USRE7383E - Improvement in ice-machines - Google Patents

Description

D. SM I T H.

ASsignor of Part Interest to G. W. M. Smith.

ICE-MACHINES. N0- 7,383. R-eissued Nov. 7,1876.

state of rest.

I the congealer-boxes.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID sMITH, or SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR or PART I INTEREST TO 0. w. M. SMITH.

IMPROVEMENf IN ICE-MACHINES.

, Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 173,357, dated February 8, 1876; reissue No. 7,383, dated November 7, 1,876 application filed April 26,1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID SMITH, of the city and'connty of San Franeisco, State of Oali-fornia, have invented an Improvement in Machines forthe'Manut'acture of Ice; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,

I clear, and exact description of the same, reference being bad to the accompanying draw-- ings, and to the letters marked thereon.

plished, constructed of thin metallic plates,

within which is the zigzag coil of pipes which contains and cond-nctsthe freezing agent, the

space'between and around the pipes being filled up with a non-congealable fluid in a This box is immersed in or surrounded byv pure water, and the .ice is formed on the outside and against the sides of the box as the freezing agent passes through the pipes. I

The ice is detached from the plates or the sides of the box after withdrawing the noncongealable fluid through a cock at one end of the plates, and filling the box with water of theordinary temperature, which" causes the ice to separate from the plates, so that it can be" removed, as will be more fully de- I ,and use the same, I will now proceed'to describe its construction and manner of operation.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 shows a vertical longitudinal section through one of d Fig. 21s a transversesection of the same. Fig. 3 is a plan view. of the tank and the boxes with the pipes removed. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of two sections of pipe.

ness and size-say, No. 10 metal, about ten' feet iong and three and one-half feet deepand for a larger-sizedmachine two or more platesare joined together to form theside of the box. These sheets are-riveted, screwed,

. or otherwise fastened together at the ends and. bottom, with a sufficient thickness ofwood,

B, between them to make a tight box of proper width to receive the evaporator-coil 0. These tank, and be connected on the outside of the The boxes. are 'made water-tight, for the purpose of holding a non-congealable liquid in a state of rest, such as brine or chloride of calcium, for acting as a medium betweenthe water and the congealing agent to extract the heat from the water to be frozen, and also tocansethe ice to be formed of an equal thickness over the entire surface of the plates.

By constructing the congealer'boxes of only sufiicient width to receive the evaporatorcoils, and with a thin sheet of non-congealable fluid intervening between'the outer sides of the coil and the inner sides of the plates, great advantages are derived, as the necessity of cooling down a large body ofi the noncongealable liquid is avoided and the removal of the ice is facilitated and cheapeued, as it wiil' not be necessary to removethe non-congealable liquid in order to detach the ice.

In practice and by repeated experiments, I have found that in order to produce ice of uniform thickness on the. plates two things are essentialfirst, to cause the refrigerating fluid to enter the bottom of the'coil in the congealing box; and, second, constructing and placing the pipes nearer together at the 'topthan at the bottom, as shown in the drawing. This I deduce from the fact that after the temperature of the water of which the ice is formedhas passed below 38 Fahrenheit, i be maximum density,) the water becomes lighter as well as colder, and has a tendency tofris'e,

and by permitting-the refrigerant to enter at the bottom of the evaporating-coil first, where it exerts its frigorific efl'ect with the greatest energy, thebottom and middle port-ion of the freezing-plate is made equal in temperature;- but the top of the freezing-plate being in which the freezing-gas passes to such a degree that the warming of 'theatniospherc is over come, and the non-congealable liquid cooled down'equally..

' Fig; 3 represents a' plan of thetank with the boxes in place, of which Figs. 1 and 2are sectional views. This'tank is built of wood or iron, with doublewalls and bottom, andthe space between is filled with sawdust, charcoal, or any other non-conductor. I

The congealing-boxes' are placed, as shown in the drawing, at a sufficient distance from the bottom of theftank to prevent the 'ice" forming too near the base, and toj give space for the circulation of thewater between the I boxes, and also to permit. the more perfect and convenient cleaning of such space, and

.of the spaces between the bottom of the boxes and the tank, and each congealer-box is providcd with a waste-cock, 0. through which the baine vor non-congealable liquid may be drawn: 0

boxes do not extend entirely across the tank,- the wooden ends to which the plates are bolted projecting by the iron about four inches, as shown at B, thus preventing the ends of the con gealin g-plate from coming in close contact'with the sides of the tank. The wooden ends of the co'ngealing-boxes are thus bolted fast to the walls of the tank, therebysustaim ing the plates in position, as well as prevent- 1 ing the straining of the tank by the great outward pressure of water in a larger machine.

