STORAGE 341 



short-time storage. When placed in competition with a house 

 equipped with a system which gives positive control of circulation, 

 moisture, temperature, and purity of atmosphere they soon lose 

 business and fall into disuse. 



The Fisher system. One of the oldest systems of ice cold 

 storage is the Fisher system. The main essentials are an ice 

 chamber located above a storage room, with an insulated water- 

 proof floor separating the two. Openings are provided for the 

 circulation of air from the ice chamber to the storage room, and 

 flues extend from the storage room to the top of the ice chamber. 

 ( >ne who is familiar with the operation of this system says that 

 these houses would do fair work when new, but when they became 

 old the results were very unsatisfactory. 



The Wickcs system. The Wickes system has been largely in- 

 troduced in the refrigerator-car service. The Wickes company 

 some years ago installed a number of cold-storage plants, but it 

 is believed that they do not now recommend their system for 

 such use. The essential feature of the Wickes system consists 

 in a basketwork ice bunker composed of galvanized iron strips. 

 Attached to the strips, where the air flows into the ice bunker, are 

 projecting tongues, which, it is claimed, give largely increased 

 cooling and moisture-absorbing surface, and dry and purify the 

 air more thoroughly. Where the air flows out at the bottom of 

 the ice bunker, it passes over a network of galvanized wire, 

 which is kept cold and moist by water dripping from the melting 

 ice above. 



The Stevens system. This differs somewhat from other sys- 

 tems of overhead icing in having an arrangement of fenders and 

 drop troughs that form an open pan over the entire floor of the 

 ice room except at the ends and sides, which are left open for the 

 flow of warm air upward from the storage room. The cold air 

 from the ice works down through the open pan. The pan is 

 formed by a series of gutters suspended between the joists and 

 the capping pieces over the joists — an arrangement which causes 

 the water to drip into the gutters and, at the same time, allows a 

 circulation of air between gutters and capping pieces. This sys- 

 tem has the advantage of maintaining fairly uniform temperatures, 

 regardless of the amount of ice in the ice chamber. 



