US310211A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

J. LINSLEY.

REFRIGERATOR.

(No Model.)

Patented Jan. 6,1885.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOEL LINSLEY, OF BURLINGTON, VERMONT.

REFRIGERATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.3l0,21l, dated January 6, 1885.

Application filed September 22, R 84. (No Illflllrl.)

.l'0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JoEL LIINSII'J'JY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Burlington, in the county of Ohittendcn and State of Vermont, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerators, of which the following is a specification, reference be ing had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to improvemeilits in dry-air refrigerators, in which the ice-chamher is so located as to cause a continuous and perfect interior circulation of the air by directing the warm air of the provision-room into the top of the ice-chamber; thence, as it becomes chilled by contact with the cooling material, it falls through this chamber, depositing in it on its way all moisture and impurities which it has gathered from the provisionroom, whence they are carried off through the drip. The air thus dried, purified, and cooled continues to descend through a side flue, and again enters the provision-room at its bottom, whence it is drawn by the force of the current caused by the difference intemperature at the top of the provision-room up through this room, and thence again into the icechamber, to be recooled and puri fied as before.

The objects of my invention are, first, to provide an air-tight receptacle or tank to contain the ice, said tank to be removable, and provided with a faucet which passes through the wall of the refrigerator, and is so located in the ice-chamber that the air from the provision-room shall have a free and unimpeded circulation entirely around it, thereby enabling it to possess the greatest attainable surface for cooling the currents of air which pass over, and condense upon its enameled extcrior all the moisture and impurities containcd in these currents second, to secure a greatcr economy in the use of ice, as additional cooling properties are constantly supplied to the exterior surface of the tank by the-presence of an increasing quantity of ice-water to supplement the ice which the tank contains, and which cooperates with the ice and greatly increases its cooling-power; at the same time the ice, being thus protected from direct contact with the warm air as it leaves the provision-room, is much less rapidly wasted or consumed; the effect is to produce a more cooling temperature on account of the unchanging cooling-surface; third, to furnish, especially in those localities where ice is expensive and must be used in limited quantities, pure cold ice-water, for drinking or other purposes, which is always ready for use, with out any additional expense save the slight cost of the tank-an amount speedily repaid by the greatly-decreased consumption of the ice for refrigerating purposes when placed within the tank, as described.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters indicate like parts.

Figure l is a perspective view of a refrigorator, a portion of the front and end being broken away to show the position and general form of the tank. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the top of the refrigerator.

A is a refrigerator; 1; room; 0, the ice-chamber; l), the passage for the admission of the warm air at the top of the provisioirroom into the-icechambcr, and E the line to convey the cold air from the icechamber into the lower partof the provision-room.

F is the inclined floor or bottom of the icechamber, which is designed to catch and convey the water which is formed in the icechamher to the outside of the refrigerator by means of a trough or gutter at its lower edge, which is connected with a waste-pipe.

G is the metallic ice-tank and water-cooler, having its interior and exterior surfaces onameled to better preserve the purity of its contents and its outside from injury by dampness. If preferred, its exterior surface may be corrugated in order to enlarge its condensingsurface. It is provided with suitable han dies, so that it can be conveniently removed through the opening H in the top of the refrigerator, for cleansing or other purposes. The opening If is securely closed by the hinged door It. A removable metallic faucet, g, which is passed through the walls of the refrigerator, serves to draw off the ice-water in the tank. Its connection with the tank being suitably ll, the provision screw threaded and provided with proper bushing, it can be readily separated from the tank whenever it is desired to remove the latter from the ice-chamber. In height the tank G should not extend above the opening D when its cover I is in place. This cover is so constructed as to be hermetically sealed, to effectually prevent the possibility of the contents of the tank being in any way contaminated by the vapor or gases, which are more or less laden withimpurities,fromtheprovisionroom. A spring of any suitable kind is so arranged above the cover I as to prevent the shutting of the outside door, 71 unless the cover is first tightly closed, so as to more securely protect the contents of the tank while the ice-chamber is closed. The bottom of the tank G is inclined, preferably in the same direction as the floor of the ice-chamber, for the purpose of the -more readily conducting the moisture which arises from the warm air from the pro vision-room coming in contact with the icetank and condensing upon its surface, thence running to its lowest point, from whence it drips on the floor F, and thence is conducted away through the waste-pipe. The tank G is elevated upon legs or bosses, and is so located within the ice-chamber as to allow a sufficient open space around its entire outside surface for the free passage of all warmer currents of air down around it, depositing upon its smooth chilled surface as it descends all its moisture and impurities, in the same way as it would ordinarily upon the ice were the latter placed upon the floor of the ice-chamber, instead of within the tank; Thus constructed and located, it is found that the tank presents to the descending currents of air-a much larger condensing and uniform cooling surface than the ice alone; that the consumption of the ice within the tank is much less rapid than when exposed in the ice-chamber in the usual way, and that its refrigerating-power is greatly increased by the addition of the ice-water within the tank,-

and that the water-cooler thus provided forms a convenient, cheap, and very desirable addition to a refrigerator of the character described a feature especially appreciated where ice is expensiveand one which in no way impedes the air-currents within the ice-chamber, but

rather materially aids in cooling and purifying them.

I am aware that a removable water-cooler, provided also with a removable ice-pan and drip, and located within the ice-chamber of a refrigerator, is not new, and this I do not claim, broadly; but, so far as I am informed, a watercooler has not been heretofore constructed which constitutes at the same time an ice receptacle hermetically sealed to prevent its contents being vitiated by the entrance of the impurities always existing in the atmosphere of a dry air refrigerator, and so located within this chamber that an open space surrounds its entire outside surface for the free passage of the descending air-currents, absolutely essential to the successful working of all such refrigerators, thereby adding greatly to the cooling and condensing surface, largely con; tributing to an economical consumption of ice, and creating a more uniform cooling temperature on account of there being always the same cooling-surface, instead of a constantlydecreasing one, where the ice is unprotected.

\Vhat I claim is The ice-chamber C, with opening H, in the refrigerator A, in combination with the re movable icetank G, provided with the air-tight coverI and removable faucet g, and elevated on legs, so that there shall be an open space entirely around its outside, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I do affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOEL LINSLEY.

\Vitnesscs: I

GrLiRL s I ALLEN, Turns A I-Iuzvur.

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