History
Northern Alberta Chapter Historical Hightlights
Researched and compiled by Ivan Hall - Chapter Historian
Northern Alberta Chapter arrived on the scene in March of 1956 in the midst of the fourth boom to hit the city in the century - the gadget boom of post WWII. We were the fifth Canadian chapter to be chartered and the third in Western Canada behind Manitoba (1935) and British Columbia (1952). It is now one of 17 Canadian chapters; the latest being Vancouver Island Chapter, formed in 1985.
Since being chartered, our membership has grown from the original 20 charter members to an area membership in excess of 250; not including students. We have moved from the original Canadian Region 2 to International Region 11(in 1967 ) and helped sponsor two new chapters (Calgary in 1957 and Vancouver Island in 1985). Northern Alberta Chapter has, from inception, been active in sponsoring education and technical seminars in the HVAC field in our community. The Chapter produced a 16mm color movie in 1968, which included a tour of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and coverage of a member consultant's trip on a fly-in project to the North. This activity extended to post secondary course content advisory committees, 2 ASHRAE Student Chapter sponsorships, scholarships and government code reviews. We have also promoted cooperation with other technical and professional associations in the area.
Socially, we hold annual golf tournaments and curling bonspiels as well as frequent Ladies Nights and barbecue socials. In recent years we've added a Christmas Charity Luncheon to our list of events as a way of further helping out in our community. In addition we NAC has been a strong supporter of the John Ross Bonspiel (instituted in 1960 by Regional Director John Ross) between the 5 Canadian Prairie chapters (we actually won twice).
Early in our history we were the first of all Region 2 chapters to meet our fundraising goal to support ASHRAE in the United Engineering Centre in New York. (ASHRAE had committed a goal of $250,000 to the centre in 1960). Since ASHRAE started emphasizing research in 1969, we have consistently supported ASHRAE Research. We've had chapter members on ASHRAE technical committees; notably Gerry Sadler - TC4.04, Larry Kehoe - TC8.07, Steve Bruskiwiech - TC4.3 and Mike Smith - TC9.7 . NAC has been fortunate to see these funds in action; the University of Alberta ( Dr. Dave Wilson) being recipient of several ASHRAE research projects.
Our chapter has been no slouch in producing 'championship' performance either. We have produced one of only 3 Canadian Society Presidents (the late Don Holte), a Society Director (Percy Butler), a Regional Education Chairman (Darryl Boyce), and a Regional Refrigeration Chairman (Alex Paterson). We have hosted 4 Regional CRC Conferences since inception (1960, 68, 81 and 94) and sponsored 2 student chapters (NAIT & U. of A.). We have been recognized for excellence by winning PAOE awards in 11 years; including one with citation. We won a Society Energy Award in 1985, a Region 11 energy award in 1984, Top Dog award for Research fundraising in 1981 and '88 and TOPS membership award in 1990, a regional history award, a regional programs award and several Full Circle and High Five awards.
The spirit continues today!
Canada Packers Plant - North Edmonton
By Ivan Hall, P.Eng. ASHRAE NAC Historian
A short article in a May, 2001 edition of the Edmonton Journal rekindled my interest in this facility; now gone. I had taken some photos of the inside of the power plant when it was being demolished; not knowing its illustrious origin or innovative past. It was, for all intents and purposes, a well known industrial plant that had seen better days and was now gone.
In fact it had exploded onto the Edmonton landscape in 1936 in the midst of the Great Depression. The sheer size of the facility made a huge impact on the city at that time. It immediately received national accolades for its innovative design and went on to serve this community for 50 years; employing more than 1000 during its peak production years from the 1950's to '70's.
According to writeups in the Edmonton Journal throughout 1936, Edmonton had targeted for a major meat packing plant since 1927. At that time, virtually all the western Canadian meat packing was concentrated in Winnipeg; more specifically St. Boniface, Manitoba. Canadian packers were vying after the British bacon trade which was supplied by Denmark by more than a 3:1 ratio over Canada.
The Depression had deferred serious planning for such a move as companies fought for their very survival. When finally begun, both design staff and Canada Packers staff worked for almost two years to ensure strategic placement of equipment was synchronized with production flow. Experts in the various departments were asked to critique space allotments as well as interdependent process flows and overall functionality. These reviews resulted in the construction of a scale model for presentation to the owners prior to letting of tenders for the work.
The plant architects were a partnership of Professor Eric R. Arthur, head of architecture at the University of Toronto and A. P. C. Adamson. It made use of the International Modernists style of exterior presentation. Their design was described as a balanced asymmetry composed of abstract cubes constructed with a reinforced concrete frame and unrelieved brick curtain wall laid in the German garden bond pattern. Their efforts won them the gold medal of merit in 1936 from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada ( RAIC) and the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA).
