The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1897-07-21
A MODEL FACTORY.
The Peoples Ice Factory---The
Only One of the Kind in the
State.

The thirty day working test Of the plant
Of the Peoples Ice Company was concluded
yesterday aud SIR J S. Andrews, the
representative of the York Manufacturing
Co, Of York, Pa turned the fac
tory over to th Board of Directors. Mr.
Andrews had charge Of the installation Of The
plantand every portion of was put into place
aud thoroughly tested under his personal
supervision. After the machinery was all
set up aud was ready 10 start work several
days we're spent in making additional and
i more severe tests to prove that every piece of
machinery and every pipe in the factory
would successfully resist strain much
greater than would ever be put upon il at
sny time while the factory is IN regular ope-
ration.
After the factory began regular work Mr..
Andrews remained to see that everything
worked smoolby and satisfactorily for thirty
days, ct the esd of which time, under the
terms of the contract, the York Mfg. Co.,
DOW turn over the factory to the directors.
The. entire equipment of the factory was
furnished by the York Mfg. Co., and the
directors gave the contract to that company
because they bad assurances from experts
that there as 10 ice machioery manufactured
8
plat Iode of compactness and simplc-
ity aou IS operated at the minimum expense
The compression system is used, and this is said
to have several points Of superiority over
other systems; but the comparative excellence
of one or the other of several eestems is a
matter with which the average L... concerns
himself very little. 1t is the results that
speak most coovincingIy and interest most
| Sao; ;1o2f oe If ~
preston system Of refrigeration as applied at
the Peoples Ice Factory has been seen already
by majority of the users of icein Sumter
the ice that is made. 1t is unquestionably
the clearest and hardest ice they have ever
used and it lasts longer in a refrigerator on
account Of its firm texture and solidity. The
water supply is obtained from three four-inch
wel!s forty feet in dertb, that furnish al, that
is required. The wells appear to be psacti-
cally inexhaus,ahle, for the pumps have been
running steadily for thirty days and nights
and the How of water is as copious and clear
as when the pumps first started. The water
as it cones from the pumps goes, part to the
heater " here it is raised to the boiling point
before passing into the boiler, and the remain
der to the top Aoor of the building where it is
utilized to cool the pipes containing the liquid
ammonia after coming from the comprising
| JUMPS The steam from the boilers is passed
(, into conGensers and the distilled water result
| ing is then piped into tank where 1t is thor
ougbly cooled. After cooling, the wnter is
ruo into another tank, known as the rsboier,
where it is raised to the boiling point for the
purpose of removing the last trace of any
impurities that may have remained. From
the reboiler the water goes into sealed reser-
voir aud is again cooled before going into the
| cans ic the freezing tank. The distilatior of
the water and the reboiing insures ice Of alb
solu,e purity aud 6rmness, for all Impurities
and foreign substances that may be in the
water as it comes from the wells are elimi-
mated.
The process Of refrigeration by meaps of
the expansion of ammonia is probably under
stood by most readers of this article and the
merest mentioa of the process will suffice.
The ammonia is received 10 liquid form, but
| is keot ia this state only by great pressure
and is therefore stored in heavy iron cylin-
ders. From the Storage reservoir the liquid
ammonia is piped to the brine tank, which is
file with brine through which series of
pipes pass. The pressure which keeps the
ammonia in liquid state is removed just ns
it enters the pipe in the brine tank AMI it ex-
pands Immediately toto gaseous state The
expansion generates intense cold and the
temperature of the 10 the tank IS reduced
below the freezing point Tin the tank IN
question The temperature is maintained in
the neigbborhood Of ten degrees above zero).
The ammonia is kept in constant circulation
and from the pipes in the brine tank passes
into the COMPRISING machine and is recon-
pressed into the liquid state, is cooled and re-
iurns to the storage reservoir, from which 1t
Is again forced through the system of pipes
| in the brine tank.
The distilled water is frozen into solid
blocks of ice by being placed in galvanized
iron cans aud immersed 10 the brine tank.