Amercian history of refrigeration

[US Iceman]

This might be of general interest to some...

http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/2005/4/2005_4_26.shtml

[TXiceman]

Interesting reading. Additionally, IIAR put out a book a few years ago caled "Industry in the Cold". It provided a good hstory of ammonia refrigeration.
Ken

[Sinke]

...Just one more hollivud story...
...Where is Russian history....

[US Iceman]

...Where is Russian history....


I don't know, can you find one and post it here?

I only happened to find this from an American magazine. It was not intended to be "an invented here story".

Another interesting article would be one on Scotlands contributions also. From what I understand, a lot of the original concepts came from Scotland.

Any of the refrigeration history is fun to read. It let's us know OUR roots!

[Sinke]

...I will try...

[Brian_UK]

Iceman, further to looking for old documents I came across http://www.archive.org and have been 'wasting' my time there this evening.

Start with a search on 'refrigeration' and a 'text' media type brings up a vast array of early textbooks, 1985, 1902, 1920 etc.

These are all available for download and should keep you going for some time.

It's good to know that people are and have invested time/money in getting these old documents scanned and made available for all. The modern "Public Library".

[US Iceman]

Thanks Brian. A wealth of information.

It's refreshing to find a source of old information, but I doubt Google or MSN is doing this as a civic duty. More than likely, they probably retain some form of copyright for doing this.:(

[Brian_UK]

I think the scanning work has been done by your major colleges/universities by the looks of the donators of the files.

[alen]

Hello,

This is short "seminar" version of Refrigeration throughout history...:)

Cheers,

Alen

[US Iceman]

Alen,

Thanks for posting the every interesting article. I'll be sure to read it soon.

PS. Welcome to the RE forums. What field are you studying in? Are you almost complete in your studies?

[alen]

Dear Iceman,

I am currently on master studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I am very lucky to be a graduate research assistant at the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Center (ACRC) here... Last year I came as a visiting scholar and then I entered master studies this spring... I was involved in few projects with CO2 and also R134a... anyway, this is a very good place to learn more... before that I was working in milk dairy in Belgrade (Serbia) for more than 3 years and then I got this opportunity... :) It was also very nice experience in the field of HVAC & R (mostly ammonia systems), compressed air and some process stuff...

Are you familiar with ACRC..? I was wondering where are You currently working, since it seems You have an impressive base of knowledge...

Many thanks on Your reply!

Alen

[US Iceman]

Hi Alen,

Yes, I'm somewhat familiar with ACRC. I wish it were easier to find information you can download on their site though. Everthing seems to be abstracts....

Are you working with Prof. Hrnjak then? I have never met him, but he does seem to have an impressive background in refrigeration related topics.

I'm self-employed as a consultant for industrial refrigeration systems. I've worked in R&D, export & domestic sales, and a lot of field work for installations and start-ups for the last 35 years or so. It certainly doesn't seem that long.;)

I am also a co-instructor at UW-Madison for ammonia refrigeration systems in their EPD program. You are only a few hours south of me.

What is you masters thesis on?

I have been helping another student in South Africa on his project. He's working on an ammonia system project, which I have high hopes for.

If you would like to, send me your contact info in a private message. I would be glad to help in any small way possible.

[alen]

Dear Iceman,

Many thanks on the reply!

Sorry for being a little bit late with my reply; I was occupied with interesting problems during testing of IHXs these two days... :)

I am a student of Pega Hrnjak's group and my master thesis will be about the effects of using flash gas separator on evaporator effectiveness and system efficiency, when operating with "low pressure refrigerants" (R134a)...

I think I saw Your website before.. Your "only" 35 years of experience looks really interesting...:) More detailed post is about to follow in personal message..

Thank You,

Alen

[US Iceman]

...my master thesis will be about the effects of using Flash Gas (http://www.refrigeration-engineer.com/forums/glossary.php?do=viewglossary&term=176) separator on Evaporator (http://www.refrigeration-engineer.com/forums/glossary.php?do=viewglossary&term=70) effectiveness and system efficiency,...


