The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-10-14
TO DOUBLE USE OF CARS.
Government Seeking Combination Heats
and Refrigerators

Government Seeking Combination Heats
and Refrigerators.
In an effort to double the usefulness of /
certain classes of rolling stock the Unit |
ed States Bureau of Markets has been
making elaborate experiments, since the
government took over the railroads, /
with cars that may be used for refriger- /
ating in summer and heated in winter.
The largely prevalent superstition that
only meats and meat products are
shipped in refrigerator cars and kept
at low temperature throughout their
| journey from the packer to the con-
sumner is based upon knowledge of ship
ping conditions that prevailed years
ago. Now all berries, cantaloupes, ripe
peaches, and great part of the ordi-
nary garden truck that is shipped for
any considerable distance is iced thor
oughly before 1T is put into the cars
and kept only little above the freez
| ing point till it reaches its destination.
| Cantaloupes and berries from the west,
shipped in ordinary cars, would be pulp
before they reached New York, where
as, shipped in refrigerator cars, they
usually arrive in perfect condition after
a trip of from five to ten days.
On the other hand, garden produce
from the South must be kept above
/ freezing in winter, and thousands of
heated cars are used in its transporta
ton The aims of the bureau is to de-
wise car that will be commercially eff
fcient, that may carry ice in summer
and heated apparatus in winter. Little
trouble has been encountered in finding
designs of cars that will serve this pur-
pose. but few have been offered that do
not require more care in their opera ton
than unskilled helpers can be expected
to give
One desideratum is that both the re-
frigerating plant and the heating plant
in each ear shall be permanent fixtures;
hence the icebox cannot well carry the
stove. The idea of taking out the icing
apparatus and replacing it with heating
!, apparatus in winter and vice versa was
! Immediately met with the objection that
, the car might be 5000 miles from the
: point where its unused equipment was
stored just when it was needed Again,
the heating apparatus must be such that
! it will be ready for use when wanted
and not. like the household furnace. re-
: quire overhauling after season of idle
ness.
In both heater and refrigerator cars
i the circulation of the heated or cooled
air is one of the most difficult prob
lens to the engineers. A refrigerator
r car to carry berries butter. canteloupes
: or eaulifiower must be loaded with the
; utmost exactness or the ice may all be
= wasted and the freight ruined. Oper
:. spaces through which the air may circu
!. late must be provided for above below
! at the sides and ends, and among the
: crates or tubes. These spaces must be a.
carefully arranged as the ventilating sys
y tenn of a public building To discover
u the best method of loading refrigerator
: and heater cars, thousands of expert
mental shipments have been made b,
the government, acting through the de
partment of agriculture. In maxim:
these shipments experts went to Cali
j fornia. Colorado. Arizona, and truck
growing regions in the South, packed
the produce i'll the crates, loaded tn
:. cars, and accompanied them on thei
journeys to market.
Accurate data was kept of tempera
:, lures throughout the trips, the amount
of ice melted, the effect of salt upon tenn
perature and ice consumption, and
70 thousand and one other details of opera
ton. Observations We're made at bot
ends of the trip rs to condition of prod
uce, keeping possibilities after deliver,
re- etc. As result of these experiment
and observations, the farmer now know
at exactly what stage OF, ripenes
N canteloupe should be plucked in Cal
fornia to have it arrive in New York j
prime condition, not for the table. bu
"A to be kept for four or five days on tn
way through the various channels bt
tween the freight station through til
greengrocer's stand, to the pantry. q
also knows that a canteloupe wrappe
in paper doesn't keep as we'll as if III
,g wrapped. He knows to the inch no
much air space there must be in the ca
. and where; in fact, these experiment
have resulted in such complete info
nation being gathered that where grow
at er and railroad men can be induced
follow instructions to the letter, saving
as high as 60 per cent have been effecte
in the amount of marketable produ'
reaching its destination.
But the greatest problem offered
Iv the production of combined refrige
ator and heater car is the air circul;
ton. Heater cars are built that WI
mo- keep every inch of the inside of the CT
at within a few degrees of the san
temperature. The same is true of r
no frigerator cars. As for insulation CO.
ditions that will keep heat out will ke'
10 heat in, but the air. circulating system
az are entirely different. Heated air ris
naturally and cold air seeks a low
level, SO it may be readily seen TIL
there will be great difficulty in devisil
ice circulation system that will distribu
nit both warm air and cold.
lad Many designs have been submits
ket some of which are SO palpably usele
his that they have required little attentio
the but not few have been offered tn
a possess sufficient merit to warrant t