US274276A - Jesse m - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT @.rricE.

f YJEssE M. CLOCK, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

REFRieERATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 274,276, dated March 20, 1883. Application filed Aprnzieao. (No model.)

specification.

low cellar-oors-in order to construct a refrigerator which shallv be both very eflicient in its cooling power and at the same time very i economical in the use of ice.

`elevation of the upper part.

To this end the main feature of my invention consists in a refrigerator constructed with an ice or cooling chamber embedded in theearth below cellar-oors or similar situations, with an inclosed shaft or casing rising therefrom to a convenient height, preferably to the iioor above, and provided with suitable doors for access, and with a movable food-receptacle arranged to move up and down in the same,

whereby" the receptacle may be raised to a con venient level for the reception ori-removal of provisions, and thence lowered `into the ice ory cooling chamber below ,the ground, by which construction a very efficient and economical refrigerator is produced, which is also very convenient in its locationiand operation.

My invention also consists in a number ot' subordinate features, as hereinafter fully set forth.

In the drawings annexed, Figure 1 presents a central vertical section of my improved refrigerator. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan on the line :c .fr of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional front Fig. 4 is a sectional plan on line y y, and Fig. 5 illustrates a detail. i

ln Fig. l, a indicates the surface of the earth, or,in the case illustrated, represents the cellar-floor of a house, while b indicates theside wall, and o the basement-floor. the refrigerating-chamber or essential portion of my improved refrigerator, which, according to my invention, is sunk or embedded in the earth below the cellar-door, and is, for convenience, divided into two chambers, d e. The lower chamber, d, which is in the extreme base of the refrigerator, forms the ice-chamber or the receptacle for the cooling medium, while the chamber e, immediately over the ice-chamto as occasion requires.

d e indicate ber, forms the cold-air chamber, in which a movable receptacle containing provisions or other articles to be cooled may be lowered, so as to rest directly over the ice. rlhe cold-air chamber rises a little above the ground or cellar-oor, as shown in Fig. 1, and from the top of the cold-air chamber, which is indicated by the annular ledge c', a close casing or sha-ft, g,

rises in line with the refrigerating-chambers d e, and, passing through the basementioor c, opensinto a closet, f, erected around the shaft upon the basement-floor and rising to a convenient height therefrom, as fully illustrated in Fig. 1. This closetfis provided with a convenient door,f, on its front, to permit easy aecess to the shaft and close the approach there- Thecas-ing g is also provided with a door, g', of propersize, arranged just above the ledge c', around the top of the cold-air chamber, to admit of inserting the ice in the ice-chamber below, or of allowing the necessary access to clean the interior or arrange its contents, as will be readily understood. The closet f is preferably made square in crosssection, as seen inV Fig. 2, and

the shaft and refrigerating-chamb-er circular,

and I prefer to construct the closet of wood and the shaft andrefrigerating-chamber of brick or hydraulic cement; but any other suitable shapes or materials may of course be adopted.

The bottom of the ice-chamber d is made slightly concave or inclining toward the center,

from which a waste-pipe, d, is led to carry off the water resulting from the melting of the ice. Now, from the top of the closetf a metal hanger, i', depends and terminates` with a ring, k, as seen bestin Figs. 1 and 3, in which three rods, Z, are fixed, which rods are arranged in a triangular cluster and extended centrally down throu gh the shaft g and cold-air chamber e, and are fixed at the bottom ends in a disk, m, of metal or hard wood, from which disk a cross, m', of four radial` arms extend and rest on an annularledge, d', whichindieates the division between the icecha-mber and cold-air chamber, as fully shown in Figs. l and 4. Between and on the arms of the cross m segments n, of sheetzinc or other suitable material, are placed or 'soeketed, as shown well in Figs. l and 4,' one IOO chamber or to clean the interior thereof, as will be understood. The cross m', with its segments n, thus form a partition between the ice and cold-air chambers, while the rods l form a central guide over which the movable food receptacle or carrierp may be run up or down, and between which is guided a counterbalanceweight, o, which is connected with the foodcarrier by cords r, running over a pulley, s, at the top of the closet, as illustrated in Fig. l. The carrier, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, consists of a central cylinder, 2, which slides over the rods l and the top and bottom heads, 3 and 4, which arejoined at the center by the cylinder 2 and at the circumference by upright slats 5, the spaces between which allow of placing articles in or removing them from the carrier, as will be understood. The carrier is preferably made of sheet metal, with the exception ofthe bottom head, which is preferably of wood perforated to allow free circulation of the cold air, and one or more shelves of perforated wood or metal may be placed in brackets 6, projecting from the slats 5, between the upper and lower heads, as shown in Fig. l. The upper head, 3, is provided with a projecting` rim, 7, which is adapted to rest on the ledge e', and thus form a sufficiently tightjoint to confine the cold within the carrier and prevent any wasteful escape of cold air, as will be understood. A bar or iiange, 8, extends across the upper head, 3, to stiii'en the same, and the ends of the two suspending cords or chains r, as seen in Figs. l and 2, are connected thereto, which cords pass up on the outside of the guiderods l, thence run over the outside of the pul ley, and their opposite ends run down from the center of the pulley through the ring 7c and connect with the counter-weight between the on the outside of the guiderods and the other ends run clear of each other on the inside of the guide-rods, as will be understood. It will therefore be seen that, by this suspended and counterbalance arrangement of the carrier in the refrigerator, by pulling the cords o one way or the other, the carrier may be easily run up or down in the refrigerator, so that it' the carrier is lowered to its refrigeratin g position in the base or cooling chamber of the refrigerator, as shown by full lines in Fig. l, it may, when required, by opening the closetdoorf' and seizing the cords r, be readily raised to a level with the closet-door, as indicated by dotted lines, thus allowing any article to be convenientl y placed in or removed from the carrier, after which the carrier can be again 'lowered into the cooling chamber. Hence by this means, while the refrigerating-chamber is in the cool cellar, the carrier or food-receptacle is brought into convenient reach on the basement-licor without the necessity of goinginto The pulley-block, asI

