Untitled record

Application filed October 7,1895. Serial No. 564,928. (No model,)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, William F. Singer, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the county of New York and 5 State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Refrigerating Apparatus; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others io skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in car refrigeration; and it has for its object the production and maintenance of a low degree of temperature within a car by the use of a pump or pumps which 20 are provided with a pivoted and balanced weighted lever adapted to be oscillated by the up-and-down or jolting movements of the car in its transit, the said pump or pumps serving to exhaust the air from hermetically25 sealed tanks or chambers located within .the car and containing volatile hydrocarbons or other liquids or chemicals, the expansion of which into vapor resulting in production of cold within the body of the car, as will be 30 readily understood by,those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains.

To this end and to such others as the invention may pertain the invention resides in the peculiar constructions and in the novel 35 combination, arrangement, and adaptation of parts, all as more fully hereinafter described, shown in the accompanying drawings, and then specifically defined in the appended claim.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which, with the letters of reference marked thereon, form a part of this specification, like letters of reference indicating the same parts throughout the sev45 eral views, and in which drawings—

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of a railway-car provided with my refrigerating apparatus. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the car near one of its ends; 50 and Fig. 3 is an enlarged view, in side elevation, of the pumping mechanism, parts being shown in section.

Reference now being had to the details of the drawings by letter, A designates a railway ref rigerator-car provided at its ends with 55 my refrigerating apparatus, and although I have shown the apparatus in the present instance as applied to both ends of the car and in practice prefer this construction or disposition of the apparatus as tending to produce 60 the best results with the greatest possible economy in space, still it is at once evident that the apparatus may be placed in other parts of the car if for any reason it should be desired, and it is equally evident that but a 65 single pump or set of pumps may be employed if preferred, and as the apparatus which. I have shown in the opposite ends of the car is in every respect similar a description of one will suffice in this connection. 70

B is a hermetically-sealed tank or chamber, preferably of sheet metal, located in the present instance at one end of the car. This tank is provided with a suitable cover C, and directly above this cover a cover D is provided in the roof of the ear for convenience in filling the tank.

Located beneath the tank B are two diaphragm-pumps E and F, one of the pumps being placed directly above the other, the upper pump E being inverted, so that the diaphragms E' and F' will be directly opposite, one above the other, and these diaphragms are at their centers connected by the link G, which link is at or about its longitudinal center provided with an enlarged portion G', having formed therein a transverse opening G², which opening is of the least diameter at its longitudinal center and from this central point enlarged outwardly, as showm.

II is a lever which at a point between its ends is pivoted to a fixed point. One end of the lever is inserted within the opening G^a in the link G, and the opposite or free end of the lever is provided with a suitable weight II', while the said lever near its weighted end is attached to a wire which connects two spiral springs 11, said connecting-wire being passed over a suitable pulley, as shown clearly in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the wire serving to

100

577,327 maintain a nice balance of the weight and render it sensitive, so as to cause it to readily respond to slight movements of the car, as will be readily understood.

J is a pipe which connects both of the pumps with the upper portions of the chamber or tank B, and K is a metallic hermeticallysealed chamber, through which the air or vapors drawn by the pumps from the tank io or chamber is conveyed by means of the connecting-pipe L, the same being discharged through a suitable outlet-pipe M through the bottom of the car.

The operation of the device will be readily 15 understood in connection with the foregoing description. The tank or tanks B are partially filled with volatile hydrocarbons or other liquids or chemicals adapted to the purpose. The jolting movements of the car will 20 serve to cause tlie weighted end of the lever IT to be thrown up and down, thus operating the pumps and exhausting the air from the tanks or chambers B and producing partial vacuums therein. The liquids within the 25 said tanks being thus relieved of pressure will at once vaporize and the vapor will be removed by the action of the pumps. As will be readily understood, this vaporizing or expansion of the hydrocarbons or other chem30 icals within the tank will, in increasing its volume, produce a low degree of temperature, which will be imparted to the interior of the car and serve to effectually cool the same. It will also be understood that if for any reason 35 the car should remain idle or “side-tracked” for any unusual length of time the pumps may be operated by hand power.

In order to prevent the water or other liquid from slopping and to prevent the possi40 bility of its entering the outlet-pipe leading to the pump, I provide two horizontally-disposed partitions N and Ν', one above the other, with the lower partition at a point directly above the surface of the liquid in the tank. These partitions N and N' are both 45 provided with perforations throughout their entire surfaces, the perforations in the upper partition alternating with those in the lower partition, as shown, thus preventing the water from passing above the upper partition, 50 as such liquid as may pass through the lower partition would contact with the surface of the upper one.

I am aware that it has heretofore been proposed to actuate a pump by the jolting move- 55 meuts of a car in transit, but it has heretofore been proposed to connect the pump mechanism within the car with the car-truck, and I am not aware that it has heretofore been proposed to utilize the movements of the car- 60 body to operate a pump by any construction wherein the pump and its actuating mechanism has been contained entirely within the body of the car.