The Refrigeration of Fruit and Vegetable

Shipments

A. W. McKay, u. S. Bureau of Markets, Orlando, Florida.

There is probably no factor which has damage in traonsit, led the United States
played a larger 'part in the d.evelopment Department of Agriculture to under-
of the fruit and vegetable industries of take ah investigation of refrigerator cars
the country than tIle refrigerator tar. ahd refrigeration practices. This work
Thoug-h it ,is' true that a 'considerable per- was begun in Califorl11a four years ago.
cenhtge of the fruits a.n'd vegetables It ha'S been cattied 011 itt the West, the
grown in this state ~re shipped under ven- Southwest and East with a wide range
tilation, nevertheless without the refrig- of products and types of cats. Tilis sea-
erator car the market tor many ot our sort experiments 'of the same natute
produ'Cts would be restricted to nearby have been conducted in Florida.
points, while oth'ers could not be mark- Briefly, the plan of the investig·atioil
eted at all. Adnlitting the important has been to secure acctir~te records of the -
part which the refrigerator car has played temperatures b£ b. large number of ship-
in extending the marketing area and en- ments, load.ed in cars of varying design
couraging the production of fruits and alld efficiency. These retords are secured
vegetables, it must also be granted that from the time the 'cars ~re loaded a.nd
inadequate refrigeration 'and poor refrig- the doors clos~d titltii they are opened at
erator cars have caused enormous losses destination. By the use ot specially C'on-
of perishable food products. All growers structed electrical thermome~ters it has
and shippers, vegetable shippers especi- been possible to obtain temperatures in
any, khOW or shipnlents which arrived twelve. selected l~ations in 'each car with-
at market with the botton1 of the load in out opening the car doors at any time or
good condition, while the top showed disturbing tile normal conditions of the
serious detay or other deterioration. shipment. In all cases our men accom-
Wh~n a shipment, uniform in condition patty the cats under test from the loading
wheri loaded, arrives at market in this station to ma.rket. In the past four years
condition the unfortunate limitations of several hundred trips of this kind have
the average refrigerator cars are, as a been made with from three to fifteen cars
rule, responsible for the 'damage. under obseNation in each test. I wish to
The serious proportions of the losses e111phasize the fact th-at the temperatures
du'e to inadequate "Cooling, or to frost on which our conclusions are based are
63
64 FL9RIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

not the telTIperatures of the air surround- In the first place, we are obliged as
ing the packages, though air temperatures you know to depel1d on ice as the refrig-
have been secured in every car tested. erant for perishable shipments. Mechani-
In a shipment of oranges, for example, cal refrigerating plants for cars are still
we 'obtain a temperature of a particular in the experimental stage, and are not yet
orange in a box located in a particular sufficiently simple or fool-proof to be
part of the car. This temperature is com- practical. Contrary to a rather common
bined with others secured in boxes so belief, refrigeration is not obtained from
located that the average of all will be the ice in the bunkers of the car. The
very nearly the average temperature of cooling effect,-the absorption of heat,-
the entire load. is secured by a process analagous to the
The results of this work have been burning of coal to produce heat. The
accepted by many railroads and car coal bin may be full of coal, but the coal
lines, and practically all refrigerator cars cannot produce heat until it is burning.
built since 1916 conform closely to the Similarly the bunkers of a car nlay be
designs advocated by the Department. full of ice, but· no cooling is produced
The Railroad Administration, in prepar- until the ice is melting. Each pound of
ing plans and specifications for a stand- ice in the bunkers will absorb a certain
ard refrigerator car, adopted all of the quantity of heat while it is melting and
improvements which this work has dem- no more. Consequently nothing can be
onstrated to be of value. There are now done to increase the refrigerating value
approximately 5,000 cars in the United of the ice. and the problem resolves it-
States whicll conform entirely, or with self into one of transferring heat rapidly
only minor 'variations to the specifications and uni formly fron1 all parts of the load
of the U. S. Standard refrigerator car. to the ice.
I believe that practically all refrigerator To do this, we are dependent on the
cars built in the future will follow this natural circulation of the air in the car.
standard, and that the older cars will The use of fans is open to the same ob-
be rebuilt according to standard designs jection as are mechan·ical refrigerating
as rapidly as they can be put through the plants. One of the first laws of physics
shops. is that warm air will rise and cold air
Before going into details regarding the fall. This is the ~lementary principle
special features of the standard car, and which must be kept in mind in the design
the performance of this and other types, of refrigerator cars. The problem is to
I wish to discuss a few of the elementary provide unobstructed channels for air
principles of refrigeration. There is a circulation, together with a sufficient
great deal of misapprehension, perhaps quantity of insulation in the car walls
it would be better to say lack of con1- to keep leakage of warm air into the car
prehension, regarding the manner in at a ~minimum.
which a refrigerator car actually cools In a refrigerator car there is a column
its load. of cold air in each bunker, and a column
 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 65

