ROMANCE OF COLD STORAGE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11783, 8 November 1912, Page 6

ROMANCE OF COLD STORAGE.

INVENTOR LIVKS ALMOST IN POVERTY. .An extraordinary story is told, by the; London "Telegraph" which once -i more.; illustrates how the inventor is..the last, to'-profit' by his'brains, biit makes "fortunes for others. "Tile story of 31.. Charles Tellier, the aged French savant and inventor, whese process , for cold storage is. noiv . applied the world .oxer, and lias given, rise to a trade in which hundreds of millions are illvested, while lie himself i 6 living'in two little rooms at Auteuil and almost reduced to poverty, reads like a romance, and one is inclined almost to doubt whether xve are not in the. land of dreams," says the Paris correspondent of the "Telegraph.'.' ATTEMPTS TO MAKE ICE. "Attempts at ice-making and refrigerating machines date back to the dajQ when it was firet discovered that. coiVibinations of certaifi salts had the effect ,j>f lowering temperatures to below freezing-point, and as far back as 1775 a '/Machine was constructed by Dr Cullen for freezing water by its own evaporatio-fin a-vacuum. Other machines were invented, by Perkins in 1834, Harrison in 1850, and Carre in 1859. The latter produced ice in large quantities for the firet 'i'.ne by the use of a solution of ;inim»' lia ,'and other savants, such, as Lii'' I '"., in Oermahy. and Pictet, in Switzeri?..id, studied the question. It was at this time that M. Charles Tellier, the French engineer, entered the field, and, like his predecessors, first directed, his attention to the production of cold by vacuum, compressed air, and ammonia. But it was not until he found the properties of methylic ether that he had complete success. That he is the father of cold storage is hardly to be doubted. "T.ie house where M. Tellier resides at Auteuil is one of these large, modem buildings with fashionable flats not far from the Auteuil station. But the aged inventor cannot afford to live in one of those expensive apartments.' • He is just able to occupy what is called a small 'logement-,' which is reached by a back stairs and consists of two small rooms such as a mechanic or prosperous workman can rent. The entrance is narrow and is taken r.p almost entirely by a bookcase filled with scientific volumes, and documents Of every description lie on the tables or are hung on the wall. M. Tellier .has just had a great bereavement, as Madame Tellier died only eight days ago,- and as he received me he gently apologised, saying that his house was in 6omc disorder. He was pleased that the world at last took some notice of his labours, but, alas! the recognition is coming late, and when she who has been his faithful companion for so many years is gone. He is a little l-ian-, :it a bright look in his eyes'and a rosy colour in iiis cheeks form a vivid contrast to his perfectly white beard and side wliiskeis. Even at the age of 85 lie is still nctive and anxious to continue.his scientific researches in other fields. When I asked him how he begun his investigations in the particular direction in. which.he" was so successful, though' he had received little recognition he said :

THE FIRST EXPERIMENTS.. _ "I grow up with a fondness for mechanical things, and when I became an engineer there was one problem which attracted mo immensely. It was the question of the preservation of perishable articles of food, such as meat, fruits, and vegetables, and in those days the problem was discussed a good deal, but no practical •method had yet been devised which could be applied, industrially. , "Gradually I drifted into making it my life-work. I* experimented with the preservation of meat by means of vacuum. That was the tendency in thoso days. We expected all sorts of wonders from the new principle of vacuum, which, scientists tried to apply in all directions. I found that during the cool season I could easily preserve meat indefinitely, but the moment the warm weather came all the processes based cn vacuum failed. The meat diein- I i tegrated in spite of the vacuum and was lost. I gave up my researches in- that direction about 1862 and turned to a new sot of ideas. This was suggested to me by Pasteur's first discoveries about microbes. We did not speak of microbes then; Pasteur himself did not use the word, but he spoke of air germs or atmospheric germs. It was the atmospheric germs which, a§. we understood it in those days, caused the disintegration of animal tissues, 'such; a.- meat, and 110 amount of vacuum could prevent it. Frost was .the only natural principle which we knew indefinitely consrerv«d~6iidi substances, and I therefore turned my- attention to producing frost by means of compressed air. In time I was able to invent a machine which gave results, and in. which I used a solu-tion-of ammonia.' " . - AN HISTORIC VOYAGE.

In 1866 ho installed, his apparatus on an English steamer with partial success. Then he . used compressed ammonia and" after mytlielic. ether, and in 1875 the "F.ofgorifique" was fitted but. She went to Buenos Ayres, and a great banquet was-given there, in which the meat that had been shipped from Rouen and .which had been preserved for three months was served np, together with jfresh meat from the country. and the .guest's were unable to tell tho difference." . .