Untitled record

Application filed April 5,1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, George W. Goodell, of Beardstown, in the county of Cass and State or Illinois, have invented a certain newand use5 ful Improvement in Processes of and Apparatus for Storing Ice, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

io My invention relates to a new and useful improvement in a process and apparatus for housing ice, the nature of my improvement being fully set forth and claimed hereinafter.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation 15 of my improvement. Fig. 2 is a top-plan view.

Fig. 3 is a detail top plan of main and waste ways. Fig. 4 is a detail elevation, part in section, at the forward end of the mainway and the wasteway. Fig. 5 is a cross-section of the 20 main and waste way, taken on line x x, Fig. 3.

Figs. 6 and 11 are detail vertical cross-sections, showing two of the main ways supported on - floors or cross-pieces, and my method of supporting an intermediate mainway. Fig. 7 is 25 a side elevation of the same. Fig. 8 is a top plan of mainway, showing gates for switching blocks of ice off to different parts of the house, the lines for operating the gates being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 9 is a vertical cross-section 30 of the same, showing the gate or switch and its operating parts. Fig. 10 is a detail side elevation of the switch-barand sustaining-rod.

Throughout the specification the chutes for conveying ice to the house are called “ main35 ways,” as distinguished from those which carry away the waste ice, and which are called “wasteways.”

A is the ice-house; BB', the main ways; and 0 the wasteways, which are supported on suit40 able frame-work at one or both sides of the house.

D is an inclined elevator leading from the water’s edge to near the top’of the house A.

E are endless chains passing over rollers or 45 pulleys F, as shown in Fig. 1. The endless chains have cross-pieces e interposed between them at regular intervals for engaging with and carrying the blocks of ice up the elevator, as shown in Fig. 4.

The floor or bottom of the elevator is formed in the usual way of longitudinal strips resting on cross-pieces d. These longitudinal strips are of a length equal to the distance between the cross-pieces d, and are made removable for the purpose hereinafter explained. The main- 55 ways B are made to incline downward toward the other end of the house from that at which the elevator is situated. As shown in Fig. 4, the pitch of inclination of the main way is the greatest on first leaving the elevator. Therea- 60 son of this is to give a sliding movement to the ice great enough to carry it to the extreme other end of the way.

G G are gangways, the number of which varies according to the number of windowsinthe 65 ice-house leading from the mainways B to the windows or doors of the ice-house. These gangways are opened and closed by means of gates or switches H, which are secured at one end by a pivoted connection to the gangway G, and to 70 their other ends are secured rods g g, which extend up and are hooked over bars g' g', having depressions at or near each end to form a ' lock for the rod g at each end of the stroke, which are secured to the bottom of the main- 75 way above. (See Figs. 8 and 9.) The gates are operated by means of cords or ropes, (shown in dotted lines, Fig. 8, and full lines, Fig. 9,) secured to the hanging rods g g, near the upper ends, and pass over pulleys / /and back 80 to a certain point within handy reach, where they are made fast, and from where they may be taken up or let out to open or close the gates. The faces of the gates or switches are made concave, so as to better direct the blocks of 85 ice onto the gangway. The gangways may or may not be made detachable. I have shown them detachable.

On referring to Fig. 6 it will be seen that every⁷ other mainway B rests on cross-pieces 90 b¹, supported in the uprights b. The distance between these cross-pieces b¹ is great enough to allow a person to pass back and forth comfortably on the planks b². Between these ways, supported on the cross-pieces,is interposed an- 95 other mainway, B', supported on a frame, B². (See Figs. 6, 7, and 11.) By this arrangement of the frame B²it will be seen that the passageway b² is not obstructed.

A portion of the wasteway C (see Fig. 3) 100 runs parallel with the main way B, and on referring to Fig. 5 it will be seen that these two

243,244 ways incline from each other, for a purpose which will be explained when I come to speak of the operation of the apparatus.

The wasteways mayor may not be detacha5 bly secured to the mainways. I prefer to make them detachable, as it saves timber to make one wasteway do for all of the mainways, and it can be easily changed from one to another of the mainways.

io I have shown three windows or inlets, H', to the ice-house, which extend from bottom to top of the same and which are closed from the bottom by shutters as the house becomes filled.

It is obvious that a duplicate of the device 15 described may be arranged at the other side of the ice-house, and also that the same device may be used away from the water’s edge, when desired, as it is immaterial as to how the ice is placed upon the elevator.

The operation of the device is as follows: Power being applied to one of the rollers or pulleys over which the endless chains pass, preferably to the lower one of the two next the ice-house, the chains are made to move in the direction shown by the arrow. The foot of the elevator, as shown in Fig. 1, stands in the edge of the water, where the ice-house is near enough the same, from which the ice is taken. As a block of ice, I, is brought to the foot of the elevator it is caught by the crosspieces ou the chains and carried up on the elevator to the first mainway. At this point the longitudinal slats in the bottom of the elevator upon which the block of ice slides are removed, 35 so that the block of ice, on reaching this point, passes from the elevator onto the mainway, which is inclined from end to end of the house, but has, as before stated, a greater pitch of inclination when first leaving the elevator, along which it passes until it comes to the first gate, which switches it off onto the gangway which carries it to the ice-house. When several blocks have passed into the ice-house over this first gangway its gate is closed by the means de45 scribed, and the blocks pass on to the next gateand into the house in t he same way. When a sufficient amount of ice has passed in here this gate is closed and the blocks pass on to the next, and so on. By this means when a certain amount of ice has entered one window the supply may be shut off and time given for storing the ice at this point, while at the same time another portion of the ice-house is receiving the supply. When the house has been filled up to the gangways of this mainway additional longitudinal slats are added to the bottom of the elevator to close the opening, and the ice carried up to the next main way, where it is treated in the same way until the 1 bouse is filled up to the gangways of this main- 60 way, and then additional slats are added to the elevator, aud the blocks of ice are carried on up to the next mainway, and so on from way to way until the house is filled.

I will now describe the means of getting rid 65 of the broken blocks of ice which have been broughtup the elevator onto the mainway, and which it is desired to discard.

The wasteway, as before stated, runs parallel for a short distance with the mainway, and 70 here the ways are inclined outward from each other, as shown in Fig. 5. Now, suppose a brokeu block of ice to be passing along the main way, it will at this point “hug” the outside of the mainway (as would, of course, the 75 perfect blocks also) until it is drawn over onto the wasteway by a person stationed for that purpose on the passage-way V². When the imperfect block of ice is drawn over onto the wasteway, which is also inclined downward, 80 it passes off away from the house, as shown in Fig. 3, and is discharged at a point where it will be out of the way.

Of the frame B² shown in Fig. 6 that shown in Fig. 11 is a modification. As shown in Fig. 85 11 it simply consists in a cross-piece spiked to the two inner supporting uprights, where three uprights are used, or the inner end of said cross-piece may be secured to the icehouse. The form of this frame, however, may 90 be varied at will, the object being to have a frame which will not obstruct the passage-way.