US503772A - Refrigerator-car - Google Patents

Description

-110 Mod'l.) LA b'sheets -flhee'i REFRIGERATOR OAR. No. 503,772. Patented A ug. 22g-18'93.

(No Model.) 5 Sheets- Sheet a.

J.P LA YER. REFRIGERATOR on No. 503.772. Patented Aug. 22,1893.

v(No Model.) 5 Shaetaeflheet 4L J.PLAYER. REFRIGERATOR GAR.

No. 503,772.. Patented Aug. 22, 1893.

41mm 5 E r i we fia'arz ar, g 6%) P/ayer,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN PLAYER, OF TOPEKA, KANSAS.

REFRIGERATOR-CAR.

SPECIFIQATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 503,772, dated August 22, 1893.

Application filed February 2, 1893- Sefial No. 460,712. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN PLAYER, of Topeka, Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerator-Oars, of which the following is a specification.

These cars, manyforms of which arein constant operation over the various lines of rail roads in this country, are, as is well known, intended and adapted for the purpose of transporting perishable articles, or articles which are likely to be impaired by heat, from one point to another. The two most important objects to be attained are the maintenance of a sufficiently low temperature within the car, and-depending to some extent upon the first requirement-the prevention of the admission of outside air to the interior of the car, where it would raise the temperature. Under ordinary conditions, those portions of the car which are at and adjacent to the ice box or boxes would be colder than those portions of the car more distant from such ice boxes. Of course, the tendency of the colder air would be to fall, and thus start a certain amount of circulation through the car. Inasmuch as this circulation is very important for the maintenance of the requisite degree of temperature, another important point to be attained in the construction" of these cars is to provide means whereby this circulation may be createdand promoted in the simplest, most direct and efficient manner.

The object of my invention is to provide a car which shall attain the above advantages and provide an efficient system of internal circulation. This car is further provided with means for prolonging for as great a time as possible the contact of the refrigerant with the air, thereby avoiding waste and increasing the distance which the car can travel without a fresh supply of ice, or other cooling medium employed.

It is further my design to simplify and improve upon various details of the construction of the car, as will be hereinafter made apparent from the specific description.

My invention, therefore, consists in the teatures, details and combinations hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings,Figure1 is a vertical cross section of a car provided with my improvements, taken on lines 1 1 of Fig. 2, one half of the section being upon each of these lines; Fig. 2 a vertical longitudinal section of one half of a car, taken on the line2of Fig. 1,and partly condensed by breaking out a portion of the car in order to show a grating located at or near the center of the car, as hereinafter described; Fig. 3 a cross section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2, one half of the section being taken upon each line; Fig. 4 a section upon line 4 of Fig. 3. Figs. 5 and 6 are details of construction; and Fig. 7 is a sectional view similar to that shown in Fig. 2, but illustrating a modificationall of the sections being taken in the directions indicated by the respective arrows; and Figs. 4., 5 and 6 being upon an enlarged scale.

The car proper, that is, its walls A, roof B, ends 0 and flooring D, is made in most particulars, except as hereinafter indicated, in any of the desired forms; and I do not desire to limit the application of my particular improvements to the special general construction shown in the drawings. The walls, flooring, and roof of the car are preferably made double, treble or quadruple, with any desired number of air spaces, E, between the separate portions of the wall, which air spaces may,if desired, be filled with any suitable material which will serve to insulate the interior of the car. This car is provided with one or more ice tanks, made substantially in the form shown in Fig. 2, there being preferably ohe of these tanksat each end of the In the preferred construction, the front wall of the tank is made of inclined slats, f, and the bottom of horizontal slats, f, an opening, Ffl, being preferably left above the slats in the front. To protect this tank, I prefer to provide a sheathing, F the lower part of which is made in the forlnof a slatted door,

F adapted to be raised and lowered when it is desired to obtain access to the space beneath the ice box. This ice box is provided with the usual opening through the roof for the admission of ice, which is closed by a door, F and a plug, F which fits closely against the beveled sides of the opening, as shown in Figs. 2 and 7. Beneath this ice box, on or near the floor of the car, is arranged a pan, G, for catching the water as it falls from the melting ice, and which is provided with a discharge pipe and trap Gr, preferablyso constructed as to provide a water seal to prevent the entrance of air into the car. To cover the stay bolts, H, and to permit 'access to them when desired,I providethepa n with caps, h, which fit over the heads of the stay bolts, but which may be removed when it is desired to take out any'of these bolts. (See Fig. 1.) c

