Refrigerators Invented Sooooo Long Ago!

People have used a variety of methods to keep food cold.  Some like the ancient Egyptians placed food outside to cool down overnight while the Greeks and Romans placed snow in pits to have a place that was cold even in the summer.  Others cut ice out of rivers and lakes before storing them in building set in the sides of hills and mountains.

It wasn't until 1740, a Scottish scientist was able to show if you rapidly cooled a liquid into a gas, you'd end up with a cooling effect.  This is the basis used in modern refrigeration.   This gentleman never actually used his discovery but others used it to work on refrigeration.

In 1802, an American created the forefather of the refrigerator.  He made an ice box which used ice to keep things cool.  He designed it to keep dairy products cool while they were being transported.  The icebox was originally named the "refrigitory" until he patented it in 1803 and called it a refrigerator.

During this time in history, people began moving into cities to find work which caused a increased demand for fresh food.  There needed to be a way to transport fresh food across the nation to meet the needs of the growing population centers.

So in 1834, an American living in London actually built a closed system using ether in a vapor controlled compression refrigerator unit.   His model worked and cooled but it was not a commercial success.  About 6 years later, people perfected iceboxes so ice was placed in a tin lined section of the contraption and it kept the food in the other section cool.  The ice melted into a drip pan at the bottom of the icebox and the pan had to be emptied every day.  This operated as the refrigerator in most homes.

It wasn't until 1876 that someone patented the process of liquifying gas, which lead to the first compressed ammonia refrigerator.  This invention changed the future of cooling by getting rid of the need for ice.  People continued working on this idea including Fred W. Wolf who released the first commercial refrigerator he called "Domelre" short for the domestic electrical refrigerator.  This appliance failed but his idea of ice cube tray was used by others in their refrigerators.

In 1918, both Frigidaire and Kelvinator released their versions of refrigerators.  The Frigidaire version had the compression on the bottom of the self contained unit while the Kelvinator released the first unit with an automatic control. However, none of the units did well until 1927 when General Electric introduced its "Monitor Top" which moved the compressor above the cabinet.  This version sold over one million units.  Demand kept growing until over six million had been sold.

Unfortunately, some of these early refrigerators could cause fatal accidents when gasses leaked.  This lead to the discovery of Freon which became the standard gas used in all refrigerators and caused the market to expand.  In the 1940's the freezer became a separate unit and became large enough to store frozen foods.  At this time, the frozen food industry expanded offering people the convince of prepared food they could cook for dinner.

By the 1950's the majority of houses and farms had refrigerators.  Colored ones became the norm with pink and turquoise the popular colors in the early 50's.  Jump to the 1970's companies began making refrigerators more energy efficient while eliminating the CFC's to protect the ozone layer.  Within ten years, companies began labeling their products to let consumers know how much they were saving by buying certain fridges.  Then in the 1990s fridges joined the digital age by making them with wifi and connecting them to the internet.

Furthermore, fridges soon offered ice and water from the door, sections for vegetables, meats, and lots of shelves to make it easier to find things. So know you know how we went from iceboxes to what we have today.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.