El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-07-23

Consequently
trades more important than the ice
trsde as a failure of the ice supply
brings direful results OF many kinds.
Despite the OverWorked filings at the
iceT5an. he is a public benefactor, es-
necialIv in this country without whose
ministrations life IN the summer time
IN a great city would seem almost IN
bearable In this connection il is
rather interesting to note that most OF
me manufactured ice and refrtSerating
processes now in use are produced by
aid of steam and therefore an import
ant economic problem is the amount of
ice a single ton Of coal can be made
y p Texas Has Most lee Plants.
The annual value OF the ice manu-
foetuTed in the United States, accord
ing TO the last census. was S4Z,93S, 90,
an Increase of over 200 percent above
the average OF the preceding 10 years.
THE value of the property now devOt
ed to ice manufacture in this country
amounts to almost $15,O0O,OO0 and ice
making plants are now found IN most
of the states, although there are nat
uraIly more of them in the southern
states below the natural ice zone.
Texas now shows the largest numOer
Of ice plants according 10 the Ialesl
published reports, and, strange TO say,
Pennsylvania comes next In number,
even though this state is Wei up IN
in the natural ice zone. The New Eng
land states, as well as most Of the
northwestern states, depend largely
upon the harvest OF natural ice Tor
tLeir supply, although a number or ice
factories recently have been put IN op-
Grafton in the state of Washington
The natural ice zone includes all the
territory which shows an average
mean temperature Of 81 degrees DUR
ing the month OF January II DeSlns
in the vicinity Of the District OF Co
lumbia and extends as far southwest
as Arizona and New Mexico and north
and Idaho and across Washington, thus
leaving the Pacific coast entirely out
side. For this reason one OF the ear
lest ice manufacturing plants was
erected in Oakland, Cal The cost OF
harvesting natural ice seems TO in
crease each year, despite the numerous
machines which have been invented 10
facilitate the work. The difficulties OF
securing labOrers when needed are
sometimes insurmountable since the
uncertainty Of the seasons tend 70
make long contracts Impossible, Inc
enormous wages now demanded Ieno
materially TO reduce the profits OF nat
ural ice. While many consumers SIlll
prefer the natural product the IN
creased facilities for manufacturing IS
seriously affecting that oranch OF
trade. Most OF the ice ships which
used to ply their cooling trade along
the Atlantic coast are now being d.
verted TO other uses kennebec Ice
from Maine costs more IN the caro-
liaas than the ice that can be produced
at home in a small plant WHICH ire
Quently is attached TO some other IN
Custry, such as a brewery
lee In NerO's Time.
The history OF ice consumption 1ol-
lows closely the history Of civilization
although to the ancients ice was a
luxury only to be enjoyed by the veal
thy few. Before the time OF Nero, the
Romans had discovered that snow
could be preserved in their cellars for
cooling their drinks IN summer Not
content with this supply, Nero con-
ceived the possibility of bringing Il
from the mountain tops, where II was
in ~ n <
shaped cOnelike building. These were
erected in the mountains and lined
we'll with leaves and grass. me snow
was packed in them SO closely that II
became almost solid ice, after Whlch
it was brought down 10 Rome for the
trade. The buildings in which TINS
snow ice was packed for the trade IN
Rome during Nero's time differed little
from those used in modern Europe. me
ice trade thus developed, assumed con-
siderable Importance during that Pc
riod.
The Hindus, at an early period de-
veloped a system of cooling drinks Dy
evaporation, and during the 10th ana
18th centuries the use of ice for THIS
purpose became general throughout
Europe. The first attempt at chemlc34
cooling, which may properly be cOnSld-
cred as the beginning Of refrigeration,
must be credited to the Italians at the
beginning of the 18th century Inc
liquor to be cooled was placed IN
tightly sealed bottle which was i'm
mersed in a strong salt petre prime ana
twirIed rapidly upon Its axis. The
practice of using salt petre or other
salt in conjunction with snow or Ice
is frequently referred to by Bacon ana
other writer's of that period
Although the practice of icing drinks
began so early, natural ice itself dld
not become an important commercial
product until about the beginning or
the 18th century, when 1t was intro
duced to the world as an American en-
terprise. The pioneer ice shipper OF
the world is generally acknowledged
to have been Frederic Tudor, of Bos-
ton, who, in 1905, shipped a cargo of
13O tons TO the " est LnGles. The ven
ture resulted in loss of about S4,5Oe,
for, although the ice arrived in good
condition its distribution was not
quick enough for so perishaole
product
Having demonstrated. however. that
ice could be shipped to the tropics,
Mr.. Tudor persevered and two years
later shipped a cargo to Havana, in
curing a second loss But by this
time, his enterprise had attracted the
attention Of the world Ice was rec
cgnized as valuable commodity ana
in 1872 Mr.. Tudor was granted a mo-
nopoly by Great Britain of the ice
trade with her colonies in the West
Indies. In 1916, he received similar
CONGESTION from Spain. BY 1870 ne
had extended his trade to savannah,
New Orleans and other southern ports
in the United States, and in 1884 he
shipped ice as far south as Rio de
Janeiro. BY this time he had not only
amassed a fortune but had drawn
others into the field and by 1850 the
ice exported from this country amount
ed to S1O7. SIS a year. 1t reached $780,
600 in 1855. but decreased during the
next 10 years, chiefly on account OF
the civil war. 1t reached its highest
point during 1865, and from 1870 the
foreign trade gradually decreased un-
til now it is practically extinct. This
decrease in evaporation is partially due
to the increased home demand and par
TALLY to the production of ice in 9TH
er countries as an article of COM
merce, especially during the last
quarter of a century, when manufac-
tured ice has come into such general
use. In this connection IL may be
added that while the United States has
stopped shipping ice, it does an enor-
nous business in shipping ice making
machinery to other countries, thereby
helping them to produce their own ice.
First lee Machine Patent.
From the time that the Italians
cooled wine by immersing it in brine
experiments were constantly going on
looking TO the production of ice by
chemical means which would abstract
the latent heat from water. The first
patent for this purpose was awarded to
DR.. William Cullen in 1775. His ma
chine was based upon the principle
that the creation of a vacuum increases
the evaporation OF water. He reduced