Detroit Free Press/1914/Naess's Real Ice Made By Very Secret Process

Naess's Real Ice Made By Very Secret Process.

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Innovation at Garrick Theater Will Probably Revolutionize Indoor Skating.

To convert a hardwood floor into a smooth hardened surface resembling in fact an icy plane in the space of five minutes seems like an impossibility. Yet this is what is being done on the Garrick theater stage daily this week. One of the big feature numbers of the “Pleasure Seekers” is Alfred and Sigrit Naess, in an ice skating specialty. This has never before been attempted in the United States. Inquiries have been frequent as to whether the surface on which they skate is real ice or not. As a matter of fact, it is and it is so made that it probably will revolutionize indoor skating. The first surface is made of two-inch yellow pine tongued and grooved and spliced on the back with heavy iron strips. Over this is spread a solution of rock salt and soda. About three minutes before the wonderful skating act this covering is taken off and the surface sprinkled with a solution, the process of which is a secret owned and controlled by Alfred Naess. It solidifies almost instantaneously and you find a hard surface as smooth as ice and over which the common ice skate glides just as easily as though one were on Belle Isle. This act was first produced in Berlin. At present Mr. Naess will advise no one of the exact composition of his liquids but it is safe to say the discovery will be of incalculable value in the future.