The Washington herald., 1907-05-21

lilll ana saldGS ICED IS pIacucdli} uil-
known.
An American. Dr. John Gorrie Of
Apalachicola, Fla. invented the process
Of manufacturing ice artifcialy, and so
made the modern ice trade and system
Of cold storage possible. Another Amer
Jean, Frederick Tudor, OF Boston, was
the first man To organize a trade I'm nat
ural ice. From Tudor, first, and then
from Gorrie and his followers. the Amer
lean ice trade has spread all over the
world in one fashion or another. There
was a time when the United States sent
ice to Asia. Now it sends machines 10
make the ice
The effort 20 alleviate human suffering
was the direct cause of the beginning Of
both the natural ice trade and the artif-
cial ice industry. In 1905 Mr.. Tudor's
brig Favorite carried a load Of ice TO
the people of Martinique. who were
stricken with an epidemic Of vel
low fever. The ice was not prop
e-ly packed, and all Of it melted
before it reached its destination. Not
withstanding the loss of that cargo,
worth about $500 and the loss Of sec
ond sent 10 Havana two years later, MT.
TUDOR was not discouraged. and in 1S1G
he secured q monopoly Of the ice trade
in Havana from the Spanish government.
and successfully launched his business.
This was followed by the establishment
OF ice ship lines to Charleston. Savannah,
and New Orleans. BY 1893 shipments Of
ice were made from Boston TO Rio Ja-
neiro and Calcutta.
Dr. Gorrie native of Charleston. 5. c..
was praCucing medicine in Apalachicola.
He was a scientific man. and fond Of
making experiments. He conceived the
idea Of aTtifcially cooling The air IN the
rooms occupied by fever patients 10y TAX
ing advantage Of the absorption of heat
from surrounding objects by expanding
volatile gases. He was so successful as
10 make actual ice as early as 1915. In
1850. in the Madison Hotel. in his home
town, he publicly exhibited his machine
and made ice with IT, He was granted
the first patent for an ice-making ma
chine in the same year The New York
papers pOked fun at the invention. and
DR.. Gorrie could not get enough money
10 enable him TO make experiments along
large lines He died i'm 1855. without uav-
ing seen the success Of the line of work
w1icn ne had begun. Jacob Perkins, an
American engineer living in England. had
made some successful experiments with
cooling apparatus several years before
Prof. Alexander Twiuing, in America. aud
James Harrison, Of Australia. as well as
several French scientists. came along
about the same time with experimental
machines.
But the first Ice factory Of Importance
in the world was established in New Or
leans in 1866. and it became the forerun-
uer Of the thousands Of plants now being
operated. The Australians were first TO
freeze meat n preserve il for long keep
ing but the notion was adopted I'm the
United States without a moments delay.
How % make ice by burning coal and
heating water is pUZzling TO the uniniti-
ated although the principle Of the process
10y which IL IS accomplished has been the
property Of the human mind for many
centuries. In the absorption method ad-
vantage IS taken Of the fact that water
will absorb many times its volume Of
anhydrous ammonia gas. This process
causes absorption Of the heat from the
pipes through which the ammonia. liber-
a-1d from pressure, flows. ard refr.gera-
ton follows. I'm the compression method.
most generally used. the ammonia gas is
compressed under high pressure and then
condensed into q liquid 10y cooling with
water Pressure is then removed and the
liquid expands TO a gas and absorbs the
heat from the pipes. These pipes may
circulate through brine in which are inn
mersed the cans Of pure distilled water
q be frozen. The brine does not freeze
as quickly as pure water and its tenn
TeTarure is kept so low that il viii freeze
anything about il.
The frosted pipes Of the c0ld-stOrage
plant are familiar sights 10 most Ameri-
cans. The processes Uscd-of course.
there are many yaTiat1us-ara just the
same. except that instead Of cooling brine
10 freeze water into ice the pipes are
used To cool the mir % any degree of Tn-
friseratioH Practice hoss1roUght the art
Of cold storage 10 O sSte approaching
perfection. Tables have been prepared
showing the exact temperature in which
certain articles must be kept 20 prevent
decay Fruit. for instance. may lie kept
for long periods of time I'm cold air, bat
is destroyed if allowed 90 freeze The
same IS true ~ eggs. Meats, fowls, and
fish are frozen and kept indefinitely. Cars
Of fruit in transit are hauled into long
sheds and refrigerated by air 9rtiGCigIIv