2020 RETA Breeze Nov-Dec

In November of 1865 David would travel to Augusta, Georgia. A rumor from the war charged that a fully functional ice machine was located there. When he arrived, he found the parties in the process of developing an Ice Machine, but they had no saleable machine at that time. While no evidence exists, I believe this to be the Emily Harvie Thomas Tubman ice machine she purchased to relieve the suffering of injured soldiers during the war. But I digress. David would see them again in 1866, at that time, their first saleable machine (two-ton capacity) had just been produced and was destined for Shreveport, Louisiana. The costs of some $30,000 seemed high for his budget. David was determined to find a more affordable ice machine. For three years David searched to no avail until he heard of the Vander Weyde machine, a product of New Orleans, Louisiana. David then divested his homes, land, and business to raise capital for the machine. However the machine did commercially unviable for David. David then relocated his family to San Francisco, California. His employment in San Francisco is unknown, but while there he studied at the technical library of the Mechanics Institute. Founded only 15 years before in 1854, the Mechanics’ Institute is one of first such institutions on the West Coast of the United States. They are still in operation today. One of the items David read in the library was a catalog from Siebe and Company. A company in London, England, known more for their diving helmets than other endeavors. David ordered a small Harrison machine from Siebe. After waiting for over a year, David would not prove out. A multitude of problems made the machine

Patent #128,448. An Improvement in ice machines

In November of that year, 1872, David relocated his family to New Orleans, Louisiana. In New Orleans, he began construction of a one-ton ice machine. By June 1st of the following year, 1873, he relocated to Jefferson, Texas. Near destitute with a partially completed ice machine. He finished the machine in Jefferson. Unfortunately, the machine was a failure, it leaked and had to be rebuilt from scratch. But David had no money to do so. His machine would have died there, had not fate intervened.

hire legal representation and retrieve his payment. The delay proved quite beneficial for the industry as David continued to study and eventually build not one, but two experimental ice machines. In 1872 he would patent his first ice machine based upon his second design. United States Patent #128,448. “An Improvement in ice machines”. He would also be issued

patents in 1875 and 1881. These machines would ultimately prove failures.

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