78 



Cold Storage in Chicago. 



Cold Storage and Refrigeration in Chicago. 



The following- particulars relating to the employment of 

 lew temperatures for storing various products are taken from 

 a report by Mr. A. Getty to the Foreign Office on " Cold 

 Storage and Refrigeration in Chicago" {Miscellaneous Series ; 

 No, 545). 



Ice for the preservation of perishable articles of food has 

 been used in the United States for many years, In 1886 the 

 first mechanical appliance for artificial refrigeration was 

 erected in New York, and three years later in Chicago. This 

 was the Pontifex machine, and from it all the other systems, 

 which are now more widely used, have sprung. Cold storage 

 houses, where natural ice is used as the refrigerating medium, 

 are rapidly giving place to artificial plant, and the making of 

 ice has become a very important industry. / 



The various uses to which refrigeration can be applied 

 render it one of the most valuable agents in the preservation 

 of ail kinds of food products and other commodities, such as 

 the seasoning of lumber, preservation of woollens and furs, 

 the storage of dynamite to keep it at a safe temperature, in 

 arboriculture to check the budding of trees, etc., brought from 

 the Southern States in early spring. In oil refineries, glue 

 factories, india-rubber works, packing-houses, dwelling- 

 houses, hotels, restaurants, distilleries, breweries, soap and 

 chocolate factories, and wine merchants' establishments the 

 science of artificial refrigeration is carried on successfully. 



Little has, however, so far been done in the application or 

 artificial refrigeration to hotels and dwelling-houses during 

 the summer months, as it is generally considered too expen- 

 sive. In one of the Chicago clubs the system is practised 

 with good results. A 20-ton machine is used, the refrigerat- 

 ing agent being anhydrous ammonia. The cooling pipes 

 are placed in the store boxes, and immediately over the 

 inside of the drawers in the kitchen, where the meats and 

 other foods are kept ready at hand. Meat is kept here at 

 35 0 Fahr., and milk, eggs, butter, and vegetables at 44 0 . The 

 kitchen is on the fifth floor of the building, and the consump- 

 tion of coal per day is about 2 tons. 



