MEAT FREEZING PROCESS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1031, 24 March 1882, Page 2

MEAT FREEZING PROCESS.

The following is a doscripiibn ot the system of refrigeration on mmo* the Mataura, tlio barque which is to v. ' r jst London shortly :—One steam cylinuer of 2lAin diameter when started, Bets \\\e ,twp air'compressjng chambers going,. Theib air-squeezers, rißtliey could he called, as the piston rod in each works backwards or forwards, fulfil the business of receijr-' ing tho atmosphere from the engine room; through valves, and after the air is ,adr mitted it is compressed to a pressure of 40 to £011)3 to the square inch. As maybe supped, the .chambers 'have; tobe of great strength, and they aro teste:! by tho patentee.,before'leaving the foundry to' a pressure 'of : The air received ; and^'pressed finds an. escape from ,:,,ihe,iiCompressor chambers, through a ; pipe into,, a chamber underneath, passing thence, into n second chamber! and so - oil'■ third, out ali'mg the hoi}'of the /engine, mid intp whftt is termed tlie !i cooler. Pressed up to tlie suite described, rV it rushes,,as stated, through the threaj clwmbeis beneath. In theao chambers a'/ steady rush of water h kept round the/ sides of inch, the water hems forced ut/ by pumps from the ocean. From these it. mslies to the cooler. This cooler is situA'ed a fihni-i distance from the engine, and would readily be. m*> taken for a woodenpiinition of 'he engine room, It consists however, of a wooden box specially linod for the purpose, and containing soveral hundred piped., The air flies through these pipes with all 'he ?pecd that ail' ijompressfld «8 (!|ls is rnlght be eipeetgd to on in search of expansion arid freedom, By the time i' emerges from the last i)f tho copper tubes in tlio cooler 'iHtas lost any l)0Bt it over possessed, aud paBS» ing from ihere to the expansion chamber amasfiive mahogany che»titruihesln there at a tempe.rftuire'of something like ; E0 degrees below Fahrenheit's rero, due'to the sudden expansion it there undergoes,' Fiom the expansion chamber it flies along the exhaust passage out iuto the meat room, or refrigerating abode of the beef and motton carcasses. Here another pii)o|s mouth is open to reoeivo,it,,(jnd after circulation amongst the: whit.e'rjed forma of the frost-stiffened occupants "of the Matarawft's arctic chambers, it returns asMntnHbecomprcßSorcbambers,lobeonc» mn r # forced ltitp'cpnflned limits.' From thiilf tfilj'be seen 1 m fheVetiifnecf cola air Ij'made to do duty ' ( aa'tnoiSit\im, ,r Diil thVohief,'. indeed the real purpose, it IS intended to compnßs is to add its coolness to the other air inhaled by 11-e compression from the .anrrnundiiig atmosphere, and thus' by mingling with that air reduce its umperature. The shareholders of tho cutcrprising corny pany that own tlm Matiuifii ■ havp.ithj nljiaeureV poWing' that «0(}0 of mutton can be put. on' bosfq and delivered in !,, '!!lsO good order and condition" to the London consumer, a satisfaction and a pleasure nhicb will; be shared by the exporting; sheep farmers throughout the colony.—'Press. ..>-. , Wi