The balloon as spy, and the sun as water-sweetener. Obtaining fresh water in a nitrate country: a use for the sun in a rainless land. The Boquete Nitrate Company, Antofagasta, Chili, which has its works in a rainless country where the sun shines continually, uses an ingenious apparatus for turning the brackish water of the region into sweet water. It consists of a series of frames containing twenty thousand square feet of glass. The panes of glass are arranged in the shape of a V, and under each pane is a shallow pan containing brackish water. The heat of the sun condenses the water upon the sloping glass, and this fresh water then runs down into a little channel, and is carried away into the main canal. Nine hundred and fifty gallons of fresh water can be collected daily.
Hola Claudio. Estoy en el desarrollo de una investigación acerca de historia de la tecnología en desalación con energía solar. La fotografía que indicas ha sido difundida desde la década de 1940 como Las Salinas (a 123 kms de Antofagasta). No sólo me gustaría saber cómo llegaste a esta imagen de The Illustrated London news, sino por qué te interesaste en ella.
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