The Process of Making Ice in the East Indies. By Sir Robert Barker, F. R. S. in a Letter to Dr. Brocklesby

The Process of Making Ice in the East Indies. By Sir Robert Barker, F. R. S. in a Letter to Dr.BrocklesbyAuthor(s): Robert BarkerSource: Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Vol. 65 (1775), pp. 252-257Published by: The Royal SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/106193 .

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EXIIX the Procgs of makiUng ffice in tbe Ed Indies. t Sir Robert Barker, F. R. S in a Lettcr to I)r. BrockleSby.

T0 DR. RICHARD 3!lROCKLES3lYX T. R. S.

S I Rs 7S

Reddes Mar. 9, rT>HE procefs o-f making ice in the EaR 1775* 1 Indies having become a filbjedc of fpev

-calation, I beg permiffilon to prefent you with the meZ thod by which it was performed at Allahabads Mootegil, and Calcutta, tn the Eafc Indiess lying between 25, and z32. degrees of North latitude. At the latter place Ithave never heard of any perfons havirbg difxvered natural ice in the pools or ciRerns, or in any waters -colleEted in the roads; nor has the thermometer been remarked to de- fcend to the freezing point, and at the former very few only have (llfcovered icea d that but feldom. But in the procefs of making ice atthefe places itwasufealto colled?c a quaritity every mornlrlg, before Sun-rife (except in. fome particular klnds of weather, which I ihall fpecie xn the fequel3 for near three months in the year: si.S from December till February.

The ice-maker belonging to me at Allallabad (at which place I prindpally attendeal to this enquiry) made

a fuS



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a fufficient quantity in thewinter for the filpplyof t-he ra ble during the fummer feafon. The methods he purfued were as follows . on a larjge- open plaitl,. three or four ex- cavations were mades each about thirty feet fquar-e and two deepfi the bottomsof which^rerefcrewedabout eighi> snches or a foot thickwith fugarsane, orthe i;iem-s of thv large Indian corn dried. Upon diis bed wer.e placed in? rows,. near tQ each otherX a number of fmallt nlallo:r, earthen pansfi tzor corltaining the water intended to be

frosenX Tllefe are unglazed; fcarce aquarter-of an inch thick, about an inch and a quarter in deptll, and made of an earth fo porous, that it was vifib1e, from the ext-erior part of the pans, thewater had penetrated the^shole fuS :lzcance. Towards the duD of the evening, they were filled with foft water, rhich had been- boiled, and then left in the afore-related lsltuation. The ice-makers at- tended the pits ufually before the Sun was above the ho rizon, and colleEted in baIkets wh?t was frozenyby pour- ing the w.hole contents of the pans into themy and there by retaining the ice, which was daily cowveyed to the . grand receptacle or place of prefervation,. prepared ge- nerally oll fome high dry fituationy by finking a pit o£ fourteen or fifteen f.ect deep, lined firk wrth- ilrawr anda then with a coarfe kinsl of b}anketing>. v rhere it isfl beat down with rammers till at lengtll its ourn accumulated cold again freezes and forms one folid mafs. The mouth czf the pit is well iEcured from the exterior air vith flcraw and blankets, in the manner of the Xitngtand a thatc.hed Poof is thmwn over the syhole. It i$ here necefl:ary to

remark,



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renark, that the qtlantity of ice depends mater- iMly on the veatlzer; and confequently, it has fometimes l;wappeneds that no congelation took place. At otllers,perhaps,ha}fthe quatity will be frozen; arud I harre often feen the whole contents formed into a perfeWt cake of St; the lighter the atmofpheref and the more clear and ferene the weai ther, the more farrourable for congelation, as a freqllen-t change af winds and clouds are certaill preveniives. For I have freqtlently remarked, that after a very nlarp cold nlght, to the feel of the human body, fcarce any iz has Xoeen formed) when at other times the mght has been calm and ferene, and fenfibly warmer, the contents of t-he pans will be frozen through. The hnge proaf uof the iafluence of the weather appewr& by the v Fater in oneF pit being more congealed than the fame preparation for freezing will be in other fituations, a mile or mare dsiflcant

To reaforl phyflcally upon this procefs of making it may be faid,that had the thermometer been fufznsd"¢d in the air7 free from every other body capable of communicating heat7 in -fome parts of the night durmg the cold months of December, Januar.yX and Febmary, the quickfilver might llaare deScended to the freezlng points and that water, being artfully placed in a flmilar fitua tion, contained in thin porous pahsX and fupported by a fubRance little capable of communicating heat from the earth, might alfa freeze and contsnue inZa Rate of cor* gelation till the heat of the morIling came onc I fay thss may be poffible; but xt the lime time I muR beg lea^te

