Timeline

Milestones:
BC
1000 The Chinese cut and stored ice
500   Egyptians and Indians made ice on cold nights by setting water out in earthenware pots
AD
1700 In England, servants collected ice in the winter and put it into icehouses for use in the summer
1720 Dr. William Cullen, a Scotsman, studied the evaporation of liquids in a vacuum
1805 Oliver Evans of Pennsylvania, compressed ether machine, the machine is never built
1820 Michael Faraday, a Londoner, liquified ammonia to cause cooling
1834 Jacob Perkins, ether vapour compression cycle, Ice Making Machine
1844 James Harrison of Australia invents compressed ether machine
1850 Edmond Carre of France, invents an absorption process machine
1852 William Thomson & James Prescott cooling increases in proportion to the pressure difference
1855 Dr. John Gorrie builds compression refrigeration system based on Faraday's experiments.
1856 James Harrison commissioned by a brewery to build a machine that cooled beer.
1859 Ferdinand Carre of France, developed the first ammonia/water refrigeration machine
1871 Carl von Linde of Germany published an essay on improved refrigeration techniques
1873 Carl von Linde first practical and portable compressor refrigeration machine was built in Munich
1874 Raoul Pictet of Switzerland, a compressor system using sulfur dioxide instead of ammonia
1876 Carl von Linde, early models he used methyl ether, but changed to an ammonia cycle
1878 von Linde starts Lindes Eismaschinen AG, (Society for Lindes Ice Machines), now Linde AG
1881 Edmund J. Copeland and Arnold H. Gross start Leonard Refrigerator Company
1894 Linde developed a new method (Linde technique) for the liquefaction of large quantities of air.
1894 Linde AG installs refrigerator at the Guinness brewery in Dublin, Ireland
1895 Carl von Linde produced large amounts of liquid air using the Thomson-Joule effect
1901 Patent # 665,814 issued January 10, for a Refridgeator (Ice Box) invented by Henry Trost.
1911 General Electric company unveiled a refrigerator invented by a French monk. Abbe Audiffren
1913 Fred W. Wolf Jr.of the Domelre Company (DOMestic ELectric REfrigerator)
1914 Leonard Refrigerator Company renamed Electro-Automatic Refrigerating Company
1915 Alfred Mellowes starts Guardian Frigerato to build first self-container refrigerator for home use
1916 Servel models compressors were generally driven by motors located in the basement
1916 Henry Joy of Packard Motor Car Co. purchased the Fred W. Wolf refrigerator rights
1918 Guardian Frigerato purchased by General Motors and renamed Frigidaire
1918 Electro-Automatic Refrigerating Company renamed Kelvinator
1920 there were some 200 different refrigerator models on the market.
1922 Baltzar von Platen and Carl Munters introduce absorption process refrigerator
1923 Kelvinator held 80 percent of the market for electric refrigerators
1923 AB Arctic.begins production of refrigerators based on Platen-Munter's invention
1925 Electrolux purchases AB Arctic and launches the "D-fridge" on the world market
1925 Steel and porcelain cabinets began appearing in the mid-20s
1927 first refrigerator to see widespread use was the General Electric "Monitor-Top" refrigerator.
1930 first built-in refrigerator is launched by Electrolux
1931 Dupont produced commercial quantities of R-12, trademarked as Freon
1931 the first air-cooled refrigerator introduced by Electrolux
1932 Gibson, then owned by Frank Gibson, manufactured its own line of refrigerators.
1934 an innovation, the Shelvador refrigerator, was introduced by the Crosley Radio Corporation
1936 Albert Henne synthesizes refrigerant R-134a
1937 more than 2 million Americans owned refrigerators.
1939 refrigerator with one section for frozen food and a second for chilled food, introduced by G. E.
1946 Mass production of modern refrigerators didn't get started until after World War II.
1947 GE two-door refrigerator-freezer combination
1955 80% of American homes now have refrigerators
2005 A domestic refrigerator is present in 99.5% of American homes
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