Patent US3662564A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US3662564A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Ice maker construction
Assignee: King Seeley Thermos Co
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Filing: 1969-10-17
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Granted: 1972-05-16
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Expires: 1989-10-17
Abstract
Abstract An ice maker of the type employing a refrigerated chamber and a harvesting auger positioned with its flights in scraping relation to inner walls of the refrigerated chamber for continuously scraping ice particles from the walls. A screw shaft co-rotatable with the harvesting auger drives the ice product harvested by the auger in the form of a confined columnar path through a discharge conduit and forces the ice product through a compression means similar to an extrusion member which may be of any one of a number of configurations to produce variously configured ice products, such as ''''ice cubes'''', ice chips, ice flakes or cracked ice, depending upon the particular requirements of the user. The machine is further characterized by releasable attachment means removably securing one of the extrusion members at an outermost end of the screw shaft, thereby to facilitate interchanging one extrusion member for another of a different configuration to adapt the machine for producing differently configured ice products.
Inventors
- 👤 Jack F Clearman
- 👤 Leonard W Ohlsson
- 👤 Michael H Mackin
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 18:57
CPC Classifications
F; F25; F25C; F25C1/00; F25C1/12; F25C1/14; F25C1/145; F25C1/147; F25C5/00; F25C5/14; F25C5/142
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim
316 words
An ice maker comprising: multiple chamber means including means forming a lower freezing chamber having a refrigerated cylindrical wall, an upper discharge chamber having walls converging axially to form a compression zone with a top outlet, and an intermediate collecting chamber therebetween, said collecting chamber comprising channel means shaped to direct ice products harvested in said freezing chamber radially inwardly into said discharge chamber, a rotatable shaft disposed on a vertical axis, bearing means below said refrigerated cylindrical wall supporting said shaft, whereby said ice products may freely flow axially at the upper end of said auger from said freezing chamber to said discharge chamber without interference, auger means on said shaft including a harvesting auger having flights positioned in operative proximity to said refrigerated cylindrical wall to harvest ice product therefrom, and ice compression screw blade means forming a compression auger, said harvesting auger extending upwardly from above said bearing means into said freezing chamber and said compression auger extending substantially through said collecting chamber and into said discharge chamber, said means forming said upper discharge chamber further comprising an upright discharge conduit in which said compression auger rotates to axially upwardly advance the harvested ice product in columnar form, extrusion means forming a part of said discharge conduit and having walls converging axially at a rate selected to compress the ice product into a hard, compacted, dehydrated column of ice and being formed with a cross sectional configuration selected to form the hard ice column with a desired cross sectional shape determined by said shaping means, and interchangeable, stationary breaking means having a fixed portion intersecting the path of movement of the hard ice column extruded through said converging walls by said compression auger and operatiNg on the hard ice column to break the same into an ice product having a desired utilitarian size and shape determined by the configuration of said breaking means.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
316 words
An ice maker comprising: multiple chamber means including means forming a lower freezing chamber having a refrigerated cylindrical wall, an upper discharge chamber having walls converging axially to form a compression zone with a top outlet, and an intermediate collecting chamber therebetween, said collecting chamber comprising channel means shaped to direct ice products harvested in said freezing chamber radially inwardly into said discharge chamber, a rotatable shaft disposed on a vertical axis, bearing means below said refrigerated cylindrical wall supporting said shaft, whereby said ice products may freely flow axially at the upper end of said auger from said freezing chamber to said discharge chamber without interference, auger means on said shaft including a harvesting auger having flights positioned in operative proximity to said refrigerated cylindrical wall to harvest ice product therefrom, and ice compression screw blade means forming a compression auger, said harvesting auger extending upwardly from above said bearing means into said freezing chamber and said compression auger extending substantially through said collecting chamber and into said discharge chamber, said means forming said upper discharge chamber further comprising an upright discharge conduit in which said compression auger rotates to axially upwardly advance the harvested ice product in columnar form, extrusion means forming a part of said discharge conduit and having walls converging axially at a rate selected to compress the ice product into a hard, compacted, dehydrated column of ice and being formed with a cross sectional configuration selected to form the hard ice column with a desired cross sectional shape determined by said shaping means, and interchangeable, stationary breaking means having a fixed portion intersecting the path of movement of the hard ice column extruded through said converging walls by said compression auger and operatiNg on the hard ice column to break the same into an ice product having a desired utilitarian size and shape determined by the configuration of said breaking means.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
86 words
An ice maker as defined in claim 1 and further characterized by said extrusion means having a symmetrical configuration in transverse cross section and including a first section characterized by gradually upwardly and inwardly tapering inner walls and having a second section with substantially parallel inner walls formed as a continuation of said first section, said second section being operable to hold the compacted column of ice together to prevent the formation of stress cracks in the compacted dehydrated ice column extruded from said discharge chamber.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
