USRE1960E - Improvement in preserving fruits and other perishable substances - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENTLOFFICE.

BENJAMIN M. NYCE, OF GLEVELAND, oHio.

IMPROVMENT lN PRESERVING FRUITS AND`0THER PERISHABLE SUBSTANCS.

Snecificat-ion forming part of Letters Patent Ho. 21,977, dated November 2, 1858; Reissue No. 1,0653 dated l 'October 23, 1860;! Beissue No. 1.960, dated May 16, 1865.

To all whom it may concern Be rit known that I, BENJAMIN M. NYoE, of Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, formerly of Kingston, Indiana,

have invented new and useful Improvements in the Process of Preservin gFruits and other Perishable Organic Substances; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompauying drawings, making part o fthis specification, in whichi My invention relates' to a means for preserving fruits, grains, veg'etables, or other organic perishable substauces; and it consists of aroom or chamber guarded externally by walls impervious to moisture or other atmpospheric changes, and provided at its upper part with an insulated ice-reservoir, and having within its interior a means of mechanical or chemical agitation of the cout-ained air, thus bringing ,it in contact with absorbents of moisture with which the chamberis provided, as chlorides of y calcium, magnesium, or other similar subs'tances, my purpose being to keep the interior of the chamber at a uniformly low temperature-about 34 Fahrenheit-and at the same time the 'contained air to be kept las free as possible from moisture. y The preserving-chamber J should bel made practically air-tight and proof against the iuress of moisture and heat, land to this end its walls and floor may be constructed as folows E and g coustitute, respectively, an outer and inner air-tight sh'ell or casing, three or three and one-half feet apart, the iutervening space being filled with dry chafl' G, short lcut straw, shaviugs from planing-mills, or other likepoor conducting materials.l The outside casiug of the walls may be made of brick, the inside of which is plastered and coated with routing-cement or material that is air-tight, or it may be made of Jsheet-iron, the edges of the sheet paind and closely nailed together to upright studding, or it may be made of any other air-tight. substance. The ground below the bottom of the building is solid, leveled o tf even with the foundation walls, and covered over the entire surface with tar, pitch, asphaltum, or other material impermeable to the entrance of air and moisture from below it.

As dead air, or air without motion, is the .most available poor conductor of heat, and as solid substances are all, to a greater or less degree, good conductors of h'eat generally in proportion to their density, it followsv that no more chafl', shavings, or other solid material should be placed between the outer and inner walls than is needed to keep the air quiet, nor shouldthey bc tightly packed, but put in just closely enough to prevent the circulation of the air through them, and no closer.

y From the fact that warln air holds afar greater amount of moisture than cold air will be understood the necessity, especially in summer, ol'I an outer air-tight covering of the Walls. lf this point be not strictly guarded,

the Warm air from without, more or less highly charged with moisture, will gradually but constantly approach, enter, and mingle with the chafl' or other packing near the inside casing, and in'conseq'uence of the low temperature would soon deposit moisture .-in the chaff and geuerate fermen tation, and passing all around the inside -casin g of the preservingchamber a heating-surface would be thus produced, raislng the temperature of said chambers and melting rapidly the ice above it,

The inside air-tight casing of the chamber J, together with air-tight doors made also proof against the iugress of heat and moisture, make the entire chamber air-tight when closed up; When filled with fruit, the oxygen of the air is in a few days entirely consumed in its union with the hydrogen and carbon, forming water and carbonic 'acid in the gradual ripening of the fruit. Seven pounds of water from the fruit takes up, as seen from the law of vchemical equivalents, all the oxygenl contained in one hundred and twenty pounds of airthat is, this'amount is consumed in the formation of water and carbonic acid. The fruit is thus nearly all the time completely surrounded by an atmosphere ofV the nitrogen of the air and carbonic acid, and hence the presence of free oxygen,

the great agent of decomposition, is entirely removed. VVhatevcr nioisture is present is 1 chatf or other poor conductor.

taken up by the absorbents before mentioned, and the fruit is thus constantly surrounded by an atmosphere at the uniform temperature of 34%0 Fahrenheit, that is also free from moisture or free oxygen.

In the ehamber JJ, when filled With fruit, heat is constantly generated, first, by the forlnation of moisture and carbonic acid thrown off in the gradual ripening of the fruit; and, second, by the condensation of moisture by the chlorides or other absorbents. This heat causes the air constantly to ascend to the icefioor above, where it is chilled and increased in density and falls to the lower or ground fioor` where the moisture is taken up by the chloride or other absorbent spread out on a surface below the ice-fioor, forming the upper wall of the ehamber. In this way the air is kept dry and cold, and being eomposed chiefly of nitrogen and carbonic acid the elements of destruction are not present with the fi uit.

The ice-fioor 1), to which reference has been made, yis eonstructed of sheet metal, so as While e'ectually preventing any actual contact of ice with the air of the preserving-chamber J to at the same time atford afree and equal eonduction of heat through every portion' of the fioor. The upper surface of the ice-fioor P has a slight descent toward one or more discharging-pipes, Z.

p' is a rim supporting an inner wall, w.

The ice-fioor P is supported on transverse beams T, having their upper portion, w, metallic in order that there may be a free and rapid conduction of heat from the preservingchamber through those parts of the floor in contact with the beams. The lower portion, uv, of the beams may be of Wood.

y is a metallic trough to receive and conduct ofi eondensed vapor.

0 is a movable air-tight cover, which 'is made to fit snugly the sides of theA ice-reser.

voir, so as to insulate its lower portion contannn g ice from its upper portion, which, after placlng ot the lee-cover O, is packed With The insulation of the two compartments ofthe ice-reservoir may be completed by the application of tarred canvas or other luting to the edges of the cover O.

The entrance-passage to the preservingapartments should be guarded by a series of doors, sopthat the entrance to or exit from the room can be effected without direct communication between the inner and outer air. These doors should be made double and paclked with ohaf or other poor conductor, and the ioints luted With listing saturated with tallow, thus being made air tight. r

Fans K or other artificial or mechanical means may be used to agitate the air within the preserving-chamher; hut thisI do not consider essential, as the slight Variation of temperature from chemical or other cause produces all the circulatiou required under ordinary circumstances.

fhat I claim as my improvement, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The insulated and cooled preservingchamber J, provided with absorbents of moisture, as set forth, either With or without the agitator K.

2. The ahove-deseribed outside air-tight casings of walls, when used in combination with a chamber chilled by ice on a metallio fioor on its upper part, With absorbents of moisture Within said ehamher.

3. TheV method of preserving fruitin a chamber whr se walls, doors, and floors are practically air-tight, and so proof against the ingress of heat and fmoisture as to maintain by the aid of ice ona metal fioorabove a uniform temperature of from 340 to 350 Fahrenheit thronghout the year, and by the use of absorbents within said chamher producing any desired degree of dryness. i

BENIN. M. NYen.

Witnesses: I

W. H. BURRIDGE, J. HoLMns.

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