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Introduction - All large ocean-going
passenger steamers were provided with refrigerating machinery and insulated chambers for
carrying fresh meat for consumption during the voyage; many steamers were also equipped to
carry cargoes of frozen or chilled meat. Titanic carried a large array of food and
perishables, all requiring refrigeration at various temperatures in separate compartments:
fruit, flowers, fish, mutton, eggs, butter and poultry, to name just a few. Some of these
were required in large quantities: the amount of butter alone was 6,000 lbs, and the
amount of beef totaled 75,000 lbs. Titanic was fitted with freezers for both
east-bound and west-bound beef, both freezers sharing a separate and adjoining Thawing
Room. This was indicative of the huge amount of food that was carried and the concern over
freshness.
The holds and store rooms devoted to this purpose were insulated and,
depending on requirements, were kept merely cooled or at freezing or near-freezing
temperatures throughout the voyage. Titanic’s refrigerating equipment was
designed to the White Star Line’s specifications and not only provided for the
cooling of the ship’s provision rooms and pantry larders, but also cooled drinking
water supplied to cupboard coolers and various points throughout the 1st, 2nd and 3rd
Class accommodations. Space was also provided for refrigerated cargo at the aft end of the
Orlop Deck, with a capacity providing for about 40 cubic feet per ton . . . (continued) |
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Image left, General
Refrigeration Fittings - This schematic diagram shows a Hall's refrigeration
plant designed and installed aboard a Harland & Wolff-built steamer. All of the basic
equipment and connections shown here were present in the much larger installation fitted
aboard Titanic, although the equipment differed in certain details, was spread
out over a greater area and occupied space on several decks. In this diagram, two
refrigerating engines of the simplex type are shown, whereas each of the machines on Titanic
were of the duplex type. A common surface steam condenser is indicated for each machine in
the diagram, while each of the duplex machines on Titanic had its own independent
steam condenser. A single evaporator is shown here, while Titanic had two duplex
evaporators for a total of four, and these, along with the brine pumps, were located
remotely from the refrigeration engines. Note that this diagram only deals with the steam
supply, return feed and steam condenser circuits of the installation - those portions
which the shipyard engineers would have been responsible for - and not the brine
circulation and return system, which was entirely the responsibility of the refrigeration
plant contractor. Author’s collection |
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| Refrigeration machinery - The refrigeration units were of
the “CO2” type, utilizing this gas (carbon dioxide) in its compressed form
instead of air. The CO2 liquefied when cooled, at which point it was passed through a coil
of iron piping located within a tank containing brine (a solution of chloride of calcium).
Within this coil the CO2 absorbed heat from the brine, expanded and reassumed its gaseous
form at about -10° F. The surrounding brine became quickly chilled in turn and, when
reduced to about 0° F, was withdrawn by a pump and circulated through the circuits or
“grids” of piping that ran under the decks and along the upper parts of the
vessel’s sides to the refrigerated compartments. Separate grid sections within each
compartment were interlaced so that if one part were to fail, it would not cause a loss of
cooling to an entire wall or ceiling. Grid sections were fastened in place with hanger
bolts and angle iron supports and were not to exceed approximately 1,200 feet each in
length . . . (continued) |
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Insulation
- With regard to refrigerated holds and store rooms on a ship, insulation could be
described as the covering of the exposed steelwork of the hull with a thick layer of
non-conducting material so that nowhere would the cold air of the hold come in contact
with it. Since steel is a conductor and is warmed by the outside air and sea water, it
could rapidly extract and dissipate the cold within the refrigerated compartments. The
thoroughness of the insulation, or, in other words, the thickness and continuity of the
layer of non-conducting material was paramount to its effectiveness. Once the hold and the
cargo were chilled to the required temperature, if the hold were well-insulated both it
and cargo within would remain at that temperature with little necessity for further
refrigeration . . .
(continued) |
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