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

CORKBOARD ICE CREAM CABINET 389
saving in cost of production by placing all manufacturing
operations under the <strong>complete</strong> and accurate control of relativel}'
few workmen.
Outside the plant, however, on delivery wagons and trucks,
on railway cars, in retail cabinets and soda fountains, the
salt and ice mixture was depended on exclusively, until the
last few years, for necessary refrigeration for the preserva-
tion of ice cream until consumed. Early cabinets were built
of heavy tongued and grooved planks of wood, with no insu-
FIG. 183.—ARTIST'S CONCEPTION OF THE OLD UNINSULATED ICE
CREAM CABINET.
lation other than the wood itself, just about as the early
household ice chest was constructed; but cabinets with hollow
walls, filled usually with sawdust, came into early use and
remained a long time. They left much to be desired, however,
because the low temperature necessary for the holding
of ice cream caused heavy condensation of moisture within
the air entrapped between the sawdust particles, and the
cabinet walls became ice laden and water-soaked. Granu-
lated cork was next tried as the loose fill insulating material,
with better success, but still with much to be desired both
from the standpoint of insulating efficiency and a dry condi-
tion of the walls of the cabinet.
In those days it was necessary, in summer, for the ice