The Evening critic., 1885-01-22

the failure of the ice crop continue. Ac-
cording to all accounts the ice harvest on
tho Hudson and Kennebec rivers will bo
small. A long-oontinued cold snap has not
yet arrived this season. The weather has
been mild and open, and the dealers are in
despair.
Happily man has in many instances risen
above circumstances, and one notable case
is in this instance whore tho city Ia
threatened with an ice famine by the rivers
of tho North refusing to freeze. Owing to
the ingenuity oil a man, we are not depend.
ont upon the congelations Of the streams
of New York and Maine for our comfort
during the sweltering days Of next June
and July. This ingenuity has produced
nothing less than tho manufacture of ice.
BY IL man is raised above the impulses Of
nature and triumphs even over the ele-
ments
A visit to tho factory of the Smith trans
parent Ice Manufacturing Company in
Georgetown is full Of interest. A CRITIC
reporter recently made a tour of the estab-
lishment and had the curious and interest
ing method of manufacturing leo explained
to him. During the late war; when 1t be.
came impossible for the southeruers to OBJ
tain their supply Of ice from the North,
then 1t was that an enterprising French
man conceived the idea of extracting heat
from water, and thus rendering IL into ice.
Others were encouraged by the success Of
his invention, and moro machines were
invented, SO that up to the present time
200 patents have been issued for the pro-
duction of artificial ice. The first results
produced were, of course, crude, much Of
the ice being but little better than COM
pacted snow, but now the process has been
reduced to such q science that the ice made
is as clear and hard as tho finest frozen on
the Kennebec River, and Is, in fact, su-
perior TO much of the natural ice brought
from the North.
"The theory" remarked the gentleman
who conducted the reporter through the
factory, I" is extremely simple. Water con-
tains heat. At the boiling point it con-
tains 212 degrees, at the freezing point but
30 degrees. Take from boiling water $50
degrees of heat and you have ice. Very
simple, you see. Remove enough heat from
the water and ice forms. Nature" he con-
tinued, from her vast icy laboratory
within the Arctic circle, sends her cooling
winds into the temperate zones, which ex-
tract the heat from the waters Of our lakes
and rivers until the surface becomes coated
with ice, and as the ice increases in thick
| ness, IL being good non-conductor of heat,
| it sooner or later reaches that point when
| no more heat can be drawn from the depth
below, and the process of congelation stops.
| To produce like results artifcially, we must
| conform to Natures laws. To convert
solids into liquids or liquids into gases, heat
must be applied; and vice rersa when we
would reduce the gases or the liquids to
their former condition.
"NOw," he resumed, eve act upon this
| principle in making ice, We suppose that
all gases may be converted into liquids by
the subtraction of heat, aud back again
from liquids into gases by its addition.
We take ammoniacal gas as best suited to
our purpose. A pound Of water at a tenn
perature OF 60 degrees contains 966 units OF
heat, and pound of ammoniscal gas 900
units. Ifin reconverting tho liquid into
gas it can be so devised that the heat can DO
| taken from the water that we wish to
| freeze, it follows that the water will be
cooled rapidly, because the liquid ammonia
absorbs SO many units Of heat We thus
| proceed:
| "You see these pumps here?" The two
had entered large room where four mas
sive steam pumps were steadily working
away. "Well, these pumps force liquid
| ammonia from the receiver over there up
into the coils inside the iron boxes on which
| the ice freezes. These iron boxes are 16
| feet long, 8 feet wide and % inches thick.
They are placed at regular intervals inside
| large tank upstairs, in the congealing-
room, where We will presently go. These
iron boxes are filled with brine or water
| that will not freeze at very low tempera-
ture, and are made perfectly water-tight
| The large tank is filled with water from
| the city waterworks. The liquid ammo
MIA is then forced up into the coils in the
iron boxes, the heat from the water in the
tank is subtracted slowly by the Ammonia
in the boxes and the water gradually be-
comes ice in consequence. This forms upon
the sides of the iron boxes in regular blocks
at the rate of an inch day.
"The ammonia now converted into gas
is still forced on by these inexorable
pumps now before us until it reaches a
long coil of pipes, called the condensing
coil, cold water keeps constantly dripping
upon this coil and the heat impaired by
the water to the ammonia is drawn away
Here we are now you can see the COLL
The two had entered a small room after
ascending some stairs. Before their eyes
rose a high coil of pipes upon which cold
water kept constantly dripping. Some oi
the pipes were warm to the touch; Others
were colder, and others still were in
| crusted with ice, showing the successive
stages of the reduction of tho ammonis
from gas to liquid again. This liquid
hastened back to the receiver, which thu
reporter had noticed in the room with the
pumps, and again was forced by the puml
ON its round TO be changed again to ga
and back again 10 a liquid
Now, look out, or you'll Freeze" was
the kind admonition given the scribe by
his conductor, as they approached another
door. The door was opened then another
and the reporter found himself in room
where the temperature was decidedly
chilly. 1t must have been grateful place
on summers day. 1t was the freezing
room. AS had been explained, there was
large tank over which the floor had beer
laid. In this tank was the water, which
one could almost see freezing TO the irol
divisions Of the tank. Here and thee
workmen nwere busily engaged in liftin
out huge blocks of Ice from the water
which they cut into smaller pieces an
placed on the endless belt that carried ther
down through chute to the wagons at tn
front of the factory. The ice was of fin
quality clear and hard, and could not
detected from the best natural ice Tn
water that is used is very pure, being twic
filtered before IL is put into the tanl
Whatever soluble matter remains Is force
out in freezing. The temperature Of Oh
room was such that the newspaper man wa
soon glad to return TO the comfortable Oflc
The process Of making ice is not conRae
to large factories. Many hotels, broweriC
and places requiring great amount OF Il
have their own machines aud make thel
own ice as they want II. The process Ia
even been introduced into the household
Refrigerat0rs are made for domestic us
which will keen tho family conatanH, y an,