T 



CHAPTER V. 



ABSORBENTS. 



HE use of absorbents in cold storage rooms has Purifying air 



Toy absorbents. 



been common since the industry was in its in- 

 fancy; their use originating-, no doubt, from an appre- 

 ciation of the fact that the air of a storage room 

 quickly became too moist and impure to do the work 

 of preservation perfectly. When absorbents and ven- 

 tilation are applied to refrigerator rooms they prac- 

 tically have one duty in common that of purifying 

 the air. Ventilation purifies by furnishing pure air 

 which displaces the foul air; absorbents by attracting 

 the moisture, and with it the impurities of the storage 

 room ; but where ventilation is largely for the purpose 

 of forcing out the permanent gases or impurities 

 which have little affinity for moisture, absorbents are 

 for the purpose of taking up the moisture and the 

 germs and impurities which are absorbed by it. 



Active absorbents can be made to perform duty in Prof. Nice's 



. . . . . . .... system which 



absorbing the moisture which is usually condensed on utilizes an 



. absorbent. 



the cooling coils, as illustrated in one style of the 

 antiquated overhead ice cold storages. If the writer 

 remembers correctly, the system is called Prof. 

 Nice's system. In this system the ice is supported 

 above a water tight sheet iron floor which forms the 

 ceiling of the storage room, the air of the room being 

 cooled merely by contact with this cold metal surface, 

 which is cooled by the ice above. The moisture 

 given off by the eggs in storage, and that resulting 

 from air leakage was taken up by an absorbent, 

 chloride of calcium being the chemical mostly in 

 use for this purpose. It was applied by suspend- 

 ing it in pans at the ceiling of the room, or in 

 some cases on the floor under the goods. Prof. 

 Nice's system gave good results years ago in com- 

 petition with the Jackson, Dexter, McCrea, Stevens, 

 etc., systems of overhead ice cold storage, which low 



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