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Trip in Time
The Ice Machine
By Al Bliss
This was a project taken
seriously by me but a joke to others because the ICE MACHINE WAS
OLDER THAN DIRT. It was summer and hotter than a frying pan
everywhere except the few spaces on the Marlboro that had
miraculously found a working air conditioner. It seemed logical to
get the ICE MACHINE in operation so that everyone could have
something cold. The process was very simple: energize the thing, it
was about six feet tall, three plus feet wide and about four feet
deep with a classic roll top desk device that allowed access to the
ice. Now, to make sure it could receive water was the next step which
did not take very long to find the two valves that had to be opened
and then make sure the drain worked to let the running water pass
through the empty machine. It did have two ice making columns that,
if I could get it running would make a lot of ice. I noticed that
only a few of the temperature sensors were installed [looked like
they had been borrowed or stolen] so with a five pound can of tea as
a bartering item, I visited the refrigeration shop in the shipyard
traded the tea for a bag of sensors.
Once the sensors were
installed, the excitement was eminent so on with the water, flip the
switch and guess what, it started to make ICE. I watched for a while
and after seeing that both ice columns were working well, I closed
the front roll top door and told everyone still on the Marlboro that
as soon as a little ICE had accumulated that there should be plenty
for everyone. It was Friday afternoon and I was off duty so I went
home.
The surprise happened on
Saturday morning at about 0900. I received an urgent call from the
Duty Office telling me in no uncertain terms to get my butt into the
ship. The reason is/was the ICE machine had produced enough ICE to
force open the roll to door and dump ice all around the space.
Although I did have unused sensors still in the bag from the
refrigeration shop, I had forgotten or just did not know that a
sensor was needed to de-energize the unit when the ICE reached a set
height just below the door.
After cleaning up the mess,
everyone did appreciate the cool drinks and did laugh at the amount
of ICE that had been belched out of the device.
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