The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1885-08-12
COLD STORAGE.
Fhe Wise Thou ght of a New York MGR,
chant That Led TO the System.

-
fhe Wise Thous ht of New York MGR,
chant That Led TO the System.
1t did not require very much inventive
talent to adapt common ice box to the
needs Of dealers in perishable food, but
until about 1874 or 1875 no one did it..
The first heard of tho business, there was
firm of butter dealers by the name of
Heermance & Dickinson ceiled up the vault
under the pavement in front of their store
in Reade street, stuffed sawdust in between
the wall and ceiling. In the top they built
an ice boz about ten feet square, having
Stats for bottom, so that the air from the
ice dropped down to the bottom. They goi
their butter in from the cars all soft; they
showed 1t into the vault until it hardened up,
the temperature being about 40 or 50o, and
then put 1t on the market Us hard and invit-
ing in July as IL could be in january. They
got top prices for the butter, and their cor
respondents flooded them with favors. They
busN another ice box, and then some
Of their neighbore went into the ice box
business. Although this was all done for
butter, it was the origin of the general cold
storage business. People naturally began
to think that other things could be kept
from spelling in uniform temperature Just
above the freezing point. Game was thought
OF right away, because every one knows that
freezing improves game, and storage rooms
were adapted for oil sorts of meats. The
next step was the storage of eggs. Eggs
sell for 40 cents dozen at one season OF
the year and 20 cents at another. A few
barrels of 2-cent eggs were put away as an
experiment, and they were brought out in
40-cent season, and sold for about 2 cents
below the fresh egg market. That settled
the egg business. You will remember that
when the big cold storage warehouse ct the
corner of Greenwich and Reade streets
caught fire the other day several thousand
barrels of eggs were thrown on the market,
and broke it completely. Such break in
the egg market has not happened before
since the storage business came in fashion.
But when 1t was proposed to store fruit
in cold room We all laughed. We knew
that fruit could be kept in cold room, but
we were very sure that after it was brought
out 1t would melt down and rot before our
customers could get 1t to Harlem, even if
We sold 1t to them right out of the refriger-
ator. Mr.. II. A. Dickinson concluded to
try peaches as an experiment He put them
In crate and let them remain two weeks.
They came out as fair as they went in, and
the crate was placed in his office. 1t made
great stir among US, for the cooled peaches,
instead of melting down, remained market
able longer than peaches fresh from the
tree. Tint ended Saturday bargains in
fruit. When we have an livestock we cart
them to handy refrigerator, and bring
them out fresh and beautiful on Monday
morning."
" How is the storage warehouse built ?"
Any common downtown brick store
will do. A pine ceiling is put in all around
the sides beneath the roof and ON the lower
floor The space between the ceiling and
the sides is eighteen inches, and that is
rammed full Of sawdust. Tho floors ara
taken up, and over the beams of the upper
floor are laid galvanized iron plates to shed
the water from the beams. Under the platter
there are iron troughs leading TO one gutter
in the centre. The ice is stacked on stats
placed on these iron protected beams. As
Il melts the water drips down and runs away
through leaders to the sewer. OF course,
the cold dir drops through between the Stats
to the floor below, which have been relaid
with stats which leave cracks an inch wide
clear down, perhaps six stories, to the bot
!om. When butter or any other stuff is put
in warm II is, of course, decomposing. The
gases are rising all the time until they reach
the ice. There they condense and mix in
with the water from the ice aud flow away.
The sweetest, healthiest rooms in the city
are in the cold storage warehouses.
But the leo will not freeze anything"
No; the temperature in these houses il
about 360 or so. Game, fish, &C., need tc
be frozen.
One would think that the moisture in
The rooms under the ice would destroy
things"
That Is an error. The rooms are per-
fectly dry. When tubs of butter are put in
they are always moist on the outside from
the brine Of the butter, but the brine all
drys of, and cambria handkerchief could
be drawn around one and show nothing but
dust afterward. In fact, within year finel
goods than cambria are slowed in colo
houses. Furriers have great deal of trou.
BILE with furs in the summer. The skins
must be whipped twice week to knock
out worms or the hair will all come off.
Then furs fade badly in hot weather. An
ingenious cold storage man, having observ-
ed that cheese was preserved from insect
ravages, tried storing furs in a cold room
over the summer. He succeeded perfectly,
and now the fading Of the color of the fun
and the whipping of skins is becoming o
thing Of the past. This business may be
overdone some time, but so far it has made
big returns on the investment. II is n kind
of business that pays oil around. The
farmer gets better prices, the commission
man has regular prices, and there is now
much less waste of fooa products, and con-
ssquontly lower average prices to the con.
sumer."
= >-Ds--'~
SLAVES IN CIVILIZED COUNTRIES.
In Germany women do most of the men,