Pre-war ice factory by hydrokinesis, in the Mills of Frantzis (Lamia, Greece)

 Constantinos Ath. Balomenos, physicist

 

Prologue

   Cold water, especially in the summer months, has always been liked and liked by everyone. In our mountain villages, the almost frozen spring was a sample of quality water, which everyone drank with pleasure. In it, the fruits (mainly water melons and melons) brought by it inerrant green grocers to the mountain villages cooled. Snow was the only cooling medium, but it was only for certain months. Natural places of low temperature - for cheese mainly - were the caves, where they existed.

   A pioneer in the establishment and operation of an ice factory that operated with hydraulic energy was Ioannis (John) Cranakis from 1928, at the installation of Mills Frantzis, in the Lamia region.

   This effort will be given in the present paper, as concisely as possible.

 

1.    Artificial cooling and ice

   The idea of artificial cooling appeared from the middle of the 18th century.The refrigeration is the result of the evaporation of some volatile liquid (ether, ammonia, freon, etc.).This, moving through pipes, was removing the heat from one space and transported it to another space, where it were expelled.The necessary circulation of the refrigerant medium was done by a machine (the compressor).

   During the 19th century, with the studies of physicists (in thermodynamics), ways and materials were sought for technical improvement of the cooling application. Making ice from water was an easy process, but it required the movement of the machine. The first way it was used was with hydraulic energy (as in watermills). In the 20th century with the discovery of internal combustion engines, the necessary movement was provided by diesel engines, while the final mode of operation was electric movement (with a moteur).

    Schematically, the process of producing ice (in ice columns) from water is given in the following representation.

  

 

A: the pipes inside a tank with brine[1], for venting the cooling liquid (ammonia)

B: the condenser, where the tubes are cooled by common water, which wets them

Ε/Q: the piston of compression pump

K: the compressor movement

Γ/C: a container of water enters the brine bath to form the ice column

Δ/D: a container with a ready-made ice column is exiting from the bath

 

2.    History of the “Frantzis Mills” farm

The impeller of Frantzis watermill

   In the last years of the Turkish rule, in the province of Zitouni, as Lamia was then called, the nearby villages of Comma, Frantzis, Alpospita, Vardates, Costalexi and Combotades were manors. After 1833 when the area was liberated, these were bought by Greeks. The largest area belonged to the Kritsa family. Their mismanagement and expensive life led to the shredding and sale of the large area. A part of it, with extent of 600 acres, which was located between the village of Frantzis and Sperchios river, fell to the descendants of the banker Dim. A. Dimitriadis. In this section, there were : two flour mills, a mandani, hydro-friction (dristila) and a water saw, a stone building with its annexes, a koutseki[2]  and another building with a cotton gin, a barn NW of the water mill and the water channel's area. In addition there were orchards, a cottage and a warehouse.

   This large farm was called "Mouriki" and was located in the area now known as Frantzomilos (Frantzis Mill).In the mid-1920s-30s, in addition to cultivable and non-cultivable land, there were also the following buildings:

•         A water mill, in operation (with the necessary tools, etc.).

•         A building next to the watermill. Further east there was a cotton gin and a cotton press.

•         A water friction (mandani) with an iron wagon.

•         A two-story stone building.Nexttoitwere a stable, a barn, warehouses, metochi, etc

 

The restored Frantzis watermill building

   In the first decade decades of the 20th centurythe flour mill was operated by Andreas Michalopoulos. The function was being done with the hydraulic power of the water, which was channeled through a groove in the yard and exists to this day, from the existing water source (from the old days), in Gorgopotamos[3].

   In the period 1924 - 1928, the "Mouriki" estate was acquired by the Macropoulos brothers and Ioannis Cranakis. The watermill was in continuous operation before the Second World War, but also several years after. The last miller was Stavros Passos, until 1956, when the mill stopped working.

 

3.    Ioannis (John) Efth.Cranakis (1882-1938)

John Cranakis (1918)

   He was born in Lamia. He studied at the School of Law of the University of Athens and as a graduate was assigned to the Gendarmerie as a senior officer. Heserved in Macedonia as a Gendarmerie commander mercilessly beating the Bulgarian comitadzis.

   Since his marriage in 1919, with Despina Grig. Macropoulou (1891-1926), they had two daughters (Eleni, Mimika).

   In the Asia Minor Expedition, Ioannis Cranakis assumed command of the Gendarmerie in Smyrna where he also had significant successes against the unruly Turks (Tsetes).He participated in the unsuccessful anti-Venizelian movement of the ambitious Leonardopoulos - Gargalidis (at 22 October 1923).

   He was expelled from the Gendarmerie at 1924 and he bought the "Mouriki" estate with the water mill in Frantzis. There he created the Ice factory.

   Ioannis Cranakis died in 1938, aged  56.

 

 

4.    The ice factory in Frantzomylos (Frantzis Mill)

   The idea of the Ice Factory was of Ioannis Cranakis. There was no similar plant in the area and ice production was a need that had to be met. The existing building facilities on the Franzomylos estate were sufficient for the creation of the ice factory. In addition, it also had the drive for the compressor, from the hydraulic power of the water, which also drove the water mill.

