Ancient Technology: Raplin Ice Maker

We had originally found this design in a book entitled “The Forgotten Arts & Crafts” by John Seymour (ISBN 0-78945847-0).  The machine was referred to as the “Raplin Ice Maker”, and the snippet of text stated, “Before refrigerators were common, ice-making machines could be found in many homes.  The Raplin ice maker was one of the many machines available.  It froze water at the turn of a handle, making a block of ice in about 20 minutes.”  Near as we can figure, the crank compresses a chamber with some sort of gas (perhaps ammonia), which is then released into an expansion chamber.  As the compressed gas expands, it rapidly cools and thus freezes the water housed in a separate chamber.  All of this in a unit about the size of a sewing machine.The author of the book has passed away, and when you try to search for an actual machine on the internet, you will find a million listings for hand cranked ice cream makers.  We were able to track down the original manufacturer:  Messrs Pulsometer Engineering Co., Ltd., Reading England, Nine Elms Iron Works, Reading.  In addition:  Pulsometer Engineering Co., 1 St. Pauls Yard, Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire MK16 OEG.  It seems that the Pulsometer company was mainly involved as an ironworks business that made parts and cars for the railroad.  The company closed its doors in 1960, but seems to have been taken over by what is now the

Sigmund Pulsometer Company, who were kind enough to send us this catalog description and picture.  Another lead is a design called the “Audiffren Singrun Refrigerating Machine”. For more information about the mechanism behind the Raplin, check out this link. This is something that can obviously be done if we could get a prototype in hand.  Ammonia is easy to get in the third world, but it would have to be recycled inside the unit.  If you are willing to put your brain, time and energy into a working prototype, that would be excellent.  The use for such a unit is in a village being able to preserve fresh fish or game to keep for their use, and for them to be able to transport to other villages before spoiling.

This interesting article was found at http://www.hydromissions.com/think_tank.htm