Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/470

 Iceless Cooker and Refrigerator

��DEPENDING upon the heat of the sun to retluce the temperature within a cooler or refrigerator may seem anomalous, but it has been proven scientifically to be possible. The warm summer days bring into prominence the important question of preserving food and keeping on hand a supply of cool water. This is an easy matter where ice and the receptacles for holding it are available; but it is very desirable to provide a means whereby a safe and positive method of cooling can be depended upon, with- out relying too much on the care which must be given to the use of ice. The illustra- tion shows the applica- tion of the principle to a water cooler. Fig. I ; and also structur- ally arranged for a refrig- erator. Fig. 2, or recepta- cle for hold- ing food.

The cooler may be made of heavy tin, galvanized iron, glass, or stoneware. For con- \enience the construction is of gal- vanized iron. It is exceedingly simple in design, and comprises a pan sixteen ins. in diameter and four ins. deep. Secured to this pan centrally is a receptacle ten ins. in diameter, and eighteen ins. high. The receptacle and I)an are secured to each other by means of an L-shaped |)ipe, the short end of which passes through the bottom of each. With a washer between the two bottoms, the pipe is well soldered so as to make water tight joints.

The pipe extends out horizontally below the pan, and is provided with a faucet at its projecting end. A second

��HANDLE -,y

���The Faucet Permits the Water to Be Drawn From the Shell Without Disturbing the Water in the Pan

��vessel twelve ins. in diameter with a depth of twenty ins. is inverted over the inner vessel, thus providing an annular air space of one in. anjund the vessel designed to hold the drinking water. The outer shell has a handle so that it may be readily removed.

The refrigerator form. Fig. 2, also uses a pan twenty ins. in diameter, the sides being six ins. high. The body of the refrigerator is made of two cylindrical shells, the outer one being eighteen ins.

in diameter, and the inner one, sixteen ins. Both are the same length, and t wo feet in height, join- ed together permanently at their up- per ends by means of a rim. These two parts are J) r o v i d e d with legs and the inner shell has a bottom one inch above the pan base. It will thus be seen that water placed in the pan will flow into the space between the two shells, and also beneath the bottom. A top witii a handle and a sub-base so as to provide an air space between, is adapted to fit snugl\' within the inner shell. One or more half-shelves may be placed w iiliin the inner shell.

In the cooler, water is also placed in the pan entirely separate from the drinking water which is in the shell.

The cooling principle ma>- be stated as follows: The temiu-raturo of rarefied air is cooler than air at normal pressure. Condensation also plays an important part in the cooling process. The moment any water is drawn from the ctioler shell llu' pressure of air on the surface of the

��■t.'it)

�� �