Flake ice-making apparatus

L. J. SCHNEIDER

FLAKE ICE-MAKING APPARATUS

May 19, 1964

3,133,428

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INVENTOR.

Louis J. Schneider

BY

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L. J. SCHNEIDER

3,133,428

FLAKE ICE-MAKING APPARATUS

May 19, 1964

Filed July 2, 1962

Sheets-Sheet 2

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FiGf.9

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United States Patent Office

3,133,42$

Patented May 19, 1964

3,133,428

FLAKE ICE-MAKING APPARATUS

Louis J. Schneider, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Ross-Temp, Inc., Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois

Filed July 2, 1962, Ser. No. 206,985

Claims. (Cl. 62—354)

This invention relates to ice-making apparatus and more specifically to an improved means for removing and displacing ice from the surface of a refrigerated cylinder.

The advent of commercial drink-dispensing machines has created a particular demand for an in situ ice forming and dispensing mechanism. Thus, in a typical soft drink vending machine, the consumer inserts his change into the receptacle, and a paper cup is automatically positioned beneath a drink dispensing nozzle and is subsequently automatically filled with a metered quantity of the desired drink. To better service the consumer’s demands, many attempts have been made to incorporate into this sequence an ice-dispensing feature whereby preferably crushed or flaked ice is positioned in the cup concomitantly with the drink. The crushed or flaked ice, of course, presents a maximum of surface area for cooling (as say compared to a conventional ice cube) and is therefore particularly suitable for use where substantially instantaneous cooling of the dispensed drink is desired. Moreover, ice-removing mechanisms are desirable in a wide variety of other environments, and this invention is broadly intended to encompass all such ice-producing techniques.

A known system for freezing and delivering flaked ice utilizes apparatus comprising a liquid storage vessel for holding water to be made into ice; an internal refrigerated evaporator in the storage vessel; and an ice-removing means for removing ice from the surface of the refrigerated evaporator comprising a resilient axially expansible and contractible helical coil which is fixed for rotation at one of its ends so as to scrape ice formed on the surface of the refrigerated evaporator and which is free at the other of its ends so as to allow resilient expansion and contraction of the coil in response to the stresses induced in the ice removal process.

However, various difficulties in the operation of this free end screw-type ice removing system have appeared, primarily among which are the facts that: (A) the screwtype auger ice remover has not functioned properly especially in high capacity systems; (B) the relatively free movement of the auger (by virtue of its one free end) has resulted in frequent distortions of the auger which causes binding or slippage of the auger relative to the ice positioned on the refrigerated evaporator surface and therefore non-uniformity in ice production rate and particle size; (C) the screw type auger has been characterized in use by an objectionable loud clicking noise and by wobbling and vibration, presumably by virtue of the mechanical stresses induced in the intermittent elongation and contraction of the auger; and (D) the free positioning of the auger whereby both axial and radial distortion are possible has occasioned severe and localized wear and thereby frequent replacement of the screw auger, the refrigerated evaporator, the drive means for turning the screw auger relative to the evaporator, and the bearing connection retaining the screw auger in a relatively fixed position with respect to the evaporator.

A subsequent development designed to obviate the technically and commercially undesirable features just enumerated is described in United States patent application entitled Apparatus for Making Flake. Ice, Serial No. 794,010, filed February 18, 1959, and copending herewith, which provides inter alia for the journalling of the free end of the screw-type ice removing auger. As meritorious as that system is, it nonetheless retains a somewhat similar principle of operation to the free-end auger in that a direct tensile load is set up by the tangential pull of the coiled auger at right angles to the cantilever loading.

This invention, however, comprising in general a liquid storage vessel, a refrigerated evaporator positioned within the vessel, and novel ice-removing means comprising at least two curved ice removing vanes fixedly positioned between two support members which are, in turn, fixedly positioned both with respect to the liquid storage vessel and with respect to the refrigerated evaporator, whereby the ice-remover device defined thereby may be rotated about the surface of the refrigerated evaporator, and preferably further comprising at least one stationary rib positioned on the interior of the liquid storage vessel to facilitate the removal of the ice therefrom is predicated upon a dissimilar concept in that a diagonal compressive stress is provided in order to remove the ice from the surface of the refrigerated evaporator and to displace it therefrom. This feature results in a normal load which, rather than being dissipated in an intermittent elongation and contraction of the ice removing vanes, readily removes the ice from the surface of the refrigerated evaporator in a uniform distribution throughout the entire surface thereof.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide novel ice-removing means which are capable of efficient and economical operation in all ranges and especially in high capacity ranges wherein conventional systems fail to provide acceptable results.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an ice flaking system characterized in that distortion and elongation of the ice-removing means is obviated whereby objectionable binding or slippage and consequent nonuniformity in ice production rate and particle size are circumvented.

