The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-10-08
HOW ICE rs FORMED.
BETWEEN THE ARTl-
FlClAL AND NATURAL PRODUCTS.

Manufactured Ice Is Frozen From
the Sides, While the Article That
Nature Furnishes Is CONCEALED
From the Top Down.
"But few people know anything about
ice" said a gentleman connected with
one of the plants in this city. "How it
is made, how it is handled and the way
to get the best results out Of given
quantity are things that the average per-
son knows but little about. There is in
the first place a curious difference in the
way natural and manufactured ice is
formed. Natural ice is frozen from the
top down. 1t is a matter of displace-
ment. 1t begins with the first thin sur
face 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 a sort of reservoir, holding the cold
which is to crystalline the water in the
cans The streaks so frequently found
in blocks of ice are due to the fact that
the freezing is from the side. There is
frequently found in lake ice small spaces
of various shapes and describing many
different lines, and these are due to
small quantities of air which are I'M
prisoned during the freezing process.
| These spaces are not so common in manu-
featured air, because the air is not al
| lowed to take the same liberties with the
water that is to be frozen.
"The processes 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 lay
ers so that air can neither get out or
come in. There are generally two or
| three spaces that are filled with dead
air that will take up neither heat nor
cold. There are several layers of paper,
| and one space is filled with nonconduct-
ing moss, which is really made of finely
crushed granite. These spaces and lay
ers form perfect insulation so far as heat
and cold are concerned, and these ele-
ments cannot pass to and from the tanks.
1t costs a world of money to properly
construct these tanks, and really persons
not familiar with the facts have no sort
| of idea of the eXpensiveness Of it.
| "Few persons understand handling ice
| in q way to get the best results. Ice
men are required to figure the thing out
on a scientific basis. They know just
| how much ice 1t will take to cool a given
space. They can figure it down to
square inch. But we must remember, in
the first place. that ice will not cool any
thing until it begins to melt. If it were
possible to cram an ordinary room full Of
| ice and keep it in condition where 1t
would not melt a particle, the walls of
the room would not cool because of the
presence of the ice, but the very moment
the ice begins to melt the walls will be-
| gin to cool The ice must give off some
of its cold before having any sort of in
| fuence on the things around it, and it
does this when it begins to melt. Now,
| this is natural law and a fact which the
merest tyro would understand if he stop
ped long enough to think about it. There
| is another fact which is overlooked with
the same persistence by the average per-
son who uses ice. OF course persons who
have large refrigerators have mastered
these simpler principles, yet they can be
used with equal advantage in the Ordi-
nary icebox.
Heat, as / started to say, travels one
way and cold another. Heat goes up. 1t
expands. 1t is fluffy, light and airy and
| is capable of floating away on the atmos-
phere Cold strikes down the other way.
So, in the case of ice, the cooling intiu-
ences are downward. In cooling a room
the ice should be placed at the top of
the room to get the best results. If vents
are run down at the sides of the room so
the cold thrown off by the ice can fall
from both sides, forming sort of circle,
it will soon drift around in circular form,
and the room will cool much more rapid
ly. These are some of the things over
looked by the vast majority of persons
who use ice, and consequently they do
not get the best results. By following
the simpler natural laws in such matters
the average 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 iceman CON
tinued, "calls to my mind the fact that
wood is a pretty hot article, and this is
another thing which has impressed itself
with peculiar force on the mind of the
iceman. Since embarking in the ice bust
ness have often wondered what the diff
ference in temperature was in the differ
ent kinds of woods. There is, of course,
some difference, and it would be an inter-
esting thing if some fellow could find out
lust about what it is. But this is not the
point. All wood is hot from the view
point of the iceman. The fellow who fig
ures on cooling spaces that are inclosed
by wood must figure on the units of heat
in order to find out just how much ice
will be required. He must figure on the
units of heat to be overcome under any
circumstances, for that matter, but in the
case where the space is surrounded by
wood he must figure on wood as an adj
ditional element.
"Wood is always hot. and it generally
requires a good bit of ice to drive out the
heat which is stored in this material.
This is why changes have been made in
the matter of constructing refrigerators
where meats and perishable goods are
stored The lining found in these refrig-
orators has saved a world of ice, because
it has made it unnecessary to freeze the
wooden frame in order to get the proper
temperature in the box. 1t is probable
that this general idea will in time be more
useful as a saver of ice, and it will OF
course be a good thing from the stand
point of the consumer. Wood is great
ice eater, and this is why icemen have
been plotting against the material" -
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