Cork insulation; a complete illustrated textbook on cork insulation ...

I board
CORKBOARD INSULATED REFRIGERATOR 345
from capillarity was expected to rid the correctly insulated
mechanical refrigerator of the water conditions so consistently
encountered theretofore. Unfortunately, however, the question
of the manner and method of installing the corkboard, with
respect to the refrigerator as a finished unit, was virtually
left to the discretion of the superintendent of the plant pro-
ducing the refrigerators; and it was but natural for him to
cut the corkboards to fit easily into generous wall spaces, and
in other respects to do with the corkboard just about as had
always been done with other kinds of <strong>insulation</strong> in the many
years preceding the advent of the household refrigerating
machine.
The results were almost as unsatisfactory as they had
been with other kinds and forms of <strong>insulation</strong>. Leakers and
smellers continued to be the order of the day, and the insu-
lating efficiency was below that to be expected with cork-
as the insulating material. Perhaps the refrigerato'-
did not leak half as much, or smell quite as badly, or run
nearly as long, as formerly, with other kinds of <strong>insulation</strong> ;
but it leaked, and it gave off odors, and it cost too much to
operate ; and these things, coupled with the usual run of
mechanical troubles incident to the development of a new
device, were enough to discourage much less courageous man-
ufacturers than those who blazed trails for the present-day
mechanical unit.
If a glass pitcher of ice water is placed on a kitchen talkie,
it will "sweat," under usual conditions of humidity, such an
amount that the water of condensation will sometimes run
on to the table top, although usually it will evaporate away
I almost as rapidly as it forms ; and just as water vapor in
; suspension
in the surrounding air of the kitchen would be
••'precipitated on the cool, outer surface of the glass pitcher, so
would water vapor have been precipitated or condensed at the
same rate on the outer, exposed surface of the interior lining
of a refrigerator cooled to the same degree by ice and located
in the same kitchen.
If salt is added to the pitcher of ice water and stirred, to
reduce the temperature of the mixture, the sweating will
usually exceed the evaporation by such an amount as to