| 摘要 |
The ice harvesting machine described herein comprises one in which ice, formed in vertical cylinders, bars or sheets, is periodically thawed sufficiently to allow the ice to slide downward to a perforated endless belt having upwardly extending ribs or protrusions which strike the lower end of the ice and break it into pieces which are carried away by the endless belt. In a preferred modification, this machine comprises one in which cylinders of ice are formed on the inside and outside of two pipes arranged with an annular space between the two pipes, through which annular space a refrigerant, such as freon, is circulated while water is allowed to run down the outside surface of the outer pipe and also down the inside surface of the inner pipe. These streams of water are chilled by the refrigerant in the annular space until an appropriate thickness of cylinders of ice has been formed on the outside and inside surfaces where the water had been running. Then the refrigerant is drained and replaced by hot fluid for a sufficient period of thawing to allow the cylinders of ice to slide downward from the annular pipe. As the lower end of the ice cylinders slide below the lower ends of the annular pipe arrangement, they encounter an endless belt which has spaced, upwardly extending ribs which strike the ice cylinders thereby breaking off the lower portions into pieces which are carried off by the endless belt to a chute where they are collected. The endless belt is perforated so that water running down the pipe walls may pass through into a reservoir from where it is recycled to pass over the pipe surfaces for further chilling with refrigerant.
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