It is a related object of this invention to avoid the objectionable clicking noises and wobbling and vibration of the conventional free end screw-type auger and likewise to minimize the characteristic excessive and localized .wear of the various components in a free-end screw-type auger ice-removing system.

These and, other objects, advantages, and features of the subject invention will hereinafter appear, and, for purposes of illustration but not of limitation, illustrative embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

, FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view, partly in section, of an ice-removing apparatus employing an improved ice-remover device constructed in accordance with the teachings of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of one form of iceremover having two curved ice removing vanes and a cylindrical drive support member;

FIGURE 4 is a similar view of another form of iceremover having three curved ice-removing vanes and a triangular drive support member;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevational view of a curved iceremoving vane similar to the one employed in the ice-removers of FIGURES 3 and 4;

FIGURE 6 is another view of the vane of FIGURE 5 as seen from the line 6—6 of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a view similar to FIGURES 3 and 4 showing another embodiment of the novel ice-removing means described herein;

FIGURE 8 is a top plan view of the ice-remover shown in FIGURE 4, with the triangular drive support member being shown at the top of the ice-remover; and

3,133,428

FIGURE 9 is a schematic representation of the refrigeration means and related freezing structure, the ice scraper drive motor, and the water feed system of the apparatus embodying the novel ice remover of the invention.

With reference to the drawings, the ice-making apparatus is generally designated as 1 in FIGURES 1 and 2. The ice-making apparatus comprises a liquid storage vessel in the form of an upright cylindrical member 2 for holding water to be made into ice; a refrigerated evaporator in the form of the closed cylinder 4 extending concentrically upwardly within the cylinder 2 from the bottom thereof; and an improved ice-remover means generally designated by the numeral 6.

The cylindrical vessel 2 is provided with an opening 8 adjacent the upper end thereof and a contiguous inclined chute 10. The ice-making apparatus 1 is positioned within a given system with suitable conventional supports and connections (not shown).

The refrigerated cylinder 4 is provided with an enlarged bottom portion 12, the external diameter of which is equal to the internal diameter of the cylindrical vessel 2. An annular flange 14 extends from the enlarged portion 12 adjacent the interior of the cylindrical vessel 2, as best seen in FIGURE 1. An O-ring 16 or other conventional seal is utilized to conjoin the respective components 2 and 4. An annular bearing support sleeve 18, preferably formed of a slippery plastic such as nylon or Teflon, is provided concentrically on the interior of the annular flange 14 (i.e., the outside diameter of the bearing support sleeve 18 is equal to the inside diameter of the annular flange 14) in order to rotatively supoprt the ice remover 6, in a manner to be subsequently described. Also, the interior of the cylindrical vessel 2 is provided with at least one stationary vane or rib which aids in the removal of ice from the cylindrical vessel 2 in a manner to be subsequently described. In the described embodiment, two separate vanes 20 and 20α are shown at a 180° relative disposition, with the vane 20α being positioned such that the median plane thereof is co-planar with the median plane of the opening 8 of the cylindrical vessel 2. In certain circumstances, as hereinafter described, it may be preferable to provide vanes such as the vanes 20 and 20α which are non-parallel with respect to the longitudinal vertical axis of the cylindrical vessel 2, as for example spiral or other coiled vanes.

The novel ice-remover 6, shown separately in FIGURE 3, comprises a support member 24, an annular ring 26, and two curved ice removing vanes 28 and 28α positioned therebetween. The support member 24 comprises a cylindrical plug, the external diameter of which substantially corresponds to the external diameter of the refrigerated cylinder 4. An axially aligned and centrally disposed aperture 32 is provided on the bottom or interior side 31 of the plug 24. A bearing sleeve 34 is received within the aperture 32 and is adapted for rotative mounting about a cylindrical abutment 22 centrally disposed on the top of the refrigerated cylinder 4. Correspondingly, the top or exterior side 37 of the plug 24 is provided with a square hole 33 (see FIGURES 1 and 2), which is adapted to receive a square drive shaft 35 such that appropriate power drive means M will cause the shaft 35 and therefore the support member (or cylindrical plug) 24 to rotate atop the refrigerated cylinder 4 in a fixed relative position with respect thereto. Obviously, other conventional means such as splined connections or clutch grasps may be utilized to effect the driving connection, the objective being to secure a fastening means such that the motor can be lifted out from the ice-removing mechanism without disturbing the positioned ice-remover device.

