Plate type ice maker

Abstract

A plate type ice maker for forming chunks of hard ice in which a member provided with an ice-forming passage having a cutting edge at one end thereof is moved over a plane freezing surface to cause ice crystals scraped from the freezing surface by the cutting edge to be forced into the forming passage in which they are subjected to compressive forces sufficient to form a rod of hard ice which emerges from the other end of the passage and which engages a breaker surface which fractures the rod to form a hard piece of ice.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is: 
     
       1. Apparatus for forming hard pieces of ice including in combination, means forming an extended freezing surface, means forming an extruding passage having an entry and an exit .Iadd.and a bottom extending upwardly and away from said surface.Iaddend., a gathering edge .Iadd.provided on said passage forming means for movement therewith .Iaddend.adjacent to said entry, and means mounting said passage forming means for movement relative to said surface with said gathering edge adjacent to said surface to remove ice crystals from a film of ice on said surface and to deliver said ice crystals to said entry in the form of slush ice.Iadd., said passage forming means being provided with means for exerting a compressive force on slush ice delivered thereto so that slush ice .Iaddend.which enters said passage .[.and.]. emerges from said exit in the form of a hard rod of ice in response to relative movement between said passage forming means and said surface. 
     
     
       2. Apparatus as in claim 1 in which said surface is generally horizontal and in which said passage forming means is mounted above said surface. 
     
     
       3. Apparatus as in claim 2 including means for supplying water to a predetermined level over said surface and in which said passage exit is above said level. 
     
     
       4. Apparatus as in claim 3 in which said passage forms an inclined plane with reference to said surface from said entry to said exit. 
     
     
       5. Apparatus as in claim 4 including means for breaking said rod emerging from said exit. 
     
     
       6. Apparatus as in claim 5 .[.including.]. .Iadd.in which said compressive force exerting means includes .Iaddend. means forming a plenum chamber between said gathering edge and said entry. 
     
     
       7. Apparatus as in claim 5 .[.including.]. .Iadd.in which said compressive force exerting means includes .Iaddend. resilient means normally closing said exit, said resilient means adapted to be actuated by the ice emerging from said passage. 
     
     
       8. Apparatus as in claim 5 in which said breaker means comprises a surface making an angle of less than 90° with said inclined plane. 
     
     
       9. Apparatus for forming hard pieces of ice including in combination, means providing an extended ice forming surface, means forming an extrusion passage having an entry and an exit .Iadd.and a bottom extending upwardly and away from said surface.Iaddend., said passage forming means being provided with a gathering edge adjacent to said entry, means mounting said surface forming means and said passage forming means for relative rotary movement with said passage above said surface and with said gathering edge adjacent to said surface and with said exit above said entry, and means for driving said passage forming means and said surface forming means relative to each other to cause said gathering edge to remove ice from said ice-forming surface and to feed slush ice into said passage.Iadd., said passage forming means being provided with means for exerting a compressive force on slush ice fed thereto .Iaddend.to form a mass of hard ice emerging from said exit. 
     
     
       10. Apparatus as in claim 9 including means for breaking said mass of ice emerging from said exit. 
     
     
       11. Apparatus as in claim 10 in which said breaking means comprises a surface disposed at an angle to the direction of movement of said mass. 
     
     
       12. Apparatus as in claim 11 .[.including.]. .Iadd.in which said compressive force exerting means include .Iaddend.resilient means normally closing said exit. .[., said resilient means exerting a compressive force on ice moving into said passage under the influence of said relative movement.]. 
     
     
       13. Apparatus as in claim 9 .[.including.]. .Iadd.in which said compressive force exerting means includes .Iaddend.resilient means normally closing said exit .[., said resilient means exerting a compressive force on ice moving into said passage under the influence of said relative movement.]., said resilient means being actuated to open said exit in response to movement of a mass of hard ice toward said exit. 
     
     
       14. Apparatus as in claim 13 in which said resilient means is a leaf spring forming part of the wall of said passage. 
     
     
       15. Apparatus as in claim 14 including means forming a breaker surface making an angle with the direction of movement of said rod, said surface being spaced from said exit. 
     
     
       16. Apparatus as in claim 9 in which sad passage forming means forms a plurality of radially spaced passages. 
     
     
       17. Apparatus as in claim 16 in which said .[.passage forming means provide.]. .Iadd.compressive force exerting means comprises .Iaddend.a common plenum chamber .Iadd.formed by said passage forming means .Iaddend.between said gathering edge and the passage entries. 
     
     
       18. Apparatus as in claim 9 including a plurality of passage forming means, said passage forming means being radially and circumferentially spaced with reference to the axis of rotary movement thereof. 
     
     
       19. Apparatus for forming hard pieces of ice including in combination means providing a generally horizontally disposed annular extended ice forming surface, a plurality of hard ice forming units, each of said hard ice forming units having an inclined extruding passage therein extending from an entry to an exit, each of said units having a cutting edge adjacent to said entry, each of said units having resilient means normally closing said exit and having an ice breaker surface spaced from said exit and making an acute angle with the direction of inclination of said passage, means mounting said units at respective locations circumferentially spaced and radially spaced with respect to the center of said annulus for relative rotary movement of said units and said surface providing means around said center and with said cutting edges closely adjacent to said surface and means for driving said surface providing means and said mounting means relative to each other to cause said cutting edges to remove said ice from said surface and to feed slush ice into said passage entries to cause rods of ice to form in said passages and to cause said rods to actuate said resilient means to open said passage exit and to impinge on said breaker surfaces to provide said pieces of hard clear ice. 
     
     
       20. Apparatus as in claim 19 including means for supplying water to a predetermined level over said surface, said exits being positioned above said level. 
     
     
       21. Apparatus as in claim 9 in which said mounting means comprises means forming an elongated ice confining channel above and extending generally parallel to said ice forming surface, said passage opening into said channel. 
     
     
       22. Apparatus as in claim 19 in which said unit mounting means comprises means forming a plurality of radially spaced circumferentially extending channels over said ice forming surface, said extruding passage extending into respective channels.