of warmer air in the body of the car. As degrees higher than would have been
the air is chilled by the ice it falls to the obtained with a properly spaced load.
bottom of the bunker, displacing an The first requirement for quick and uni-
equal volume of air already cooled, which form cooling, therefore, is good loading.
is forced out through the bottom bunker A shipment well loaded in a poor c~r may
opening. The cold air passes lengthwise refrigerate as rapidly as a shipment care-
of the car through the spaces between the lessly loaded in a good car.
crates, absorbing heat from the packages Another factor which influences the
with which it comes in contact, and grad- promptness with which a shipment is
ually rises to the ceiling, returning to cooled is, of course, the initial tempera-
the bunker through the top bulkhead ture of the product. This can be con-
opening. It is readily seen that this cir- trolled by the shipper to a limited extent.
culation is necessarily slow, and that the For example, you have a carload of fruit
air is easily checked and retarded. on the floor of your packing house, the
In the ordinary refrigerator car there temperature of which is, say 55 degrees
are sevefal obstructions to air circula- F. at 9 :00 a. m. If that fruit stands
tion which makes cooling of the load a in the house until the afternoon it will
very slow and difficult process. In the warm up under normal conditions to 65
first place the bunkers are filled with ice, degrees F., or higher. If it is then loaded
leaving very little space which the air into an iced car, its average temperature
can penetrate. Secondly, the shipment will not be lower than 55 degrees F. 24
is loaded on the floor of the car in a hours later, whereas if it had been loaded
more or less solid mass. With some at 55 degrees at nine o'clock in the morn-
packages, such as hampers and baskets, ing, its average temperature 24 hours
it is impossible to secure a compact load, later would be well below 50 degrees F.
which will stand the shocks and jars it In other words, you would substract a
receives in transit, and at the same time day from the time necessary to cool this
provide channels between the packages shipment by loading it promptly while
for air circulation. It is possible to pro- the fruit was at a relatively cool tempera-
vide proper air channels in.a load of ture.
crates, and if the load is securely strip- I have already mentioned the obstruc-
ped and braced these spaces will remain tion to air circulation caused by the mass
unobstructed throughout the trip. Of- of ice in the bunker of an ordinary re-
ten, however, a careless workman will frigerator car. To overcome this dif-
load the crates out of line so that all or ficulty what is known as the wire basket
part of the air channels are blocked; or bunker was tested and recommended.
the load will shift in transit with the This is not a new device, it has been
same result. When this condition arises, used on a few cars for twenty or twenty-
it is absolutely certain that the tempera- five years. In the wire basket bunker
ture of the load in the center of the car, the ice is held away from the four walls
beyond the obstruction, will be five to ten by a heavy wire screen, providing a two
66 FLORIIlA STA~E HORTlCOULTUlUL SOCIETY

to. three-inch air space, which permits air of the· packages adjacent to the bulkhead
circulation on all sides of the ice. The with consequent interruption of air
advantages of this type of bunker are circulation. Being solid it forces the air
very plain; first, the quantity of air pass- to the bottom. of tIle bunker before it can
ing over the ice in a given time is in- escape into the body of the car. The
creased and the cooling of the load ac- results are (I) complete chilling of all
celerated; secondly, the air comes in the air, (2) more air reaching the center
contact with a larger surface of ice and of the car, and (3) the elimination of
is more thoroughly chilled. stagnant patches of air caused by the
The second feature of car construction premature cooling of the crates next to
to be modified was the bunker bulkhead the bulkhead. The insulated bulkhead is
(the partition between the ice bunker and provided with openings across the top
the loading space of the car.) and bottom, wllich as a rule are IS and
In all parts of the country, except the 12 inches high, respectively.