That sounds a lot like a refrigerant economizer cycle on ammonia systems. The first question I would have relates to the loss of the flash gas, which is used to help with liquid distribution through the evaporator circuits. Ohhh, this sounds like fun!:D

[NH3LVR]

The first question I would have relates to the loss of the flash gas, which is used to help with liquid distribution through the evaporator circuits. Ohhh, this sounds like fun!:D

Sounds that way to me as well!
Perhaps we can tie in a similar subject I have always wondered about-the effect on evaps of introducing hot gas. (As with hot gas bypass)

Bring it on!

[US Iceman]

We are starting to get off track, why don't you start a new thread with that very question?

We'll see where this takes us...:cool:

[NH3LVR]

We are starting to get off track, why don't you start a new thread with that very question?

We'll see where this takes us...:cool:
Have done as you suggested Jedi Master.:D
Let the Blood Flow!:)

[US Iceman]

Let the Blood Flow!:)


:D:D

I hope it doesn't come to that.:eek:

[Fire and Ice]

Hi,
This is fire and ice, I am somewhat new to this. How do you start a thread from scratch? I am not an here real often - yet I thought I saw how to do it at one time. I was wonderin if anyone had heard of charging small cap tube systems by amperage draw?
thanks

[Sinke]

Hi,
This is fire and ice, I am somewhat new to this. How do you start a thread from scratch? I am not an here real often - yet I thought I saw how to do it at one time. I was wonderin if anyone had heard of charging small cap tube systems by amperage draw?
thanks
...This is topic about american history(not familiar to me)so you must find the right place....

[patrickj]

I couldn't find any history in this.I was a fan of Ammonia but now moved over to AIR CONDtIONING with CFC's and others. I have read lot of info with regard to American History of Refrigeration and thought that I could adsd few more info

Patrickj

[BigJon3475]

Just a tad more info nothing that wasn't covered though but some neat info (http://johnmills.net/work/history.html)


http://johnmills.net/work/history.html


http://www.time.com/time/time100/builder/profile/carrier.html

[Dan]

Not everyone liked air conditioning. One major complaint was that people in air-conditioned houses kept their windows closed. “Every place is air-conditioned,” the playwright Horton Foote complained in 1995. “I don’t hear the train whistles like I used to. That haunting lonely sound. When the cotton mills were running full-time and they had a cotton-seed mill, we would have this wonderful odor permeating the house. I find myself thinking, ‘What was that really like and why did it vanish?’”

We in the states, anyway, invented an entirely new industry called IAQ (Indoor air quality) now we have Legionaires disease and mold and things that require cleaning that we never had before. We have windows that won't open which is just a darn shame, and people aren't so neighborly anymore (porch and stoop culture).

US Iceman, thanks for the fine article. What surprises me is that the theaters were named after the providers of air conditioning? Graumans and Lowes?

I hope Sinke provides some interesting stuff. I am not so ethnocentric (right word?) that I believe every new invention of the previous century sprang from the US. More than likely, we just took advantage of our freedom of the press to brag more loudly.

However... I believe Willis Carrier was a practical genius in the same way Thomas Edison was. The psychrometric chart and the tables of air properties is tangible evidence of this. I never realized that the word psychro meant cold. It is a beautiful thing that Carrier worked with the concept of "cold" as opposed to "heat."

The first thing I learned in this trade is that there is no such thing as "cold." The true geniuses of our trade are those who developed the principles of thermodynamic theory... which is the study of "heat." This is why I use the term "practical" in describing Willis Carrier.

I will now go to Brian's suggested website and for some reason, I do not expect to resurface tonight. :)

My dad once told me that a good idea should never be held responsible for the person who has it. I wonder if the same can be said of bad ideas.

[US Iceman]

Dan, it's interesting you mentioned Edison and Carrier in the same sentence. Edison was commercially profitable as was Carrier.

Now for a bit a trivia, (sort of off topic)...

Who was the inventor of the electric power system we use today? This should be interesting...;) and, just to add a bit of difficulty; was this person involved in refrigeration?

[paul_h]

Now for a bit a trivia, (sort of off topic)...

