Untitled

New Zealand Mail, Issue 362, 18 January 1879, Page 14

A prospectus has recently been issued bearing the title “ H. & J. Bell and Coleman’s Dry Air Refrigerative Apparatus,” which opens up the question of exporting fresh meat from the colonies to England, or to the Continent. From an exhaustive article on the subject in the “ Capricornian,” which is too long for admission into our c >luinns, we glean the following particulars:—The apparatus provides for a current of air which shall be dry as well as sufficiently cold, and shall not be dependant upon any but mechanical means for its production. The prospectus states that Messrs. John Bell and bons, of Glasgow, London, and Liverpool, who were the original and largest importers of American lfve cattle, as well as consignees of the greatest proportion of the American fresh meat brought to the United Kingdom, have discovered in their extensive experience that

meit, although lauded in good uondi iuu, has not obtained such remunerative prices as might have been possible had it been brought across the ocean by some process which, while preserving it sound and fiedi, also kept it in appearance equal to town-killed meat, and this led them to seek for an improved system by which the defects they had noted might be obviated. They now assert that they have succeeded beyond their most sanguine expectations in this object by the pei fecting of the process by which *• meat can be conveyed auv distance without the aid of ice or chemicals, merely by the production of dry refrigerated sir, obtained by a mechanical appliance as simple as it is effective, and for which the motive power can be applied at a charge quite nominal, as compared with the existing costly systems,” which it is expected wi 1 be entirely superseded by the new and improved method The machine introduced first compresses the air to be used, aud then while iu its compressed state it is cooled by ineaus of water, the object being to maintaiu the temperature of the meat clumber by a cm rent of cool air at a figure which shall never exceed <lO degrees of Fahrenheit nor go below 33, ic being essential that at no time during the passage the meat 3hall be frozen. Although this would be practicable in the ca-e of a voyage from America, on a long voyage such as that from Australia to New Zealand the patentees admit that it would be necessary to allow the temperature to take a lower average than 40 degrees, and possibly to descend even below freezing point, a temperature which they say could be maintained by their machine. It has been .■abundantly proved, however, that the freezing of meat injures its quality ; wo fear therefore that the problem of sending meat in a refrigerated but unfrozen state to England from the Australasian colonies has not yet been sol veil 'file practical use of the invention has been f&iriy well tested, and for the keeping of fruit, meat, or risk iu hot climates, in hotels, on board pa=seuger steamers, it seems likely to hold its own with the ice-coolers which are now so extensively used. The new apparatus will also be available for cooling the cabins of ocean-going steamers in tropical climates, cooling hotels and hospitals, and for reducing the temperature to the required coolness in such places as breweries and chemical works. The following instances are given in proof of the efficiency of the invention . _Lhe first trial .on a large scale was begun on Thursday, the -30th July, when a quantity of fresh killed meat w.s placed in the chamber. There were also placed in it a quantity of grapes, plums, peaches, and other fruits, and two salmon iront. At the expiration of a fortnight—the period having been one of the iutensest heat of the past summer—the contents of the chamber were removed, and distributed among a large number of persons so as to get their practical opinion regarding the quality. Xu every instance, it is stated, the very highest commendation was given, the meat being up to the mark in every one of the points which go to make the opinion of the practical umn. A second test, extending over a period of twentyeight days, was completed on the 11th October, and the meat, forwarded in the usual manner from Glasgow to London, wa> pronounced by competent authorities to be aa unqualified success in every respect.” Our latest advices from England, however, show that the carcass trade between England and America has somewhat declined. ° The prospect of the trade being extended to Australia has therefore become less likely. Many scientific men are firmly possessed of the belief that some chemical process may yet lie discovered by which the transportation of freeh meat across the ocean will be rendered feasible. Many rumors have been floated to the effect that this had already been successfully performed, but that the cost of the process was such as to hinder its general adoption as a mercantile venture. Be these rumors true or false, there can be no doubt that a fortune i 3 open to any man who can solve the problem, and ere long we may expect to hear that success has crowued the efforts of some earnest laborer in the cause of scientific advancement.