The researcher of Tales from the Morgue is old enough to remember having to crack the ice out of metal ice trays in order to have a cold drink. She also remembers fights with her brothers when they neglected to refill the trays they emptied, leaving no ice for anyone else.
So an automatic ice machine in the freezer was a wondrous thing. Ice delivered to the door of the refrigerator was more wondrous still.
However, there was a time when homes didn't have ice makers, or even refrigerators. Ice boxes would be used to keep food fresh. Ice boxes were insulated but needed blocks of ice for the cooling. Those blocks were delivered from ice machines that were kept in large warehouses, turning out blocks of ice.
So the arrival of an ice machine in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ in 1879 was big news. Even more so than the automatic ice maker in the refrigerators of today. Big news, indeed.
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From the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, Thursday, July 24, 1879:
The Ice Machine.
Mr. Paul Moroney has leased a portion of Levin’s brewery building and park garden grounds for his ice manufacturing business. The masons are already at work laying a stone foundation for the engine and boiler on the south side of the building. The large awning on the same side will be closed up with adobe walls, which will be occupied by the ice machine. The cellars underneath the main building will be used as the store rooms for the ice, which are large enough to accommodate from 50 to 100 tons. The water for the ice will be taken from a spring near by, which is pure and perfectly free from any saline matter. Mr. J. T. Wilkinson, who is in charge of the construction, says that he expects to be turning out blocks of ice by the first of next month. He is experienced in the business, not only having built and manufactured ice in San Francisco with this identical machine, but built one of the same kind in Iquique, Peru, where he manufactured ice successfully until the 9th of May, 1877, when the great tidal wave carried everything away. He says he can turn out three tons of ice per day with this machine, such as is used for ordinary purposes, and almost two tons of the best quality. Mr. Wilkinson says this patent is the most perfect and successful yet built, having taken the premium at both the Centennial and Paris expositions. The engine which is to do the work is a fifteen horse power, with two steam pumps attached. We congratulate Mr. Maroney in securing this most eligible location.
And from the Star, Thursday, Aug. 7, 1879:
The Ice Machine.
At precisely 4 p. m., yesterday, the refrigerator of Paul Moroney’s ice machine was charged, and all things being in order the valve was touched and the engine and machine commenced its work. Upon inquiry and observation, we found that the process of ice making by their machine is somewhat after the followi9ng fashion:
The refrigerator is filled with ether, in combination with other highly volatile chemicals. This liquid is forced into the air compressor, which contains a bundle of tubes through which the liquid passes, becoming highly volatized in the process, and then out through a pipe into the condenser, which is a large combination of pipes fixed in a large square tub, filled with cold, running water. The fluid passing through these pipes is again condensed and returned to the refrigerator, its starting point, which circulation is kept up indefinitely.
The congealer, or freezing tub, contains the copper moulds, which stand about one inch apart, in such a manner as to allow a free circulation under and on all sides. These moulds, or buckets, are filled with clear spring water, and the tub, or vat, in which they stand is then filled to within a few inches of the top of the moulds. From one side of the congealer there is a pipe leading to the refrigerator and from it back into the other side of the congealer. Through this pipe the salt water is forced from the congealer into the refrigerator, where it is chilled and forced back into the congealer. This circulation is kept up until the temperature of the salt water becomes so low that the fresh water in the moulds freezes, which generally takes about fourteen hours. The freezing finished, the moulds are lifted out of the tub and the blocks of ice removed therefrom. If everything worked well last night some of these blocks can now be seen at the ice works in Levin’s gardens.
And from the Star, Saturday Aug. 16, 1879:
The ice machine turned out 2,500 pounds of ice yesterday, twenty-two hours after charging. This is the finest lot yet manufactured, the blocks being solid through. Business is increasing every day. We predict before the end of the summer, consumption will exceed the production.
That seems unlikely. Demand may exceed production, but it is impossible for consumption to exceed production.
From the Star, Aug. 23, 1879:
We take this opportunity of tendering our thanks to Mr. Paul Moroney for a crystal block of ice presented yesterday to THE MORNING STAR. It was an article as fine as could be produced by old Frigid himself. If all our merchants would do likewise by sending us a bag of coffee, sugar, flour and bacon, what a happy thing it would be to run a newspaper. It would be equal to old time preaching. Friends and countrymen, give us a call.
We think the editors of the Star were joking.
Johanna Eubank is a digital producer for the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ and . She has been with the Star in various capacities since 1991.