Date:         Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:34:18 -0500
Reply-To:     mcneely4@COX.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
Subject:      Re: [NVC] Create electricity-free cooler
Comments: To: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <4e347d84.8310dc0a.1481.3500@mx.google.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

---- David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET> wrote:
> At 11:30 AM 7/30/2011, Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
> >As you suggest, terra cotta is not an idea material to build a camping
> >cooler with, being both heavy and fragile. But it's a jumping-off point
> >for the tinkerer.
>
> Check out "Lister bag..."

My understanding of the intended use of the Lister (Lyster) bag was for disinfection, not cooling, though it would cool somewhat, being slightly permeable.  Same dude who developed the disinfection method has a modern commercial product, a mouthwash, named for him.

Specifically made for cooling water, when I was a kid, my father had a pair of canvas bags that he would hang on a handy point on his car or truck.  Evaporation from the surface, aided by the air flow over the bag, cooled the water for drinking.

We even had a cylindrical,louvered, metal device that fit in one window of the vehicle, and into which water was added.  Vehicle movement caused air flow through the thing, and water evaporated.  The cooled air entered the passenger compartment of the vehicle.  I saw a number of these things when I was a kid.  My smarty brother (older than me) put in ice.  this was in the early fifties, before air conditioning was generally available for automobiles.

mcneely