The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-08-21
An Opportunity in Helena For the
Manufacture of the Pure
Article.
Large Plants Are Rapidly Being
Erected Throughout the United
States.
Seattle Has Two Establishments to Supply
the Demand There-How the Ice
10 Made.

to the real estate agents aud others lnquir-
ing az to the advantages Helena has to offer
for the establishment of manufactures of
| various kinds here, there is an opening for
| an industry that should realize good profits
to those who will go into the scheme. Hell
ena wants everything first class, and her
people will pay for first class ice. The de-
mand for the pure article would certainly
be large enough to warrant the erection of
plant to manufacture ice artifcially.
Plants are rapidly being erected at various
points. Seattle has two establishments
which supply demand Of forty tons q
day in that city. One is operated by the
Seattle Ice company, with capacity of
forty tons every twenty-four hours, and
the other is owned by the hrm of Clausen &
Sweeny, who turn out about ten tons daily.
These plants will soon be enlarged. The
Seattle Ice company has already made con
tracts for more machinery and will supply
several cities Of the Sound as soon as its
new quarters are completed.
One would imagine that there would be
no trouble in securing all the ice necessary
during the winter months and storing it in
or near the city for consumption in the
summer. Probably there is not. But it
ia much better to have the pure article
when it can be had, and that is what the
people of Seattle and other places prefer.
A good many confound ice artlfcially man
ufactured with artificial ice. Some imag-
inc that chemicals are placed in the water,
and by some secret process, which is care
fully guarded, the water is turned into a
solid mass. but this is not 80. The process
of manufacturing ice artifcially in use in
interesting, and can be explained by the
one word-evap0ration. Ice manufactured
artificially is something that the people of
Helena would quickly appreciate. Anyone
can understand that when it is made from
ticial ice, being distilled water, the ice must
be pure. Another advantage is that the ice
is solid. When the water is ready for freez-
ing it is RS free from animal, vegetable and
mineral substances as it is possible to make
it. This is done by subjecting the water to
converting it into steam. II is next carried
through a coil of pipes and is
emptied into condenser, water again.
BY this process all the animal life in the
water has been destroyed and the vegetable
or mineral matter is precipitated. The
water is then filtered through charcoal and
is ready to be made into ice. It is claimed
by experts that the ice which is manufac-
tured in Seattle is purer and far superior to
that which was formerly brought in from
the mountains. and that it can be manu-
featured and delivered to consumers within
the city limits there at a much less cost.
In factory with forty-ton capacity
something over forty miles of pipes. which
range all the way from one and one-half
inches to seven inches In diameter, are re-
quired. The only chemical used is anhy-
drous of ammonia, which is placed in q
steel cylinder something after the style of
a soda water fountain and subjected to q
pressure of $50 pounds to the square
inch. A large tank through which
innumerable coils of pipes run is
filled with a strong brine. Into these
coils the ammonia is forced in fine case
GUS spray. In short time the pipes be
come frosted and the water chilled so that
thermometer immersed in it remains sta
| tionary at zero. Then the brine is forced
| into another tank where the coils are larger.
Through these pipes the salt water is forced
into the different sections of the tank in
which the molds or cans containing the
pure water, which it is intended to convert
into commercial ice, are placed. On the
| bottom of the tank and Immediately under
the center of each mold there is pipe five
inches in diameter, and a hole in the pipe
against the bottom of each mold. In this
way the water is chilled and a constant
temperature of zero for about forty hours
transfers the water in the can or mold to a
cake of solid ice.
Here is chance for some live, go-ahead
men to start such an establishment in Hell
ena. Already companies are being formed
to 90 into the cold storage business and
supply the ice chests and refrigerators of
their customers with cold air which will be
carried from their factories much after the
manner in which the steam supply COM
panies in New York city heat the business
blocks, run elevators and supply the motive
power for engines by means of pipes carried
underground. Two of these companies are
now in successful operation in Chicago.