Mexico weekly ledger., 1897-06-24
HOW THEY FREEZE IT.
A Brief Description of the Art of Ice
Making Mr.. Wohlgemuth
Talks to the Ledger.

A LEDGER reporter yesterday paid
a visit to the plant of the Mexico
Crystal Ice Company and learned the
following facts regarding the manu-
facture of that now much sought-for
article that aids in keeping
cool this hot weather while the mer-
curry is sizzling around the 100 point
in the thermometer.
Mr.. Wohlgemuth, the urbane man
ager, said that it is only within the
last ten or fifteen years that the max
ing of artificial ice has become a gem
eral industry and 1t ia a little over
thirty years since the first really sue
cessful ice machine was set up in this
country. The earliest of successful
ice makers was a Frenchman named
Care, who,i in 1887, brought out a fair
Iy workable machine built on what is
known al the absorption system. The
most approved system, however, is
that Of compression. 1t is this system
also which is playing sad havoc with
natural ice, UGH as northern lake ice,
on account of it's impurity. There 10
a prevailing notion that water in
freezing purifies itself OF all kinds Of
contamination. This is true only to a
very limited extent. The larger par
ticles contained in water will in con-
gealation tend to be expelled just as,
for example, is the air from the air
holes which are almost always to be
seen in a pond or a river. But a great
deal of careful experiment has shown
that though a proportion of the in
visible bacteria the water contains
may be destroyed, still a large num-
Der remain alive, since many species
are quite invulnerable to the action of
cold. Notable ia this the cas- with
the germs which cause typhoid fever,
which may remain alive for months,
even though fast frozen in a solid
block of ice. AS the neighborhood of
the ponds and other ice fields become
more thickly settled the danger is
proportlonately increased.
But artificial ice can be made prac-
tically pure. The proper way now is
first to filter the water, then convert
it into steam with the use of boilers;
the steam condensed and again filter
| ed in steam filterers filed with coke.
The condensation is effected by plac-
ing the steam condensers in the open
air on the roof of the building and
circulating around them cold water
pumped from wells or river, if any at
hand. After leaving the cooler the
water is again filtered through char
coal and conveyed to a. re-boiler which
extracts any impurities that the water
water always contains some air and
in order to make clear ice the forma-
ton of air bubbles must be prevented,
hence boiling and the precautions
used. From this point the water is ow
in the proper condition to be frozen
and is carried to a large, tight tank to
! which a hose is attached and the fill
ing of the large galvanized cans be-
gins. These cans, when frozen, con-
tain from 300 to 800 pounds of ice.
In the freezing process of the Mex
leo Crystal Ice Company anhydrous
ammonia is employed. That is simply
our ordinary ammonia, more properly
ammonia water with the water taken
out of it. This substance is first liqui-
fed by being compressed and cooled,
whereby the latent heat of the gas is
pressed out and carried away. Stored
in large and heavy iron tanks it is
ready for use.
A large, shallow vat 30x40 feet wide
and 5 feet deep is used. Dividing
this vat into small compartments are
row after row of coiled iron pipe. The
entire vat is then flooded with brine
and into this bath are thrust tin
cans Containing the distilled water.
| Through the coils of iron pipe the
liquid ammonia is run, passing through
a small orifice from the containing
tanks into the coils. Evaporating
rapidly the ammonia cools the brine
surrounding this system of pipes down
to Is to IS degrees Fahrenheit or
about 10 degrees below freezing point.
This rapidly draws the heat from the
water contained in the can. The heat
passes first to the circulating brine
and then to the coil with the result
that the water slowly congeals. AS
soon as the can is frozen it is picked
up by a crane and given a quick bath
in water of rs degrees Fahrenheit,
| which melts the ice sufficiently to
release the a and the Ice is then
ready for storage.