Refrigeration

3955

Refuse

the process of disease. Cold storage plays an
important role in the modern meat industry.
The fresh meat from the slaughter house is
first cooled gradually in chilling rooms, to
the temperature of the main storehouse. It
then goes to cold storage, to await shipment,
is later shipped in refrigerator cars, and is
again held in cold storage by the wholesale
dealer and in cold boxes or refrigerated show
counters by the retailer, until its purchase
by the ultimate consumer.

An interesting development of the cold
storage industry is the storage of furs and
woolen garments, rugs, carpets, hangings,
etc., to protect them against injury from
moths or other destructive insects. One of

tained; about this same time Lavoisier made
use of ether in a refrigerating machine. In
the period immediately following the first
production of ice by mechanical means, many
scientific principles were discovered which
aided the investigators of refrigerating proc-
esses. Joseph Priestly (1774) succeeded in
producing ammonia. Robert Boyle and Gay-
Lussac discovered the properties of gases
which are so important in refrigeration calcu-
lations, and Count Rumford proved that
heat was a form of energy and not a sub-
stance, as formerly believed. An American
engineer named Jacob Perkins, living in Lon-
don, in 1834 designed and patented one of the
earliest compression machines using ether

Refrigerating Plant, at Bronx Terminal Market, New York City.

the modern developments in refrigeration is
the refrigerating car for the transportation
of meat, milk, or fruit. The modern car is
insulated with 2 to 3 in. of corkboard or
equivalent insulation and at each end of the
interior is an ice bunker reaching from the
floor to the top, and containing ice or broken
ice mixed with salt, depending on the tem-
perature required. One of the earliest meth-
ods of cooling bodies below the temperature
of the atmosphere was to construct a cave
or cellar in the ground into which perishable
foods were placed. In this manner in many
localities it was possible to maintain tem-
peratures of 50 to 6o°F. Dr. William Cullen
succeeded in forming ice artificially in 1755
by evaporating water by means of an ex-
haust pump. In this experiment the heat
required to vaporize the water is withdrawn
from the water remaining in the vessel with
the result that freezing temperatures arc ob-

However, it was not until 1861 that the first
semi-practical compression machine was built
and in 1874 Carl Linde's first successful com-
pression machine using sulphur dioxide was
completed. In 1858-60 F. Carre discovered
the ammonia absorption process. The Carre
machine was the first to obtain a foothold
in the ice making industry in the United
States. In 1863 the first machine was ship-
ped through the blockade to Augusta by Mr.
Bujac of New Orleans. This machine was
not successful and it was not until 1865 that
D. L. Holden successfully operated the ma-
chine and established its practicability. From
that time on the progress made was rapid.
See The Principles of Mechanical Refrigera-
tion (1928).

Refuse Collection and Disposal. Muni-
cipal refuse includes those wastes incident to
city life, other than sewage, that are gen-
erally held to be proper subjects for collec-