Southeast, refrigerator cars equipped Another feature of bulkhead construc-

with an open type of bulkhead have been tion modified was the splash board, that
in most conlmon use. These bulkheads is the wooden or metal strip running
are constructed of heavy wooden slats, across the car, underneath the bottom
spaced abOtlt an inch apart, or of curved bulkhead opening. In most of the old
metal louvres, as ill the so-called syphon style cars the splash board is at lea.st
bulkhead. It was found that the opell 4 inches above the floor level, and seri-
bulkheads do not give uniform air dis- ously obstrtlcts air circulation. In the
tribution. A portion of the air escapes newer cars it has been reduced to 10
from the bttnker before reaching the bot- inches, and in SOlne types, by sinking the
tom of the ice. It then travels through bottom of the bunker below the floor
the load perhaps only the distance of level, it has been possible to do away with
two or three packages before returning the splash board entirely.
to the bunker. In other words, a part FollOWIng the imp.rovements in bunker
of the air is short circuited, and the construction, described above, there still
packages in the center of the car are in- relnains the problem of providing a pas-
adequately cooled in consequence. It was sageway for the air into. the center of "the
fou;nd also that w,ith the con1nlon type car. This has· bee·n accomplished by the
of solid bulkhead the packages imme-
l
, introduction of floor- racks, that is a slat-
diately against the bulkhead are cooled ted false floor, built of 2X4 inch stringers
rapidly by cenduetion. This resul.ts inl plac@d lengthwise in th.e car, and! }X3·
a patch. €)·f stagnan·t air at the t0P o.f the cross strips, spaced F ~ inehes apart. In
load' next 'to the· lbulkheadl w,hich in,ter~ the standard ears the floor racks are a
fe..reB with air clrculati011J... pe·nnanent part of the equipment, and
To overcome these diffMulties, a solid are· hin.ged to the ear walt so- that t'hey
insu,lated bulkhead was introduced.' It may be raised when the cali'is cleaned or
is insulated' to prevent the rapid. eoo);ing when heavy dead freight is €arried.
 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 67

The racks provide a clear four-inch the floor insulation waterproof. The
air space underneath the entire load, and above specifications, as yOl1 see, call :for
with the bunker improvements already de- nlore than twice the quantity of insulat-
scribed, form a combination which will ing material used in the ordinary refrig-
produce. as prompt and uniform cooling erator. This amount is the absolute
of shipments in transit as can be obtained minitnum which will p,rotect shipments
under present conditions. They remove fro1TI the invasion of heat under all con-
most of the objections to hampers and ditions, and which will afford a degree
baskets from a refrigeratiol1 sta'ndpoint, of protection from frost during the
and with a shipnlent in crates supplement, winter months at all consistent with
in fact tnake ahnost unnecessary, the pro- safety. Shippers of pre-cooled fruit are
vision of air spaces betwee11 the pack- especiall y interested in securing well in-
ages. If we were allowed only one im- sulated cars, for a large part of the bene-
provement in our present refrigerator car, fits of pre-cooling may be dissipated by a
I would unhesitatingly choose floor racks poorly insulated or leaky car.
as the most indispensable. Briefly, then, a stal1dard refrigerator
From our discussion of air circula- car, one that will cool its load with rea-
tion, it will be seen that cooling in the sonable promptness, and protect it against
ordinary refrigerator car proceeds under the elements, must possess the following
difficulties similar to what would be en- essential features:
countered if an attempt was m~de to I. Wire-basket bunkers.
drive an autolTIobile with all the brakes 2. Insulated bulkheads.
set. The \vire-basket bunker removes one 3. Floor racks.
obstruction; it releases the emergency 4. Adequate insulation.
brake. Floor racks release the service It nlt1st not only possess these features
brake and allow the machine to proceed when new, but the car must be kept in
smoothly and rapidly. first class condition by frequent inspec-
The next essential of an ef&ient re- tion and repairs, and by the rebuilding
frigerator car is adequate insulation. The of the entire car body when light repairs
general run of cars have from one half ,vill no longer suffice. Cars in poor re-
to one and a half inches of insulator. An pair cannot give efficient service, no mat-
inch is about the average. The work of ter what desirable features they may
the Department of Agriculture has ShOW11 contain.
that refrigerator cars must have the The cooling of a perishable shipment
equivalent of three inches of cork in the ill transit is a slow process in any. refrig-
roof, two inches in the watts and 2~ erator car. In the ordinary re·frigerator
inches. in tbe floor. Hairfelt, or similar car cooling is so retarded, especial~.y in
materials can be used to advantage in the the top layers of the load' that it is' usu-
walls and roof, but it s.eerns necessary to ally seve,raJ: days before a desirnb1le· tem-
use cork in the floor for the reason that perature is reached. This may' be illus-
special precaution must })e taken to keep trated by a table' showing the tempera-
68 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

