US1130440A - Manufacture of ice. - Google Patents

Description

T. SHIPLEY.

MANUFACTURE OF ICE.

APPLICATION FILED 00120, 1914.

1,130,440. Patented M21122, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

T. SHIPLEY.

MANUFACTURE OF ICE.

APPLIOATION FILED 0QT.20, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented Mar. 2

THOMAS SHIPLEY, OF YORK, PENNSYLVANIA.

MANUFACTURE OF ICE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, THOMAS SHIPLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of 'York, in the county of York and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Ice, of which the following is a specification. Y

My invention relates to the can system of making ice, that is to say, a system in which the water to be frozen is contained in cans of thin sheet metal immersed in a tank of cold brine. Its object is to segregate and take care of the impurities which, during the freezing operation, are separated from the water-particularly .if that Water be raw water; to render more efiicient the i freezing operation; to reduce the size of the cup which usually forms in the top of the.

ice during the freezing operation, without freezing therein any of the water containing impurities; and to provide a ready means of separating the upper irregular part of the ice block containing the cup, or such part thereof asmay be desired, rom the rest of the block so as to give the latter a flat, or substantially flat, top.

I shall first describe, in connection with the accompanying drawings, an apparatus adapted to secure these desirable results, and will then point out more specifically in the claims those features which I believe to I be new and of my own invention.

In said drawings Figure 1 is a vertical section through a can and associated parts of a brine tank in which the brine is kept at low temperature by usual or suitable means typified by the-cooling or so-called ex of t Q can. Fig. 3 is a view of a device for thawing outthe air tube from the ice block.

In the drawing A represents the brine tank; B the cooling coils, through whichr circulates the refrigerant agent by which the brine with whichthe tank is filled is kept at the requisite low temperature; C is the can which is immersed in the brine, and which contains the water to be frozen.

With a view to preventing the impurities in thewater from being incorporated into the ice during-the freezing operation, air under pressure is injected into the body of water in the can at or near the bottom.

' Any suitable means for this purpose may be 5 employed. I make use of a metallicpipe D, having its closed lower end stepped m a Specification of Letters men.

Application filed October 20, 1914. 'serinuvo. 867,824.

ansion coils B. Fig. 2 is a plan Patented Mar. 2, 191a.

socket or indentation a formed centrally in the bottom of the can. Perforations d for the air discharge are formed in the pipe at a,

suitable point at or near its lower end. And at the top the pipe is connected through flexible tubing 6 with an air header 0, communicating of air under pressure.

In the upper part of the can is located the perforated separating late E, which is made of thin sheet meta or other ood conductor of cold, and is of a shape an size to fit fairly snugly the interior of the can, as indicated in Fig. 2. This plate incidentally furnishes a bearing or support for the upper end of the air pipe D, which passes down through a central hole formed for its passage in said plate, as shown in Fig. 1. The pipe passes loosely through the plate, so that the one can be moved relatively to the other, to permit the separation or assembling together of the two parts as desired. The perforations in the plate E are for the purpose of permitting the free circulation of water above and below the plate during the freezing operation. The perforations and of such shape and dimensions, as desired. The plate E is placed in the can near the upper end thereof and at about the point where the cup in the top of the ice block is located freezing operation. Being a good temperature conductor, it materiallyhastens the freezing at the top, and it also serves to very materially contract and reduce the dimensions of the cup whichremains in theiii-which the can is immersed in order to provide above the top of the ice a body of unfrozen Water sufficient to hold the impurities separated out from the frozen water, and it should also beat or near the level of the perforated separating plate; but its po sition with reference to the plate may vary within limits. In some cases, as with fairly good potable rawwater, the water level may with a source of supply.

may be as many or as few,

at the conclusion of the Simithe level of the raw water in the can I be below the plate, while in other cases,

and I desire forated separating for instance when an increased surplus of unfrozen water is required to properly take care of the impurities in the water to be frozen, the level of the water may be above the plate so to be understood as including any such variations in my claim. The perplate E permits-of the use of var 'ng volumes of unfrozen water in the can without affecting in any way the ice block, or rather that portion of the block to be ultimately used, viz: the portion below' the plate.

By way of example, and without limiting myself to the precise figures given, I may say that I have obtained excellent results in the production of ice from fairly good raw water by locating the perforated conducting plate E in the can above the level of the outside brine, with the can water at or a little below the level of the plate. With raw water of this character filled in the can to a height of say three inches above the brine level, and with the perforated separating plate E located in the can about four inches above the brine level (which would make it one inch above the level of the water in the at the conclusion of the'freezingl can, at the beginning of the freezing), and with the freezing continued until the block of ice is frozen up solidly to the plate, excepting (as indicated in Fig. l) a depression or cup 1 of about two inches in depth at the center of the top under the plate, the said cup or unfrozen part will be comparatively small, having a depth at the center of about two inches, as before said, and a width and length at the top of about two and a half inches and eight inches respectivelya' cup very much smaller and with a much more contracted mouth than is produced without the use of the plate. The cup 1 is also indicated in Fig. 1 at 2 as continued up above the plate, -merging into the larger craterlike frozen portion 3 of the water above the plate, which extends outwardly to the walls of the can. This frozen portion, as well as the unfrozen body of water (not shown) left operation, will extend up some two or t ree inches above the perforated plate E, as indicated in Fig. 1, where the outline of the cup and depression in the top of the ice, both above and below the perforated plate E, is shown. By filling the can fuller, and freezing longer, the pocket or cup in the ice below plate E can, of course, be made smaller, or eliminated entirely.

