US2538097A - Method of and apparatus for making ice - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 16, 1951 R. M. HENDERSON 2,538,097

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING ICE Filed 001;. 27, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet l If INVENTOR.

AA Y M. Hf/I/DAVFSO/V din/f Jim. 1951 R. M. HENDERSON 2,538,097

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING ICb Filed Oct. 27, 1945 s Sheefo-Sheet 2 JNVENTOR. AA Y MHE/WE/FSOA 4 #ok Mgy Patented Jan. 16, 1951 METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING ICE Ray M. Henderson, St. Louis, Mo.

Application October 27, 1945, Serial No. 625,024

24 Claims.

This invention relates to ice making and more particularly to a method of and machine for making ice.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide an improved method of manufacturing ice by providing'a flexible means superposed on a refrigerated surface whereby a sheet of ice can be frozen on said flexible means from an adjacent body of water andthen removed by removing the flexible means from the surface.

Another object is to provide an improved method of making ice continuously by training a plurality of coiled springs about a refrigerated drum in a body of water with said springs in close adjacent positions to thereby form a flexible means upon which ice can be formed and removing said ice by causing the springs to pass over a roller rotatable on an axis parallel with the drum.

A further object is to provide an improved ice making machine in which ice is frozen on the outer surface of a flexible means that is superposed on a refrigerated surface immersed in a body of water.

Still a further object is to provide in an ice making machine, means for removing formed ice from association with a refrigerated surface which does not require punches or other forcing means. 7

Yet another object is to provide a flexible means which can be superposed on a refrigerated surface for permitting the forming of ice and facilitating its removal.

Yet another object is to provide improved means for forming a sheet of ice on top of a removable flexible sheet means superposed on a refrigerated surface.

Still a further object is to provide improved means for removing a flexible means from superposed relation with a refrigerated surface to thereby facilitate removal of ice formed on the top of the flexible means.

A further object is to provide an improved flexible sheet means in the form of a series of juxtapositioned coil springs for superpositioning on and removal from a refrigerated surface to thereby facilitate the formation of ice in an ice making machine and its removal from the surface.

A further object is to so construct a continuous ice making machine that ice can be formed as a sheet on the top portion of a flexible sheet means and removed therefrom by training the flexible sheet means over a drum and a roller having a parallel axis with the drum being refrigerated and rotatable through a body of water.

Another object is to provide improved means for forming blocks of ice.

Yet another object is to provide improved means for forming strips of ice and breaking such strips into blocks by the use of flexible means associated with a refrigerated surface.

A still further object is to produce a continuous ice making machine wherein compartments are provided for association with a refrigerated surface and means areassociated therewith to insulate the compartments from a body of water through which the compartments are caused to pass during the freezing of the ice.

Other objects of my invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a cross sectional view of an ice making machine embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is a side view of the machine partially in section, said section being taken along the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3--3 of Figure 1 showing the drum surface construction and the cooperation of the springs;

Figure 4 is a view, partly in section, of another ice making machine embodying my invention and constructed to make ice blocks;

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 3 -5 of Figure 4 showing details of construcion;

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken on the line E-6 of Figure 5, parts being broken away;

Figure 7 is a view of a part of the end of the pick-off plate showing its relationship to the springs and partition members; and

Figure 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Figure 4 showing the manner in which the springs are associated with the idler roller.

Referring first to Figures 1 to 3, there is disclosed a machine for making cracked ice having a box I in which is positioned a tank 2 preferably containing a body of water 3. Within this tank 2 is rotatably mounted 9, refrigerated drum 4; One end of the drum is journaled in the tank by a short stub shaft 5 and the other end is journaled by means of a driving shaft 6 whereby the drum may be rotated by any suitable means such as an electric motor. Suitable packings are employed to seal the shafts with the tank walls. The drum is arranged to contain a suitable refrigerant which is admitted through a pipe I.