An ice seller with a cart

   This is how the space with the brine tank was appropriately shaped. The manufacturing, supply and installation of the machines was undertaken by the industrial house of Brothers N. Iossif of Lamia. Insulated cooling rooms were made (the walls were covered with large pieces of cork). It is reported that the compressor of the ice factory was driven by an impeller, as well as an electricity generator (for lighting). At the time, there were[4] two other similar cork-lined ice factories in all over Greece.

   The entire installation, carried out by the technicians of the Iossif  Bros. Company, was pioneering and the ice factory was immediately put into operation. The local newspaper “Η ΕΠΑΡΧΙΑ” (The PROVINCE) of Lamia, at June 1928, announced:

Since the day[5] before yesterday, Mr. Cranakis'[6] ice factory in Frantzi, which was installed by the Industrial House of N. Iossif, started operating. The ice, from 18 drachmas which were sold before, was undervaluedto only 8 drachmas a column.

The Cranaki ice factory supplied Lamia and the entire region with columns of ice.He had a monopoly on the genre and all this at zero cost. The water of Gorgopotamos was free and the movement was ensured by the hydraulic power of the water.

   In 1934, the local newspaper (The PROVINCE), with publications[7], raised the issue of payment by I. Cranakis for the use of water both for the operation of the water mill and ice factory, and for the irrigation of his estates. On the contrary, I. Cranakis invoked the pre-existing water supply, since the pipes of the aqueduct pass through his property. The same issue reached the Municipal Council[8] of Lamia.

   In 1938, at the early age of 56, Ioannis Cranakis died. The operation of the Ice Factory in Frantzomilos were ceased, after a period of 10 years.

 

Epilogue

   From the beginning of the 20th century with the public supply of electricity and the development of electricity, electric motors were used[9] in cooling systems. In 1913 Nathaniel Wales launched the first domestic electric refrigerator in the US, which his company, in 1915 renamed Kelvinator. In 1931 freon[10] was discovered and used as an excellent refrigerant medium in electric refrigerators. It was later banned because it destroys the stratospheric ozone layer. It was replaced by other similar non-hazardous volatile materials. Today all homes have electric household refrigerators.

   The ice, in small pieces, remains as a preservation material for the fish in the boxes. In ice cubes, it is widely used in all catering establishments, with a significant trade in bag seven in kiosk refrigerators, especially in the summer season.

   The facilities of the former Cranakis ice factory, as well as the water mill, have been donated to the municipality of Lamia and in previous years a partial restoration took place. By maintaining and arranging the old watermill machinery in the interior and shaping the surrounding area, they could become a (perhaps the only one for Lamia) monument of the pre-industrial era, which will highlight tour local history.

 

Bibliography-References-Websites

1. Newspaper THE PROVINCE, years 1927-1940, Lamia.

2. Ioannis Makris: "The property regime of the villages of Zitouni", magazine FTHIOTIKA CHRONIKA 1998, pp. 27-35, Lamia.

3. Contract no.820/19-5-1924 of the notary of Messolonghi Dim. Christofili.

4. Contract no.1675/22-5-1924 of the Athens notary Ioannou Ant. Chelios.

5. Contract no.16794/18-9-1925 of the notary of Lamia Dim.E.  Demolioulia.

6. Contract no.5794/24-12-1927 of the notary of Lamia Nikolaou Athan. Kardakou.

7. Contract no.13174/7-7-1889, by the notary of Lamia Ioannou Kailani.

8. M. Polymeropoulou - S. Polykandrioti - E. Oikonomou: "Natural sources of energy (hydrokinesis in the province of Fthiotida)", published  by the Prefecture of Fthiotida, 1998, Lamia.

9. Maria Polymeropoulou-Zivelekis: book "Ta Saipaiika", Lamia, 1994.

10. Testimony of the late Eleni Christopoulos - Cranakis, daughter of Ioannis Cranakis.

11. Photographic material of the writer.

 

FOOTNOTES

 

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[1]The brine (salt water) was necessary to keep all the water in the tank from freezing. As is known, ordinary water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius, while salt water freezes (depending on the salt content) at temperatures below zero.

[2]Farm building that used the upper part for the storage and preservation of fodder and the lower part as a stable for the animals.

[3]Tributary of the Sperchios River.

[4]From the book "Ta Saipaiika" by Maria Polymeropoulou-Tziveleki, 1994, Lamia.

[5]Newspaper THE PROVINCE, sheet. 49, p. 2, 13-6-1928, Lamia.

[6]The name Cranaki, due to a typographical error, was written Craniotaki.

[7]Newspaper THE PROVINCE, sheet 856, p. 1. 28-8-1934, Lamia.

[8]Newspaper“Η ΕΠΑΡΧΙΑ” (THE PROVINCE), sheet 859, p. 1, 30-8-1934, Lamia.

[9]The first working refrigerator was built in Munich in 1873 by Carl von Linde.It was a great success.

[10]Its chemical name is dichlor-difluor-methane (R-12, or Freon).These substances are called chlorofluorocarbons.