Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1870-01-06
ICE MAKING.
Nature and Art-Detailed Description
of the Process of Ice-Maktng-The
P0ssibIe Uses Of Dry-Cold AIR.

Nature and Art-Detailed Description
of the Process Of Ice-Making-The
Possible Uses of Dry-CO1d Air.
Correspondence of the Boston Advertiser.
PHILADELPHIA, Dec. IA. 1s69-Io control
Nature we have to use her own ways and
forces; and sometimes we must initiate her
very contradictions good instance of
this is the modern method of making ice
from fire, as compared, with natures mode
of raising hail-storms in July. f
She gees to WORK thus: The sunshine
air, and TO q slight extent displacing it by
still lighter aqueous vapor. This vapor in
turn acts like the glass of green house,
freely transmitting the bright heat rays,
but shutting in those dark ones which the
earth would have sent back into space. =
Thus the heat increases its elf, and the bar
ometer falls, till heavier air from distance
crowds In under these expanded strataand
forces them up, as if through long Chin
ney. They push up before them the IN.
warmed superintendent strata, which be-
ing thus relieved from the pressure of those
still higher layers that flow of TO right and
left, expand rapidly and chill what mois-
ture they contain into hailstones Thus
nature. by expanding certain masses with
heat, drives other masses into regions where
they expand and freeze, producing cold
| from heat.
And now for mans imitation. as saw it
the other day upon exhibition at the sport
Richmond Iron Works" (Philadelphia) of
L. p. Mouis & Co., where the machinery is
made. At this shop. by the way, were built
the engines of the Monadnock, Aeamenti-
Gus. Tacony, Cambridge, Antietam, and
several other gunboats: here aye cast single
pieces, bed plates, walking-beams aud AN
vils,-that weigh, before finishing, from
sixteen to forty live tons; and here are be-
ing made the Lehigh Crane Iron Company's
six big blast-engines, each ffty-six feet long
and thirty-eight high, with nine foot blow
ing cylinders, ten foot stroke, twenty-seven
foot hy wheels and thirty-six foot walking
4 beams.
A strong 'retort" OF boiler iron is Q
part filed with the aqua ammonia of COM
merce, and is heated by steam worm at
% pounds pressure to say 260o Fahren-
heit Thus 3 or I. of the gas is driven
from the solution, to accumulate in
the space above the now s'poor
''liquor." and to pass at pressure Of say
8 atmospheres,. into the "liouefier," tank
of running water where some 200 feet of
the gas pipe lie in folds ike those of a
steam house heater. Here, ~ ith 8 atnos-
pheres pressure, it condenses at so f. to
liquid ammonia, nearly free from water or
with 8 atmospheres, at 72 f. SO that
uery cold bydrant water Is not indispensa-
bic, although the coolest is best. A few
gallons of T. is ammonia collect in a strong
recipient" whence ii passes up to the
freezing box, and, admitted by . minute
and carefully-regulated faucet, Is distribu-
ted TO n dozen separate larger pipes im-
mersed in brine. Thus relieved from OF
| the pressure. it reyaporizes, expands and
develnps intense cold. The brine is con-
stantiy stirred and the brass cans of fresh
water, protected by wooden covers, and
set into the brine to freeze, give out latent
heat as the ice forms otherwise the brine,
or mercury itself, would become one solid
mass. r-e-~-f-F -.
Returning, the cold ammoniacal gas IL
reabsor5ed by the poor liquor" which it
drew from the bottom of the ''retort"
twhere the coolest and weakest collects
from its greater weight). and which, drip
ping through a series of horizontal disks
In the absorption vase" is made to pre-
sent large and ever changing surface to
the gas. A pump forces the ''liquor' thus
enriched" into the heated s.retort" again,
where, falling overs similar series of disks,
the gas and the poor liquor again part
company, to start anew upon their sepa-
rate journeys
Ingeniously, 20 make the poor hquor
from the retort cool enough to absorb the
gas, and to warm somewhat the regen-
Grated liquor that has eft the absorption
vase. worm of the former passes through
the latter, and afterward through the waste
water from the ''liquefier," economlzing
both the heat and the cold.
The pump and ali the screw-clamped
joints are packed with vuioanized rubber,
which in the joints is confined as by
tenon in a mortise. The lubrication is
the glycerine. Grease is not ammonia
profit turns TO soap and volatile lima
ment And whenever the ammonia does
escape, every breathing creature does well
to escape too. But these accidents are
needless; properly managed, machine
need not waste gallon in a month.
Each of the beautiful, black-shaped ice-
cakes, two feet deep and three inches
thick, forms in four hours; they are re-
placed in continux. succession, are taken
from ths Cans by hot water. and if laid to-
gether will unite into masses of any size.
Curiously. if too cold, say zero, they start
from the cans With crash, and are broken
into fragments the size OF walnuts.F -.
i describe the process thus infinitely, 4 r
! it's great physical interest; and because the
industry, though a new one is already be-
coming important. bali the ice now used
in Paris is said to be artificial. In these
: northern States, We cannot compete with
E nature, unless, possibly, in those large
I packing-houses breweries, etc, where the
Q steam and cold water are ready at hand,
. and tits warm waste water can be utilized.
I. But in New Orleans. six machines, each
II u. 1.c
: MIA. etc.. nearly SAC. 600, are daily making
10000 pounds apiece for cent pound,
ont of water freed by diAtillaiion from i'm.
> purities and air-bubbles. Machines of IL
the capacity b0weyer, cost tproportionately
; nearly four times as ruch. and so doe
their product 1rlslt --s- =
e Tnis freezer is, essentially, Canes
- (French) "Continous" one. Various 9th
!. ers are .'intermittent;' the gas, expelled
= from the retort by heat or otherwise, being
4 cooled, and ottenest liaue hed. in the recip
lent, and afterward developing the cold
T there by expansion Whenever, blythe cool
!, ing of the retort, or else by pumps, the ga,
: is returned to it. Many gases and yola.il,
vapors haye been employed. such as air
i, carhonic acid, sllphureted hydrogen. eth
!. ers, gasoline, naptha, cyanogen, and ever
I fuming sulphuric acid in platinum lined
= vessels. Only afew of these gases are 81
soluble that water is used, as with ammon
- ia, to aid their return to the retort, but
= think that some of them could advantage
: ously be used with alcohol or some, othe
> solvent The question is important. /.
e Some of the intermittent machines ar
J. merely s'domestic, not meant for tn,
x- s.commercial scale of work. Perhaps tn
a larger of these will give us drinking cup
i of frosted champagne; and preserve ou
n grapes and ssrawberries, with all their DEF
d icate aroma, in airiess crystal prisons; an,
is pack in blocks our milk and eggs, for sal
10 by the cubic foot
d An important product of all continuou
sr ice machinery may be dry cold ar Th
lie freezing pipes are placed in the course of
IN fan-blast, and cool the air "a times asmucl
n. as would the melting of oil the ice -thos
a pipes could produce; while the air is drie,
t. by depositing part OF its moisture, as fros
!. upon the pipes. In close monitor gun