COLD STORAGE

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 85, 10 April 1926, Page 7

COLD STORAGE

A REVOLUTIONARY INVENTION

ALL-BKITIBH MANUFACTUBE.

\l (From Our Own Correspondent.) ' LONDON, 26th February. Two students, while still at the University, have invented an apparatus which, it is claimed, is the only known contrivance which will continuously produce cold without the use of any mechanical parts. Unlike many other inventors, they have had their remarkable invention takea up by a wealthy firm, which is about to place it upon the market. . Diplomats, peers, members of the House of Commons, Dominion representatives, and other public men wero invited this week to a luncheon at the Savoy Hotel to hear about the invention and to see it at work.

Encased in an attractive cabinet, this latest of refrigerators is operated by the action of water, ammonia, and hydrogen, which, under the influence of heat, supply the motion, that is usually provided in other refrigerators ■by an auxiliary motor. Connected with the ordinary electrical installation, a household cabinet can be run at a daily cost of 4d, and, in addition to preserving as much food as can be .packed into ten cubic feet, will supply a valuable quantity of ice for household use. Employed with gas as the agent of heat, the daily cost is , only lid; but the refrigerator can also bo operated where neither gas nor electricity is available, and the humble paraffin lamp has alone to be relied upon. ' This refrigerator, which is constructed in a .variety of sizes, and is said, to be the nearest approach to perpetual motion in existence, is the invention of Messrs. Platen and Munters.

Major H. A. Wernher, D.5.0., who presided at a luncheon, said the trade 'and the public authorities could look to the invention as a possible alternative to the use-of preservatives, and to a great forward step in the, preservation of. food by cold storage. The refrigerator was not a luxury, as it was within the means of many householders and all small village shops, provision , stores, butchers' shops, and dairies. . Experiments were being made with a 'special apparatus for cooling milk to a temperature of 45 degrees. The inventors, Mr. Platen and Mr. Hunters, were enabled, through the foresight of Dr. Wenner-Gren, to perfect an inyention whereby heat generated cold. Many inventors wero handicapped oy the lack of financial and other assistance with which to carry out their ideas, but the young men while still at tho University not only made the discovery but were able to' improve the original idea to its present efficiency.They were awarded the Polhem medal last year by tho Swedish Eoyal Aead- . emy of Technical Science. In order to supply the heat there must be electric current, gas, oil, or wasto steam, and •water was required for cooling. It was hoped to perfect an air-cooled ■ model shortly, but tlie elements consumed were so infinitesimal that it had little bearing on the . questio.il of maintenance. Three kilowatt hours per day and 120 gallons of water were all that was required for a household ice safe. A small quantity of ice could also be produced for beverages. So far as household installations were concerned in .the London area, the Metropolitan Water Board assured them that there would be no extra charge for jvater supplied.

: FOOL-PROOF MACHINE. He had personally experimented'with li kilowatts per day, and had most satisfactory results. The ice-safe contained three shelves with different temperatures for different types 'of goods;. 'A report of the National Physical Laboratory in December gave •vie efficiency of the machine at actually 10 per cent, more than was claimed. It ■ was possible to get the temperature down to 10 degrees, but that was too -Jow for average goods. •L'ho machine .'; 'vtas fool-proof; there were no moving parts to get out of order, there was no noise or vibration, and, even if the -heat was left switched on and without ■ .water, it could not burst. There was no wear and tear, and the liquid gases lasted for many years. By turning a «witch refrigeration could be continually maintained. It would be possible to sell the machine at about half the cost of those at present on the market, and for those who could not afford the initial expense a hiro-purehasa system ■was being developed. This machine. ■would in no way replace the compressor refrigerating apparatus, but would in fact act as an adjunct to it. It would, however, be possible to manufacture ■a larger apparatus for special and retail commercial purposes than the reffrigerator which was beforo them. ,;The English people had not acquired the ice habit, but the public would have to bo educated to rely moro and more on ice and cold storage, and he was sure they would agree that anything they could do to improve the cleanliness of food and the storage of food would bo to the ultimate benefit of tho health of the people.