Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-09-25
Miscellaneous.
from Emer,ot's Magazine aud Putuem's Monthly.
ICE MAKING.

"A benevolcnt Jtoplan once pubhshed a pan tOf
distributing the cJol and fro,ty air that blows
about tho nrrth pole throughout the heated re
sion Of tho Equator, and Tor correcting the error o.
the sun in making summer so hot aud winter SO
Geld in temperate latitudes, by drafts on Green
lands icy mountains when he Shone over tue Irop
10 os Cancer, and upon lndia's coral strands os he
neared the Tropio Of Clpricorn. lie was doubtless
classcd in his day with the lunatic engineer VINO
proposed Il railroad to the moon, and his thermO'
metrical project ljkened to the schemes Tor greas
ing the axis vi the earth, and decreasing the angie
of the ecliptic with the equator. Differences OF lat
itude are not 80 easily overcome, thought the p%racti'
cal men OF the time, nor the changes of the seasons.
When summer comes, we must be content to melt,
and in winter 10 freeze anon ; and so, perhaps the
crazy Utopiau was consigned to Bcdlam. Our sue
cess at the other end Vt the thermometer should
have taught us better th,ngs-,hat il cold rooms
could be made warm, hot rooms might be made
cool not, TO be sure, by means OF that deluded
dreamer's cumbersome apparatus of snbterranenn
tunnels and ao'ial tubes, hut by an army OF steam
e%ngines siouit ar : on evcrv accessible inch OF the
equator, and each, for the sake of u couple OF tons
Of coal, producing ten thousand pounds OF Ice
daily.
The plan is as good a. accomplished. The en-
gines are working. aud TO water congealinS'
though not on tme equator, ". III London, ana that,
too. in mid summer.
A Mr.. Harrison, Of Gecloug, in the British colo
ny, of Victoria, has a machine working in Red LII
on square, London, driven by a ten horse engine,
which turns out ice at the rate of six THOUSAND
pounds u day.
The refrigeration. MS we learn from q recent
mum DER of an English journal, is produced by the
evaporation of either in a vacuum and the pecull'
arity of the invention consists in the arrangements
fer evaporating the ether at q low temperature, and
condensing it at a higher. precisely the reverse oil
ordinary evaporating processes, The ether is con.
tanned in mir tight vessels. relieved from the press
ure of the atmosphere. The cylinder in the CEN
tire of the apparatus is filed with valves, SO that
each stroke Of The piston withdraws a quantity OF
ether vapor from the left hand vessels. aud forces
it into a condensing vessel on the right hand
Where the vapor is raised, an intense cold is pro-
duced where is is condensed, a corresponding de-
gree of heat is evolved. The ether, after resuming
the liquid state, returns by q self'regulating valve
20 the evaporating vessel, and the process thus con-
tinued uninterruptedly without reqiring any atten-
tion, and without the slightest waste OF material.
Indeed, as the pressure inside the vessel is less
than the outside atmospheric pressure, it is an i'm,
possibility that any ether can escape.
The evaporating vessel is simply a tubular boi.
Ter. This is not n misnomer Tor the ether actually
Soils in it at a temperature Gf required) fifty de-
grees 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 re-
quired for ice making, but carries the cold to the
vessels containing the fresh water intended for
conversion into ice. This part of the apparatus
consists OF q trough twenty feet in length, lifted
with ~sixty-one freezing'molds, over tho outsld sur
lace OF WulCO the CUlu SAT- wafer CIICuldlSo III u
continued stream. After having thus parted with
its cooling yower, it is returned to the refrigerating
vessel, aud again passed through the tubes Of the
boiler. There is thus q continued and regular cir
culation of this fluid, similar to that OF the ether,
the whole bearing a remote resemblance to the
double circulation Of the blood. 1t is found that
the number of freezing .molds is not nearly suth'
cient, and that the machine will be worked with
more advantage if the number be doubled.
The ice can be made of any required shape OF
thickness. 1t is at present turned out in slab
eighteen inches square on the sides, and an incl
and o half thick. The slabs can be placed togeth
er 30 as to form blocks of any thickness. The ic
formed rapidly at the coolest end of the trough i
white and Opaque. while that formed slowly a
the lower end is more transparent. By increasing
the dimensions of this trough, and thus insnrins
more uniformity Of action. the ice will be transpa
rent throughout. The relative excellence of whit
ice and clear ice is q debatable point. The white
although actually colder when formed, meIts NOR
rapidly than the clear ice-a'drawback when tn
ice has to be kept, but an advantage when it is {
be used.
The expense Of the process is simply that of tn
motive power. In the process itself there is n
waste or expenditure of anything except water
An ordinary steam engine Of ten horse power con
sumes a ton of Goals per day, and the product i
ice will be four or five tons. The removal of tn
ice when formed, and reilling the molds with wa
ter, are the only arts of the operation requirin
the services of an attendant. The whole expens
OF making Ice IN LOuuOni lDCIuulnR lnteTcet On Cal
ital, &c will be considerably less than ten shi
lings per ton.
If this invention proves as successful upon
large scale as it is upon q small one-and we sc
no reason to doubt it-ice in southern climates WI
be laid in as The summers stock Of fuel, az muc
as coal IS for winter at the north. While norther
households are gathering around the blaZlu
hearth, southern families will seat themselves
the, cool refrigerator. During the heated terri
buildings may be cooled in the same way tn
- =
they are now warmed-by the circulatien OF &c
water in pipes. Animal food may be preserved
the warmest weather, and provisions salted at al
season of the year. But perhaps the most bene
cial application of the process will be the cooiii
of hospitals in tropical regions. The fearful me
tally arising from the prevalence Of fevers in
atmosphere above eighty degrees can be check
by treating the patients in cool apartments. !
Indian or Mexican campaign will not have half
present terrore, il every regiment could add to
commissioner IN ice making engine.
What effeC5 this discovery may have upon t
rapidly, growing icetrade is worthy of consider
ton by those who are interested in il. The il
shipping trade from New England, indeed FRI
Boston alone, engages the capital of numero
companies. and a very large amount of tonnage.
It is conducted with such skill and economy ii
New Orleans and Havana get thei: ice for a ct
par pound, never less than half a cent and c
catta for about two and a half cents. But judgi
from is present success alone this ice making n
chine will furnish ice ut those localities for Il
'han a quarter OF that price Since 1857, the ira
has increased with great rapidly, and most of I
ponds ia the vicinity Of Boston are used for t
purpose. So long as eleyea years ago, the sh
uaents from Boston c~Oastwise fer one year amot
ted to 5l.8S7 toss 20 foreign ports, % ,59i. Z
export Of ice during the year 1856, from BostC
was lbs, 8l4 tons; FOG the year 1854, lis $40 TOT
The export OF See from tho United States for I
year ending June 80, 1853, was over Al ,00e to-
valued at nearly S200oo0. This is a small :,
comparatively, bat IL will be remembered that
ice trade has been without doubt one OF the ut
stays which preserved the Calcutta trade to B
sFlUIuALL 4 CzSfURV AGo-But there "
ether assemblies 4 eentary ago, for whieh even
&re.ry dissipation af 1857 is = h&Py exchange
We have aband sne9. Z hope foteTer, the manlf
ssroairaeY Of SauThaii, Ceroeiy's aud tee Pant
sa.a ras gardeas On the Surrey eide of TIE 81
xsse fssasea1sd by sevssns Of sashaan az &c a