US1553846A - Refrigerating system - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 15, 1925.

I J. BLAZEK nammmunne SYSTEI Filed Sent. 1924 2 Shuts-511001. 1

Sept. 15, 1925.

J. BLAZEK REFRIGERATING SYS'I'BI Filed Sept. 1924 2 Shuts-Shut 2 1 Systems,

Patented Sept. 15. 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT ioFF oE.

, .rosnrn BLAZER, or ci'iicaeo, rumors.

'REFRIGEBATING srs'rnu.

I Application filed September 15, 1924. Serial No. 737,042.

"'0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnrn BLAznK, a

.itizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Co ok and State of Illlnois, have invented certain new and useful of which the following isa specification.

This invention, in the form shown, is directed to refri erated display counters, a1 thou h the re rigerating system employed may e used under a variety of conditions, so that it will be understood that the spe cific details of construction herein set forth are not, in the absence of express limitation, to be understood as imposing limitations on the use of the invention. The refrigerating system employed is one which utilizes jets of. cold brine or other refrigerating medium for the purpose of 'cooling the air within the compartment wherein perishable arti cles are stored, and for the purpose of es- 'tablishing air currents which will tend to withdraw the warmer air from the upper portions of the chamber or compartment, and, after cooling the same, recirculate the air back to the starting point. This system of cooling is peculiarly adapted for use in the construction of refrigerated display cpunters, in that it permits .the use of the entire upper portion of the counter for display purposes, and obviates the necessity for providing ice chambers, or the like, which will interfere with the display of goods and are otherwise objectionable, sinc they frequently interfere with easy access to the goods on display.

In the present invention, the brine tank and pump may be located in the lower portion of the counter within space which is not desirable for the display of goods, so that the upper portion of the counter may, if desired, be walled in with glass and per- ,mit a ready inspection of the goods from ing the features of the present invention and taken on line 11 of Fig. 2, being broken Improvements in" Refrigerating.

awayin the center to cupied by the figure;

Flg. 2 is a cross sectional elevation of the same; and V Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are dia ams showing va rlations in the method of directing the spray into the chamber to be cooled. Y

As applied to a display counter, the invention comprises a brine tankwhich occupies the lower portion of the counter structure. The counter, as shown, comreduce the space prises a front wall 11, a rear wall 12, a bottom or base 13, and end walls 14, all of the walls shown being of the insulated character commonly employed in the construction of refrigerators, ic boxes, and the like.

Above the-brine tank chamber is a partition wall which, as shown, slopes slightly from front to rear and is covered on the top by metallic lining 16 and having near. its rear edge one or more drain spouts 17 adapted to permit the cooling liquid to drain back into the underlying brine tank. Above the partition wall 15 is located a display shelf 18 which may be formed of opalite glass or other convenient and sanitary material upon which to place the goods to be displayed.

The upper part of the display counter, as shown, comprises a glass front wall 19, a top plate 20. and sliding doors 21 at the rear of the display portion of the counter which afford access to the interior thereof. It will be understood that the details of construction of the display coun'er can be modified as desired without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Within the lower portion of the counter, as shown, is located a pump 22 immediately adjacent to one end of the brine tank and opening thereinto through a port 23. The pump is preferably driven by a motor 24 and serves to deliver cooling fluid under pressure through a header pipe 25 which, as shown in Fig. 1, leads up to a point above the partition wall 15 and extends from end to end of the display chamber near the front ranged as to provide open slots or spaces 27 and 28 along the front and rear edges thereof which provide for the circulation of air from the storag: space above the shelf tothe cooling space neath, and the flow of currents will be induced by the action of the spray 'ets, which not only serve to coolthe air wit which they come in contact, but also serve to maintain a current flow in the direction of movement of the emitted spray.