tures in a car of oranges shipped from at a moderately high temperature, the

Florida to Baltimore, Md., under stan- standard car will cool its load a degree an
dard full tank refrigeration Feb. 19, last. hour faster for the first six or seven hours
Table I. Average temperature of the than will an old style car with a similar
top layer and entire load in a carload of load. Twenty-four hours after loading,
oranges shipped under standard. full tank the average temperature of the load in
refrigeration: a standard car loaded with any style of
Average of Average of package will be five to ten degrees lower
Top layer load than the average temperature of an ordi-
Immediately after nary refrigerator with a similar load, pro-
loading -----------6I.4°F. Sg.6°F. vided the shipments were at the same
One day later S9.2°F. 50.3°F. temperature when loaded. The differ-
Two days later S6.8°F. 48.3°F. ence between the top layer temperatures
Three days later S3.IoF. 46.o oF. will be greater, probably over ten, some-
Four days later So.8°F. 44.7°F. times as much as fifteen degrees. The
Five days later 48.7°F. 43.3°F. higher the initial temperature of the ship-
It will be seen from this table that ment the more pronoullced becomes the
the temperature of the top layer dropped comparative efficiency of the standard
only two degrees in 24 hours, and less car. The condition of the shipment on
than five degrees in two days. Four days arrival is often a more striking indication
after the car was loaded the tempera- of the value of these improvements than
ture of the top layer was still above 50 is the tetnperature difference obtained in
degrees, al1d the average of the car was transit. I recall one test made from the
practically 45 degrees. In fact the ship- Imperial Valley, California, with canta-
ment had hardly reached a desirable tem- loupes two years ago, ~n which two cars,
perature five days after it was loaded. one conforming very closely to the re...
This slow cooling is not an exception, and quirements of a standard car and the
is not found in the cars of anyone com- other an old line car in rather poor re-
pany. It is the conlmon experience with pair, were loaded with melons of the
shipnlents transported in any of the old same general condition and quality. The
style refrigerator cars. . Inelons arrived in New York with 86%
With the standard cars luuch more of the top layer crates in the old car soft
rapid cooling is obtained, especially in and undesirable from a market stand-
the. top of the load and at the doorway point. Less than five per cent of the
where most .of the trouble is experienced. melons in the top layer of the standard
The advantages obtained vary with the car were soft. In other words, the de-
h1itial temperatures of the shipmel1ts, terioration had been reduced· to less than
,vith outside temperature conditions, and one-seventeenth of that obtained in the
the nature of the. package used. I can· Hne car. Equally striking examples have
safely say, however, that with fruits or been obtained with other products, from
v.egetables loaded in hatnpers or baskets, other sections of the United States.
 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 69

The Department of Agriculture has Three days later -----42.9"'F. 38.IoF.