There is also a gas intake pipe 8 which has aliquid overflow hole 9, as is well known practice. The ends of the drum are provided with suitable insulating material II] to prevent freezing of the water in the tank adjacent these ends.

springs are in spaced relation and such relationship is intended to be within the scope of my invention. The springs, if desired, may be made of square wire instead of round wire, as shown.

Above the drum is a cross shaft 13 having its axis parallel with the axis of the drum and rotatably mounted on this cross shaft is a spool I4 provided with annular grooves l5 corresponding to the grooves H in the surface of the drum in order that the springs l2 may be properly trained over the spool.

The springs I2, when arranged to be belted I around the drum and the spool in the manner shown in Figure 1, will all be under slight tension to thus insure that there will be continuous contact of the springs with the refrigerated drum surface. With this arrangement it is seen that there is provided a continuous flexible sheet formed from a plurality of contacting springs which passes around the drum and over the spool. The springs are to be made of a good heat conducting metal or some other suitable heat conductor material, and therefore theheat can be efficiently drawn from the water contacting-the outer surfaces of the springs and into the refrigerant material through the springs and the drum wall which is also made of a suitable heat conducting material, preferably metal. With this arrangement it is seen that as the drum is slowly rotated as, for example, in the drection indicated by the arrow in Figure 1, ice will be slowly formed on the springs as they pass through the body of water. The thickness of the ice formed on a segment of any spring from the time it enters the body of water until it passes out of the body of water, of course, Will depend upon the amount of heat being transferred to the refrigerant and also the speed with which the drum is rotated.

The ice will be formed in a sheet and this sheet will lie on top of the springs. During the formation of the sheet of ice it will take the form of a cylinder. However, at the point where the springs leave the drum surface to pass over the spool, a force will be exerted upon the curved sheet of ice which will tend to straighten it out. As ice is not bendable, it is obvious that the sheet of ice will be cracked into a plurality of pieces which will be carried by the springs up over the spool. The training of the springs over the spool, which is of considerably smaller diameter than the drum, will result in the springs being bent away from the ice, thus freeing the ice from the springs. This ice being carried over the spool can be picked off by a suitable pick-off plate 16 situated at a downwardly inclined angle to the horizontal where it will be free to slide down into any suitable receptacle or compartment, or it can be directed into a suitable crusher if it is desired to break up the ice into still smaller pieces than those coming off the springs.

In order that the body of water in the tank surrounding the drum may be kept at a constant level, there is provided a float controlled inlet valve I! which will control the flow of water into the tank through the inlet pipe l8. It is to be noted that this inlet pipe is positioned to extend in a direction parallel to the axis of the drum and is positioned between the springs and the drum at a point just above that where the springs are moved back onto the drum surface after leaving the spool. The pipe is provided with a plurality of small holes [9 which spray the water from the inlet pipe. The holes are arranged, as indicated in Figure 1, so that the water will be sprayed onto the springs and also onto the surface of the drum. This water, which is at hydrant temperature when'it contactsthe drum and the springs, will insure that any frost or slight filaments of ice which might be left on these members will be melted. The result will be that the springs will again be insured of having direct contact with the grooves in the drum as the springs and drum move back into the water where the formation of ice on the top surfaces of the springs will again occur.

With a continuous ice making machine of the construction shown in Figures 1 to 3, it is seen that by the use of the plurality of adjacently positioned endless coil springs a flexible sheet is formed which is superposed on the drum surface which is immersed in water and provides a good heat transfer medium so as to quickly freeze a sheet of ice on the top of the flexible sheet. With the use of springs to form the flexible sheet, there is no problem involved in maintaining the sheet under tension so it will always have full direct contact with the drum surface. Therefore, it is not necessary to use any belt tightener or like structure. The springs are taken off of the drum in a tangential direction, thus readily peeling off the sheet of frozen ice and at the same time causing this ice to crack so that it can be subsequently removed from the flexible sheet after it has passed over the spool which will so bend the flexible sheet formed from the springs that the sheet will move away from the ice. The ice is thus removed without any punching or so called tempering. The whole construction is very simple and yet very efficient wherein it is desired to have a machine for continuously making cracked ice. The springs will be made from a non-rusting metal and will, therefore, have a very long life. The grooved drum surface also increases the contact area between the flexible sheet and the drum surface so as to provide more efficient heat transfer. Although a body of water is disclosed through which said springs rotate, it has also been found practical to permit water to flow over the springs and thus form the sheet of ice therefrom. The water will then be returned by a pump and then again allowed to flow over the springs.