In order to provide for the coupling tother of a series of counters to be served om the same brine tank, a second header pipe 29 is provided which leads from the pump 23 through the brine tank chamber and the opposite end wall 15, ftvhich header pipe is provided with a suitable couplin 30 to make connection'with the next succee mg display counter unit a return pipe 31 or the like being provided for leading the brine back to the tank 10.

In Figs. 3, 4 and are shown various modifications of the arran ement previously described' In Fig. 3 is 510WI1 an arrangement wherein the header pipe is located at one end of the shelf 18 which is, in this instance, arranged to afford spaces at its ends for the circulation of air currents in the manner indicated by the arrows. Fig. 4 shows a second modification in which two headers 25, are located near the center of the display compartment and discharge in opposite directions towards the ends thereof beneath the shelf sections 18 which are spaced apart in the center to permit of the establishment of two oppositely directed air.currents. Fig. 5

shows a modification of the above in which the header ipes 25 are located near the ends of the isplay compartment and direct jets of liquid toward the center thereof beneath the shelf sections 18. Other modifications of the same general idea might be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Furthermore, the brine tank might, if desired, be located at a distance from the compartment or compartments to be cooled and the brine or other cooling medium discharged through a suitable system of pipes adapted to the requirements of local conditions. The coolin medium employed may be any suitable liquid mixture, such as is commonly employed for refrigerating purposes, such, for instance, as ice and water, ice and salt and water; or in cases where cooling coils are available, the same may be housed within the tank and utilized to reduce the temperature of the refrigerant employed, so that it will be understood that the term brine tank is intended to cover a tank intended to house the liquid cooling mixture whatsoever-may be the constituents thereof.

In order to prevent the ingress of solid particles which might tend to clog the system, it is preferred to provide a screen 31 over the end of the pump intake 23. The spray system of the present invention is peculiarly adapted to the requirements of a display counter in that it does not encumber any portion of the structure devoted to the dis-' play of the goods and rmits ready access to be obtained thereto rom the rear.

This method of refrigeration d s away with the use of refrigerants placed behind the counter, as is commonly the case, which method of cooling makes it necessary for the attendant to reach over the refrigerating chamber of the counter to gain access and to handle the oods on display, and it also does away with t enecessity for placing a refrigerating compartment at each end of the counter or in the center thereof, which method of refrigeration is extremely wasteful of s ace and frequently reduces the s ace availab e for display purposes by at least 20%.

By the use of the spray system, acting under the pressure of the pump, the natural tendency of the cool air to fall is overcome, and currents of cool air are caused to rise to the top of the counter, so' that it is thereby possible to reverse the usual arrangement observed in the construction of refrigerators, and to locate the cooling medium below, rather than above, the storage or display compartment.

The arrangement is one which enables the counters to be arranged in unit order, since one of the-counters may be equipped to serve as a master counter from which the brine is distributed to the other counters composing the series, although obviously each counter sectionmay be in the form of a selfcontained unit fully equipped with a brine tank and motor to operate independently of other units. I

I claim:

1. In a refrigerated display counter, the

combination of a structure provided with a substantially horizontally disposed partition wall dividing the structure into an upper display compartment and a lower brine compartment, a brine cooling tank in the lower "compartment and in communication through a drainage opening in the partition with the upper compartment, a shelf within the display compartment elevated slightly above the partition, to afford a relatively broad and low spraying space, the shelf having along its opposite edges passageways for the upfiow and return downflow of air respectively to and from the display portion of the display compartment, a spray pipe located beneath the shelf and at a point adjacent to the return downflow air passage and provided on the the side fronting the spraying space with discharge openings directed toward said space and adapted to direct the flow of jets of coolingliquid in a substantially horizontal plane beneath the o means for driving said pump, substantially as described.