also conducted experiments to determine Four days later 4I.2°F. 37.9°F.
the practicability of using salt to hasten Five days later 39.8°F. 37.0°F.
cooling in transit. It was soon discov- It will be seen from the table that this
ered that adding salt to the ice in are.. shipment was lower at the end of two
frigerator car of the old style was of no days than is the average shipment, start-
value, and that freezing of the product ing at the same temperature, after five
at the floor close to the bulkhead was days in transit. At the end of three
liable to follow. With air circulation days, the temperature of the shipment
obstructed as it is in the ordinary car, was as low as that of the average pre-
the only effect produced by the use of cooled car.
salt is a chilling of the crates nearest the The amount of salt that may be safely
bulkhead without the temperature of the added to the ice in a standard car varies
load in the center of the car being affected with the initial temperature of the ship-
in any way. ment and the nature of the load. For
With the standard car, however, a oranges, six to ten per cent of the weight
fairly high percentage of salt may be of the ice, or 600 to 1000 pounds may be
added to the ice with safety, and coolillg used. Celery and lettuce, and quick cool-
of the load will be greatly accelerated. ing tender fruits will not stand more
Aside from pre-cooling, the use of salt than 400 pounds. The salt should be
with a properly constructed car furnishes added as soon as possible after the car is
the most rapid and effective method of loaded. Most effective results will be
cooling perishable shipments. The follow- obtained when the salt is placed on top
ing table shows the average temperature of the ice which has previously been
of the top and of the entire load in a ship- broken into fine pieces to prevent the
ment of oranges in a standard car with salt from falling through crevices. Coarse
the ice salted. This shipment was sent salt, the ice cream size, or larger, should
from Florida during the past season. be used.
800 pounds of ice cream salt was added -No discussion of the refrigeration of
immediately after the car was loaded and perishable shipnlents is complete without
200 pounds at the first re-icing.
some mention of pre-cooling. The results
Table 2. Average temperature of the of the refrigerator car investigations
top layer and of the entire load in car have served to strengthen the. evidence
load of oranges shipped in a standard already obtained regarding the value of
car under standard refrigeration: pre-cooling and to show the necessity
Average of Average of for cars of heavier insulation which will
Top layer load Inaintain the shipment at the low tempera-
Itumediately after ture secured in the pre-cooling room. It
loading 60.I oF. 6o.0°F. has been shown also that the efficiency of
One day later 52.IoF. 43·9° F . the pre-cooling obtained at a railroad
Two days later - 45.9°F. 39· o °F . plant after the car is loaded is insignifi-
70 FLORlDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

cant compared with that which can be se- shipper of the more perishable vegetables
cured in a warehouse room, properly con- and' tender fruits who wishes to avoid
st-ructed and operated. Twenty-four undue loss.
hours, or less, in such a room is suffi- The investigations 0.£ the D'epartment
cient to cool a shipment to a lower tem- have shown also that it is entirely prac-
perature than is secured in the ordinary ticable to forward pre-cooled shipments
refrigerator car after a week in transit. with initial icing only, even during sum-
The value of this prompt cooling in ar- mer weather. Initial icing will protect
resting ripening and decay has been deln.. the shipment for at least a week, provided
onstrated time and time again, both by it is shipped in a reasonably well insulated
experiment of the U. S. Department of refrigerator car.
Agriculture and on a commercial scale. The efforts made by fruit and vege-
During a 110rmal seaSOl1, the orange ship- table growers to combat field diseases, to
pers probably need pre-cooling as little secure more careful handling, better grad-
as the shippers of any product moving ing and better packing have had their
under refrigeration. It is a significant effect in more universal demand and
fact, however, that a large percentage higher prices for Florida products. Bet-
of the fruit and vegetable pre-cooling ter refrigerator cars and pre..,cooling for
plants in operation today are owned by the products which require it, will place
orange shippers and a~sociations~ The your industries on a still more stable
fact that these plants have proven suc- basis and result in greater returns to you
cessful in the shipment of oranges make and every agency concerned in handling
pre,cooling appear a necessity for the and transporting your crops.