Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-07-20
LIQUID AIR FOR TABLE.
Likely Soon to be Served in Cans Like
Milk

air will soon be put on the market a
very moderate prices. The practica
householder, therefore, is already be
ginning to ask questions
''Of what use will it be to me-" hi
queries. why should pay money fol
cans Of air, liquid Or other? 1t is very
curious and interesting, no doubt, bur
what can l do with it? And isn't 4
dangerous stuff anyhow to have about
the house?''
To answer these very natural Ques-
tons as fully as possible, yet briefly
and in plain language, is the purpose
of this article.
| Only home uses will be considered
and even Of these scarcely half can be
indicated. If there is any limit to the
ultimate possibilities of liquid air the
writer hasn't yet discovered it.
First, how Will it be supplied how
long can it be kept, and is it safe to
| handle?
1t will be brought to your house,
like milk or settler water, in protected
cans containing any desired quantity
frCen quart or two up to twenty or
thirty gallons. The style of the cans
| will doubtless vary. The simplest
are nothing more than tin cylinders,
closed at the bottom but open at the
top and heavily felted.
In these liquid air can be kept about
twenty-four hours. You can dip it
out as wanted with an ordinary long
handled tin dipper. II, however, you
should drop the dipper just after
using it would would shatter like thin
glass when it struck the floor. With
a ladle of copper or aluminium this lit
tie accident could not occur, as these
metals are not made brittle by cold.
BY the use of more elaborate YES
sels-sOme of which have already been
tested and patented-the liquid air can
be kept for a number of days. From
these it is drawn off by a sort of
spigot. 1t can be sent by rail and
delivered at distant points.
Liquid air is as safe to handle as
boiling water, and requires about the
same precautions. Here extremes
meet. Intense cold burns like heat.
and liquid air has even been used to
cauterize ulcers.
Yet you need not fear to touch it.
You may thrust your hand into a basin
of it with perfect safety, just as you
may touch hot iron with your moisten-
ed finger, provided the hand is in
stantly withdrawn. If spilled on your
clothes it will not harm even the fin
est fabrics.
But never venture to put liquid air
in your mouth-if you wish to live
And in taking UP dish containing it
use handkerchief or holder of some
sort, exactly as if it we're hot.
In another respect liquid air is like
boiling water. 1t must not be confined
Plug up your teakettle and it will
soon burst If the plugged kettle
contained liquid air it would do the
same thing even though set upon
block of ice, for this strange stuff is
always boiling and you can't prevent
it.
Be careful also not to wet cotton
waste or any other loose, combustible
substance with this fluid. Such a mix
ture is violently explosive, though
only until the liquid gas has evapo-
rated; and it will not explode unless
fire is put to it.
These things remembered LIQUID air
is more innocent than spring water
If canful were upset on your parlor
carpet there would be no harm done
And now, assuming that a two
gallon can has been delivered at your
door, what can you do with it?
Of course the most obvious use is
for cooling things-any sort of re-
frigeration.
will do all the work Of big cake of
ice, but much better. 1t will slowy
waste away, but the product is no.
thing but air-and cold. 1t is alb
solutely dry; there will be no drip.
In fact, any closet or cupboard can be
used as refrigerator with liquid air.
only it will waste a little faster.
You want glass of water
Pour the water into the tumbler and
drop into it half teaspoonful or less
of liquid air. Then watch it moment,
for it is a beautiful experiment. After
dancing and bubbling and showing all
manner Of jewel tints for about min
Ute the liquid air disappears. Your
glass Of water is now cooler and has a
little lump of ice in it,
To cool an oyster let one drop Of the
liquid fall on it. Too much would
freeze it harder than flint Should you
happen to put too much on a lump Of
butter you could pound it into yellow
powder with a hammer, though it
would soon thaw.
Many kinds of food and drink are
much improved after being thus
frozen and thawed.
To make ice-cream pour little
liquid air into the cream or custard
and stir vigorously.
You can cool wine or beer almost
instantly by pouring a thin stream
over the surface of the bottle. This
you can do as you sit at table; it will
not soil the cloth. Too much would
| freeze the liquir and break the bottle.
To cool your parlor on a sultry day
! take half bucket of liquid air and
| splash it about the room with a dip
per, just as you throw water On the
| sidewalk for a similar purpose. 1t
will dance over the floor in bright glob-
ules and fill the room for a moment
with a cloud of mist, but it will wet
nothing and do no injury even to the
most dainty upholstery.
| 1t will not only cool the air but will
make it pure and bracing, like a sweet