US770969A - Portable refrigerator. - Google Patents

Description

N0 MODEL.

PORTABLE REFRIGERATOR.

APPLIOATION FILED M1122, 1904.

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PATENTED SEPT. 27, 1904.

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No. 770,969. PATENTED SEPT. 27, 1904.

' E. JOHNS. PORTABLE REPRIGERATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 22, 1904.

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UNITED STATES Patented September 27', 1904.

PATENT GEEICE.

PORTABLE REFRIGERATOR.

SPECIFICATION formngpart of Letters Patent No. 770,969, dated September 27, 1904.

Application led March 22, 1904.

To all 'zc/hom, t muy concern:

Be it known that I, EMANUEL JOHNS, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Puyallup, in the county of Pierce and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Refrigerators, of which the following is a speciiication.

My invention relates to portable refrigerators, and more particularly to those adapted to the shipping of fruit, berries, and other perishable foods in the usual open boxes, and has for its objects, rst, to provide a shipping'- case in which the ice may be placed and removed without having access to the berrycompartment, and, second, to provide a shipping-case in which the entire interior may be readily removed for cleansing and other purposes. I attain these objects by the devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section of my refrigerator. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of theice-compartment, showing the shelfrods hooked thereto. Fig. 3 is a plan of my refrigerator, the top thereof being removed; and Fig. 4 is a section of the part of the bottom through which the drip-tube passes.

Similar numerals of reference refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The main box of my refrigerator I prefer to construct with double walls, bottom, and lid in order to prevent warping and to keep all the joints in the wood tight. The walls I have indicated at 1, the bottom at 2, and the lid at 3. The shape of the box will depend on the shape, size, and number of fruit or berry boxes to be shipped. In Fig. 1 I have indicated nine tiers of boxes,4 and as eight boxes can be placed on a tier it is evident that this size refrigerator will hold Six dozen boxes. I have, however, Shown the berryboxes much smaller in proportion to the refrigerator than they would be in actual use in order to more clearly show the construction of the refrigerator itself, it being understood that the boxes are large enough to prevent too much play between them.

In the center of the refrigerator I place the metallic ice-compartment 4, which rests on Serial No. 199,468. (No model.)

the bottom 2 and reaches therefrom to a point near the top of said refrigerator. The shape of the ice-box 4 is such as to conform with that of the refrigerator, so as to leave sufiicient space between it and the sides 1 on all sides, so that the berry-boxes of a certain size may be placed therein. This ice-compartment 4 is closed at the bottom except for a small drip-tube 5 in its center, said drip-tube fitting in a hole 6, provided therefor in the bottom 2 and having a wire or other screen or sieve 7 over its top on the inside on the ice-compartment. The top of the ice-compartment is open and fits loosely around the downwardlyextending flange or sleeve 8, which is secured to the lid 3 of the refrigerator, and into this sleeve 8 fits the removable cover 9, by means of which access may be had at all times to the ice-compartment without disturbing or being able to reach the fruit in the refrigerator. This cover 9 has two or more Ventilatingholes 10 therein and a handle l1, adapted to fold down on the cover 9.

Io the outside of the ice-compartment 4 are secured, by means of straps 12 at suitable heights from the bottom, the wire rings 13, extending entirely around the compartment and slightly larger than it, so as to stand away from its sides. Two screw-eyes 14 are screwed at each level of the wires 13 into each side 1 of the refrigerator-box. Thus there will be eight screw-eyes for each tier, (except the lowest tier, which rests directly on the bottorn,) or sixty-four screw-eyes in all. In to each screw-eye 14 is hooked one end of the rod 15, the other end of which is hooked over the wire 13 at the corresponding level. These rods 15 consist of a piece of wire which is bent in the same direction at each end, but which is straight between said bends for a distance equal to that between the wire 13 and the screw-eyes 14. The purpose of these wires 15 is twofold-to form the supports for the shelves on which the boxes are placed and to hold and brace the ice-compartment in its proper central position.

