Refrigeration, the industry of preserving food by cold, first became of commercial importance during the 18th century.

The ice which formed on the surface of lakes and ponds was cut and stored in insulated storerooms to be used during the summer.

This practice was expanded by shipping ice from the colder climates to the hotter zones, The use of natural ice made necessary the building of insulated containers or iceboxes for use in stores, restaurants, homes, etc. These first appeared on a large scale during the 19th century.

Ice was first made artificially about 1820 on an experimental basis, but it was not until 1834 that artificial ice manufacturing was perfected. Jacob Perkins, an American engineer was the inventor

of the apparatus used, which was the forerunner of our modern compression systems. In 1855 a German engineer produced

the first absorption type of refrigerating mechanism, although Michael Faraday discovered the principles of absorption type

refrigeration in 1824.

The production of artificial ice made very little progress until shortly after 1890. During 1890 a shortage of natural ice gave impetus to the mechanical ice-making industry. Since that time, the growth of mechanical refrigeration in the United States has been phenomenal.

Mechanical domestic refrigeration first made its appearance about 1910 J. M.

Larsen produced a manually operated household machine in 1913.

It was not until 1918 that the first automatic refrigerator was made available on the American Market (Kelvinator).

The Kelvinator company sold its first machine in 1918 and sold a total of sixty-seven machines that year. Between 1918 and 1920 two hundred units were sold.

The general electric monitor top appeared in 1926 after eleven years of experimenting. The monitor top was the first of the “Sealed” or hermetic automatic refrigeration units.

Beginning with 1920, domestic refrigeration became one of our

important industries. The Electrolux, which was an automatic domestic absorption unit appeared on the American market in 1927. The use of automatic refrigeration units for comfort cooling, air conditioning, appeared on the market in 1927.

By 1940 practically all domestic units were of the hermetic type, while commercially, units of thousands of tons of refrigeration capacity were Successfully made and used.

The preservation of food for extended periods of time by fast freezing was developed about 1923. This was the origin of the modern frozen foods industry.

The use of mechanical refrigerating mechanisms in connection with home and building heating plants during the 1920’s was the beginning of our modern air conditioning business.

From a very small and slow start in the 1930’s, air conditioning of automobiles has grown to over 1,600,000 units a year.

Refrigeration, the industry of preserving food by cold, first became of commercial importance during the 18th century. The ice which formed on the surface of lakes and ponds was cut and stored in insulated storerooms to be used during the summer. This practice was expanded by shipping ice from the colder climates to the hotter zones, The use of natural ice made necessary the building of insulated containers or iceboxes for use in stores, restaurants, homes, etc. These first appeared on a large scale during the 19th century. Ice was first made artificially about 1820 on an experimental basis, but… Development of Refrigeration Development of Refrigeration User Rating: Be the first one !