Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1856-11-13
From the Charleston Standard.
Tho Ice Machine.

A letter to the: New York Commercial Adrertiser
from the banks Of Cuyahoga, Ohio, dated the 8lst
ultimo, gives nm account of o machine for making
ice, which is beginning to attract attention, and the
account we give below. As we have some person
oil acquaintance with the history Of this machine,
however, and as We may be doing an act Of justice
to one who died q yotary Of science, we would
mention the circumstances. DR.. Gorrie, some-
what eccentric but very learned and amiable
man, resided, for many years of his life, ntsApa-
lachicola, Florida. Secluded from the society Of
literary men, his mind worked upon its own ma
terials. About twenty years ago, he conceived
the idea that ice might be made by m artificial
process He knew that when air is compressed it
evolves heat; he saw, also, that when permitted
to expand again. it will absorb heat from any sub
stance with which it may be brought In contact,
from these facts he was lead to the belief that
machine might be constructed which would com.
press atmospheric mir and permit it to expand a.
gain with so much economy as that the cold thus
artifcially produced might be proftably used IN
the production Of ice, and to this object lis atten-
ton was Immediately directed. For near fifteen
years he labored in the development Of his idea,
and about the winter of 1S4S went on to Cincinna-
ii, with the plan Of the machine which accomplish
cd his object. It may not have been perfect, per-
haps-sufiiciently perfect at least tocompete with
nature in her own laboratory-butit was complete
enough ut first, when properly managed, To make
several tons Of ice per day, and he believed.-a
We think he had ground for the belief-that it
would ultimately become SO perfect as dat at any
season of the year, and dt any point it would
manufacture the ice that would be necessary, for
consumption. What improvements have since
been made we do not kuow-we are not certain
that even now he has the credit of bis invention.
1t is not rare that ingenuity plucks reward from
the grasp of genius-and this gentleman was too
mild and too much Of recluse to contest for any
thing more than the development of his coucep-
tion; and rs the machine is mentioned below, hrt
no reference is made to his name as the inyer or
we are induced to fear that he may, intact, have
laborcd to make fame and fortune for some one
else.
"This afternoon / have been engaged in;sxam.
lining machine made here for producing intense
cold by artificial means. The machine after hay
ing been worked for an hour, brought down the
mercury in the thermometer to the line Of tpcnty.
four degrees 6elow zero, which was the lowest de-
gree marked on the scale I cut m apple and
placed it on the outside Of one of the metal pipes
in which q current of either was made. to pass
through vacuum, and Id q few minutes it was
frozen.c This machine has been two years in being
brought to its present state of great forwardness.
1t is worked by steam. It freezes water, forming
blocks of ice twelve inches BY six-that beingtho
size of the metal cells in which the refrigeration
takes place. Each cell Is separated from the 9TH
ers by what may be callcdsn hue A large num-
Der Of these cells are placed in what may be cal
led square cistern, and Of sufficient number 10
produce q ton Of ice at ono operation. Clothing
of persons coming to quarantine in vessels can be
frozen by this machine, andtthus diyested Of the
germs Of pestilence. Itcan bcimade 10 6,osts the
entire inside Of o ship in o few hours, and TINS
purify its hold and its othernpartments and it is
capable Of reducing the temperature Of stone
warehouses so low as to free the goods. stored in
the refrigerated apartments from everything that
can endanger the disease Of yellow feyero.