Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian., 1858-07-10
Ice Making by HTachinery.

The domain Of Nature is everywhere being
trenched upon by machinery and at last a ma
chine has been invented to compete with the
dame in the manufacture Of Ice 1t was late
ly exhibited in London, and was found to be
equal by the propeIlinS power of ten-horsc
engine to turn out 5000 lbs, Of ice per day,
The operation and process of manu!ac
turc are thus described by an English jour
nal
The Refrigeration is produced by the eva
poration of ether in a vacuum and the pc
culiarity OF the invention consists in the ar
rancemcnts OF cvaporatlng the ether at low
temperature. and condensing it at Il higher,
precisely the reverse Of ordinary evaporating
processes. The ether is contained in ar-tight
vessels, relieved from the pressure Of the at
mosphere. The cylinder in the centre of the
apparatus is filled with valves, so that each
stroke of the piston withdraws quantity of
ether vapor from the left hand vessels, and
| forces it into condcnsing vessel on the right
hand. Where the vapor is raised, an intense
cold is produced: where it is condense.i,a a cor
responding degree of heat is evolved. The
ether,after resuming the liquid state, returns by
self regulating valve to the evaporating
vessel, and the process thus continues unin-
terruptcdly. without requiring any atten-
ton, and without the slightest waste of ma
terial.
The evaporating vessel is simply tubular
boiler. This is not ,nisnomer, for the ether
actually bolls in it at a temperature if re
Quireti) fifty degrees below the freezing point
The cold produced is utilized by means of a
stream Of salt water, which does not itself
freeze at the temperature required for icema-
| king, but carries the cold to the vessels con
tanning the fresh water intended for CONVEX
| sion into ice. This part Of the apparatus con-
slsts of 4 trough twenty feet in length, fitted
with siyty-onc freezing moullS, over the out
side surfaces Of which the cold salt water
circulatcS in 4 continued stream. After hav-
ing thus parted with its cooling power, it is
returned to the refrgera terat.ng vessel. and
again passes through the tubes of the boil
er. There is thus continued and reg
ular circulation Of this fluid similar to that
of the other. the whole bearing q remote re-
semblance to tie double circulation of the
blood. 1t is fund that the number of freez-
ing moulds is not nearly sufficient, and that
the machine will he worked with more advan-
tace if the number be doubled
The ice can be made of any required shape
or thickness. 1t is at present turned out in
slabs eighteen inches square on the sides, and
an inch and a half thick. The slabs can be
placed together SO as to form BIZ cks OF any
thickness. The ice formed rapidly at the cold
est end of the trough is white and Opaque.
while that formed slowly at the lower end is
more transparent. By increasing the dimen-
sions Of this trough, and thus insurng more
uniformity of action, the ice will be transpa-
rent throughout. The relative excellence of
white ice and clear ice is debateable point
The white although actually colder when
formed,melts more rapidly than the clear ice,
drawback when the ice has to be kept, but
an advantage when it is to be used.
| This machine will prove great institu-
ton for these regions where ice is not pro-
duced by tie natural process, as it can, ac-
cording to the statement from which we con-
dense the above facts, work more cheaply
than Nature herself.