03O REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



condensing-vessel, but as no loss except of space can accrue from hav- 

 ing the vessels much larger than is by calculation necessary, it will 

 be well to make them of ample capacity and surface." 



Mr. Harrison aimed at establishing a broad claim which he stated as 

 follows: "Having thus described the nature of my invention, and the 

 manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I do 

 not confine myself to the arrangement of apparatus described, but what 

 I claim is, the use of volatile liquids (including water), evaporated in 

 vacuo, and reduced to the liquid form in a separate vessel by pressure, 

 for the production of cold, and in the manufacture of ice and generally 

 in all processes where refrigeration is reqiusite or desirable." 



In the month of September, 1857, Mr. Harrison applied for a second 

 patent in which he gave a description of the tinned copper ice-moulds 

 which were used until superseded by Teller's metal plates, and he recom- 

 mends a great number of moulds to give ample conducting surface, be- 

 cause ice is a bad conductor of heat, and in i)roportion to the slowness 

 of conduction must the cooling surface be increased. He goes on to say 

 at the end of his patent that "having described thenatiu'e of -my inven- 

 tion and the manner of performing it, I now proceed to ascertain the 

 points in which it differs from the more general descrii)tion of the power 

 of refrigeration, by the continual evaporation and condensation of vola- 

 tile liquids in vacuo given in the specification of my patent, No. 747, 

 185G. I have herein described two new refrigerating- vessels, viz, a tubu- 

 lai' boiler, and a series of vertical plates separated bj^ wu-es, and two new 

 forms of condensers, viz, a coil of tubes connected with a central cylin- 

 tlrical vessel, and a vertical tul>ular condenser combined with a similar 

 cylindrical vessel." 



"I am aware that the employment of saline solutions for carrying frigo- 

 rific power has been frequently proposed, but the economical use which 

 I make of this agent is not so much for the mere transmission as for the 

 diffusion of this power over a large surface, the necessity for which I 

 have ascertained by original experiments on the conducting power of 

 ice." 



" My invention, as now x>erfected, consists in the combination of a 

 TeMgerating process by the continued and self-regulated circulation of 

 a stream of ether, or other volatile liquid, with the continued stream of 

 uncongealable liquid, conveying and diffusing the frigorific effect over 

 large surfaces, and in rendering the process subservient to the manufac- 

 ture of ice on an economical scale, to cooling worts, &c., to regulating 

 the temperature of apartments, and generally to any process in which a 

 temperature below that of the season or climate is required." 



Harrison's ether- machine, constructed Avith great precision and good 

 workmanship by the late Mr. Daniel Siebe, proved at once the best prac- 

 tical machine for making ice, and the first one was taken to Melbourne, 

 where it was recently, if it be not still, at work. This form of machine 

 has been well made by Messrs. Siddely & Mackay, of Liverpool j and 