The shelves 16, which rest on the above wires 15, are Shaped to conform with the shape of the box, being narrow enough to pass down therein past the screw-eyes 14 and IOO have a central hole shaped to conform with the shape of the ice-compartment 4, but being large enough to pass outside of the wires 13 and the straps 12.

The cleat 17 passes around the outer edge of the bottom 2 and is uniform in thickness and width. The cleat 18 passes around the lid 3 at a distance from its outer edge equal to the width of the cleat 17. This arrangement has two objects: First, if the refrigerator is used as a unit shipping-case the cleat 17 keeps the bottom off the floor of the car and the cleat 18 keeps articles placed on top of it from damaging the cover 9, and, second, it enables a number of unit-refrigeratorsto be united together one above another, the cleats 17 on the bottom of an upper one fitting around the cleats 18 on the lid of the lower one, thus preventing the units from slipping out of line. In this latter arrangement the covers 9 of the ice-compartments are left off, except the uppermost unit, and the cold water drips from one to the other, and the cold air of one has access to the next one above instead of warm air having access to it, thus effecting economy in ice.

In packing my refrigerator for shipping fruit therein I first place the ice-compartment in the refrigerator, .making the drip-tube 5 enter the hole 6 in the bottom 2. Then I place eight boxes of the fruit on the bottom 2 or on cleats thereon. Then I hook one set of eight rods 15 from the lowest row of screweyes 14 to the lowest wire 13. Then I take a shelf 16 and pass it down inside the refrigerator around the ice compartment until it rests on the rods 15. On this shelf I then place the next set of eight boxes of the fruit. Then I repeat the above, building up a shelf and packing the fruit-boxes tier upon tier until all of the refrigerator is occupied. I next place the lid 3 on the refrigerator and lock and seal it and then transfer it to the ice-storehouse. Here the cover 9 is removed from the ice-compartment and a quantity of sawdust or other spongy material is placed in the bottom thereof, and on top of this is packed the ice. Then the cover 9 is replaced and the refrigerator transferred to the shipping-car.

The operation of the refrigerator is briefly as follows: The ice being contained in a metallic compartment 4 cools the packing-compartment, and the air at the top of the icecompartment and the packing-compartment has free connection through the space between the top of compartment 4 and the fiange 8 of the lid 3 and also has free access to theouter air through the small holes 10 in the Vcover 9. As the ice melts, the water falls to the sawdust and seeps slowly through it, keeping the sawdust intensely cold. Air can of course enter the ice-compartment through the driptubes 5; but on striking the sawdust it is immediately cooled, and as it can only pass through the layer of sawdust very slowly it is reduced in temperature until it is practically as cold as the air surrounding the ice by the time it reaches the free ice. I

Having now described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a portable refrigerator, the combination with a packing-compartment having series of screw-eyes in its inner sides thereof, of an ice-compartment extending centrally from the bottom to near the top of the packingcompartment, rings secured to the outside of said ice-compartment at points thereon corresponding to said screw-eyes, rods adapted to hook into said rings and into said screw-eyes to form the supports for shelves and to brace and hold said ice-compartment in position, shelves placed on said rods and adapted to receive and support the fruit-boxes in said packing-compartment, a lid closing said packingcompartment and having a hole therein and cover thereto adapted to give access to said ice-com partment without giving access to said packing-compartment.

2. In a portable refrigerator, the combination with a packing-compartment having series of screw-eyes in its inner sides thereof, of an ice-compartment extending centrally from the bottom to near the top of the packingcompartment, rings secured to the outside of said ice-compartment at points thereon corresponding to said screw-eyes, rods adapted to hook with one end into said rings and with the other end into said screw-eyes to form supi ports for shelves and to brace and hold said ice-compartment in position, shelves placed on said rods and adapted to receive and support the fruit-boxes in said packing-compartment,

a lid closing said packing-compartment and having a hole therein and cover thereto, a flange secured to said lid and loosely entering the top of said ice-compartment, and surrounding said hole.

Signed at Tacoma this 24th day of Febru- 110 ary, 1904.

E. JOHNS.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM E. WINDSOR, FREDERIC J. SHAW,

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