Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1873-06-10
Making lee in the Tropics.
| Ncao Orleans Cor. Washington Star.


New ORLEANS, May ~, lS73.-l was in.
business in New Orleans one industry was i'll
full and prosperous operatior-the nanufac
turc of ice Yesterday. taking a street car, |
was carried within Il square OF the place.
On approaching the refractory its ap
pearancc was so unlike its mission that | con-
cluded had got on the wrong track, until re-
assured. Chmneys, smoke stacks and stcaIu-
pipes were in full blast outside the Immense
building, and on entering the most conspicuous
objects presented were Tow Of red-mouthed
engine-fres, like those of high pressure Mis-
sissippi steamer, and some immense vats OF hot
water bubbling and steauing at 4 furious rate.
It seemed very unlikely place to make ice.
Penetrating further into the large main build
ing, 225 feet 10 length, one saw great net
work of pipes, which, at six different points IN
reaching out to the different compartments vi
the six ice. machines in operation. -
The process of making ice followed hero IS
that invented by Prof Faraday, through tho
use of the liquid gas ammonia, and as the am
monia is reconverted and used over and over
again with trlhiug waste, the cost OF this ma
tcrial is not great. The heavier expense is III
the operation of distilling the muddy river
to purify it and clear it Of carbonic acid gas,
&C. This was the use Of the heating apparatus
and the immense vats We had seen. The distilled
water is conveyed to tin moulds capable of hold
ing cakes of ice &c inches long, 10 inches wide,
and q inches thick, Weighing twenty pounds.
These uoulds are then placed in the machine
in compartments filled with salt water (which
does not frcczc) and application of ammo
MIA is then made through the branching tubes
above mentioned, heavily coated externally
ft,n af,rr,
within. The ice commences forming at the
sides of the mouds, freezing rapidly towards
the CENTRE and at the end of four hours the
cake is solid. The mould is then taken from
the machine dipped in a vat of hot water to de-
tach the cake, which is then shot out upon q
platform beautiful block OF compact lee al
most as clear and smooth in surface as French
plate glass 1t seems difficult to believe, 10 the
first place. that this is the product OF the mud
dy Mississippi water one sees slmmerlDg In the
Vats above; III the next place that the same
water took this frigid form in this sultry atnos.
Ihcre with the magnolia showing It's white
blossoms at the cpen widows. The ce-cakes as
they arc 13kcl tr9ln tic tnouIds, are r'c0 one
atovc another until square -uass Is formed,
(tiic cakes freezing togc5her,) ard rhe larger
cakes are wheeled away to the large storc-fiouscS
aHhcoHt capable Of accommodating 5000 tons;
from wsicrcc the ICE is taken out uy We
goa: tc: the city supply or t1r trarsi'"r-
ta9i"a 10 points further south. The maa-
utacturc of ice or this Carre machine plan h:s
been oa-ried on successfully il Paris London
Peru, and India, but nowhere, ! believe, or
the same extensive scale as at New Orleans;
This establishment, which is run night and
day, turus out an average Of sixty tons every
=! hours; but can in cool weather Of mid-wlutor
make as high as IS tons per day. The Super
ntendent, Mr. Gassclin, tells ne that this ar
t!ticial ice can be manufactured and sold at
pref. CT fifteen dollars per ton. About one
third of the ice used in New Orleans ls snpph-
ed by this establishment. Notwithstanding lis
attractive crystalline appearance, and apparent
firmness, find that there is considerable pre-
ludice iu New Orleans against the manutactur-
cd ice, on the suppostiou that the chemical
action on the water iu its manufacture must
leave some deletcrious properties. This pre-
ju,licc would not seem to be well founded, as
the only thing done to the water is to distil it,
whereby it is made somewhat purer than spring
or lake water; but it is rendered somewhat
tastclcss by the operation, which may account
Er the objection to it. This ice factory iswork-
cd hy a stock company, and has been in opera
tiun about five wears.