Ice man cometh

[Dave Mellor NJ]

no doors. you don't need them in the summer when you need ice

[woofa.express]

If you get a chance to speak to the ice man do ask him to make a visit to us down here. And ask him to make it soon.

[nkaminar]

Going'a buy me a Frigidaire. Don't want no iceman hanging 'round.

[Fullraceflathead]

Artificial ice? Does that mean it's imitation???

[nkaminar]

Ice was originally harvested in the winter from lakes and stored in a cold house for use in the summer. I think artificial ice means that it was frozen using a refrigeration system.

[ModelA29]

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Originally Posted by nkaminar

Ice was originally harvested in the winter from lakes and stored in a cold house for use in the summer. I think artificial ice means that it was frozen using a refrigeration system.

My dad's cousins had an ice house in Midland MI. He said they cut blocks of ice out of the river and stored it separated with straw. He said it was one of their favorite places to go during the summer.

There real contribution to blocks though were concrete one. When they had Alden Dow design their home they started a block company to supply the materials. https://www.abdow.org/the-john-whitm...y-alden-b-dow/

[Dave Mellor NJ]

Notice all the trucks had a bell on the roof except the first one which is on the ground. I guess they rang to let you know they're coming

[Fullraceflathead]

Thanks I didn't know that about ice blocks I guess it's still true you still learn something new everyday!!!

[bobv]

When I was much younger, on the route to our favorite swimming hole we would stop at a railroad box car that was full of blocks of ice harvested from the local lake during the past winter. We would break off small pieces to take with us as a treat. The blocks were probably about three feet square and a couple of feet or more thick depending on how thick the ice was at the time of harvest. The ice was stored there packed with sawdust around it to slow the thawing process. Not sure how long it would remain frozen but it made a nice treat on a hot summer day. Wow that brought back some memories from 70 or so years ago.

[Marshall V. Daut]

That ice house went out of business after they lost the recipe.

Old, old joke...old, old photograph.
M.

[bobv]

They must have found the recipe, they are making it as we speak here in Minnesota

[Joe K]

"Cool as an iceman's back."

"Natural Ice" (i.e. harvested from ponds and stored in sawdust buildings) became passe in the late 1930s with the invention of "artificial ice."

It was sold as "you get more ice for your money." And involved using an "Ice Plant" (i.e. artificial refrigeration) and water which had been heated to remove the entrained air. On freezing this "deaerated" water there would be none of the usual "cloud" entrapped in the ice. Close to but not necessarily demineralized water - and often done as an adjunct to an attached power plant where there was plenty of hot water and refrigeration electricity available.

It was very much a marketing ploy - the weight and purity of the ice was probably nearly identical. But artificial ice removed the grueling hand labor of cutting and storing natural ice - artificial ice could be mechanized much like "ice trays" have been obsoleted by today's automated "icemakers."

Joe K

[Keith True]

In the 80's I bought an AA truck from an old guy in Newmarket whose dad had used it for ice delivery.His business did morph from pond ice to manmade ice over time.His son,(80 in the 80's)told me that his dad had told him that making ice by machine was only for businesses or the rich.Small electric iceboxes were not going to be feasible for the average family to afford.They were expensive and could leach dangerous chemicals into your food.There was always going to be a need for the iceman.If he was around today he would be saying the same things about electric cars.He did deliver ice right through the war,but his ice business fell flat on it's face within a year after the war ended.

[katy]

FWIW, When water in a deeper lake freezes the impurities are forced out and the resulting ice is basically made from pure (soft) water.

[Joe K]

They were expensive and could leach dangerous chemicals into your food.

In the early 1960s, Dad got a call from his mother - the electric refrigerator (from the 1930s) had suddenly "developed an odor."

The machine was "sulfur dioxide" based using this as a refrigerant. Sulfur dioxide we know today as the "swamp gas" smell. I know it somewhat from the power plants I worked in which used a "pressurized furnace" and burned either oil or coal containing sulfur. Special carbon filter masks were used for protection if you needed to go above the main operating floor.

The hazard of sulfur dioxide is it combines with the moisture of your lungs and nose, and creates sulfuric acid - which like the high school chem lab LOVES to ruin biological tissue - including your lungs.

IIRC, Dad had his mother unplug the refrigerator, close the kitchen doors, and open all the windows to "air the place out."

Two days later a brand new GE "two door" with the plastic liner came to replace the earlier "chrome latch" machine. It took some convincing to get the appliance company to take the sulfur dioxide machine.

One could say it out-lived even its normal recycling life.

Joe K

[JoeCB]

If you want to know everything about ice and ice harvesting... and you are in Port Huron , Michigan check out "Knowlton's Ice Museum of North America"... a really "cool" place

Joe B

[David in San Antonio]

My grandmother in NYC had a Frigidaire refrigerator with a cylindrical heat exchanger mounted in top. If I recall correctly from my very early years it had a gas flame. English was not her first language and she called every refrigerator a Frigidaire.
Here in San Antonio the discount beer and soda stores are known as ice houses. Some have that in their name. Some are drive-through so you can buy cold beer without getting out of your vehicle. Some even sell margaritas and daiquiris (31 flavors). Sorry for going so far off the topic, but crazy stuff gets my attention.

[katy]

FWIW, some of the early refrigerators used ammonia for a refrigerant.

[Keith True]

I used a Servel gas refrigerator up until just a few years ago.It was a 1971 machine.It used ammonia and water.When it would start to lose it's cool I would empty it out and stand it on it's head overnight.The ammonia and water would separate,and turning it over would remix them.I'd stand it upright,hook the gas line up,and light the burner again.Worked great,and when I was done with it I gave it to another guy without electricity.Last I knew he was still using it.

[Joe K]

And, for a short time there was the "Einstein Refrigerator" which used water, ammonia, and butane. Described in some detail at

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_refrigerator

Szilard - co-inventer - was also the originator/observer of the "nuclear chain reaction" which until his ID in 1933 was not a conception.

Smart cookies - all of them.

Joe K