Refrigeration: A History

This is the story of the wonders of refrigeration. For thousands of years, humans coped with heat by devising natural cooling systems of ventilation and evaporation. They harvested and stored natural ice and snow for summer usage. By the mid 1800s, men began to develop huge machines to make artificial ice using scientific and mechanical principles. By the early 1900s engineers developed electric domestic refrigerators, which by 1927 became affordable and convenient household appliances.

By then, a more sophisticated public demanded more modern looking appliances than engineers could produce, and a new breed of designers entered the manufacturing world to provide them. During the Depression, such modern designs not only significantly increased falling sales, but resulted in the modern appliances and kitchens we now enjoy.

Today refrigeration enables the preservation of perishable food for distribution around the world, makes tropical climates habitable for millions, saves lives with medical applications, and powers space flight.