308 words
An ice maker comprising: multiple chamber means including means forming a lower freezing chamber having a refrigerated cylindrical wall, an upper discharge chamber having walls converging axially to form a compression zone with a top outlet, and an intermediate collecting chamber therebetween, said collecting chamber comprising channel means shaped to direct ice products harvested in said freezing chamber radially inwardly into said discharge chamber, a rotatable shaft disposed on a vertical axis, bearing means below said refrigerated cylindrical wall supporting said shaft, auger means on said shaft including a harvesting auger having flights positioned in operative proximity to said refrigerated cylindrical wall to harvest ice product therefrom, and ice compression screw blade means forming a compression auger, said harvesting auger extending upwardly from said bearing means into said freezing chamber and said compression auger extending through said collecting chamber and into said discharge chamber, whereby said shaft and each of said chambers and said auger means are disposed in a common vertical axis so that ice harvested by said flights is compressed by said compression auger in said discharge chamber and is discharged as a compacted dehydrated ice column from said top outlet, said means forming said upper discharge chamber more particularly comprising a first part in which said compression auger rotates to axially advance the ice product in columnar form and further comprising a detachably secured second part, at least one of said parts having said walls converging axially at a rate selected to compress the ice product into a hard, compacted dehydrated column thereby to form said compression zone ahead of said top outlet, said detachably secured second part including stationary breaker means having a fixed action surface intercepting the path of movement of the emerging column of hard ice to break the column of hard ice into discrete pieces of selected utilitarian size and shape.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
308 words
An ice maker comprising: multiple chamber means including means forming a lower freezing chamber having a refrigerated cylindrical wall, an upper discharge chamber having walls converging axially to form a compression zone with a top outlet, and an intermediate collecting chamber therebetween, said collecting chamber comprising channel means shaped to direct ice products harvested in said freezing chamber radially inwardly into said discharge chamber, a rotatable shaft disposed on a vertical axis, bearing means below said refrigerated cylindrical wall supporting said shaft, auger means on said shaft including a harvesting auger having flights positioned in operative proximity to said refrigerated cylindrical wall to harvest ice product therefrom, and ice compression screw blade means forming a compression auger, said harvesting auger extending upwardly from said bearing means into said freezing chamber and said compression auger extending through said collecting chamber and into said discharge chamber, whereby said shaft and each of said chambers and said auger means are disposed in a common vertical axis so that ice harvested by said flights is compressed by said compression auger in said discharge chamber and is discharged as a compacted dehydrated ice column from said top outlet, said means forming said upper discharge chamber more particularly comprising a first part in which said compression auger rotates to axially advance the ice product in columnar form and further comprising a detachably secured second part, at least one of said parts having said walls converging axially at a rate selected to compress the ice product into a hard, compacted dehydrated column thereby to form said compression zone ahead of said top outlet, said detachably secured second part including stationary breaker means having a fixed action surface intercepting the path of movement of the emerging column of hard ice to break the column of hard ice into discrete pieces of selected utilitarian size and shape.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
73 words
An ice maker as defined in claim 20 and further characterized by said breaker means comprising a breaker member projecting upwardly from said top outlet and having a bent portion gradually curving toward a longitudinal axis of said extrusion means for engagement with an uppermost edge of the emerging ice column, thereby applying a shearing force along a line parallel with the top outlet and operable to break the ice column into cubes.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
71 words
An ice maker as defined in claim 3 and further characterized by said breaker means comprising a delivery conduit having an angled bend forming said action surface as an inner wall of said conduit said inner wall overlying and being spaced from said top outlet to apply a shearing force to the ice column along a line parallel with said top outlet and operable to break the ice column into cubes.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
43 words
An ice maker as defined in claim 3 and further characterized by said breaking means comprising an arm characterized by an obliquely formed portion carrying a wedge means forming a knife edge for crosswise spreading of the layers formed by the oblique section.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
45 words
An ice maker as defined in claim 6 wherein said arm is axially adjustable, and means for fastEning said arm in selected position on said upper discharge chamber, thereby to permit adjustment of the thickness of the layers of ice formed by the oblique section.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
49 words
An ice maker as defined in claim 1 and further characterized by said breaking means having a cracking section characterized by a sharply angled wall member engaging the emerging column of ice to produce stress cracks, thereby promoting thin layers of ice to split from the advancing ice column.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1975-05-16 | 1975-11-15 | 1976-05-16 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1979-05-16 | 1979-11-15 | 1980-05-16 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1983-05-16 | 1983-11-15 | 1984-05-16 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |