“CANNED SNOW”

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 11449, 25 February 1931, Page 7

“CANNED SNOW”

GAINED FROM MEXICAN WELLS

SENT TO NEW YORK FOR FREEZING USE. The first shipment of “canned snow” from the tropics to New York’ arrived there oil the- Panuco, of tho Now York and Cuba Mail Line:.

In a specially insulated section of its hold the Panuco carried 200 tons of solid carbon dioxide, which lias a latent temperature of 140 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit) and is now, used extensively by'frozen food companies, ice cream makers, dealers in dairy products and fruit and vegetable growers. , Tho shipment is a product/_ of wells 18 miles inland from Tampico, in the Mexican oil lields, and is tne result of drilling done by the Globe Petroleum Company, which, while putting down an oil wolf, struck tho carbon dioxide gas. This rushes to the surface at a pressure of lOOOlbs to th e square inch. For years, it. was found, wells in this region have been; discharging enough gas daily to make about 1600 tons of carbon dioxjdo. An initial plant of 2.0 tons daily capacity has been erected ■at the wells by the Companib Industrial do Carboilci, S. A., a subsidiary of the Carbonic. Products' Company of Now York. Tho* pressure from the wells, it was said, is used to compress tho gas into.pure Liquid,.from which it.is then expanded into artificial 7 snow the product which almost' everyone has become, acquainted with -gs.ico cream packing; This is blocked into 1 cubes for shipment. . - . Three steamships, the Panuco, the Agwistar. and the Canto, °,n tlio Tam-. pico-New York run of tlftv New York aud Cuba Mail Lino, have been equipped with special chambers ~to bold 200 .tons each. . The floors,, ceilings and walls are insulated ' with 12 inches of corkboard, which, it is ex-; pcetqd, will virtually eliminate loss by evaporation, during the nine-day yoyage. even in: mid-summer: ; \ t