apparatus. In said other application there is disclosed an ice machine comprising a rotating barrel within which there are supported Va number of ice cans These latter are filled with water and brine is circulated through the barrel around the containers to freeze the water therein. Said other application also discloses certain improvements in the general operation and construction of the apparatus and machine in the mechanical features thereof. All of such improvements are applicable to the `instant ice machine and are therefore not described or illustrated herein. The object of this invention is to provide an improved arrangement of the ice cans or containers within the rotating barrel whereby to obtain a saving in space and parts as well as z.

in driving power, and whereby to obtain increased efficiency in the freezing operation. In said other application the ice cans or containers are arranged within the barrel radially of the central shaft and also parallel thereto in rows. This arrangement results in much waste of space between the containers. In the instant application the containers are quite differently arranged in a manner circumferentially of the axis of rotation of the barrel which is not suggested nor taught by said other application. In the accompanying drawing illustrating the invention- Fig. 1 is an end view of the machine with details omitted.

Fig. 2 is a side view partly in section.

The machine comprises a barrel shaped housing 3 having two irregularly shaped end walls 4 and 5. Within the barrel there are suitably supported a number of ice cans or freezing containers in sets of four in a plane at'right angles to the central driving shaft 6. Each set of cans is marked l, 8, 9, and I0. The longitudinal axes H of the containers are at right angles to each other and tangential to a circle drawn about the central shaft with a radius greater than one half the width of the container as indicated by the circle marked l2. 'I'hus the containers are arranged with the bottom I3 of each parallel to the side I 4 of the adjacent container or can.

Each container has a top ange l5 which rests ing twenty-eight containers. The machines may of course be longer or shorter for whatever capacity desired. Cooling brine is supplied at I1 to the hollow central shaft 6 from which four radially disposed supply pipes I3 supply brine to longitudinal spray pipes I9 having suitable` branches 20 with outlets 2| for spraying the brine into the barrel around the containers. The return circuit of the brine is through the central shaft through holes 22 therein and out at the end 23. A plug 24 in the shaft separates the circuits.

In operation the barrel is rotated stepwise a quarter of a revolution to bring a row of containers uppermost to be filled with water, the covers being open as shown. Thereafter the covers are closed and locked and then another quarter of a revolution brings the next row of containers on top into water receivingposition and so on. When all the containers are filled the barrel and pipes are rotated by a gear 25 for instance, the shaft 6 being supported in bearings as indicated at 26. During the rotation the brine is circulated as described. When the ice has been formed within the containers the machine is stopped in the position shown in Fig. 1. The covers in the bottom row are opened and the ice blocks slide out. The barrel rotates preferably in the direction of the arrow 28. The covers remain open until the empty containers come to the water receiving position.

The arrangement of the ice containers is very advantageous in that it permits of a very compact structure with no waste space between the containers such as exists when they are arranged radially about the axis of rotation. As stated above all the parts necessary for operating the machine and not herein referred to are disclosed in the said other application and omitted herein. This application is concerned solely with the novelty and usefulness of the structure illustrated.

In defining the novel arrangement of the containers in sets of four in a single plane it may be said that the containers thus arranged form the pattern of a four winged wind mill.

I claim:

1. In an ice machine of the character described a rotatable barrel-formed housing, a plurality of freezing containers, means for supporting the same within said housing in sets of containers spaced side by side longitudinally of the axis of rotation of said housing, the containers in each set being arranged equidistantly circumferentially of said axis with the bottom of each container in substantially parallel relation to the side of an adjacent container in the same set.

2. A machine according to claim 1 in which each of said containers has a longitudinal axis, the axes in each set of containers being located in a single plane at right angles to the said axis of rotation.

3. A machine according to claim l in Which the said containers open outward from said housing.

4. A machine according to claim 1 in Which l0 each set of said containers consists of four containers positionedl circumferentially about the said axis of rotation to form the pattern of the wings of a four winged wind mill, said containers opening outwardly from said housing.

5. A machine according to claim 1 including means for applying a refrigerant externally of said containers and circulating the refrigerant through the said housing.

CARL E. LANGGAARD.

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