The Placer herald., 1870-10-15
A New Era in Refrigerating.

By the freight train which left this city
this morning for the Fast was one of the Da-
Wis refrgerating cars-the most complete and
successful thing of the kind which human
ingenuity has yet conceived. This car ar
rived here about two weeks ago. bringing a
quantity of eggs and some fruit. 1t was
some seventeen days on the road, and the
fruit and eggs were brought over merely to
show to the people of this coast what the
cars are capable of doing in the way of pre-
serving such things To-day it takes hence
about nine tons of grapes of the choicest va
rieties, including the Muscat of Alexandria,
Flaming Tokay, Black Hamburg, native
and other varieties; also plums peaches and
fresh figs. 1t will be twenty-one days on
the road, and yet when opened at New York
about the first of November the fruit will be
as sweet, fresh and firm as when it left here
this morning. The superiority of the Davis
refrigerator over all others lies principally in
the fact that it equalzes the air by freezing
the moisture, and thus keeps the contents of
the car as dry as powder. The cars are pro-
vided with non-conducting walls nine inches
in thickness, three and one-half inches of
which is composed of hair, the non-conduct-
ing qualities of which are understood by
most persons. Inside the car are ice chamb-
ers extending from the floor to the roof on
each side, and about four inches in thickness
These are not allowed to touch either the
top, bottom or sides of the car, being held
by braces several inches from them. This
pooduces a current of air below the fruit
which is raised from the bottom of the car
and this current is constantly ascending to-
ward the roof, the moisture being collected
on the ice chambers and condensed into frost
instead of being distributed throughout the
car as by most refrigerators. When we ex-
amined the car yesterday while it was being
loaded and the temperature inside was only
sixty degrees, there was an eighth of an inch
of white frost all along the ice-chests, re-
mindng one Of window-panes in the East on
bitter Winters morning. For fruit the
temperature is kept at about degrees, while
for meats, fish, etc. thrty-four degrees is
the standard. In one of these cars, strange
and incredible as the statement may seem,
fresh meats, fruit, etc, will keep for sixty
days in the hottest part of Summer! Unlike
other refrigerators, the Davis car preserves
fruits and such like, and when exposed sud-
denly to the warmer temperature Of the open
air, the fruit does not at once decay, as is
the case with that kept over a week in 9TH
er refrigerators. Indeed, a portion of the
cargo of grapes which left here to-day will
be transferred to a building in Chicago con-
structed on the same principle as the cars,
and will be put on the table fresh and sound
at Christmas time The Davis Company
do not solicit shipments of fruit-they run
their own cars and will carry for nobody
else. They know they have ga good thing"
and they are excusable for monopolizing its
advantages. But they are willing to pur-
chase largely from our orchardists and vine
yardists, and by another year expect to have
a regular line of their cars running from
ocean to ocean, supplying the people of the
older States with the luscious fruits and del
icacies Of the Pacific slope They will also
put on a line of cars between Denver and
New York, to supply the people of the lat
ter place with fresh beef regularly during the
heated term. We are indebted to William
Ten Winkel, of Chicago, agent of the Com
pany, for the opportunity to visit and exam
inc this interesting specimen of ingenuity and
skill.-Sac. Bee.