How Indoor Ice evolved
The first recorded attempts at making artificial ice began in the ‘rink mania’ era of 1841-1844. As the technology behind today’s modern era indoor rinks was not yet created, those early era rinks were made from a mixture of hog’s lard and a multitude of various salts.
By 1844 the hog/lard formation of ice fell into disfavor as skating enthusiasts began to complain about the “smelly ice.” It wasn’t until thirty years later that refrigeration technology had evolved to the point that it could be applied to indoor rinks. John Gamgee is the man responsible for creating the world’s first mechanical ice rink, the Glaciarium. On January 7, 1876, the rink opened in a tent in a small building in Chelsea, London. The rink measured 40 x 24 feet.
The rink was constructed on a concrete surface, with layers of dirt, cow hair, and timber planks. Atop this construct were laid oval copper pipes supplying glycerine with ether, nitrogen peroxide, and water. The pipes were covered by water, and the solution, in turn, was pumped through, thus freezing the water into the ice. This is how indoor ice evolved.
The first probable skating rink using Ammonia as a refrigerant was engineered by Linde in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1882.
The oldest indoor artificial rink still in use is in Boston’s Matthews Arena, built-in 1909-1910.
The Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada is recognized as the “world’s largest naturally frozen rink,” at 7.8 kilometers or 4.8 miles long by the Guinness Book of World Records, because “its entire length receives daily maintenance including thickness checks, sweeping, and the inclusion of recreational facilities such as toilets and the like, along its entire length.
The industry standard for NHL rinks is 11/2 inches in thickness. Official NHL ice rinks are 26 m x 61 m (85 ft x 200 ft).
The first indoor hockey game was played on March 3, 1875, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The game was organized by James Creighton, who also captained one of the teams.
Today’s indoor skating surfaces have come a long way from the original methods used during the 1840s. Today Crews of skilled workers almost always use cold concrete to make the ice. In the preliminary stages, miles of metal pipes are laid inside a concrete slab. Then, with the help of a large refrigeration plant, ic-cold glycol is pumped through the pipes, dropping the temperature of the concrete floor to below freezing. The final stage is to continually pour thin layers of water over the surface until the desired thickness and leveling are ready for skating. This is how indoor ice evolved.
Keep You’re Stick On The Ice.
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I really enjoy your posts about hockey history. I find them very educational and fascinating.