Facilities in the United States, Great Britain and Denmark were toured and many equipment manufacturers were questioned in order to perfect the design of this 'to-be' state of the art plant. Everything from the type of flooring to lighting intensity to size and type of mechanical equipment was taken into account. Unlike European designs that were generally horizontal operations interconnected with moving belts or trucks, the designers followed the American practice of moving production vertically with minimal horizontal movement. From the killing floor, carcasses moved from the third floor to finished product emerging on the main floor. Gravity chutes and short horizontal moving chains reduced handling and speeded processing of perishable product.
Sod turning took place March 16, 1936 and the plant was operationally completed September 14, 1936; although the official opening did not occur till November 4, 1936. At its peak construction period, almost 400 tradesmen in 35 trades were employed on the million dollar project. The contract was awarded to Bird Construction Limited - then of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. It was very welcomed relief from the Depression and challenged the trades that had been virtually idle for years. Special note was made of the bricklayers, most of whom had been unemployed for four years, who had to relay the boiler house brick because it did not initially meet inspections.
Notable subtrades included Dominion Bridge Ltd. for structural steel, S.B. Noble Electric for electrical and the Highlands Tinshop for sheet metal and ventilation. Even the University of Alberta was drawn into the project; professor Harry Webb performed rebar steel and concrete testing using the university test facilities. Statistically the structure contained 1.1 million bricks, 6 hundred thousand board feet of lumber, 2 hundred and twenty thousand sections of tile, 14 thousand tons of concrete, 22 thousand feet of pipe and 50 miles of electrical wire in 12 miles of conduit; to quote just a few.
Of particular note was the Spanish cork used to insulate the coolers and freezers. Thirteen carloads of cork arrived in time for the project, despite Spain being embroiled in open civil war. Each cooler received a 4 inch thick layer of cork on the walls and ceiling while the freezers received a similar 6 inch layer treatment.
For ASHRAE, the main interest is the power plant. It contained, amongst other things, the refrigeration plant. This cooling plant was based on 3-75 ton Carbondale duplex ammonia compressors for the 'high temperature' cooling and 1-50 ton booster compressor for the 'low temperature' or sub freezing work. Each was driven by a Canadian General Electric synchronous motor, direct coupled to the compressors. The DC power was provided by a motor-generator set. These were supplemented by a large Linde compressor and several York compressors. The Linde was, in turn, replaced with Vilter screw compressors. There were 2 Baltimore Aircoil cooling towers on the roof of the power house which provided chilled water to the shell and tube ammonia condensers; one large and one small. The larger tower was converted to an evaporative condenser in the '70's.
The plant manufactured its own ice using an ice making machine that consisted of a large water drum and press; the walls of the drum being subcooled by ammonia refrigerant. Water was sprayed on to the drum and immediately formed ice crystals on the drum walls. An auger arrangement with several 'knives' continuously scrapped the crystals off which were carried out of the drum by the water and into the press. The press produced 2-ounce briquettes from the crystals at a rate of over 1 ton per hour. Fifty tons of ice were produced daily and was led by chutes into waiting refrigerated rail cars for rapid, planned loading of fresh product for shipment across the continent. In later years only flake ice was produced.
The power plant also contained the three large Babcock & Wilcox steam boilers, which were fired on natural gas - rather innovative for the times. Steam was generated for process steam for sterilizing and scalding, as well as for heating. Electricity came from local utility power. There was a large BroomWade air compressor and condenser/drier supplemented with an Ingersoll Rand air compressor; both to supply compressed process air.
Apart from the main abattoir and packing operations, the plant contained a chemical laboratory for safety and quality testing, facilities for 'pickling' and smoking meat, hide curing cellars, edible and inedible fat rendering and a vegetable oil refining plant. This was believed to be western Canada's first vegetable oil refinery. Here cottonseed, peanut, palm, coconut, sesame ad corn oils were refined for sale. Crude vegetable oils arrived in sixty thousand pound rail tank cars to supply the refinery.
Notables attending the opening included premier Aberhart, Arthur Meighan- leader of the senate, J.S. McLean - president of Canada Packers and J.A. Clarke - mayor of Edmonton. Wilton B. Tranter, general manager of the plant stated fully 200 households would benefit from direct employment in the facility. C. J. Long, an English-born engineer was superintendent of the plant and had worked side by side with the design team from its initial development. It is interesting to note that housewives were specifically targeted to tour the plant on opening day. Copies of Canada Packers booklet, " Tasty Meals for Every Day" were liberally distributed. The "Maple Leaf" brand of shortening, sliced bacon and hams was being deliberately established.
Thus started a major meat packing industry in Edmonton. It would eventually grow to four major plants including Burns, Swift and Gainers and become a major industrial sector for Edmonton; joining agriculture, oil refining and transportation. The small city (then only 90,000) would, over the next half century, rise to a position of dominance in the prairie region of Canada. The Canada Packers plant was, unwittingly, a harbinger of success to come.
Acknowledgements:
- Eugene Chorneyko, retired operating engineer, Canada Packers
- Reg Bruce, RET, Pace Refrigeration
- Mike Sadava, Edmonton Journal
- Ib Froberg, retired plant supervisor, Canada Packers
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