Modern refrigeration and air conditioning
MODERN REFRIGERATION and AIR CONDITIONING covers the practical application of refrigeration in all of its branches--Domestic, Commercial, Frozen Food Refrigerators, Air Conditioning, Heat Pumps, etc.
MODERN REFRIGERATION and AIR CONDITIONING teach refrigeration and air conditioning principles --the foundation on which a thorough knowledge of these important subjects is based. Beginners and apprentices in refrigeration and air conditioning will find this book a real aid to getting started on a pleasant and profitable career. Experienced servicemen will find it invaluable as a guide, and a reference.
As far back as history can be traced, snow, ice, and cold water have aided mankind in keeping its food supply in good condition. Even today in some areas porous vessels containing water are used to cool beverages and foods.
Also, during the warmer months, food is kept in deep caves or just over the surface of the water in deep wells. Refrigeration, the industry of preserving food by cold, first became of commercial importance during the 18th century when ice formed during the winter on the surface of lakes and ponds was cut and stored in insulated store rooms to be used during the summer. This practice was followed by shipping ice from the colder climates to the hotter zones, but this did not turn out successfully.
The use of natural ice made necessary the building of insulated containers or ice boxes. These first appeared on a large scale during the 19th century. Ice was first made artificially in about 1820, but it was not until 1834 that this was done successfully.
Jacob Perkins, an American engineer, was the inventor of this apparatus, which was the forerunner of our modern compression systems. In 1855 German produced the first absorption type of refrigerating mechanism, although Michael Faraday discovered the principle of the absorption type in 1824. The production of artificial ice made very little progress until shortly after 1890. During that year shortage of natural ice gave impetus to the mechanical ice-making industry. Since 1890, the growth of mechanical refrigeration in the United States has been phenomenal. Domestic refrigeration first made its appearance in 1910. J. M. Larsen produced a manually operated household machine in 1913. It was not until 1918 that the first automatic refrigerator was available on the American market (the Kelvinator). T
he Kelvinator Company sold its first machine in 1918. Kelvinator sold sixty-seven machines that year. Between 1918 and 1920 two hundred units were sold. Freezing of meats was first studied in 1923 and was the origin of the frozen foods industry. The General Electric Monitor Top appeared in 1926 after eleven years of experimenting. The Monitor Top was the first of the "sealed" or hermetic automatic re- frigerating units. Beginning in 1920, domestic refrigeration became one of our important industries. The Electrolux, which is an automatic domestic absorption unit, appeared on the American market in 1927. The use of automatic refrigeration units for comfort cooling appeared on the market in 1927.