COOLER, COOLING. 



COOPERAGE, COOPERING. 



184 



by absorbing *>ine of the heat unprofitably. and by tending a further 

 portion unused up the chimney. The polished steel fitting* of modern 

 fireplace* reflect much heat into a room which would otherwise be 

 loot ; but unfortunately thete costly article* are unattainable by the 

 poor, who are most interacted in economy. Hence the detached 

 store*, whether call, d Dutch, Bnusel*, or any other name, render more 

 ervioe than fixed grate*, although they may not to an equal degree 

 pneeat the cheerful lupeot of an open fire. For cooking, the masonry 

 ndlim i *till more improvident of heat ; and it is mainly on this 

 g ound that so many portable (tore*, gaa atove*, (team kitchen*, Ac., 

 hare been introduced. 



At the North- Wet Reformatory in the Euston Road, some of the 

 persons benefittod were employed to construct a cooking stove for 

 their kitchen. It wa* a detached portable cooking apparatus, in which 

 fuel wai used so economically that in 1857 it wo* found that cooking 



imperfect arrangements for military cookery. Since that time many 

 improvement* have been introduced. On the suggestion of Captain 

 Grant, when Alderthott Camp was first formed, a new kind of cooking 

 apparatus was adopted, primitive in character, but suited to teach 

 soldiers how to cook for themselves more effectively than they have 

 hitherto done. A trench was cut in the ground, and over it was 

 placed a covering of thin iron plates, having a central hole in each large 

 enough to receive an ordinary camp-kettle. A chimney was formed at 

 one end of the trench of sods piled up to the height of three feet ; and 

 at the other end of the trench was the fire-place. By this very simple 

 apparatus several regiments cooked their provisions during many 

 months. The next improvement related to battalion cooking-kitchens, 

 wheii the camp at Aldershott assumed a more complete form. The 

 same principle of the trench was adopted, with modifications ; and for 

 two yean many of the regiments had their cooking effected in this way. 

 The consumption of fuel requisite for this system is about half a pound 

 of coal per man per day ; and the cost is a halfpenny per man per week 

 for three daily meals. 



It is a subject for much regret, that English soldiers have never 

 been accustomed to meat cooked otherwise than by boiling. Medical 

 men well know, and on all fitting occasions urge, that this is not the 

 beat mode of developing the nourishing qualities of the food. Ro- sting, 

 baking, frying, and broiling, are processes not adopted in military 

 kitchens in connection with our armies ; whereas French soldiers 

 manage to prepare many savoury rations by such means. If soldiers in 

 our barracks wish for a change from the never-varying boiled meat, 

 they club together a few pence, and send their meat to a public bake- 

 house. Captain Grant, like many other intelligent officers, believed 

 that this defect might be overcome by the exercise of a little ingenuity. 

 He has contrived on oven to be introduced in the chimney of his 

 trench-kitchen ; and as he makes one chimney serve for two trenches, 

 the oven becomes surrounded by the heated sir of two flues. He thus 

 economises heat, and prepares a baked dinner for his men. W.thout 

 the addition of a single pound of fuel, he found that he could bake 

 250 Ib. at once in a large chimney. So effective is this said to be, that 

 a battalion of a thousand men may be cooked for by two small fires 

 18 inches square and 6 inches deep. 



Capt .in Grant has still more recently planned a further extension of 

 his simple apparatus, in &uch form as to enable troops to bake, stew, 

 and steam their food vhile actually in the field. In June, 1 859, he 

 made experiments on this subject at Woolwich, in presence of Colonel 

 Tulloh and other officers. The apparatus is fixed to an ordinary four- 

 wheeled a Ivance-waggon, to be drawn by two or more horses, as 

 circumstances might render expedient. The operation of cooking goes 

 on while the vehicle is in transit. A furnace at one end of the appa- 

 ratus heats the water of a boiler, the steam from which is the chief 

 cooking agent Steam-pipes communicate from the boiler to a perfo- 

 rated steamer, oven, stew-pan, &c. Each apparatus is calculated to 

 cook food for about 200 men, by means of a very small amount of fuel. 

 The boiler being filled with 120 gallons of water, can have its steam 

 raised in ten minutes, and the cooking can then be conducted while 

 the vehicle is actually in motion. Another apparatus, similar in prin- 

 ciple but different in details, has been planned by Captain Grant for 

 making *oup instead of cooking joints of meat. It will be an immense 

 boon to the BritUh soldier if these excellent inventions should prove 

 to be a* effective in practice as they have been in preliminary trials. 



COOLER, COOLING. Various contrivances have been adopted by 

 brewers and distillers for cooling their worts. This has been done 

 by exposing the hot liquor in shallow wooden vessels to the air, and 

 by the use of stirrers or fans to keep the liquor in motion, and thus 

 expose fresh surfaces to the air. The plan has also been adopted of 

 poising spring- water, which in deep wells is usually about 52' even in 

 summer time, through metal pipes placed in the liquor to be cooled. 



