From: carl.ijamesXYZ@ZYXverizon.net   
      
   >"Frank"  wrote in message news:rtklhu$hf8$1@dont-email.me...   
   >On 1/11/2021 3:01 PM, Dean wrote:   
   >> On Monday, January 11, 2021 at 3:00:19 PM UTC-5, RichD wrote:   
   >>> How did they make ice, in the days before electricity?   
   >>>   
   >>> And, did the inventors manage it empirically, without   
   >>> education in thermodynamic theory? I admit,   
   >>> without book learning, the compression/condensation/   
   >>> evaporation cycle would never occur to me, it’s   
   >>> far from intuitive.   
   >>>   
   >>> —   
   >>> Rich   
   >> Ice was made by mother nature and chopped from the surfaces of frozen   
   >> lakes, ponds and rivers.   
   >>   
   >Also:   
   >   
   >"During the winter, ice and snow would be taken into the ice house and   
   >insulated against melting with straw or sawdust. It would stay frozen for   
   >many months, even until the following winter."   
   >   
   >Neighbor with pre-revolutionary house has one on his property.   
      
   They also made "slush ponds" to greatly improve the ice yield from a pond in   
   winter - draw water from the bottom of a pond and spray it into the air so   
   it falls back onto the surface of the pond.  Would either freeze in the air   
   or form a wet layer on the surface of existing ice that would then freeze,   
   pushing the ice mass deeper into the pond until eventually the entire pond   
   was frozen.  Otherwise as the surface of a pond freezes it protects the   
   underlying water from evaporative cooling and insulates it from the cold air   
   so you get much less ice from a given nighttime temperature.   
      
   --   
   Regards,   
   Carl Ijames   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)