2. In a refrigerated display counter, the combination of a structure provided with a substantially horizontally disposed part1- tion wall dividing the structure into an upper display compartment and a lower brine compartment, a brine cooling tank in the lower com artment and in communication through a f rainage opening in the partition with the upper compartment to receive drainage therefrom, a shelf within the display compartment elevated slightly above the artition to afford a relatively broad and ow spraying space, the shelf having along its opposite edges passageways for the upflow and downflow 0 air res ectively to and from the display portion 0 the dis play compartment, a spray pipe located beneath the shelf and at a point adjacent to the return downflow air passage and provided on the side fronting the spraying space with discharge openings directed toward said s ace and ada ted to direct the flow of jets o cooling liquid in a substantially horizontal plane beneath the shelf and in substantial parallelism therewith to create air currents through the relatively narrow 'spraying space beneath the shelf and upwardly through the air passage toward which the jets are directed and-to cause said air currents to return downwardly through the air passage adjacent to the spray pipe, a pump communicating with the brine tank and the spray pipe, means for driving said pump, and means in communication with the pump and leading to a point outside of the structure for serving a second display counter unit from the same pump, substantially as described.

3. In a refrigerated counter, a compartment provided near its base with a substantially horizontal shelf dividing the compartment into a relatively high and large overlying space for the housing of perishable articles and a relatively low broad underlying spraying space, the shelf having along itsopposite edges passageways for the upflow and return downflow of air respectively to and from the overlying housing space, a spray pipe located beneath the shelf and provided on the side fronting the spraying space with discharge openings directed toward said space and adapted to di-i rect the flowof jets of cooling liquid in a substantially horizontal plane beneath the shelf and in substantial parallelism therewith to induce air currents through the relatively narrow spraying space beneath the shelf and upwardly through the air passage toward which the jets'are directed and to cause said air currents to return through the downflow air passage, the base of the compartment being provided with a drain passage, a brine cooling tank in communication with said drain passage, and a ump in communication on its intake side with the brine tank and on its discharge side with the spray pipe, and means for operating the pump, substantially as described.

4. In a refrigerated counter, a compart' ment provided near its base with a substantially orizontal shelf dividin the compartment into a relatively high an large overly ing space for the housing of perishable articles and a relatively low broad underlying spraying s ace, the shelf being spaced along opposite e ges from the proximate walls of the compartment to afford passageways for the upflow and return downflow of air respectively to and from the overlying housing space, a spray pipe located beneath the shelf and at a point adjacent to and substantially parallel with the edge of the shelf proximate to the return downflow passage and provided on the side fronting the spraying space with discharge openings directed toward said space and adapted to direct the flow of jets of cooling liquid in a substantially horizontal plane beneath the shelf and in substantial parallelism therewith to induce air currents through the relatively narrow spraying space beneath the shelf and upwardly through the air passage toward which the jets are directed and to cause said air currents to return downwardly throu h the air passage adjacent the spray pipe, 'ie base of the compartment being sloped downwardly from the spray pipe and provided near itsrdistant edge with a drain passage, a'brine cooling tank in communication with said drain passage, and a pump in communication on its intake side with the brine tank and on its discharge side with the spray pipe, and means for operating the pump, substantially as described.

5. In a refrigerated counter, a structure having means for dividing it into a relatively high and capacious display compartment for the housing of perishable articles, and a relatively low and restricted underlying spraying space, said spraying space being in communication at each end with the overlying display compartment through air upflow and downflow passages respectively, a spraying pipe adapted to discharge into the spraying space and located in proximity to the downflow air passage, and provided on the side fronting the spraying space with a discharge opening toward said space adapted to direct the flow of a jet of cooling liquid beneath the base of the display compartment to induce air currents through the relatively restricted spraying space and upwardly through the air upflow 5 passage toward which the jet is directed and to cause said air currents to return through the downfiow air passage, the basecof the spraying space being provided with a drain passage, a brine cooling-tank in communi-' cation with said drain passage, and a pum 10 in communication on its intake side wit the brine tank and on its discharge sidewith the spray pipe, and means for o rating the pump, substantially as descri d.

, JOSEPH BLAZEK.

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