the cellar, and the important advantage is ohtained that the refrigerating-chamber is sunk or embedded in the earth below the cellardoor, where the temperature is of course always much less than the atmosphere, and which is always a great non-conductor of heat, so that an efficient cooling effect is thus obtained and great economy in the use of ice is accomplished. For example, I find that the temperature of the earth below the cellar-bottom is on the average of from 30O to 400 less than the outer air in summer, which very important difference I take advantage of in my refrigerator, and I iind by actual experiment that where twenty pounds of ice inclosed in an ordinary refrigerator placed in one of the upper rooms ot'. a house, where the atmospheric temperature was 600 to C, would last three days, the same amount of ice placed in my refrigerator, eighteen inches below the earth of the cellar-floor, where the temperature was found to be 390, lasted nine days, the temperature ot the air in the cellar being at the same time 450, thus showing a great saving of ice. In fact, when the temperature of the earth is low, or where the cellar is very cool, and where much cooling is not desired, the use'of ice may be dispensed with during a great part of the time in which it is necessaryin ordinary refrigerators,t`or the earth will in my improved refrigerator furnish sufficient cold, where a good deep and cold cellar is available for its location. In houses which can have no cellar on account'of springs near the surface, the base of my improved refrigerator may then be sunk in the spring-water or springing earth to any desired depth, the waste-pipe d bein g ofcourse closed or led to a lower` level than the rise of the springs, as will be understood.

Referring to Figs. 5, 3, and l, it will be noted that the pulley-block is provided with pintles a zat top and bottoni,which pivot'in the hanger t', and thus allow the pulley, as wellas the suspended carrier, to be turned horizontally or rotated about half a revolution one way or the other, thereby permitting the carrier to be slit'- ticiently rotated when raised in front of the closet-door so as to bring all sides of the carrier within easy reach. When the carriage is raised into top of the closet it may be there held in front of the door while the articles are being inserted or removed by allowing a spring-l tongue, t, projecting from the carrier to catch over the ring k, and there locking the tongue by inserting the key u inthe slot in the head through which the tongue projects. yWhen it is desired to lower the carrier the key may be removed, thus allowing the catch to become disengaged, as will be understood.

The weight o should be about equal to the carrier with its average load, and when the load is less than the average movable weights may be placed in the head of the carrier, so that the rim 7 will remain firmly seated on the ledge e when the carrier is lowered, as will be appreciated.

In some cases it'may be desirable to have ICO IZO

door, the construction being otherwise the saine as shown in Fig. 1, which will of course vsecure many of the advantages of my inven- .v

tion and obtain a cool place or surrounding for the refrigerating-chamber-viz., the air of the cellar-but not of course as cool as if embedded in the earth below the floor.

What I claim is- 1. In a refrigerator, the food-receptacle p, formed as described, and provided with a hollow shaft, through which rods l freely pass, said receptacle adapted to move vertically and turn horizontally on said guidefrods Z, substantiallyas shown and specified.

2. In a refrigerating structurethe combination of a series of central guide-rods forming upon their inside guides for the'central iiuted weight, o, and upon their outside guides for the surrounding movable food-receptacle, with the connecting-ropes r and pulleys s, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. Thecombination, with a cellar-Hoor orsimilar earthy bed, of the retrigerating-chalnbers de, placed in or on the same, the casing g, rissection inwardlyenlarged, for the purpose described, and closet f, erected around the same,

with a door, f', insaid closet above said door, and a second door, g', in said casing g above the cellar-door, with a movable food-receptacle arranged to run up and down in the refrigerator from said closet-door to the refrigeratingchamber inthe cellar, substantially as herein shown and described.

4. The combination, with a refrigeratingchamber having inwardly-sloping bottom with central orifice placed on or inthe door ofthe cellar, cfa shaft or casing rising therefrom, a movable tubular food-carrier arranged to run up and down thereon, with central guides, around which said tubular food-carrier runs, and acentral counter-balance moving inwardly against said guides, from which the carrier is suspended,substantially as herein shown and described.

Witnesses:

JOHN ONDERDONK,

ETTA E. ONDERDONK.

JEssE M. CLOCK. y

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