Abstract
THIS book, which is devoted mainly to practical study of mechanical refrigeration and cold storage, should have a wide circulation, dealing as it does with a growing industry of which the literature, so far as text-books are concerned, is remarkably scanty. It opens with two chapters on the theory of heat engines and refrigerating machines. The first of these might well have been omitted, as it merely contains a series of definitions which can only be intended for a trader who is totally ignorant of the elementary theory of heat, and are somewhat apt to convey a wrong impression. The second chapter, on thermodynamics, is carefully worked out, the section dealing with the heat change consequent on the performance of internal work by the fluid being particularly interesting. A chapter devoted to the history of the subject leads to a short study of the methods of preparing the modern refrigerants, liquid carbonic acid and ammonia, and a description of the more important type of refrigerating machinery. In the latter section the author has confined himself to an account of ammonia and carbonic acid plant, and in this, considering the dimensions of the work, he is undoubtedly justified. Fifty pages of the book deal with the auxiliary plant necessary in a cold storage works. Finally, insulation, ice making, the construction and arrangement of cold storage works, and the application of methods of refrigeration to commercial processes are fully dealt with. The author wisely omits all mention of liquid air and its problematical applications. The book is well illustrated by means of photographs and diagrams, and the text is clear and concise.
Mechanical Refrigeration.
By Hal Williams Pp. xiii + 406. (London: Whittaker and Co., 1903.) Price 10s. 6d.
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T., M. Mechanical Refrigeration . Nature 68, 174 (1903). https://doi.org/10.1038/068174b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/068174b0