The annular ring 26 is provided with an annular L-groove 30 which is adapted to be seated upon the bearing sleeve 14 of the cylindrical vessel 2. Thus, as seen in FIGURE 1, the maximum external diameter of the annular ring 26 approximates the external diameter of the bearing sleeve 14, such that the annular ring 26 rotates about the interior of the cylindrical vessel 2 in a fixed relative position with respect thereto.

The ice-removing vanes 28 and 28α are each fixed at one of its ends to the support member 24 and at the other of its ends to the annular ring 26 in a non-corresponding alignment, that is, if the end 36 of vane 28 is affixed (as by welding as shown in the drawings) at a given angular position on the support member 24, the other end 38 of the same vane 28 will be affixed (again as by welding) to the annular ring 26 in some other angular position with reference to the same point of spatial reference. Thus, in the FIGURE 3 embodiment, the first end 36 of one vane 28 is located at a 180° relative disposition with respect to the first end 36α of the other vane 28α and at a corresponding 180° disposition to the second end 38 of the same vane 28; and the second end 38α of the other vane 28α is located at a 0° relative disposition with respect to the first end 36 of the first vane 28 and at a 180° relative disposition with respect to the second end 38 of the same vane 28. Obviously, an infinite number of relative dispositions for the respective ends of the vanes 28 and 28α, both in terms of opposite ends of the same vane and of corresponding ends of the separate vanes, could be chosen, but the described 180° relative disposition for both corresponding ends and for opposite ends has been found to be the preferred operation when two vanes, such as the vanes 28 and 28α, are employed. This symmetrical disposition apparently results in a uniform stress distribution and thereby promotes an efficacious operation for the ice-remover 6.

The vanes 28 and 28α are preferably formed of round rod metal stock appropriately curved to achieve the desired relative disposition of the corresponding ends and of the opposite ends of each of the vanes.

It should be apparent that more than two vanes may cross brace the support member and the annular ring when desired. For instance, as shown in the modified iceremover 6A in FIGURE 4, three vanes 28c, 28rf, and 28e are each fixed at one of its ends to the support member 44 and at the other of its ends to the annular ring 26'. The annular ring 26' corresponds to the annular ring 26 of FIGURE 3 and has a corresponding L-groove 30' corresponding to the L-groove 30 of FIGURE 3.

An additional structural variation is also illustrated in FIGURE 4 in that the support member 44 is shown as a generally triangular member which generally corresponds to the cylindrical member 24 other than with respect to the triangular viz-a-viz circular perimeters involved (as for example the aperture 52 of support member 44 corresponding to the aperture 32 of support member 24). The respective ends of each of the vanes 28c. 28d, and 28e are positioned on the support member 44 at a 120° relative disposition on the annular ring 26'.

The relative angular disposition of one end of a given vane curved as hereinbefore defined with respect to its opposite end will, of course, depend both upon its length and upon the length of the distance separating the support member from the annular ring. That is, for a given vane, the higher the ratio of the length of the vane to the length of the distance separating the support member and the annular ring, the greater the angular separation between the opposite ends fixed respectively on the support member and the annular ring. Since a diagonal compressive stress as produced by a curved vane is the feature of the invention whereby the deficiencies of prior art mechanisms are obviated, it is of course necessary that this ratio be greater than one. That is, a parallelly aligned non-curved set of vanes is not within the teachings of this invention.

An alternate embodiment which has been found to be satisfactory, although not as practical either in manufacture or in actual use as the ice removers 6 and 6a shown in FIGURES 3 and 4 respectively, is designated by the numeral 7 in FIGURE 7. The ice remover 7 com