Who was the inventor of the electric power system we use today? This should be interesting...;) and, just to add a bit of difficulty; was this person involved in refrigeration? Wasn't it tesla originally and partly deleloped by gerenral electric and westinghouse?
edison wanted a DC powergrid if I remember correctly.
edit: GE and westinghouse answers your second question I think.

[US Iceman]

Hi Paul,

Before I give away the answer I would like to see how many others take a shot at this.;) I'll post my response in the next few days. I believe you will find this interesting.

[nh3wizard]

Ben Franklin, Just a shot in the dark, and I do believe he was involved in refrigeration of some kind

[Dan]

My first thought was Tesla as well. Having said that, I am going to search for the answer, Iceman. George Westinghouse? He bought Tesla's patents and did a lot with turbines, etc, but I don't see any refrigeration credits to his name. It's fun just searching. Fascinating fellow.

I look forward to your story, Iceman.

[Josip]

Hi, US Iceman :)

It was Tesla, with so many ingenious patents..

take a look here;

http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/new/tesla.htm (http://www.hbci.com/%7Ewenonah/new/tesla.htm)

very long and interesting article to read....

yes, he was involved in refrigeration also, but you should explain that more....


Best regards, Josip :)

[US Iceman]

Josip had the correct answer as I suspected he would.;)

Tesla developed the alternating current system still in use today. Edison was a proponent for direct current.

Tesla licensed his electric motor technology to George Westinghouse for $1 USD per horsepower! After some time had passed Westinghouse realized he could not (or would not?) pay this this much money to Tesla. They had a meeting during which Tesla tore up the license contract and freed Westinghouse of his financial obligations. (At least that is the version of the story I had read).

Do you know what the original name of General Electric was? It was started under the name of "Edison General Electric Co."

I have read in several different books that Tesla started a company called the "Tesla Ozone Company". This firm was created for the purpose of developing refrigeration systems. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a mention of any related material to this affect. Although I am not surprised either. Tesla was probably 200 years ahead of his time.:cool: He was quite an interesting person.

If anyone finds any material related to Tesla and refrigeration I would like to get a copy or link to the material. I have been searching for this for years.

And for a strange twist of the story... General Electric went on to produce the first commercially successful residential refrigerator called the "Monitor Top", which used sulphur dioxide as the refrigerant.

[expat]

I posted this question in another thread.

Has anyone heard of the Egyptian technique of storing food products in a windy cave under palm tree branches sprayed with water?

[Sinke]

Who was the inventor of the electric power system we use today? This should be interesting...;) and, just to add a bit of difficulty; was this person involved in refrigeration?

...Nikola Tesla was the inventor and the genius....
...and he was born in Gospic, in former Yugoslavia....
....and he was Serbian who worked in america....
...don't forget that...

[Brian_UK]

Iceman, I assume you have found this link...

http://tesla.tribe.net/

[Dan]

As much as I enjoy the exploits of Nikolai Tesla and the many inventions he has had a part in, I find absolutely no refrigeration related connection in his various and eclectic publications and patents.

[US Iceman]

Thanks Brian. I have not seen that forum, so I'll spend some time there lurking about.

Sinke, I was not trying to minimize Tesla's nationality. By any measure the man was a genius and at least 100 years ahead of his time.

Dan, there is only one small article I have seen on Tesla related to refrigeration. I have to find it, before I can post it. On an interesting side note the Tesla turbine should make a good expansion engine (re. expansion valve) if someone had some time and money to play with.

[Sinke]

...OK...
...no hard feelings...

[Josip]

Hi, :)

something more about Tesla...

http://www.nikolatesla.hr/cpage.aspx?page=default.aspx&PageID=2


No doubt about it, Nikola Tesla is the greatest mind since da Vinci.

http://www.storesonline.com/members/252450/


enjoy ;)

Best regards, Josip :)

[US Iceman]

Thanks for those links Josip.

I always enjoy reading about Mr. Tesla. Can you imagine what it would have been like to spend some time in his lab?:cool:

[Sinke]

...very interesting articles about Tesla,ecpesially second one...
...first one is not familiar to me....
...no hard feelings....