Ice Skating Rink Rusholme

THE ICE SKATING RINK AT RUSHOLME - By the enterprise of a private company of gentlemen the public of Manchester are shortly to be put in possession of the opportunity of ice skating all the year round. The Ice Skating Rink at Rusholme is so nearly completed that its opening is looked for towards the end of the present week. There can be little doubt that it will become a permanent Aattraction@ in this city and have an equal, if not surpassing measure of success to the ice rinks which have recently been established at Chelsea and Charing Cross. To Professor Gamgee (brother of the Professor Gamgee of Owens College) we owe this novel and, it is hoped, permanent form of an old but somewhat precarious source of enjoyment, as well as the more substantial advantage which has been gained by the possibility - now fully proved - of introducing large quantities of fresh meat into this country from abroad. When what has been called Athe rink mania@ was imported into this country from America, Professor Gamgee, with the keenness of perception of a true scientist, at once saw that it might be possible to employ the refrigerating process which he had adopted for the preservation of meat to the making of ice for skating purposes. After some experiments with ether, he proclaimed his ability to produce a skating surface capable of being maintained in all seasons and which should be unaffected even by a tropical temperature. The success of the rinks which have been established in London, although they have not yet been tried by the hot months of summer, is a testimony to Professor Gamgee=s conclusions. Compared with the asphalte rinks, the new system, which provides skating on ice, is much more expensive, necessitating as it does complicated machinery; but this means nothing to the public, and when the two are placed on the same level in point of safety there can be only one opinion as to the relative merits of skating on ice and Arolling@ on asphalte.  At Rusholme the rink is constructed on Gamgee=s patent but with freezing machinery supplied by M M Raoul Pictet & Company of Geneva. For freezing purposes M. Pictet employs sulphurous acid, which has the property of assuming a liquid form at a pressure of two atmospheres. The acid is made to act upon a mixture of glycerine and water, which being cooled down by a refrigerating process to a temperature of about twenty degrees Fahrenheit is made to circulate through a series of flat tubes of which the floor of the rink is flooded with water to a depth of an inch or an inch and a half, and by the action of the cold liquid in the tubes below, the water is gradually frozen, and so a fine surface of ice is produced for skating purposes. As the machinery has a special character and is new to this country, or comparatively so, it may be interesting to give a more extended notice of it. The motive power originates in a 25-horse-power Lancashire boiler with Galloway tubes, set in accordance with the patented arrangement of Messrs Hydes & Bennett, of Sheffield, the object of which is to get the best possible effect from the fuel, and at the same time to consume the smoke which is ordinarily allowed to pass of in volumes by the chimney. The former is effected by a peculiar arrangement of fire-clay guides and the latter by a jet of steam inducing a current of air through the fire door. In the machine room motion is given to two 10-horse-power steam engines, each of which drives the compressing pump for sulphurous acid in the freezing apparatus. This may be said to consist of a tubular condenser and a similar refrigerator. The compressing pump before mentioned forces the sulphurous acid into the condenser in a liquid form, from whence it passes in gaseous form into the refrigerator. In the centre of the refrigerator is a cylinder or series of tubes, and through these the glycerine and water which traverses the floor of the rink is caused to pass. By the action of the acid the mixture is cooled down in its transit through the refrigerator to the requisite temperature and is then passed into a reservoir, to be afterwards passed into the floor tubes as required. Each machine employed is capable of producing seven tons of ice every twenty-four hours, with an expenditure of about fourteen indicated horses. Passing to the rink itself it ought to be stated that the skating surface will be 122 feet long by 36 feet wide. The piping for the circulation of the glycerine and water through the rink has been constructed in three sections, so that if at any time any portion of the piping becomes defective there will still remain two-thirds of the rink in skating order. Running round the skating surface is a raised platform for spectators, and at either end of the rink is a balcony. One balcony will be devoted to the band and to smokers, while the other will be reserved for spectators and non-smokers. The rink has been constructed at the rear of a large house which stands back from the highway in its own grounds. By rearranging the house the directors of the company have made the most handsome provision for the convenience of skaters, especial provision having been made for the comfort of ladies, who are to have their own special apartments, entirely removed from those of the other sex. The walls and roof of the rink are elegantly decorated, and throughout the whole establishment there is evidence of a refined and cultivated taste. The directors have not yet utilised to its full extent the land in their possession, and it is contemplated, if it should become necessary, to extend the skating surface so as nearly to double its size. Mr H Beck of Cannon-street, London, is the engineer, and Mr Hull, of Manchester, the architect to the company. [ The British Architect and Northern Engineer 5 January 1877 Page 8]