If it should be desirable to produce ice in the form of blocks, such can be readily accomplished by the use of the machine shown in Figures 4 to 8, inclusive, which also embodies the use of adjacently positioned springs trained over a refrigerated drum and a spool. In this block making machine the drum is identical with the drum shown in the machine of Figures 1 to 3 and is indicated by the same reference numeral 4. The surface of this drum carries the annular grooves l l and is immersed in the tank 2 containing the body of water 3. The drum is refrigerated in springs l2 which are arranged to flt in the annular grooves of the drum surface. In order that compartments may be formed for making the blocks of ice, every third spring l2, for example, may be provided with a plurality of partition members 2|]. These partition members are formed to have a tubular portion 2| and a fin 22. The tubular member surrounds the spring l2 and, the spring and the tubular portion have such diameters that the over all diameter of the tubu- 1ar portion will be substantially the same as the diameters of the springs 12 which are not provided with partition members. The tubular portions 2| are curved in their axial direction and this curvature is such that the tubular members will have the same curvature as the grooves I l on the drum surface, all as best shown in Figure 6. The partition members are also so formed that the ends thereof will abut the ends of adjacent partition members whenever the members and springs are cooperating with the grooves on the drum. The resulting construction will be a plurality of axially spaced continuous walls carried by the springs I2 extending around that part of the drum which is immersed in water. Consequently there will be formeda circular compartment in which ice can be formed and this ice will be in the shape of a curved bar having a substantially rectangular cross section. The thickness of this ice bar will be greatest at the point where the springs come out of the water and off the drum and have a gradual tapering to the point where the ice is just beginning to form.

The spool l4, over which the springs are trained, is provided with grooves I5 so spaced apart as to receive only the springs which carry the partition members. Between these grooves I5 is the smooth cylindrical surface 23 over which the springs I2, which do not carry any partition members, are arranged to pass. The groove arrangement of this spool is best shown in Figure 8. Thus, as the springs move over the spool M the springs I2, which do not carry the partition members, will be moved upward out of the plane of the springs which carry the partition members and consequently they will push the ice which is formed in between the partitions upwardly. After the springs begin to move off the spool the springs l2 will tend to move away from the formed ice and at this point the blocks of ice can be removed by a suitable pick-off plate 24. In order that the pick-off end of this plate may lie closely adjacent the springs between the fins of the partition members, the end is notched, as shown at 25 in Figure 7, so that the fins can pass through these notches.

It is to be particularly noted that as the springs come off the drum'those carrying the partition members will tend to straighten out. Due to the abutting condition of the fins the springs will tend to stretch out and the tubular portions of the partition members will separate, all as indicated in Figure 4. This straightening of the spring and separation of the tubular portions of the partition members will cause the curved bar of ice which is formed to crack generallyalong the line at the abutting ends of the partition members, thereby forming blocks of ice. The reason the ice will generally crack at the place mentioned is because this is where the bending stress is greatest. At other points the ice is sup ported and reinforced by the partitions. These blocks of ice will be carried up over the spool l4 and due to the manner in which the springs 6 pass over this spool, the blocks will be pushed outwardly from between the partition members so as to readily slide onto thepick-oif plate. It is to be noted that with the curvature of the axis of the tubular portions of the partition members being such as to insure that the partition members will have contact throughout their length with the drum grooves, the fins 22 will be caused to stand upwardly and remain in parallel planes as the springs and partition members move through the body of water surrounding the drum.