3,133,428 prises a cylindrical member 24 having an aperture 32; an annular ring 26 having an L-groove 30; and curved ice removing vanes 60 and 60α supported therebetween. The elements 24, 32, 26, and 30 correspond to the elements 24, 32, 26, and 30 in FIGURE 3. The distinction between the ice remover 7 of FIGURE 7 and the ice remover 6 of FIGURE 3 resides in the curvature imparted to the respective cross-bracing vanes. Thus, in the FIGURE 7 embodiment, the respective opposite end portions 61 and 62 of the vane 60 are provided generally parallelly aligned at a 180° relative disposition. The curved portion 65 connecting the respective ends 61 and 62 is curved to correspond to a portion of a helical coil. Correspondingly, the end portions 63 and 64 of the vane 60α and the curved central portion 66 connecting therebetween are similarly fashioned. In this manner, portions of at least two helical coils (represented by the connecting sections 65 and 66) are utilized as the ice-flaking means. Of course, an ice remover of the type shown in FIGURE 7 may be provided with three or more cross bracing vanes and may likewise be provided with an infinite number of relative dispositions of the ends of each of the several vanes correspondingly to the description of the ice-removers as exemplified by the embodiments shown in FIGURES 3 and 4.

In use the cylindrical vessel 2 is supplied with water by conventional means (not shown) and the temperature of the refrigerated cylinder 4 is reduced below the freezing point of the water by conventional refrigerating apparatus disposed within the cylinder 4 (not shown). The water will thus tend to freeze upon the exterior surface of cylinder 4. When the power means (not shown) then activates the shaft 35 for rotation, the ice-removing unit 6 will rotate with respect to the exterior of the refrigerated cylinder 4 and with respect to the interior of the cylindrical vessel 2 in a given fixed disposition. The ice formed upon the surface of the cylinder 4 will be removed or flaked off therefrom and will be moved within the cylinder 2 by virtue of the continuing rotation of the ice-remover. Since both the top (i.e., the support member 24) and the bottom (i.e., the annular ring 26) are guided for fixed rotative movement in a given position, the entire ice remover unit 6 will always retain as its axis of rotation the longitudinal axis of the concentric cylinders 2 and 4, regardless of the ice thickness involved.

Furthermore, in actual operation it has been observed that no lengthening or relative distortion of any of the vanes with respect to each other or with respect to their original disposition in their fixed positions between the support member and the annular ring will be evidenced. Thereby, no undue stress, either upon the drive shaft 35 or upon the rotative bearing assembly 14 and 18 will occur. The unit will function smoothly, quietly, and efficiently at a uniform rate of production and particle size formation, even when operated at relatively large capacities wherein the prior art devices are inoperative.

The most efficacious operation of the unit 1 has been found to occur when at least one stationary rib, such as either of the ribs 20 or 20α shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, are positioned on the interior of the cylindrical vessel 2. Such a positioned rib serves to impede the free flow of flaked ice within the annular interior 3 separating the exterior of the refrigerated cylinder 4 and the interior of the cylindrical vessel 2. The positioned rib (preferably located at or near the discharge chute 8, such as the position of the rib 20α) in conjunction with the rotative movement of the vanes of the ice remover will gradually tend to force flaked ice out through the discharge opening 8 and up the chute 10 for subsequent use in a conventional manner. The chute 10 is inclined, of course, so that excess water will drain back into the vessel 2 and so that a relatively dry flaked ice product will thereby be produced.

Of course, as shown by FIGURES 1 and 2, more than one stationary rib may be utilized in conjunction with the ice-removing vanes. The ribs may be parallely aligned with the longitudinal axis of the ice-making apparatus as shown, or, spiral or other coiled ribs may be utilized if desired to aid in the ice ejection.

By providing the attachment of the respective vanes to the exterior of the top support member 24 (as compared to the interior attachment to -the annular ring 26), it has been found that the maximum utilization of the iceremoving vanes is thereby achieved. Thus, the tops of the vanes themselves, which each rotate past the discharge opening 8, once per each 360¹ degrees of revolution, are utilized to give the final push to the flaked ice as it embarks upon its journey up the inclined chute 10.

If desired, the top support member may be formed of various geometrical shapes other than the cylindrical form shown in FIGURE 3 to further improve the discharge characteristics of the ice-making apparatus. Thus, the triangular shape of the support member 44 shown in the FIGURE 4 embodiment is provided so that the member 44 as well as the respective end portions of each of the cross bracing vanes aid in the ice discharge process. This feature of the embodiments disclosed herein is quite unique in that a maximum volume for ice ejection is thereby provided adjacent the discharge opening 8.

It should be understood that various changes, modifications, and alterations may be made in the details of construction, assemblies, operations, and materials for the various elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined in the appended claims. It should be further understood that the invention is not intended to be limited to any particular theory or mode of operation but is rather intended to encompass all that comes within the appended claims, when read in the light of the foregoing description of the invention.