Fuller's Ice-Box. - This box is one of the most ingenious and useful inventions that have been introduced into the domestic economy of the wealthy classes for many years. It may be described as one box within another, the inner box being 6 inches apart from the outer box on every side, and at the top and bottom. The space between the outer box and the inner box is filled up with burnt cork in a state of powder, as being a better nonconductor of heat than powdered charcoal of common wood. The lid is double like the sides, and the vacuity filled with charcoal in the same manner, to prevent the possibility of air getting in to the contents of the box when it is shut. The lid has ledges which project downwards into a gutter containing water, so as to render the junction airtight. The ice is contained in the well or space thus enclosed and protected, which is lined with cork; and which will keep the rough ice for three, four, and five weeks, in the hottest weather of summer. Mr. Harrison's box is 3 ft. 5 in. by 2 ft. 8 in., and 3 ft. 5 in. in depth, outside measure; and the well, or inner box, will contain 300 lbs. of rough ice. The cost of a box of this size complete is 25l. 4s. The cost of the ice which is required to fill it, and which is supplied by a large wholesale dealer in that article at Southgate, Mr. Symonds, is about 15s.; the price per cwt varying from 4s. to 6s., of three sorts, sweepings, mixed, and pure, at different prices. The box three times filled will serve an ordinary family a whole season. When we consider the expense of building an ice-house; the uncertainty of its answering the end proposed; the expense of filling it annually with ice, and of taking out a portion every two or three days, or in the hottest weather every day; the saving by the use of the ice-preserver must be obvious. In fact, there are few families who have an ice-house, who would not save a considerable sum every year by it, and be much more certain of always having ice when they wanted it. The box is the invention of Mr. Fuller, No. 60. Jermyn Street, London; and, when it once becomes properly known, we have no doubt that it, or some similar contrivance, will take the place of ice-houses in suburban residences all over the country. As this takes place, a demand will be created for dealers in ice, who will collect and preserve it better, and at far less expense, than any individual can do, and who will supply the possessors of boxes. The mere circumstance of an immense body of ice being put together will contribute to its preservation, while the smaller quantities put into private ice-houses, and often most improperly mixed with salt while being put in, is always liable to melt, by the penetration of the heat with which it is surrounded. Though the invention has been only a very short time before the public, we already know some gentlemen having ice-houses near town who have given up filling them, and who, having procured a box, get it filled two or three times in the course of the summer, at an expense, for the season, of not more than 2l. or 3l. In the very complete offices at Elvaston Castle, the seat of the Earl of Harrington, near Derby, the ice-house may be said to form a part of the castle, being, as already observed in p. 460., under a tower which forms the larder. In a vaulted room near the butler's pantry, there are two cold closets or presses formed by Mr. Fuller. They consist of double boxes, the space between the outer and inner box being filled with ice; so that cold meat, pies, tarts, butter, or any article requiring to be kept cool, is set on the shelves of one of these presses with no more trouble than they would be set on the shelf of a common press. It may be interesting to some of our readers to know that the greatest dealer in ice in London, or perhaps in the world, is Mr. Leftwich of Albany Street, Regent's Park; and the next, perhaps, Mr. Symonds of Southgate. The ice-house at Southgate is 36 ft. deep, measuring from the surface, and 14 ft. high above the surface. It is circular, and 24 ft. in diameter, at the surface of the ground; 18 ft. at the bottom; and the dome at top rises in the form of a cone. This house, it is computed, will contain 450 tons of ice.