Wine-coolers are made of porous earthenware, which being soaked in 

 and saturated with water, by its gradual and copious evaporation occa- 

 sion" cold ; and in Spain, water-coolers, called o/carranu, are made on 

 the same principle. Coolers of this kind, made of porous clay, lightly 

 baked, and rather thin, are ulw common in Egypt, where they aru 

 often represented on the ancient monuments in a form very much 

 resembling both those now used in Egypt and such as we gee in use at 



Cadiz and other place* in the south of Spain. On the monument* of 

 Egypt we sometimes observe a man fanning these earthen vessels with 

 a palm-leaf, in order to promote the evaporation. Tho Arab* of Egypt 

 are well acquainted with the practice of fanning their earthen vessels 

 to quicken the evaporation. M. Costaz, when in Egypt, made the 

 following experiment on the refrigerating power of these earthen 

 vessel* The thermometer in the shade, but exposed to the air, marked 

 110*75 Fahr. during the greater part of the day. At sunset the Nile 

 water wa* 82*-(J ; an earthen veacel filled with thin water was placed on 

 the deck of the boat in which M. Costa* passed the night on the Nile. 

 At day-break the temperature of the river wa* the same, but that of 

 the water in the jars was only 01""25, and more than half of the water 

 was evaporated. 



A remarkable mode of cooling liquids was introduced in 1648 by 

 Mr. Lillie of Manchester. It depends on centrifugal force. The liquid 

 is placed in a bowl or colander, either pierced with minute holes all 

 round the sides, or having aides made of wire gauze. Through the 

 intervention of a vertical shaft, this bawl is made to rotate rapidly. 

 The water first rises all round the sides, and then rushes out through 

 the perforations or menhes in a multitude of small streams; them 

 streams, coming in contact either with the ordinary atmosphere in an 

 outer vessel, or (till more effectively with artificial currents of air, 

 become rapidly cooled. 



Professor Smyth, of Edinburgh University, has suggested a method 

 of cooling the air of rooms in sultry weather. It depends on tht> prin- 

 ciple that air, when compressed, shows a higher temperature than it 

 had before, but resumes its initial temperature on the pressure being 

 removed. The Professor conceived the idea of compressing air, and 

 cooling it while under pressure, in order that, on regaining its 

 original bulk, the temperature should be lower than that of the 

 external air. 



COOPERAGE, COOPERING, or the making of casks, barrel*, 

 butts, puncheons, hogsheads, tubs, &c., is among the very old mechani- 

 cal arts. It is supposed that the wine-growers of ancient Italy invented 

 the mode of building up from small pieces of wood vessels which 

 would contain liquids. The coopers of London were incorporated 

 many centuries ago. There is extant a record, under date 1390, in 

 which the Mystery of Coopers applied to the lord mayor for an ordi- 

 nance, restraining those of the mystery from making vessels for beer 

 or other liquors out of oil- or soap-tuns, whereby the flavour of such 

 beer or other liquors might be injund. This was accordingly ordained. 

 There was another ordinance in 1407, relating to the proper material 

 and workmanship of casks, and to a record of the trade-marks of all 

 the master coopers in London, forty-six in number. By on Act of 

 1532, brewers were forbidden to make their own casks; and as there is 

 an entry in the books of the Coopers' Company, of a payment of 

 "three pounds, six shillings, and eightpence, for a pipe of Uascony 

 wine that the speaker of parliament had," it has been conjectured 

 whether that curious gift had anything to do with the passing of a 

 statute which threw the whole cask-making trade into the hands of the 

 master coopers of that day. 



The trade of cooperage is divided into several distinct branches, 

 dry coopers, wet coopers, white coopers, general coopers, and bock- 

 makers. Dry coopers make the casks for containing sugar, currants, 

 flour, and other dry goods ; the work is of a common kind, and is paid 

 for at a low price. Wet coopers make the chief varieties of casks for 

 liquids; the vessels are classed into " large work " and " small work," 

 done by different bodies of workmen. White coopers make tubs, pails, 

 churns, &c., the cleanest and lightest kind of work. General coopers 

 practise all the branches of the trade, without acquiring a high degree 

 of skill in any one. Back-makers, who fabricate the enormous vessels 

 used in breweries, scarcely rank among coopers ; they build up pieces 

 of wood in a manner not recognised by regular cooper*. 



A short description will suffice of each of the above kinds of 

 cooperage. 



SmaU dry wont. Small casks for dry goods are usually made of 

 Quebec oak and of old ship timber. The wood is sawn into lengths, 

 and these into narrower pieces called codiingt. The codlings an 

 or chopped with an axe, to make them narrower at the ends than in 

 the middle ; and then cleft into stave-pieces by a cleaving-knife ami a 

 maul. The staves are next shared or dmted, a cutting instrument 

 being employed to make them convex on one side and concave on the 

 other. They are then jointed ; that is, every piece is so shaped on all 

 sides, and from end to end, that all the staves together may make a 

 symmetrical whole, with water-tight joints ; in this, the workman 

 relies almost wholly on his accuracy of hand and eye, an accuracy 

 which nothing but long practice wUl produce. The cask-heads are 

 usually made of one or two pieces each, properly shaped, and then 

 glued together. By means of temporary circles called trutt-huiija, the 

 several staves for making one keg are brought together hi their proper 

 places, all touching edge to edge at the bulge or widest part, but nut 

 yet closed in at the ends. The staves are heated, to enable them to 

 bend without cracking, and the hoops by which they are to be hrM 

 together arc driven on. A groove is cut round the inside of t) 

 ends of the keg, to receive the head and the bottom. The inim-hoop* 

 at first used are made of iron, and are merely intended to hold the keg 

 together until the head and bottom are put in ; they ore afterwards 

 removed, and wooden hoops used, made of hazel, birch, willow, ash, or 