-In practicc,.the tank is built to contain as 1 many congealing-boxes, and of such size, as is required, and these are placed in position about two feet apart. These pipes are then placed inside-the boxes and connected, the inlet-pipe E with the receiver of liquid from the condenser, and the outlet pipe F with the inlet-pipe of the next coil, :1, or with the pump direct,if no more than one coil is used, and when the apparatus'is charged with ammoniacal gas and the, tank is filled, with pure, clear water, and the congealing-boxes are filled with brine, the circulation of the gas begins as the pumps are put in motion.

The non-congealable liquid remaining at rest in the congealing-boxes is relieved of its seusible heat by the expansiouof the liquid struction re'frigerant' within 'the pipes surrounded by the non-con'gealable liquid at rest, and vthis,

"by 'absorbing theheat from the water on the outside-in contact with the congealing-plates,

causes the iceto form on the sides ofthe boxes, and .iucrease in thickness as long as the circulation and expansion of the gas is con tinned. When the ice has reached the desired thickness on'the sides of the congcaler it is easily detached by. drawing ofl the non-congealable liquid .from the boxes by the cockc, and then filling the boxes with water at any temperature above 32 Fahrenheit. This water, which acts to raise the temperature and thereby detach the ice from the plates,'is drawn ofl' through the outlet-pipe, and then the brine is pumped back into the congealing-boxcs to be used again. The boxes not being more than two inchesthick, but a very small quantity of brine is used, and the'labor and powerre'quired-or necessary in discharging andvrefilling the boxes is very small.

It will be seen from the above description that by the employment of a non-congealable liquid in a state of rest inclosed in a narrow congealing-box,-and containing a vaporizingcoil, as before describcd-,-a 1 marked beneficial and novel result is produced, as theiceis readily'formed evenly over the w'hole surface oftheplates without the use of agitators or apparatus to circulate the noincongealable liquid through the eongealing-boxes, and by em :ploying the non-congealable liquid at rest inthe congealing-boxes the warm air of the room cannot affect it to disadvantage as when e agitated, for'the reason that thepipesof the vIt will beseen that the metal sides of the coil at the top, being nea'rertogether, give a proportionately larger surface and keep the temperatureequal; also, that the induction end of the pipe, always running totheibottom of the congealing-box first, thereby tends to exert its greatest energy and cause ,an -upward tendency to the non-congealableliquid as it gets colder. It will; also be. seen that the liquid refrigerant, always-entering at'the bottom of the'coil and traveling upward, is considerably retarded in its speed, thereby iving the atoms of liquid ammonia a better chance to vaporize by absorbing more heat from the water to be frozen.

It will also be noticed from the foregoing description that the pipes for conducting the refrigerant are of a novel and peculiar'com that the sides of the congealingboxes are constructed with plain surfaces, on which the ice forms easily, and, therefore, more readily and of a better quality, and is detached with much less heat, and with mnch less damage to the ice, than when hot gas is used, and with a great saving of time, and. without disturbing the freezing action; a150,. that the metal sides of thecongealing boxes. do not reach to the sides of the main tank or to the bottom, thereby leaving the cake 0! ice free when it is thawed from the plate.

. substantially as and for 'the purposes vdescribed.

3. The evaporator-coil 0, constructed and arranged with the condenser end of the pipe bent directly down to its lowest point,'then.

' extended at rightangles across the condenser,

and then bent back and forth aorossthe same, in the same vertical plane to the top of the Witnesses:

same, substantially as set forth;

4. Iii-combination, a congealer and an e vaporator-coil, arranged vertically witbin'the same, and occupying nearly the, entire space from side to side of the same, forthe purpose of admitting only a thin film of the non-congealable fluid 'in such space, substantially as and for the purposes described.

"5. In combination, in a. con-gealer;box, an evaporatingcoil, arranged vertically within the same, and occupying nearly the entire space fromsideto side of the same, and athinfilm of non-con'gealable fluid in the'same in a state of restysub'stantially as described.

"Witness my hand this 3d D. 1876. v

- DAVID SMITH,

A. G. ANTHONY WILLIAM W; OsBORN.

and for the purposes day of April, A. a

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