Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Lorain Crystal Ice Company – Part 2

The Lorain Crystal Ice Company seemed to appear in the trade journals quite regularly in its early years.

Cold Storage and Ice Trade Journal, Volume 44 (March 1912) included a mention of the company. "The plant of the Lorain Crystal Ice Co. is being overhauled and remodeled, new apparatus added, and the 50-ton ice tanks equipped with a gravity feed ammonia circulating system, which will increase thier capacity to about 65 tons per day. These improvements are being made by The Cleveland Ice Machine Co., Cleveland, Ohio."

An article in Coal Age from December 1914 stated, "The Lorain Crystal Ice Co. has started the erection of a large storage plant for coal to hold 1200 tons. It will be completed by Jan. 1.

A Three-ton truck delivering ice for 72 cents a ton
(From December 1915 Refrigeration journal)
The December 1915 edition of Refrigeration included a detailed article about the use of motor trucks by ice companies, with a paragraph devoted to the Lorain Crystal Ice Company. The article stated, "Valuable figures on the cost of using motor trucks in wholesale transfer work are furnished by the Lorain Crystal Ice Company of Lorain, O. This company supplies ice to the National Tube Company, one of the biggest industrial concerns in the state of Ohio, having about 10,000 employees and being a heavy consumer of ice seven months in the year. A three-ton truck is employed to haul ice exclusively from the artificial plant in Lorain to the plant of the National Tube Company on the opposite side of the town. This truck, placed in service on May 1, 1913, is hauling ice a distance of 3 1/2 to 5 miles and making from six to seven trips daily at a cost of 72 cents per ton, including repairs, depreciation, driver, helper, and all other legitimate charges. In the second year of service the cost of hauling was less than the first year."

Here's the company's listing in the 1915-16 Lorain City Directory (below).



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