In order to prolong as much as possible the use of the refrigerant, I interpose betweenthe pan G, and the bottom of the ice'bo'iz, supplementary pans or troughs, I. The con: struction of these troughs and their supports" is more particularly shown in Figs. t to 6, inelusive. v A frame, J,is supported in any suit ablevmanner, asbymeans of blocks, 3', at.v any desired point beneath vthe bottom of the ice box. In this frame, a frame J is supported upon trunnionsJQinsuch manner as tobe free to rotateor revolvein the frame Jj. It is in thislatterframe that the troughs or pans, I, are supported, These troughs are preferably made of sheet metal, of anydesireddimensions, and preferably, though not necessarily, in two parts, 1 1 the latter being smaller than, andsupportedjnside of the former, witha spacebetween them,'as shown in Fig. A; These troughs are each provided with 0 'ifices,,lettered respectively, i, it: Theremay be any number of these troughs desired. 1n, the drawings,lhave shown two sets. containing three double, troughs each running beneath theiee tan-kslengthwise of the car While I have, in Fig 0:, shown ibut two frames, J T with thetroughs supported thereby, itwill be obvious thatin actual operationIjshould prefertohavetwo more sets placed beside the two shown beneath theslats f butthesetwolatter sets have been omitted for the sake of clearness inthe drawings. This number of sets, however, may be diminishedor increased "andthey tmay be swung transverselyflto the car asdesired, and the numberof the troughs in each set, and their arrangement, may be variedas desired. Eor example, there may be three troughs, one. within the'other, in: stead of two, a d so on. This portion of my inventionoperates as follows: The melting water which flows from the, ice box first enters the trough or troughs, 13, (in any case the innermost tl'QUgh or troughs, no matter how many be us d); t rises in these r ghs? until it reaches the openings '5, then passes through these o'peningsinto the trough or troughs I, inwhich it; risesuntil it reaches the openings '0', when it passes through these openings and falls into the pan G, from which it passes out, of the car through the trap G In this way, a constantquantity of ice water is smaintained in .,the auxiliary troughs, and the use of, the refrigerant is prolonged, thereby increasing the efiiciency of action of the car. -When it, is desired to; empty, these troughs, they may be rotated on. their; trunj nions, and the water discharged through the openings jiQii, after which the troughs may be again swung back into their normal position. When more troughs than two are placed one within the other, the'water passes from ,7 gneto the other throughout the series. When only one is used, it passes directly from this trough to the pan G.

= To provide for and facilitate the production of suitable air currents, I prefer to construct the car with an air duct or ducts under its floor, communicating with the space heneath the ice box; and opening at or near the center of the can; This object maybe arrived at in a variety of ways, of which I have shown two. In ,Figs- 41d 2, I, have shown h air pacet -r flf r e y means of pp nta y ,or asldi qn l flamin p ac dw h n, t e a audi ppertd ad i distance bOVQ IhB ma ing D-;.T1, e channel thus formed epensintoihe space benjeaththe ice,box, as indicated by the ,arrow in F g and s ommun ates with. t e interiorofthe carby meansuof asuitable grats, LM; pl c l or ns ar he ce r of 1 9 ar, wh h m y bema e op n as desired- This construction is best adapted to 'Binodngior d n y impr emen m ld ca s.-

: In Fig,Wheair t r uctsliatares oweas located be a t emai flb mDme gh o me by mean i anla dition'al..s ppl ment y floQring- -thisflooring being shownas one of the insulated floorin gs already referred to, a In this construction,the,grating M is preferably made intheforrn of an iron ,casting, a dapted to be ,liftedout when desired; and the lower o n t c q e a y m a o a p us m lar inconstliuction to the plug which closes the opening into the ice box; When thegrat i s been rem ve hi ri g ay e l fte 1 t ereby af ding. cce t thev air sp c or cleaning out heIsam -rvT sn a nerm construction iswell adapted for use in build i l newv i 'a a n n .my mpro ement The op ra ien th s pa tof my imven ioe ill proba ly.bev bv qus'f m theadrawing but maybe briefly-stated. AS12116 air becomes chilled by contact with the ice, or other refrigerant us it i t l in h cetb x d te pas o i j ss agi sfK,beneath t floori- ...W n ..a s th nrd awnin. t ro h epen Q-a dt e ai i v 'he. tsvpas's through the. grating intothe car, to replace that which has entered the iceboxj lnl this way, a continuous and eificient. circulat ion is promoted and maintained in a very simple manner. To assist in the cireulation l prefer to provide the furring strips, or,,ti1nbers, O, with holes, 0, through which the air currents n.p s-,,. t.., By means. of the above construction, I am e d, o prov d a car 9 the. h g e i ciency in operation,- combined with great si np i ity of c r ct a Whi 'I- hav fe: scribed more or less precise forms, I, donotim ten to und y l mit. mysel h et y ut c0 1- template all proper changes in form,- proportoo tions, and the substitution of equivalent members, as may be desirable or necessary.

I claim- 1. In a refrigerator car, the combination of an ice box, a stationary pan at the floor of the car beneath such ice box, and a trough rotatother, whereby as the water escapes from the box it will pass successively through the va rious troughs in the series before escaping from the car, substantially as described.

3. In a refrigerator car, the combination of an elevated ice tank having a bottom provided with openings for the escape of water, a pan beneath such tank, and a series of double troughs supported between such bottom and the pan and communicating with each other, whereby the water which passes from the tank passes through the series of troughs before reaching the pan, substantially as described.

4. In a refrigerator car, a series of troughs placed one within the other, open at their tops, and provided with discharge orifices in their sides, whereby the water falls into the first trough, accumulates therein until it reaches the orifices in its sides, then passes into the next trough, similarly accumulating therein until it reaches the discharge orifices, out through which it passes substantially as described.

5. In a refrigerator car, a series of sub: stantially V-shaped troughs placed one within the other, the innermost trough in the series being open at its top and provided with discharge orifices in its sides, the remainder of the series of troughs being all provided with discharge orifices, whereby the water will accumulate in each successive trough until it reaches the discharge orifices through which it will pass from one trough to another throughout the series, thereby maintaining one or more bodies of cold water within the car substantially as described.

6. In a refrigerator car, the combination of an elevated ice-box, and a series of communicating troughs placed one within the other and carried by a frame pivoted beneath such box, substantially as described.

7. In a refrigerator car, the combination of an elevated ice box communicating with the car, a duct beneath the floor communicating with the space beneath the ice box and the space within the car, and a series of troughs JOHN PLAYER.

Witnesses:

D. E. CAIN, FRED NELSON.

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