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to obfe-rve? that, during my refldellce in that qtrter of the globe, I never ftw any natural ice. I cmnot declare that the thermometer has not defcended to the freezing pOillt durillg the-night, becaute I never made the necef- fary obServatioils; but the water in every other fltuation, excepting in the pans, has not appeared to be in a freezing Rate. The climate may probably contnltute in fome meafure to fatili4ate thecongelationof srater, vfhen placed in a fittlation free from the heat oftheearth fince thofe nights in which the greatelt quantity of ice has beerk produced, ̂ reres as I before obServedfi perXEtly ferene, the atmorphere flztp and thin, with tery little dexr after midnight. Many gentlernen, now inEnglandy haare made- the fame remarks, in theit frequent vilits with me to the ice-pits. The fptlngy nature of ehe ftlgar-canes, or Pcems of the Indian corn, appears vell calculate(l to give a paffige underthe pans to the coldatr; vwhich, adting on the exterior parts of -the veffiels, r carry off by evaporaticxtl a proportion of tlle heat. The pmous fubkance of the veSels feenls equally vell quav lifieA for the adlailfion cf the cold air internally; and their fituation being full a foot beneath the plane of tlle $round, prevents the furfice of the water finotn being ruf; fled byanyfmallctlrrent of air, arld therebypreferves the :ollgealed particles from difunion. Boiling the watet

is eIteemed a necefl:ary preparative to this method of con gelation; but ho^r far this may be confonant vvith philoo iohical reafoning I will not prefume to determillerav.

(a3 See Part T. Art. XIII.

\tOL. L.XV. Ne From



[ 556 3

From thefe circumRances it appears, that water, by being placed in a fltuatiorl free from receiving heat frorn other bodies, and expSed in larg;e furfaces to the airs may be brought to freese hen the temperattlre of the atmofphere is fome degrees above the freezing pOillt on the fcale of FAHRENlIEIT'S thermomerer; and by beillg colledl:ecl and amaIIed irlto a large bodys is tht preServed, me1 rerldered fit JFor freezlng other.fltlisls) durxng the fe- vere heats of the fummoe-r fefon. In effeEting hich there is alfo aIl eli^blillled mode of proceeding-; the nler- bets creams, or ̂ hatever other fluids are intended to be frozell, are confined in thin filver cups of a conical fornzX corltainirE about a pintX with their covers well luted on with paI1ce, and placed ina largeveXel filledwith ice, falt- petre, and common falt, of the two laIt arl equal qvlantityX and a little water to dilIolve the ice and combine the whole This compofition prei:ently freezes the contents of the cups to the fame confflcfeIlcyof or icecreams, &G. in EU

rope; but plain wfater will become rO hard as to require a mallet and knife to break itn Upori applying tlle buIb of a thermometer to one of thefe pieces of ice, thus frozen, thq quickfilver has been known to- firlk tsro or th ree degree belomr the freezing point: fo that ffonz an atmofphere apparen£1vy rlot milcl enough to prodllce nat.ural ice ice

Illall be formedv co]leEted, alwd a cold accumul=ed, that Ihall cauSe the quickfilver to fall even below the freezing point. ; lShe promif1ng advantages o£ fuch a diSco very could avlone induce the Afiatic (Rrhofe principal ltudy is the lustwies of lifea a;ad this may well be called fuchy

hell



[ 257 ] when I have oftell regaled with ices when the thermometer has Ilood at I I 2°)> to make arl attempt of profit- ng by fo srery Ihort a duration of cold during the nights in thefe months, arld by a well-timed and critical contri- vance of fecuring this momentary degree of cald, they have l?rocured to themfelves a comfortable refrethment as a recompence, to alleviate, in fome degree, the intenfe heats of the fummer feafon, which, in fome parts of In- dia, votlld be fcarce fupportable, bllt by the aIElIlance of this andXmany other irlventiolls.

Accompanying I beg leave to offer you fome obServa- tiOllSX I made in the year x 7 67 (bJx in the province of Alla- habad, on the temperature of the weatherj xvhich will ferve to elucidate :the extraordinary and fxldden changes incident to that part of Afla. Alfo fome remarks on the ^^reather during my voyage to England particularly fipe- cifying the fltuation re *vere in when the obSerarations vere luade.

I am, SIRX with regard,

f Your moR obedient humble fervant,

ROBERT BARKER.

(b) Sce a general account of tllefe obEerrations ArticIe XVIII.

Nn ffi XXIII. 0f



Documents

The Process of Making Ice in the East Indies. By Sir Robert Barker, F. R. S. in a Letter to Dr. Brocklesby