science · 08 December 1946 · 78 years ago
In 1946, the first test in the U.S. of a snow-melting apparatus embedded in a sidewalk was made in New York City. The department store, Best & Co. installed 15 coils made up from 4,530 feet of pipe. A mixture of about 67% water with 33% Zerex was circulated, effective to prevent freezing to as low as -5 deg.F. It was first put to use shortly thereafter, on 26 Dec 1946, during a blizzard. This was not the first method to melt snow devised in the U.S. On 27 May 1890, black American inventor F.J. Farrell was issued a patent for an "Apparatus for melting snow" (No. 428,670), which was a cast-iron box laid beneath the street gutter and heated with steam.
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