THE refrigerating installation on board the Olympic and Titanic embodies all the latest facilities for efficient cold storage. The ship’s provision rooms, situated aft on the lower and orlop decks (see Plate V.), are most extensive, and include separate cold chambers for beef; mutton, poultry and game, fish, vegetables, fruit, milk and butter, bacon and cheese, flowers, mineral waters, wine and spirits, and champagne, which can thus be kept at the temperatures most suitable for preservation in each case.
A large insulated compartment for the carriage of perishable cargo occupies an adjacent space to the provision stores. The installation also comprises a number of cold larders in the bars and pantries in different parts of the ship, and arrangements for making ice and cooling the drinking water which is supplied at various points in the first, second, and third-class accommodation.
The refrigerating engines, which, with their accessories, have been supplied by Messrs. J. & E. Hall, Limited, of Dartford, are situated on the port side of the reciprocating engine room at the floor level ; see Plates V. and VIII. The engines (Fig. 72) consist of two horizontal duplex C02 machines, each of which combines two complete units capable of independent working, so that actually four refrigerating units are provided. The machines are of the makers’ standard type, having compressors bored from solid blocks of high-carbon steel, and condenser coils of solid drawn copper contained in the base casting. Each machine has its own surface condenser, brass circulating pumps, and air and feed pumps. A duplex brass-ended water pump is provided as a stand-by.
The evaporators, likewise divided into four units, are placed in an insulated recess above the machines at the orlop deck level, at which level the brine pumps—three in number, with interchangeable connections—are also placed. The brine return tanks are situated at the lower deck level, immediately above the evaporators ; see Plate V. The brine circulation is on the open return system, with separate flow and return on each circuit. All brine pipes throughout are externally galvanized. The various circuits are of moderate length, and are interlaced in the chambers to ensure even distribution of the cooling effect, even in the remote contingency of one section becoming blocked.
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