In the ice block makin machine, shown in Figures 4 to 8, it is desirable to always have the ends of parallel fins in alignmentso that as the springs and partition members come off the drum the cracking of the ice bar will be directly across the bar. In order to accomplish this aligning of the ends of the partition members, there is provided a belt 26 which is arranged to be superposed on the partition members as they pass through the body of water and to carry aligning bars 21 to insure that the ends of the partition members will always remain in alignment. The belt 26 is endless and arranged to be trained over four idler rollers 28 which are journaled in the water containing tank. Two of these rollers are arranged to be on opposite sides of the drum adjacent its top and the other two are arranged to be on opposite sides of the drum adjacent its bottom. With this arrangement the belt passes over all rollers and is superposed on top of the "partition members, all as indicated in Figure 4. The aligning bars 21 extend across the belt and may be riveted thereto in a manner as shown in Figure 6. These bars are spaced apart substantially the same distance as the length of the fins on the partition members and the ends of these fins are provided with cut out notches 29 so as to receive the aligning bars.

The aligning bars also weaken the formed ice by providing a cross groove therein which will aid in insuring the breaking of ice into blocks in a reasonably uniform size.

The belt is made of a flexible material, such as rubber or rubber and fabric which has good heat insulating qualities. Because of these heat insulating qualities the belt not only can serve as a means for aligning the ends of the partition members, but also as an insulating means between the water which is between the partition members and the body of water outside of the space between the partition members. -With this insulated cover it is seen that it is possible to freeze the main between the partition members at a greater rate because it will not then be necessary to transfer as much heat from the body of water on the outside of the belt in order to lower the body of water between the partition members to a freezing temperature. This feature of my invention is a very important one from the standpoint of efliciency of the machine and, although it is shown in association with a particular type of ice forming compartment, it can be used withany type of compart ment. It is also to be noted that with the align-- ing bars the bar of curved ice formed will be provided with a cross groove which will facilitate cracking to form the blocks.

The body of water in the tank is maintained at a predetermined level by. a float controlled inlet valve associated with the inlet pipe I8 which is of the same construction and at the same location as in the machine shown in Figures 1 to 3.

Being aware of the possibility of modification of the structure disclosed, without departing from the fundamental principles of my invention, I

do not intend that the scope of the invention be limited in any manner except as defined by the appended claims.

What is being claimed is:

1. In an ice making machine, a refrigerated surface, a plurality of serially arranged closely positioned helical wound coiled springs of heat conducting material superposed on the refrigerated surface and forming a flexible means, means for establishing a body of water in which the refrigerated surface and the superposed coiled springs are immersed so that a body of ice can be formed on that side of the coiled springs remote from the refrigerated surface, and means for simultaneously removing the springs together with the formed ice from the refrigerated surface and for flexing the springs from the condition present when the ice is formed to thereby cause cracking of the ice.

2. In an ice making machine, a refrigerated surface having a plurality of serially arranged grooves, a plurality of serially arranged closely positioned helical wound coiled springs of heat conducting material superposed on the refrigerated surface with a spring positioned in each groove, said grooves being in such close relation that the coiled springs when positioned therein will be in side by side engagement to form a flexible sheet means, means for establishing a body of water in which the refrigerated surface and the superposed coiled springs are immersed so that a body of ice can be formed on that side of the coiled springs remote from the refrigerated surface, and means for simultaneously removing the springs together with the formed ice from the refrigerated surface and for flexing the springs from the condition present when the ice is formed to thereby cause cracking of the ice.

3. In an ice making machine, a curved refrigerated surface provided with circumferentially extending grooves in side by side relation, means providing a supply of Water at the outside of the surface, a plurality of endless helical wound coil springs positioned in the grooves and maintained under tension, and means for causing portions of the springs to assume tangential relation to the curved surface to thus free ice formed on the outer surface of the springs and to cause said ice to become cracked.

4. In an ice making machine, a curved refrigerated surface, means providing a supply of water at the outside of the surface, a plurality of helical wound coiled springs of heat conducting material superposed in side by side relation on the curved surface and maintained under ten- 1 made from helical wound coiled springs trained over the drum and the roller and when on the drum being engaged by the body of water, said members being positioned side by side to provide a surface removable from the drum to bodily convey a sheet of ice formed thereon away from the drum and over the roller and to cause the surface to so change that the ice will become freed from the, surface.

