Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1889-05-23

twenty-five years ago 1900 tons of ice
would have filed every icehOuse in that
city. This seems rather strange
story TO tell abUut Baltimore, when
there should beas very large consuInp-
ton OF this commodity. Baltimore,
however,, In not; a center OF ice sup
ply. Tbs people in the country
around gather their ice from the near
est ponds and streams, while every
farmer has his own icehouse.
la New Orleans the Baltimore cargo
would attract nc attention whatever.
This city rs nOttonly an enormous con-
sumer of ice, but 1t supplies the article
t0 a large territc,y, and until the cheap
and eXpsditious methods for making
artificial ice nov in use were put in
operation every ounce of this crystal
necessary eof life. for il has long ceased
10 DC luxury, ,wGs brought here from
the far-off north. Now, however, we
are entirely independent of the nOth-
erR ice er0p. Even if the north polar
regions should &C out of the refriger-
atipg business we, would be able to en-
JOY our iced beverages untroubled by
the failure of the srtic billiards.
The enormoushanufactu of ice in
this city would astonish any person
who has given nC.@ttention TO IL. For
many years before The civil war il was
known to scientists that ice could be
produced at pleasure by means OF eX-
tremely rapid processes OF evapora-
ton which would extract both the
sensible and latent heat from the ma
terial EXPOSED TO the influences OF the
evaporation. The fact was demon
strated, but il was applied to no practi-
cal use and remained, like many 9TH
err important discoveries, as scientific
curiosity. la the pass twenty years.
which have brought forth so many
valuable and astonishing inventions,
the processes for making ice by means
of the evaporation OF volatile chemical
substances have been drought to per-
lection and made practicable on a scale
of the greatest magnitude, and mater
ial sufficiently cheap has been found to
perform the important Office Of
refrigeration.
There are numerous reflhgerants, but
anhydrous ammonia vapor condensed
in iron climbers is most commonly in
use. When metallic vessel filled with
water is surrounded with this ammonia,
which is powerfully evaptrated by
means of an air pump it abstracts the
heat in the water with such rdpidity
and energy that the latter is quickly
converted into ice. In this manner
blocks OF large size are SO quickly and
che1ply made as TO enable competition
with any natural ice. In this way also
cold storage warehouses are created,
and cellars for the preservation Of beer
are maintained at any desired degree
of refrigeration.
The entire business of brewing beer
has been revolutionized by this artif-
cial production of cold. A dozen years
ago there was no brewing in this city
worth mentioning. The business
seemed out Of our reach because of the
cost of importing ice. The possibilities
Of artificial refrigeration were made
known TO our people and in decade
New Orleans has sprung into great i'm
portance as center for the manufac-
turc of beer. Our breweries are on
par with the best in the world in re-
spect so the most improved apparatus
and equipments, and their products are
simply unsurpassed in excellence.
New Orleans is perhaps the greatest
user of artificial refrigeration in the
world. Many of Onr people may still
cherish preference for Boston ice,
much of which is still consumed here,
but if the northern ice crop should
wholly fail, so extensive are the facili-
ties for the artificial production of cold
in this city that it is practically indie
pendent of the natural processes for
making ice.-New Orleans Picayune.