CATALOG OP THE MECHANICAL COLLECTIONS 183 



REFRIGERATING MACHINES 



GORRIE ICE MACHINE, 1851 



U.S.N.M. no. 285397; original patent model; transferred from the United States 

 Patent OflSce ; not illustrated. 



This model was submitted with the application for the patent issued 

 to John Gorrie, of New Orleans, La., May 6, 1851, no. 8080. 



The model represents the first patent for a mechanical refrigerating 

 or ice-making machine issued by the United States Patent Office. It 

 is of additional interest in that the inventor successfully employed 

 ice and cooled air in the treatment of tropical diseases, and for his 

 work in this connection and the invention of the ice machine he is 

 honored by a statue placed in Statuary Hall in the United States 

 Capitol by the State of Florida. 



The machine was designed "to convert water into ice artificially by 

 absorbing its heat of liquefaction with expanding air." The model, 

 made largely of wood, is diagrammatic only. It consists of a double- 

 acting compressor cylinder and a double-acting work or expanding 

 cylinder, the pistons of which are connected to a crankshaft designed 

 to be turned by a steam engine or other prime mover not shown. The 

 air compressed in the compressor cylinder was cooled by the im- 

 mersion of the cylinder in cold water, the injection of cold water 

 into the cylinder and by passing the air through a worm immersed 

 in a tub of water. The compressed air was Jed to a receiver and 

 thence to the expanding cylinder, which was surrounded by a cistern 

 of "uncongealable" liquid. The expansion of air absorbed heat from 

 the liquid, which was circulated to a worm in a freezing tub where 

 the liquid absorbed heat from water in the tub causing it to freeze. 



AUDIFFREN REFRIGERATING MACHINE, 1913 



Plate 37, Figxjre 1 



U.S.N.M. no. 311060; transferred from the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture; photograph no. 32583A. 



The refrigerating machine invented by the Frenchman Abbe Audif- 

 fren about 1904 is interesting as the first entirely self-contained and 

 sealed machine. It was introduced for manufacture in the United 

 States about 1911, and this one was purchased by the United States 

 Bureau of Plant Industry in 1913. 



The unit resembles a large dumbbell in appearance, with two large 

 balls on a hollow shaft with which they are turned by a beltpulley 

 on the end of the shaft. One ball contains the compressor, which 

 hangs, cylinder down, on a crankshaft, which turns with the unit. 

 This ball turns in a tank of circulating cooling water. The compressor 

 is connected through the hollow shaft to the other ball, which is the 



