h a l f b a k e r yIs it soup yet?
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(This will perhaps be incomprehensible to the Americans
among us, who all seem to own megalithic fridges with ice-
cube-making machines built in.)
We have put people on the Moon. We have cured syphilis.
We have invented the Selfie Stick. But one thing has
remained beyond mankind's grasp
since time
immemorialable. I refer, of course, to a fully functional
ice-tray (or, if you prefer, ice-cube tray).
I have bought simple plastic ice-trays. I have bought
sophisticated ice-trays with silicone bases to allow the ice
to be pushed out from below. I have bought ice-trays with
cunning lever systems designed to eject the ice. All are
utter failures. In each and every case, the material of the
ice-tray acquires scuffs and scratches, which then lock the
ice cubes in place. The only way to remove them is then
to run the back of the ice tray under the tap for a few
moments.
"Surely we can do better than this?", I hear you ask.
Yes we bloody well can.
Although an ice cube frozen into a tray is an almost
immovable object, the force of expansion as water freezes
is irresistible (it took me four attempts to spell that, by
the way).
So.
The MaxCo. Ice-Tray (we are working on a better name) is
an ordinary-looking plastic ice-tray, albeit with a thicker
than average base. In the bottom of each compartment is
a small blister of silicone rubber, enclosing a small amount
of slightly salty water.
The tray is filled as usual, and placed in the freezer. In
time, the water freezes, forming the desired ice cube.
However, the salty water in the blister does not freeze
until some time later. As it does so, it expands by a small
amount but with great force, thereby breaking the ice
cube away from the walls of the tray. Gadulka! Your ice
cubes are now available for the beverage of your choice.
Pissy fridges, no ice ice baby :(
http://www.cbc.ca/m...repairmen-unplugged
CBC doc on dodgy megalithic fridges, dodgy repairman and other fun in the Great White North [Sgt Teacup, Jan 14 2016]
US 3018636
http://www.google.com/patents/US3018636
[xaviergisz, Jan 14 2016]
US2776546
http://www.google.com/patents/US2776546
Twice Baked [bs0u0155, Jan 15 2016]
[link]
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There are flexible plastic trays that are intended to be
twisted while upside-down, to make the ice come out.
Those have usually worked for me. |
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And they have usually worked for me, a few times.
Eventually, they just crack. |
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A slick solution for a time-hono(u)red problem. [(u) inserted for the british audience.] I have no idea if the physics works, but I have a clear image of me pounding with a hammer on a block of fresh ice from the freezer to manufacture pieces small enough to slide through the narrow neck of the water carafe. - Before that we had rubber matrizes generating eye-ball sized ice-apples, and hollow forms to insert a stick and some apple juice to freeze to a delicious ice-on-a-stick - only the kids wouldn't touch it. - Basically this idea melts down to having ice cubes available. I'm all for it. |
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MaxCo. might want to create a Kickstarter go-fund-me proposal to break the ice with the public, and slide one of these ice rigs into every household on the planet. |
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Megalithic fridges aren't all they're cracked up to be; they appear to be designed to piss all over the kitchen floor (see link). So, no solution there. |
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I vote for calling it 'C-Water S'cube Tray', riffing on salty sea water and scuba. |
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Wonderful, elegant, energy efficient, useful, cheap,
practical and utterly un-american. It can't and won't catch
on. |
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[+] My missus buys single use ice bags which are filled from
the tap then popped into the freezer. The thin plastic is
then broken open to release each individual ice block. I like
[MaxB's] idea better as it is reusable. |
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Actually, there is a problem, with frost-free freezers,
there is significant sublimation, as my girlfriend's "iced
coffee ice cubes" of summer 2015 will attest, they're now
iced espresso, which I don't think is a thing. When you're
saline freezes, it will pop the cube out and expose all
sides to the cold dry air. Sublimation will happen
about 4x faster, giving you only about 2 months by my
estimates. In america, that's about 342 use cycles. My
parents however, have one ice cube tray which has
absorbed the full smorgasmyriad of freezer smells and
tastes. They would be disappointed, well, their weird
continental ice-consuming guests would be disappointed. |
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A secret benefit, is that when you remove the ice, the
saline in the silicone bump will remain frozen. When you
refill the tray, the saline will melt, pre-chilling the
water. Hastening the freezing process.... that gives me
an idea. |
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... how about consumable ice trays? just put the ice and the tray in your drink? or perhaps that will have an adverse affect on your single malt 30yr oak aged whiskey? |
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[Andy] You mean those completely sealed plastic 'ice cubes' which contain some sort of liquid - they're good because they cool your drink without diluting it. |
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[AndyH] no effect at all, because no-one, repeat no-one, has ice in decent whiskey. |
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[hippo] yea pretty much baked! |
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// an adverse affect on your single malt 30yr oak aged whiskey // |
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<adds [AndyH]'s name to The List for summary execution when the Revolution comes> |
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Just buy up old polar ice cores, and saw off a
bit off at a time. If you average out the
whiskey/ice mix you claim a vintage of 50
centuries. |
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... and appreciate the delicate texture and flavour of seal hair and polar bear poo ... |
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//Sublimation will happen about 4x faster// True,
but then the solution is to drink more in order to
avoid wasting the ice cubes. |
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//When you refill the tray, the saline will melt,
pre-chilling the water.// Good point. |
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Incidentally, I suspect that the reason ice cubes
stick so solidly in the first place is that expansion,
as the last bit freezes, pushes the ice ever harder
against the sidewalls. That's why I like the idea of
using additional freezing (of the saline blister) to
pop them out. |
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D'oh! Just checked the patent linked by [xavier] - it
appears that this is, ah, baked. Damn damn damn. |
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// <adds [AndyH]'s name to The List for summary execution when the Revolution comes> |
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Seeing as this idea concerns iced drinks, it should be a summery execution instead. |
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//it appears that this is, ah, baked.// |
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Twice baked. It's a souffle idea. Another way of looking at
it is that those two ideas are so similar, that the silicone
is enough to differentiate it. Besides, they're out of
patent now. |
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May favorite way of getting the ice out, and this only
works once when the cubes are really cold, is to wet (gin
doesn't work here) your fingertips and apply them to the
top of the required number of ice cubes. They stick and
you just lift them out. |
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// the edges of the ice-cubes would instantly melt when
taken out of the freezer //. Actually, from my
experience with aluminum ice cube trays, a layer of frost
will instantly form on the outside of the ice-cube tray,
providing enough insulation that you still need hot water
to melt them out. That may not be an issue in less humid
climates. |
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For what it's worth, the plastic ice cube trays that are in
my freezer have been used for over 15 years or twisting
ice cube release and have not cracked. I suppose that
probably means they have some chemical in the plastic
that is no longer allowed which gives them the flexibility
needed. |
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I think the key is, no skimping. My Rubbermaid trays have
been with me since forever.. the Sterilite ones, not so
much. |
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