The plate E is suspended in place in the can in any suitable way, asfor instance by hangers E, which will permit it to be removed from the can. It is Iprovided with llftmg brackets or handles by which it may be readily separated from the block of ice into the top of which it'is frozen, and

as to completely immerse it,"

antenna lifted ofi therefrom carrying with it that portion of the ice which formed above it, and leavin an ice block with a square flat top, unbro en save by a Slight central depression formed by what remains of the cup.

The socket by which the air tube is attached to the central air pipe D is removable therefrom, to permit the said pipe to be removed with the ice block into which it is frozen from the can. The separation of the air pipe from the block is readily efl'ected by thawing it out from the block by suitable means. An electrical appliance for this purpose is illustrated in Fig. 3. As there shown it consists of a socket Gr provided with leading-in wires g, 9, connected to a source of electrical supply, and electrically connected, the one to a plug it in the'socket, the other to an extension metallic sleeve 2' forming part of the socket and having electrical connection with the air pipe D, when the socket is fitted thereon. To the plug it is electrically connected the upper end of an insulated conducting wire 70, the lower end of which is electrically connected to the bottom of the air pipe D. When current is on, the circuit will be from wire g to plug it, insulated conducting wire la, air pipe D, sleeve 2', to wire 9. The pipe D, being made of a metal of low conductivity, is heated by k the passage of the current, and consequently is thawed out from the ice. The socket G is provided with a handle G through which the leading-in wires 9, g, pass; and in one of the wires 9 is a break adapted to be bridged by a pair of normally open contacts 772., m, controlled by a depressible switch button 91 mounted in and extending through to the interior of the handle in position to meet and operate the contacts as will be understood without further explanation.

Under my improvement blocks of raw water ice of desirable commercial shape can be made by the can system free from the impurities which ordinarily are frozen into the cores and cups of such ice, or are withdrawn with the impregnated water contained therein and replaced by pure water during the freezing-operation. By my invention these impurities are expelled from the ice as it forms and are driven into the unfrozen water which, with the impurities which it holds, passes from below up through the perforated plate above which it accumulates, with the result that the ice thus produced is pure and transparent, having only a thin, filmy veil of white, lace-like appearance about six or seven inches wide extendmg up through the center from the point where the air discharge began, if looked at from the broad side of the block, and scarcely perceptible if viewed from the narrow instead of the broad side of the block. Moreover, the perforated separating and conducting plate E located, as it is, along the line which defines'the top of the block to be produced, serves during the freezing operation, not o'nly-iby its conducting properties to hasten the freezing action in the upper part of the can where otherwise it would lag, thus effecting considerable saving in time, and thereby increasing the capacity of the plant and at the same time reducing the cost of production; but it also directly serves to so reduce the form and size of the objectionable pocket usually formed in the top of can ice blocks as to render it a negligible factor, the plate by its separating action serving, when removed from the block into which it is frozen, to carry off with it all that frozen refuse portion above it which would otherwise mar the appearance of the block;

llaving described my improvements, and the best way now known to me of carrying the same into practical effect, I state in conclusion that I do not limit myself to the details hereinbefore shown and described in illustration of my invention, for manifestly the same can be varied considerably without departure from the spirit of the invention: but

What I claim herein as new and of my own invention, is as follows: an

1. In apparatus for the manufacture 0 ice by the can system, the combination of a brine tank; a can immersed in the brine in said tank, and filled with water to a height above the brine level; means for continuously forcing air under pressure into the lower part of, and thence upward through the can: and a perforated separating plate or diaphragm of thin metal or other con ducting material, fitting and removably held in the upper part of the can above the brine level and'at or near thelevel of the water with which the can is filled, arranged and operating to define the top of the ice block to be produced and to separate the same from the irregular ice above, to hasten the freezing action in the upper part of the can, and to modify and reduce the form and size purposes hereinbefore set forth.

2'. The combination of the can, the perforated metallic separating plate or diaphragm fitting and removably held in the upper portion of the can, and the air pipe passing down through and supported at its upper end by said separating plate, and, at

of the pocket or cup usually formed in the top of can ice, substantially as and for the its closed lower end, stepped in the bottom of the can, substantially as set forth.

3. In the manufacture of ice by the can system, the combination of the brigie tank,

a can adapted to be held in the brine in said I can at a point above the brine level, and at or near the level of the water in the can before the freezing operation, substantially" as set forth.

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

, THOMAS SHIPLEY. Witnesses J. B. RABY, J. F. WrrMAN.

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