6. In an ice making machine, a rotatable refrigerated drum having a plurality of circumferential grooves in its outer-surface arranged side by side and having curved' cross sections, means establishing a body of water at the outer surface of the drum, a roller positioned adjacent the drum with its axis parallel thereto, and a plurality of round helical wound coiled endless springs trained around the drum in said grooves and over the roller whereby as the drum rotates, the springs while on the drum will move through the body of water and ice can be formed on the outer surface of the spring and conveyed with the springs over the roller.

'7. In an ice making machine, a rotatable refrigerated drum, means establishing a body of water about the drum, a roller positioned adjacent the drum with its axis parallel thereto, an endless flexible means superposed on the drum and trained over the roller, said flexible means comprising a plurality of side by side positioned flexible elements of uniform cross section made of heat conducting material and so associated with drum that ice will be formed on its outer surface and removed with the flexible means in a cracked condition as said flexible means leaves the drum to pass over the roller, and means for supplying water to the body of water in a zone between the drum and roller and adjacent the point where the flexible means moves to superposed relation with the drum.

8. In an ice making machine, a rotatable refrigerated drum, means establishing a body of water about the drum, a roller positioned ad jacent the drum with its axis parallel thereto, an endless flexible means superposed on the drum and trained over the roller, said flexible means comprising a plurality of side by side positioned flexible elements of uniform cross section made of heat conducting material and so associated with drum that ice will be formed on its outer surface and removed with the flexible means in a cracked condition as said flexible means leaves the drum to pass over the roller, and means for introducing a replenishing supply of water to the body of water and causing it to impinge on the flexible means and the drum surface at points just prior to the flexible means again becoming superposed on the tank after passing over the roller.

9. In an ice making machine, a refrigerated surface, flexible heat conducting means comprising separate members continuously flexible throughout their length superposed on the refrigerated surface and providing a removable freezing surface, means for supplying water to the outer surface of the flexible means so that ice can be formed with the flexible means interposed between it and the refrigerated surface, spaced rigid fins of good heat conducting material carried by the flexible means and extending only in a longitudinal direction of the separate members to divide the formed ice into segments, and means for removing the flexible means together with the fins and the formed ice and for flexing the flexible means from its condition present during the forming of the ice.

10. In an ice making machine, a curved refrigerated surface, means establishing a body of water on the outside of said surface, a plurality of flexible members positioned in side by side relation on the refrigerated surface and maintained under tension, a plurality of separate fins carried by each of a number of selected spaced flexible members, said fins on each member being arranged in end to end relation and extending radially outwardly from the curved surface and forming with fins on adjacent flexible members channels having side walls and a bottom provided by the flexible members which do not carry fins whereby separate lengths of ice can be formed, and means for causing portions of the flexible members to assume tangential relation to the curved surface to thereby move the ice away from the refrigerated surface and cause the lengths of formed ice to crack.

11. In an ice making machine, a curved refrigerated surface, means establishing a body of water on the outside of said surface, a plurality of flexible members positioned in side by side' relation on the refrigerated surface and maintained under tension, a plurality of separate fins carried by each of a number of selected Spaced flexible members, said fins on each member being arranged in end to end relation and extending radially outwardly from the curved surface and forming with fins on adjacent flexible members channels having side walls and a bottom provided by the flexible members which do not carry fins whereby separate lengths of ice can be formed, means for causing portions of the flexible members to assume tangential relation to the curved surface to thereby move the'ice away from the refrigerated surface and cause the lengths of formed ice to crack, andmeans formed of heat insulating material for covering the channels when the flexible members are positioned on the curved surface.

