Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1885-12-10
NEW REFRIGERATOR.
Car That Promises to Revoiutionizo
Fruit and Meat shipping.

a
Fruit and Meat shipping.
| A number of Sacramentans had IN
opportunity of examining new sys-
| lem of preserving fresh fruits and
vegetables during the transit across the
continent. The principles involved
NAV pc briefly explained as follows:
Tie researches of Tyndall and other
scientists have demonstrated that the
/ decay If organic matter is due TO bac-
/ terra. and that warmth and moisture
4 are conditions peculiarly favorable TO
! their. development. For instance, the
I ordinary refrigerator car, with its
quantities of ice, produces great deal
! of moisture. and in order to counter
! act its effects the temperature must 30
kept down to about freezing point.
{ The regular fruit car is but a shell, ale
! lowing ventilation and giving access
/ to outside air. and it is the sad eNperi-
ence Of shippers that one very hot day
in transit will often ruin the greater
part If a shipment. The new car re-
/ ferred to proposes to do away with
both objections by allowing no access
whatever to outside air. preserving u
uniform temperature throughout the
car and free circulation of very dry,
/ cold air.
! The car itself is an ordinary insulated
refrigerator car, which is closed at the
beginning of the trip and not opened
until the periShable goods reach their
! destination. The ear weighs 2S,00O
/ pounds. some 5000 pounds more than
! the shell fruit car, but considerably less
than the ordinary refrigerator car with
its load of ice. In one end of it is the
machinery for regulating the tempera-
ture. occupying just four feet, so that
in available space, too, it has an adj
vantage over the refrigerator car. \
long pipe punctured with many holes
runs along the car at the top, and back
into the machinery end where small
fan supplies suction to draw the air
from the car into the pipe and it is then
carried down, passed among pipes con-
! tanning the cooling fluid and thrown in
upon the fruits and meats again. All
moisture clings to the cooling pipes
and the air circulating is kept dry and
cool.
The cooling liquid is made of alcohol
and muriatic acid, and is known as
chloride of ethyl. 1t is neutral fluid,
/ possessing neither the corrosive quaii-
ties of the acid nor the intlammablity
of alcohol 1t boils at 80 degrees
( Fahrenheit, and the Bee representative
had the curious sensation of seeing
some of it boil in the palm of his hand.
| The simple evaporation of drops of the
I liquid upon the bulb of thermometer
forced the mercury down to 10 degrees
below zero. The chief advantage of
this liquid over the ammoniacal fluids
usually used in refrigerating apparat-
uses lies in the fact that it only requires
a pressure of Is to % pounds to the
square inch to transform it into vapor,
| while ammonia requires $50 to $50
pounds. This chloride of ethyl in pass
ing through labyrinth of pipes is
vapOrized and allowed to condense
again, thus producing the degree of
cold required. The power is taken
ingenious devices are resorted to, to
counteract the pulling and jumping of
the car. and again to obtain the exact
degree of power required, no matter at
what speed the car moves.
In practice one man can manage an
entire train of fifteen of these cars, and
by means of levers and attachments on
top of the ears keep the temperature
regular by regulating the speed of the
machinery inside. This particular car
brought through lot of meats from
Chicago in excellent condition, and
where ordinary refrigerators were COM
PEELED to keep the temperature at so
deg. lest the meat should spoil. under
this system it is kept for four or six days
ut 40 deg. and comes through in better
shape, while the woodwork OF the car
remains as dry rs a chip. 1t is claimed
that this system viii revolutionize fruit
shipments. as it will land fruits in Chi
cago and New York without decay and
almost in the condition in which they
leave here. The cost of tue machinery
is so smail-nOt to exceed four hundred
dollars Garland the running ex-
penses so light that it is believed by the
patentee that any slight excess in
charges over that paid for ordinary
fruit ears will be returned many fold to
the shipper in the fruit preserved from
decay. There are many interesting
minor details connected with the work.
ing of the simple but very ingenious
machinery to which we have not space
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