The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-01-16
HOW ICE Is LOADED.
METHOD oF CONVEYING IT FROM
HOUSE TO CUPBOARD.

by the Large PenobScot River Concerns
A Great Deal OF Labor Accomplished by
Few Hands.
An interesting operation is tho load
ing Of ice from the mammoth houses on
the banks N tho Penobscot into the
large freight carriers that arc almost
constantly going Up and down the river
bearing heavy cargoes Of frozen Penob-
scot to faroff ports
From the top Of the house the ice
comes down in a most ingenious man.
ner. An elevator is rugged outside the
building, and ON il the ice comes down
by gravity. There is counteracting
force in big weight that goes up wheD
the load comes down, and vice versa.
To the casual observer il looks as though
the thing worked automatically. Two
large blocks Of ice are pushed out upon
the elevator and they descend. As soon
as they slide off, back goes the elevator
for another load, and this thing is kept
mp hour after hour. Careful observation,
however, shows a strong wire that leads
off some distance, and at the end of it
sits man, and the secret is out. True
enough, the thing works itself, but it
needs guiding hand SO that it won I
work too fast. The movements of the
elevator are controlled by a friction
pulley. When the ice reaches the bot
tom and one cake slides off, the eleva-
tor would take run up before the other
came off were il not that the man on
the end Of the wire pulls lever and the
friction pulley acts at the top, and the
elevator waits until the cargo is all off.
Then the man releases the pulley and
back goes the carriage, the heavy weight
at the other end carrying IL rapidly to
the top.
From the elevator tho ice slides into
a run. In the center of that is an end
less chain that it fitted with pronglike
attachments at certain intervals, and as
they come along they come up behind
the cake Of ice and carry il to its des-
tination.
A short distance up the run is plan
er, a simple continuance that removes
the snow ice and evens the blocks sc
that they will pack nicely in the hold
of the vessel The cakes Of ice pass
serenely along, and when they come &c
the planer pass easily under it, but at
the same time they lose two or three
inches Of their height. There is provi-
sion in the contracts that provides for
this, and they read that only an inch or
inch and half, or whatever the amount
Sc ~ emo ssca Cbal1 H.. Id IL
and therefore the planning.
Just beyond the planer is man who
gives the cake quick pull that brings
1t ahead Of the prong for a moment. A
second look shows why this is done. BY
this quick movement the cake Of ice is
brought upon a pair of scales, and in
the seconds rest that il has before the
prong on the chain gets along it is
weighed and the figures placed upon the
record that is being kept of the cargo.
1t is no small job TO weigh the ice, for
the cakes come along in rapid success
sion, and the weight has to be ascertain
ed in the ordinary manner and the re.
suit put down before the next cake gets
along
From the scale the journey to the ves-
sci is uninterrupted. The run is arrang-
ed so that il extends over the vessel &c
the hatchway, and the rise and fall Of
the tide are provided for by an arrange
ment that permits of the rising and fall
ing of the run to correspond.
Perhaps the most ingenious thing Of
the whole system is that by which the
ice is put in the hold. At the end of the
run and directly over the hatcbway is a
strong frame. and in that there works a
platform that goes up and down some
thing like an elevator at the house. Two
blocks Of ice are slid upon it directly
from the run, and the man who controls
it releases friction lever, and down it
goes into the hold by its own weight,
the speed being controlled by the man
with the friction lever. The platform is
suspended by four ropes that unwind
from cylinder as it descends, and at
the same time another and larger rope
that appears from distance winds upon
the cylinder.
When the load is off the platform in
the hold, the friction lever is again
loosened, and the rope that comes over
the side Of the vessel gets in its work by
turning the drum the other way and
quickly bringing the platform into its
place. Ont. on the wharf at tho other
end of the big rope is another large
weight, that does the work of pulling
back the platform.
Away down in the hold the work of |
slowing the ice was progressing rapidly.
The ice is simply packed together in as
small space as possible, and nothing
is put around it, as many doubtless sup |
pose. At the matches, after the cargo Is
all in, little hay is thrown, but with
the exception Of that there is nothing |
put about the ice to keep it from melt |
ing Under the improved order Of pack |
ing only from 10 to 10 per cent of the |
Ice is melted, and at times not so much |
rs that Bangor Commercial