Waterbury Democrat., 1901-08-02
SOMETHING ABOUT ICE.
How it is Made, How 1t is Handled
 and How to Husband it.

SOAhcCteu WlIQ one Ol tue- pIdlltS III this city. How it is made, how it is handled and the way to get the best results out of a given quantity, are things that the average person knows but little about. There is in the first place a curious difference in the way natural and manufactured ice is form ed. Natural ice is frozen from the top down. 1t is a matter of displacement. 1t begins with the first thin surface of the water and freezes down into the water, the depth or thickness depend ing on the prevailing temperature. manufactured ice is frozen from the sides. Ammonia, of course, does the freezing, and the brine that is used acts as sort of reservoir, holding the cold which is to crystalize the water Tn the cans. The StreakS so frequent " found in blocks of ice is due to the fact that the freezing is done from the side. There Is frequently found in lake Ice small spaces of various shades and describing many different lines, and these are due to small quantities or air that are imprisoned during the freezing processes. These spaces are not so frequently found in manufact- ured ice because the air is not allowed to take the same liberties with the water that is to be frozen. The pro- cesses of manufacturing ice are simple enough, but the construction of tanks, such as are used around fac tories and cold storage plants is rather complex business. They are built in layers so that air can neither get out nor come in. There are gen. orally two or three spaces that are filled with dead air, air that will take n fhnr. O1I several layers of paper, and one space IS filled with non-cOnducting moss which is really made of finely crushed granite. These spaces and layers form perfect insulation so far as heat and cold are concerned, and these clements cannot pass to and from the tank. 1t costs world of money to properly construct these tanks, and really persons not familiar with the facts have no sort of idea of the responsiveness of it. If they had they would not hurl so many slurs at the iceman, for his lot cer- tainly is not a happy one, and yet in these days he is q much sought after fellow.
 But there is another thing had in mind" he continued, ''and it relates to matter which may be of more copcern to the consumer. Few per- sohS understand handling ice in a way to get the best results. Icemen are required to figure the thing out on a scientific basis. They know just how much ~ ice it will take to cool given space. They can figure it down to the square inch. But we must remember in the first place that ice will not cool anything until it begins to melt. If it were possible to cram an ordinary room full of ice, and keep it in condition where it would not melt particle, the walls of the room would not cool be- cause of the presence of the ice. But the very moment the ice begins to melt the walls will begin to cool. The ice must give off some of it's cold before having any sort of influence on the things around it, and it does this when it begins to melt. Now, this is natural law, and fact which the merest tyro would understand if he stopped to think about it. There is an- other fact which is overlooked with the same persistence by the average person who uses ice. Of course, per- sons who have large refrigerators have mastered these simpler principles, yet they can be used with equal adyan- tage in the ordinary ice box. Heat, as I started to say, travels one way and cold another. Heat goes up. 1t expands. It is fluffy, light and airy, and is capable of floating away on the atmosphere. Cold strikes down the other way. So in the case of ice, the cooling influences are downward. In cooling room the ice should be l,NIu ,L AAr, Nf A1,n kr, rot the best results. If vents are run cold thrown off by the ice can fall from both sides, forming sort of cir cle, it will soon drift around in circu- lar form, and the room will cool much more rapidly. These are some of the things overlooked by the vast major ity of persons who use ice, and con- sequently they do not get the best results. By following the simpler natural laws in such matters the av- craze man would not only get more good out of the ice he buys, but the chances are that the ice bill would be
 much smaller.
 ''But speaking of the great care taken in insulating the tank, the ice
 man continued, ''calls to my mind the fact that wood is a pretty hot article,
 and this is another thing which has l impressed itself with peculiar force on | the mind of the iceman. Since em- barking in the ice business I have of | ten wondered what the difference in 1 temperature was in the different kinds l of woods. There is, of course some | difference, and it would be an interest I ing thing if some fellow could find out just about what it Is. But this is
 not the point. All wood is hot from
 the viewpoint of the iceman. The
 fellow who figures on cooling spaces 1 that are inclosed by wood must figure | on ,the units of heat in order to find
 out how much ice will be required.
 He must figure on the units of heat to
 be overcome under any circumstances, for that matter, but ill the case where
 the space is surrounded by wood he
 must figue on wood as an additional element. Wood is always hot, and | it generally requires good bit of l ice to drive out the heat which is stored in this material. This is why
 changes have been made in the mat
 ter of constructing refrigerators where
 meats and perishable goods are stor- 1 ed. The lining found in these refrig. orators has saved a world of ice, be- cause it has made it unnecessary to l freeze the wooden frame in order to | get the proper temperature in the box. It is probable that this general l idea will in time be more useful as a