The American Fridge Freezers And Where They Came From.
The range of modern American fridge freezers, are the result of over one hundred and fifty years of development. It all started in 1857 in Victoria, Australia where a man named James Harrison made an ice making machine and system of refrigeration.
Harrison’s invention was primarily for the meat packing and brewing in Victoria where he lived. Not long afterwards, a Frenchman came up with another technique that involved using rapid expanding ammonia instead of air as a coolant. The inventors name was Ferdinand Carre and his new method stayed popular until the next century.
In 1922 the absorption fridge was invented by von Platen and Carl Munters. They were studying at the Royal Institute of Technology at the time. Their design was given a worldwide audience by Electrolux as they put them in to production. The compact refrigerator was patented by a man named Carl Von Linde.
Before Von Linde came up with the practical model refrigerators were a two room affair with mechanical parts. The compressor and motor in a basement or a room next door to the kitchen where the cold box would be store food.
Apart from the size of these machines, there were other reasons why it was not practical to have one installed. The cost was astronomical and far beyond the reach of an average household. With the idea that preserving your food would save money on wastage it didn’t make sense to make the investment. Really, only commercial enterprises that had them and they were used to store food before going to market.
It wasn’t until 1927 that the use of the smaller units became popular. General Electric made a sulfur dioxide based refrigerator and actually produced over a million for the general public. With this model the public were finally able to practically refrigerate food in the house. There are still working models around but because of the danger that comes with sulfur dioxide it’s illegal to refill them if they break down.
By the thirties, 60% of US Households had a home refrigeration unit but it was the seventies before the same happened across Europe. Now the style of the American fridge freezers has been used around the world. The side by side design is instantly recognizable as many come with an ice dispenser at the front.
It was in the forties that separate freezers were popularized but mass production was not immediate. It was after the end of world war two that they were in more and more households. The peoples uptake on the separate deep freeze system was helped by advances in defrosting which was now automatic.
In today’s modern society we can refrigerate anything from a single beer can all the way up to super ships that transport food. Some newer features that are in development are as innovative as the actual creation of the first fridge. Things like a food monitor that knows when you are running low on items and emails an order to your local store to arrange a delivery automatically. As with everything, the next generation of home refrigeration units are definitely something to look forward to.