The Historical Origin Of The Refrigerator

Humans have known from a very early time that food stored at a lower temperature is not prone to spoilage. As early as more than 2000 BC (20th century BC), ancient residents of the Euphrates and Tigris river basins in Western Babylon had begun to pile ice blocks in the pits to keep meat. In the Shang Dynasty (early 17th century BC to 11th century BC), China also knew how to use ice cubes to refrigerate food. In the Middle Ages, many countries have seen original refrigerators that put ice cubes in special water tanks or stone cabinets to preserve food. Until the 1850s, this type of refrigerator was still sold in the United States.

In the mid-17th century in the West, the word "refrigerator" entered the American language. With the development of the city, the trading of ice has gradually developed. It is gradually used by hotels, hotels, hospitals, and some discerning city merchants to keep meat, fish and butter fresh. After the Civil War (1861-1865), ice was used to refrigerate trucks and it also entered civilian use. By 1880, half of the refrigerators sold in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and one-third of refrigerators sold in Boston and Chicago began to enter households. Similar products also have freezers.

Making an efficient refrigerator is not as simple as we think. In the early 19th century, inventors had a very rudimentary understanding of thermophysics, which was essential to the science of refrigeration. In the West, people believed that the best refrigerator should prevent the melting of ice, but such a very common view at the time was obviously wrong, because it was the melting of ice that played a role in refrigeration. In the early days, people made a lot of efforts to preserve ice, including wrapping the ice with blankets, so that the ice could not play its role. It was not until the end of the 19th century that inventors succeeded in finding the precise balance of insulation and circulation needed for an efficient refrigerator.