The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1905-07-12
YAklMA'S ICE FACTORY
D0lN6 RUSHING BUSINESS
Turning Out Large Quantities Of Ice
and Distilled Water-COld.Stor
age Fruit a Great Success.


One Of the most interesting. as
well as one of the pleasantest places
to visit on hot day, such as have
been experienced within the past
week. is the Yakima Artificial Ice
company's plant on North Selah
street This is one of the institu-
tons which, having once been estab-
lshed. the people of the city would
find II hardest to do without, and yet
IL Is one about which the majority of
people know the least From this
factory are supplied distilled water.
artificial ice made from distilled
water, and the choicest of Yakima
fruit, in the same condition as when
II was picked last fall, and which has
been stored in rooms where the tenn
perature remains steady at from
81 to 80 degrees. Visitors are al
ways welcome, and are shown
through the factory by the pro-
prietors, Messrs. Hughes and DeKay.
at any time. One principal product
of the factory is incorrectly named
when it is called artificial" ice, for
1t Is ice of the purest and best
quality. even If the way of freezing
the water is different from that
designed by nature.
It requires the power generated by
two eighty-horsepower boilers to
keep the plant going. THESE con-
sumo not less than three tons of coal
a day. Right here, at the begin
ming of the process, the precautions
against anything unclean getting into
the water or ice are manifest. The
steam from these boilers is taken out
at the top, which prevents the carry
ing away from the boiler of any min
eral or vegetable matter. Passing
upwards through large pipes into the
first distilling plant the steam is con-
densed by flowing through iron pipes
on which cold water constantly plays
The cooled atmosphere also plays
big part in condensing the steam into
pure water, which is then carried to
the rebOiler. large vat where it is
boiled for an hour. The object of
the reboiling is TO still further
eliminate the possibility of any germ
life or impurities remaining, and also
to remove entirely the air from the
water. These distilling plants have
thirty tons of ice per day.
After the water Is reboiled, II is
conducted through double cooling
pipes-the distilled water in the out
side pipe flowing one way, and the
city water, used for cooling and in
the inside pipe, flowing the other
1t then runs through two large char
coal filters. each two feet in diameter
and six feet high. Here the luster
of the water, which boiling removes,
is restored. 1t is then discharged into
the cooling tanks and cooled to a TEN
perature of 3S degrees. 1t then runs
through an International filter where
every drop passes through two thick
nesses of closely woven cloth and one
of filter paper. which are frequently
changed. The distiling alone does
not afford an absolute guarantee of
purity, but with the repeated distill-
ings. boilings and coolings, it is i'm
possible for the hardest germ to sur
vive. The distilled water at this
stage is as pure as water can be
made. When it is sufficiently cool
it is carried to the cans or molds for
freezing. These are large enough to
hold water which, when frozen,
comes out in the form of an oblong
chunk of ice as clear as crystal,
weighing 800 pounds. Ninety-five
per cent of this ice is absolutely free
from air.
Contrary to the general belief,
nothing is put into the water to
make it freeze. or assist in the freez-
ins. The cans containing the pure
distilled water are sunk in a sOlu
tor which is 80 per cent brine.
Buried in this brine, on either side
OF these cans are the coils of
pipe, aggregating nearly mile in
length, and into these pipes the
liquid ammonia is allowed tol
evaporate or expand. This is the
pure androhydrous or waterless am
monia. which boils at temperature
OF 25 degrees below zero. The brine
surrounding the cans is kept at a.
temperature of 10 degrees above
zero. The tank being heavily in
sulated, the ammonia in the pipes
gets heat only from the brine. and it
in turn is left so cold that the water
in the cans is CONCEALED or solidly
frozen in from SO to As hours.
The ammonia in the form of gas,
is returned through a large main to
the Compressors, which are operated
by an immense Corliss engine
These compress the gas back into
a liquid state, which is artificially
cooled in much the same manner as
the boiled and reboiled water, when
it falls by its own weight to a re-
ceiver, when it is ready to be used
over again. There is little or prac-
tically no loss of this ammonia
After the water in the cans has
been converted into cakes of ice,
these are lifted by I huge sliding
crane. dumped out and taken to the
storage room, from whence it is
loaded onto the wagons to be deliv-
cred to the large and increasing num-
Der of patrons.
In the cold storage rooms the
brine circulating system is used to
cool the air. The brine in the