Today in 1871, US Patent 171204 A was issued, an invention of Lucien B. Woolfolk, for his “Improvement in Refrigerating Apparatus.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention consists in so constructing the perforated compartment for containing the salt that it shall surround an opening in the top of the refrigerator, through which ice may be supplied to the refrigerator. The ice is forced down to its desired position in the ice and brine holder by means of a dasher. Overflow is guarded against by means of a waste-pipe, which extends from near the bottom to near the top of the vessel, and is of such form that the cold brine will be kept at one uniform level.

Figures 1 and 2, Sheet 1, represent my invention as applied to a Water-cooler, of which Fig.1 is a plan, with covers removed, and

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of same, taken through the center. Fig. 3 is a detached plan view of the dasher. Figs. 4 and 5, Sheet 2, represent my invention with a modification as applied to a refrigerator for cooling beer in the keg, of which Fig. 4 isa front elevation, showing a vertical section of the refrigerating apparatus. Fig. 5 is a plan with covers removed.