Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-03-28
BIG STORAGE
PLANT TO BE
ERECTED HERE
Manager Hepburn of Hawaiian
Electric Company Announces
Plan for Up-to- Date Estab-
Iishment - Specially Suited
for Local Needs

After having Travelled over the Unit
ed States studying the most modern
cold-storage plants, H. M. Hepburn,
general manager of the Hawaiian
Electric Company, has begun active
work for the construction of one of
the most up-to-date storage buildings
in the couatry Plans for this struct-
ure have been completed, and material
is being rushed from all quarters of
the mainland, and within four months
Honolulu Is promised cold-storage
plant modern and complete in every
way.
The new building will be erected on
the site of the old one, adjacent to the
power plant of the company, and so
far as possible the brick walls of that
building will be made use Of In
place of having two stories, which is
the size of the present structure,
there will be three floors, each one
specially prepared for the housing of
certain meats or fruits.
Six carloads OF cork insulation are
on the way here. The walls and cell
ings will be covered with this mate
rial and over 1t heavy coating of
concrete will be put This cork
ranges in thickness from four to five
inches. After being subjected to a
20.000-pound pressure 1t has been bar
dened by baking at 500 degrees. 1t is
this cork which will assist in keeping
the rooms at an equal temperature,
iwhinhsis essential where's fruits Or
meats are kept for any length of time,
Suited for Local Needs
The entire building will be con-
structed along the lines shown to be
needed by local demands. There will
be, for instance, freezing equipment
for fish which under such process
may be kept for an indefinite length
OF time. To carry out this phase of
the plant the Honolulu Iron Works has
been given an order for $4,000 feet of
ammonia expansion pipe. which will
encircle the storage rooms.
On the lower floor there will be the
meat-rooms. This entire part of the
structure will be primarily used for
the storage of beef which comes here
in the frozen state from Australia or
the mainland On the upper floors
rooms for the storage of tobacco, fllrs,
fruits, and virtually all things which
require to be stored for their preser-
Yation.
With the completion of the new
building. the facilities of the depart
ment for handliDG- ice will be greatly
increased.
Mr.. Hepburn, who recently returned
from Chicago, believes that the new
storage plant will be of very great as
sistance to commission brokers, who
are now obliged to sell the perishable
imports almost as soon as they reach
the wharf, because of their inability
to have them properly stored.
Experience of Years Used
He believes that he. will profit by
the experiments which have been car
fied on in southern California in. the
last few years for the purpose of as
pertaining the best methods of keeping
green fruits. 1t was disclosed there
by the experiments that in order to
keep grapes and other easily perish
able products, it is necessary to have
the storage temperature at constantly
the same point. 1t is the use of the
cork which will permit this to be
done here, he states. And when the
building is completed, Mr.. Hepburn
says, there is no reason why grapes
cannot be kept in Honolulu with the
same success as in California, which
is to say that they should be on the
market all the year around.
81 believe Honolulu has long been
in need of such cold-storage plant as
the one we are about to erect. 1t will
be modern in every way, and will ex-
cell any one / saw on the mainland
with the exception of one, and it will
be equal to that With this new build
ing, importers may keep their imports
for an indefinite time, and when they
are removed from the plant they will
/ be as good as on entering. | am con-
fident the enterprise will be highly
advantageous for Honolulu.
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