3-008-804 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The International Exhibition: Siebes' patent ice-making machine, from a photograph by the London Stereoscopic Company, 1862. 'Ice is now getting to be much more generally used than formerly; the demand for it is constantly increasing, and we have no doubt that in a few years a block of ice proportioned to the requirements of the family will be delivered every morning through the summer months as regularly as is now the case with milk...The great point in this machine is its perfect independence of all external, thermal, and atmospheric influences, which renders it equally effective in any climate; its consequent value to the inhabitants of tropical countries cannot be too highly estimated. The refrigerator in use at the International Exhibition is not only under the direct influence of the rays of the sun, but is surrounded by steam machinery at work...The Indian Government has ordered one of Siebes' largest icemaking machines for the use of her Majesty's troops in India; and there is every likelihood of these machines being generally adopted for a like purpose in all tropical climates'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.