12. In an ice making machine, a rotatable refrigerated drum, means establishing a body of water about the drum, a roller positioned adjacent the drum with its axis parallel thereto, a series of endless coiled springs trained over the drum and the roller, and a plurality of separate fins carried by each of a number of selected spaced springs and extending radially from the drum when the springs engage the drum, said fins on each spring being in end to end relation and forming with fins on adjacent springs channels having coil spring bottoms whereby separate lengths of ice can be formed and carried by the springs away from the drum and over the roller.

13. In an ice making machine, a rotatable refrigerated drum, means establishing a body of water about the drum, a roller positioned ad-- jacent the drum with its axis parallel thereto, a series of endless coiled springs trained over the drum and the roller, a plurality of separate fins carried by each of a number of selected spaced springs and extending radially from the drum when the springs engage the drum, said fins on each spring being in end to end relation and forming with fins on adjacent springs channels having coil spring bottoms whereby separate lengths of ice can be formed and carried by the springs away from the drum and over the roller, and means comprising grooves in the roller for receiving the springs provided with the fins thereby the springs forming the bottom of the channels will be moved relatively outwardly thereto and force the ice outwardly of the channel. I

14. In an ice making machine, a rotatable refrigerated drum, means establishing a body of water about the drum, a roller positioned adjacent the drum with its axis paralel thereto, a series of endless coiled springs trained over the drum and the roller, a plurality of separate fins carried by each of a number of selected. spaced springs and extending radially from the drum when the springs engage the drum, said fins on each spring being in end to end relation and forming with fins on adjacentsprings channels having coil spring bottoms whereby separate lengths of ice can be formed and carried by the sprmgs away from the drum and over the roller, and means for covering the channels while the flexible members are in cooperating relation with thedrum and passing through the body of water.

15. In an ice making machine, a rotatable refrigerated drum, means establishing a body of water about the drum, a roller positioned adacent the drum with its axis parallel thereto, a series of endless coiledsprings trained over the drum and the roller, a plurality of separate fins carried by each of a number of selected spaced springs and extending radially from the drum when the springs engage the drum, said flns on each spring being in end to end relation and forming with fins on adjacent springs channels having coil spring bottoms whereby separate lengths of ice can be formed and carried by the springs away from the drum and over the roller,

an endless belt of insulatingmaterial, and rollers for the belt, said rollers being so positioned that a portion of the belt will overlie the channels and move with the springs as they cooperate with the drum and move through the body of water.

16. In an ice making machine, a rotatable refrigerated drum, means establishing a body of water about the drum, a roller positioned adjacent the drum with its axis parallel thereto,

,- a series of endless coiled springs trained over the drum and the roller, a plurality of separate fins carried by each of a number of selected spaced springs and extending radially from the drum when the springs engage the drum, said fins on each spring being in end to end relation and forming with fins on adjacent springs channels having coil spring bottoms whereby separate lengths of ice can be formed and carried by the springs away from the drum and over the roller, and means for maintaining the fins carried by the various springs in alignment in the axial direction of the drums.

' 17. In an ice making machine, a rotatable refrigerated drum, means establishing a body of water about the drum, a roller positioned adjacent the drum with its axis parallel thereto, a

series of endless coiled springs trained over the drum and the roller, a plurality of separate fins carried by each of a number of selected spaced springs and extending radially from the drum when the springs engage the drum, said fins on each spring being in end to end relation and forming with fins on adjacent springs channels having coil spring bottoms whereby separate lengths of ice can be formed and carried by the springs away from the drum and over the roller, an endless belt of insulating material, rollers for the belt, said rollers being so positioned that a portion of the belt will overlie the channels and move with the springs as they cooperate with the drum and move through the body of water, and means carried by the belt and cooperating with the fins for maintaining alignment of the fins in the axial direction of the drum.

18. In an ice making machine, a rotatable refrigerated drum, means establishing a body of water about the drum, a roller having an axis parallel to the drum, endless flexible means trained over the drum and the roller and provided with compartments in which ice can be ll formed, and means for covering the compartments while ice is being formed in the compartments, said last named means being provided with ridge means extending across the compartments to thereby provide grooves across formed ice to facilitate severing thereof.

