The invention of the super appliance that has changed the way we live…

1. The invention of the super appliance that has changed the way we live… The Refrigerator

2. Leading up to the refrigerator

3. Carl von Linde • Carl von Linde was a German engineer and inventor who made and patented the first practical and compact refrigerator. • Linde also made other advances in the fields of cryogenics, chemistry, physics, and engineering.

4. Identifying the problem • Before the refrigerator, icehouses were mostly used. Up until 1927 when the refrigerator became a widespread common appliance in homes, only locally grown fresh foods were available and they had to be bought daily. Meat was brought every day to the butchers and a milkman delivered the milk for the day. Iceboxes in houses were rare and highly expensive to add ice to and even the food only lasted about 2 to 3 days. This was a great inconvenience to many and people wanted a way to keep foods fresh for longer periods of time. Old-fashioned ice box

5. Brainstorm • Carl von Linde used what previous people had done, as in the discovery of the refrigeration process, but thought of ways to make it more practical for everyday use. He thought of more efficient gasses to use in the evaporation and condensing process.

6. Design • Von Linde used the refrigeration processes of earlier discoveries by other engineers and found that the gases ammonia, sulfur dioxide, and methyl chloride worked the best. Then he compacted the design into a smaller version while using the same processes.

7. Build, Test and Evaluate, Redesign • Carl von Linde tested a lot of different gasses to use in the refrigeration process and also different ways to compact the parts into a smaller size. He discovered gasses that were most efficient and made the system as small as he could with it still functioning properly.

8. Share Solution • Linde sold his refrigeration units in Germany. Even through all of his work von Linde was still never able to make the most efficient, best working refrigerator and later others used the same system to create a better system. In 1923, a new company, Fridgidaire created and started selling the first self contained units which ran on electricity. In 1927, General Electric created the “Monitor-Top” refrigerator which was the first to see widespread use. Many people installed these in their homes.

9. Bibliography • My Diigo list