Refrigerator
No modern kitchen is complete without a refrigerator. Even though every household makes use of or in fact essentially requires a refrigerator, most consumers have no idea about the history of refrigeration or the invention of the refrigerator. The slow and steady creation of the modern refrigerator spans across a long history, one that began in the 18th century and terminated with the work of German engineer Carl von Linden in 1876.
Before refrigerators, as we know them came into being, icehouses were used to provide cool storage throughout the year. These boxes, packed with snow and ice during the winter, were once very common. Such natural techniques are still used to cool foods even today. On mountain sides, molten snow is considered to be a convenient way to cool drinks and during the winter milk can be kept fresh much longer only by keeping it outdoors.
An artificial cooling medium in 1748 was first developed by William Cullen of the University of Glasgow. The process created interest only in the scientific community as there was no apparent interest in applying the medium to use in commercial or home applications. However, it wasn’t until a better part of the century had passed someone applied the basic principles discovered by Cullen and created a design for a refrigerating machine.
In 1804, an American inventor by the name of Oliver Evans created a design but no working prototype came into the scene until 1834. It was at this time that a refrigeration machine that can be considered to be the precursor of the modern refrigerator was built by Jacob Perkins. The first practical refrigerator was designed by Gorrie, a physician in the United State in 1844. He built a working unit that was based on the design of Oliver Evans. This was created the as a means of cooling the air in amenities that were set aside for patients that were diagnosed with yellow fever. Therefore, a lot of people credit Gorrie as being the one to invent the refrigerator.
It was Carl von Linden who discovered and patented a modified method of liquefying gas in 1876, because of which the process of manufacturing refrigerator models became commercially viable and practical. Making use of gases like ammonia, sulphur dioxide and methyl chloride, the new refrigeration process was what became the standard for cooling agents until late in the 1920’s. The need for a more stable element for cooling was felt by the manufactures when a number of accidents related to the use of these known substances. This need led to the improvement of Freon, which was the standard gas used in cooling agents for a large part of the 20th century, until the leakage of the substance was linked to damage to the ozone layer. In fact, these environmental issues led to the ban of the very effective (Freon) refrigerants. The introduction of Freon was responsible for the expansion of the refrigerator market during the 1930s.
- Nikita Sarin
Tags: fridge invention, history of refrigeration, refrigeration process, refrigerator
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