19. In an ice making machine, a refrigerated member arranged to absorb heat from a body of water to form ice, flexible heat exchange members ,positioned on the surface and in heat exchange relation with the surface of said refrigerated member to thereby provide in conjunction with the refrigerated member a heat absorbing surface to which a body of ice of substantial thickness may be frozen, a flexible supporting member arranged along and in spaced relation away from the surface of the said refrigerated member, strip means carried by the flexible supporting member for extending laterally across the flexible heat exchange members and being arranged in spaced relation to extend from the said supporting means in a direction toward the surface of said refrigerated member to thereby displace a portion of the water to be frozen and produce spaced grooves in the ice on that side away from the refrigerated member, means for removing said flexible supporting means from the ice, and means to progressively move portions of said flexible heat exchange members away from the surface of the refrigerated member to thereby break the heat exchange relation between the flexible members and the refrigerated member and remove the ice from said refrigerated member.

20. In an ice' making machine, a receptacle to hold a body of water, a refrigerated rotatable drum arranged to absorb heat from the water to form ice, a belt of good insulating material arranged to partially encircle the drum in spaced relation thereto, flexible heat exchange belt-like members trained around a portion of said drum in heat exchange relation thereto providing secondary heat absorbing surface to thereby cause the ice to be formed on said secondary surface between the drum and said insulating belt, spaced apart lateral bars positioned on the face of said insulating belt on the side facing the drum and arranged to become embedded in the ice so formed, and means to move the said insulating belt away from the said spaced relation to the drum to thereby cause the said bars to be removed from their embedded position in the ice.

21. In an ice making machine, a refrigerated means arranged in a body of water to thereby cause ice to be formed, removable spaced apart rows of plate-like ice partitioning means arranged on the surface of said refrigerated means to thereby cause elongative bars of ice to be formed between said partitioning means, removable members positioned transversely of said rows of plate-like partitioning means and arranged to become embedded at regular intervals in the said ice bars when they are so formed, means to remove said transversely positioned members from the said-embedded position in the ice to provide transverse grooves in the ice to thereby reduce the compressive strength of said ice bars at regular intervals, and means to cause said ice bars to be broken at said intervals where the strength of said bars has been thereby reduced, to thereby cause pieces of ice of substan tially equal size to be produced.

22. In an ice making machine, refrigerated apparatus comprising primary and secondary heatabsorbing means arranged to be submerged in water to thereby cause ice to be formed on the surfaces thereof, means to insulatively cover portions of the surface of the said secondary heat-absorbing means to thereby prevent the forming of ice thereon while ice is being formed on other portions of said surface, and means carried by the insulative covering for establishing grooves in the outer surface of formed ice to thereby reduce the strength of the ice and facilitate the breaking of the ice into pieces.

23. In an ice making machine, a receptacle to hold a body of water, prime refrigeration surface positioned in the water to absorb heat therefrom to thereby cause ice to. be formed, removable flexible and elastic members each formed of good heat conducting material and having portions which extend transversely to the longitudinal axis of the member to thereby provide for the elasticity, said members being arranged in the water on said prime refrigeration surface to provide secondary refrigeration surface to thereby cause the ice to be formed on the exposed surfaces of said members, and means to remove said elastic members and the ice so formed from the said prime refrigeration surface.

24. In an ice making machine, a refrigerated surface arranged to be submerged in a body of water, juxtapositioned coiled wire springs arranged on said refrigerated surface to thereby provide a flexible and elastic heat-exchange medium between the said refrigerated surface and the water.

RAY M. HENDERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,451,901 Field Apr. 17, 1923 1,451,904 Field Apr. 17, 1923 1,857,122 Sherman May 3, 1932 2,031,812 Barrett et al. Feb. 25, 1936 2,054,101 Short Sept. 15, 1936 2,064,655 Geyer Dec. 15, 1936 2,412,621 Knowles Dec. 17, 1946 2,419,954 Schaal May 6, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 603,859 Germany -Mar. 19, 1932

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