1858 . 
THE CULTIVATOR 
89 
Schooley's Patent Preservatory. 
In our recent notice of the proceedings of the Fruit 
Grower’s Society of Western New-York, a brief notice 
was given of this ingenious and admirable contrivance, 
and of its power of preserving soft fruits, milk, fresh 
meats, &c., for a long time. Believing that a more de¬ 
tailed account would be interesting to our readers, J. 
L. Alberger of Buffalo, who has made a full trial, 
has at our request furnished us the following particu¬ 
lars in relation to it:— 
The main features of the preservatory are the pro¬ 
duction of continual currents of cold dry air, without 
mechanical aid, by the use of ico. It is well known 
that to preserve meat or fruit, a certain degree of cold 
is desired. Nor is this alone requisite ; the air must be 
dry and pure, or the moisture would destroy all. We 
construct adjoining each other two rooms, separated by 
a partition open a few inches at top and bottom. These 
rooms are insulated against the ranging temperature 
of the outside air by packings several inches thick on 
all sides of nonconducting material, such as charcoal, 
saw-dust, tan-bark, or any dr}' vegetable matter, 
changing the size and peculiar position, shape, &c., to 
any locality or purpose desired. As an instance of the 
range of size, we have here one house 50 by 100 feet, 
and eight others, down to the small chest on the same 
plan, 3 by 6 feet. The operation is thus: The ice- 
room containing ice,—the air in contact with it becomes 
suddenly cooled ; its moisture is condensed ; it becomes 
heavier; and flows under the partition,—pure dry air 
at a temperature a little above that of the ice itself, 
into the preserving room among the articles, forcing 
the lighter and warmer air to the top of the room, 
whence it flows to the ice-room, and is drawn down 
among the ice, where it in turn deposits its moisture, 
and flows out again, thus producing a self-contained 
and actuated current of cold dry air. When, after a 
time, this air becomes impregnated with the odor of 
the articles in store, ventilators are provided for ex¬ 
pelling it immediately, and restoring fresh air. 
As instances of preservation, I will state that in 
June last our firm slaughtered 1,600 heavy fat hogs, 
and ev'ery month after that the same number until fall, 
making a total of 2,000,000 lbs., and cured it with 
perfect success—as good as in mid-winter. Peaches, 
Bartlet pears, grapes, green corn, &c., exhibited at a 
house on the State Fair grounds in this city last fall, 
which I built nine days before the fair, kept perfectly 
fresh 21 days ; after removing the house, I kept them 
in a chest on this plan, 24 days longer, in eatable con¬ 
dition. 
I have kept milk 20 days in weather that would sour 
it outside in 24 hours, and have raised one-third to one- 
half more cream than can de done by any other natu¬ 
ral method. The cream separates in from three to five 
hours, or as soon as the milk cools to the proper tem¬ 
perature. I think that a dairyman would make one- 
third more butter every day in the year with this pre¬ 
servatory. During winter the milk will not freeze in 
it, [on account of the non-conducting walls,] which I 
understand is a decided advantage, as when milk 
freezes, the watery parts come to the top as well as 
the cream. From my own experience, I have no hes¬ 
itation in saying that meats, fruits of any and all kinds, 
vegetables, milk, and all the farm products, will keep 
almost indefinite lengths of time. Grapes, I think, 
would keep nine months in great perfection. Many 
other articles, and facts I might name, but do not de¬ 
sire to intrude too much on your columns. Concerning 
the cost of the structure, it can be, as any other house, 
expensive or cheap, and varies with the locality. The 
consumption of ice is quite small. A small house will 
hold ice enough packed in winter to last the whole year. 
J. L. Alberger. 
In addition to the above statement, Lewis F. Allen, 
Esq., of Black Bock, N. Y., writes us as follows :—“ I 
have seen the preservatory several times during the 
past season, and examined the articles stored in it, 
and confirm all that Mr. Alberger states in relation to 
them. I believe the adoption of such a preservatory 
by the dairymen, fruit-growers, hotel-keepers,—in fact 
by all who have perishable material, which they wish 
long preserved, will add greatly to their interests and 
profit by doing so. 
“ I saw milk two weeks old in one of these struc¬ 
tures, which was as sweet as on the day it was deposit¬ 
ed there, and covered by a thick crust of the richest 
cream. For butter dairies, the preservatory would be 
of incalculable service. 
“I have not the slighest pecuniary interest in this 
invention, and look upon it only as I do upon all those 
discoveries which tend to relieve labor of its burthens, 
and work for the great good of the human family. 
“ I intend to erect one on my own farm the coming 
season, believing it to be much more effectual in its 
objects than the common, yet very well constructed 
ice-house which I have had in use for many years.” 
In addition to this testimony, we may add that after 
an examination by a committee, a gold medal was 
awarded by the Executive Committee of the New-York 
State Agricultural Societ}’, a few weeks since, to this 
invention. 
In order to assist our readers in comprehending the 
principle of its operation, we annex the following sec¬ 
tion of the structure, drawn from recollection of the 
model exhibited at the Fruit-Growers’ meeting at Ro¬ 
chester. 
The arrows show the currents of air. The partition 
a, separates the ice vault from the fruit-room. The air 
in contact with the ice, of course descends in conse¬ 
quence of its density from coldness. It must, there¬ 
fore, flow into the fruit-room through the opening or 
slit under the partition a. The warmer air in the fruit 
room must inevitably flow back through the upper 
opening over the partition a. Thus a constant stream 
of cold air pours into the fruit-room ; and by the use 
of registers to open or close the openings, the precise 
