El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-06-25
Refrigerating Plants Fill Many
Modern and Scientific Demands
ICE CONSUMPTION is LARGE.

tn HE American Association of Re-
frigeration, at its recent meeting
in New York invited the Third
International Congress of Refrigeration
TO meet in the United States in 1913.
The Second Congress will meet in
Vienna this fall, and probably will
accept the American invitation. Few
industries have developed so rapidly
as that of refrigeration, and the econ
Omtc changes it has wrought are many
and of great Importance It is eSti
mated that in the United States, prod
ucts worth more than two and
a half billion dollars are every year
directly affected by refrigeration
The amount of edible meat turned
out by the packing 'hosses of the
United States is approximately 10000.
100000 pounds. of which more than 80
percent passes through refrigeration
processes. This meat is valued at a
billion and half dollars. The COM
mercial cold storage business repre-
sents another half billion dollars, while
the refrigeration of fermented liquors
represents a product of an estimated
value of $685.. OOO,O 900.
Largest Plant at st. Louis.
The largest refrigerator plant in the
World is that of a st. Louis brewery
1t also has the largest refrigerating
a daily ice making capacity of 500 tons.
The fourth largest plant in the world
belongs to a widely advertised cor
poration dealing in Photographic sup
plies. Over 500 hotels and more than
200 restaurants in the United S1atCs
are now equipped with individual re-
frigerating plants, while so private
residents and 20 apartment houses are
so equipped. A dozen cities have pipe
| line 70 fra mil MI fC1,
furnish cold air to customers just as
city gas company furnishes illumi-
mating gas.
Ship Frozen Fish. IS
The production of cold by mechani-
cal means has found many new fields
of usefulness in recent years. Some
OF the salmon fisheries of the Cana
dian-Pacific coast are now engaged in
shipping frozen whole salmon to Ger
many and England, and so much sue
cess has attended these experiments
that it is expected that this phase
of the industry will be vastly extended
and that the whole world may soon be
eating fresh fish caught many thous-
ands miles away.
Artificial cold is also being used in
process of aging liquors and of
terrifying wines. In some cases grape
juice is frozen into solid blocks and
kept for weeks in this condition while
awaiting the final process preliminary
to bottling- Many blast furnaces are
now using mechanical refrigeration in
the operation of iron and steel MAX
ing, while 1t has been found an in
valuable aid in the preparation of ex-
plosives, and in the refining Of oils.
All new battleships are equipped with
refrigerating plants for maintaining a
safe temperature in the magazine.
Pre-COOling System In Favor.
Prominent refrigerating authorities
believe that the new methods of pre-
cooling refrigerator cars and their
contents Will work a revolution in the
methods of Transporting perishable
freight Under the old methods Of
filling the bunkers Of a car with ice
and in this way cooling the loaded
contents, 1t required from three to
four days to bring the temperature of
the contents Of the car down TO the
desired degree of cold. which is from
40 to As degrees.
With the preceding plants the
temperature OF the car Is reduced to
the desired degree at the time Of load
ing, and the contents are loaded in
practically a cool condition. \ pre-
cooled car can be hauled from the
Pacific to the Atlantic with one or
two icings, while under the old ar
the ldQ TO De ICED
every day Preceding increases the
capacity of a refrigerator car, in the
case of citrus fruits, from 3s4 cases
to $40 cases. Much of the damage
sustained under the old methods by
perishable goods in transit IS due to
the three or four days required to
bring the temperature of the loaded
car down to the required degree. 1t
is in this period that the ripening and
decaying processes take place
Cold Storage For Eggs.
The agents of the department. Of
agriculture are making an extended
investigation into the matter of cold
storage for eggs. II is expected that
the results of this investigation will
be published next fall. 1t IS said that
the annual production of eggs in the
United States amounts to $4,000. 900
cases. OF these, 90 percent go direct
ly to the consumer, while s percent
pass through cold storage warehouses.
Before cold storage was used in the
preservation of eggs they frequently
fell to as low as five and six cents
a dozen, while in the winter months
rose to as high as so and so cents
q dozen. The greater stability of
prices in eggs at the present time is
asserted to be due to the regulating
effect of the s percent of the product
which now passes through the cold
storage warehouses. An electrical
engineer claims that the life of the
cold storage egg can be very much