New System of Preserving Meat.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1465, 26 September 1885, Page 4

New System of Preserving Meat.

iI . (London Morning Post, June 27.) ."■ Yesterday at the Victoria Docka, a number of gentlemen assembled to witness eoine experiments with a new refrigerating machine, the invention of Mr John Chambers, a run-holder, of Te Mata, Napier, New Zealand, wl»o so far back as 1882 took out letters patent "for improvements m refrigerating and freezing, and m apparatus employed for such purposes." Hitherto the inventors wlto have worked m this direction have based their processes on the utilisation of compressed or cold air, but Mr Chambers' process consists iti the condensation of the gasßes of ammonia, and he -claims that his machine may be worked at one--fourth the cost of any existing method. In America the production of cold has long been 'secured by the evaporation of volatile liquids m vacno and the condensation of their vapour by the combined action of cooling water and pressure; so much so that the manufacture of ice by this process is carried on by the shores of the North American lakes, it bavin? been found that ice tonld be produced more cheaply by artificial means than by gathering and storage of the natural product. But it has remained for Mr Chambers to show how the same system can be applied to the preservation of dead meat. His apparatus is not [ a machine for producing refrigerating effects, but one for applying|the effects , produced by ammonia, sulphurous anliy dride, ether, and other similar substances to the cooling nnd drying of air, a feat which has not hitherto. been successfully accomplished, so that an ordinary ammonia ice-making machine with , a "Chambers' cooler," attacbt d may now be utilised for the dual purpose of making ice for commercial purposes and for freezing or preserving meat. The machinery was displayed yesterday m full working order, and underneath the engine room were two chambers into which the cold air was discharged. These, on being entered, were found to be of the temperature of lldeg. Fahrenheit, or 51 d«-g. below freezing point. As to cost, the inventor states that the average consumption ef coal per voyage through the Tropics would be one ton per 24 hours, and whiln the maximum cooling effect obtainable from the ex peiiditure of lib of coal from air is 357 thermal units, that obtainable, with the same consumption of coal, from ammonia by the compression systi-in is 1428 thermal units. The experiments conducted at the Victorian Docks yesterday seemed to afford general satisfaction to lln- Ini^e numbei of persons interested m the question who wero assembled to witness them. :