The daily sentinel., 1912-06-08
ARTIFICIAL ICE
GAN CONTAIN
ANY AMMONIA

There is a popular fallacy that
just now has been going the rounds
about the presence of ammonia in
artificial ice. During the past few
| weeks the fearfully muddy water
from the Gunnison has been a source
of much trouble in its conversion in
| to ice at the local plant of the ice
company. During that period a per-
ceptibly unpleasant taste has been
apparent in the ice and many people
| recall the old story of "ammoniated
ice"
As a matter of fact 1t is as i'm
possible for ammonia to be present
| in artificial ice as it is to have the
product permeated with electricity.
The coils containing ammonia cool
the water in the mammoth brine
tanks in which the smaller cans of
distilled water are placed to be fro
| zen. There are several thicknesses
| of iron between the ammonia and
| the freezing water.
Artificial ice is made from the
| exhaust steam of the engine which
furnishes the power for the plant
After going into the boiler 1t is
condensed into steam and instead of
| being wasted from the exhaust as in
by a coil system over which cold
water is poured.
Transformed into water again, it
goes into a reboiler. where 1t is
heated to temperature of 26O de-
grees Fahrenheit. All the impurities
| in the water come to the surface and
a mechanical skinner cleanses. it
| from the loose oils, dirt, etc.
The water is again cooled and is
| forced through system of charcoal
| and pebblestone filters which take
on the very last vestige of impuri-
| ties from the water. 1t is then
poured into clean cans by an auto
matte filter which prevents any air
from getting into the water
These cans, when lowered into the
brine tanks, are surrounded with
coils of pipe in which volatile am
monia circulates.
The briny nature, of the water pre-
vents 1t from freezing, although its
temperature is usually about II de-
grees or 5 degrees below the freez-
ing point. The can of distilled water
is left in the brine approximately 4S
hours. during which time it is sol
idly frozen. As the intensest cold is
from the sides. the cake freezes from
leaving, when perfectly frozen rect
angular strip of ice white at the core.
The difficulties faced by the local
company in manufacturing ice from
Gunnison water had their source in
! the unusually heavy sediment. This
clogged up the reboiler, skinner and
filters and kept the workmen CON
tinually cleaning them out with un-
fortunate results in the ice The sed-
iment which escaped the various pro-
cesses above mentioned finally was
deposited in the core and in some
cases lent an unpleasant taste to the
entire cake. This deposit contains
what is known as permanent gases"
and while disagreeable in appear
ance has absolutely no harmful effect
upon the consumer. Quite in con-
trast to the lake, river and pond ice,
the water was been petrified by the
various processes to which it has
been subjected and is lacking in all
unhealthful properties.
During the past few days the
company has rebuilt its filter system
and installed other machinery which
will do away with the troubles of
the early part of the season and from
now until Kapnah creek water is
used the ice will be as pure in ap-
pearance and taste as 1t is in actual
ity.
.