Editing Refrigeration (section)

===Refrigeration research===
[[File:William Cullen.jpg|thumb|upright|[[William Cullen]], the first to conduct experiments into artificial refrigeration.]]
The history of artificial refrigeration began when Scottish professor [[William Cullen]] designed a small refrigerating machine in 1755. Cullen used a pump to create a partial [[vacuum]] over a container of [[diethyl ether]], which then [[boiling point|boiled]], absorbing [[heat of vaporization|heat]] from the surrounding air.<ref>{{cite book|last=Arora|first=Ramesh Chandra|title=Refrigeration and Air Conditioning|publisher=PHI Learning|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-203-3915-6|page=3|chapter=Mechanical vapour compression refrigeration|year=2012}}</ref> The experiment even created a small amount of ice, but had no practical application at that time.

In 1758, [[Benjamin Franklin]] and [[John Hadley (chemist)|John Hadley]], professor of chemistry, collaborated on a project investigating the principle of evaporation as a means to rapidly cool an object at [[Cambridge University]], [[England]]. They confirmed that the evaporation of highly volatile liquids, such as alcohol and ether, could be used to drive down the temperature of an object past the freezing point of water. They conducted their experiment with the bulb of a mercury thermometer as their object and with a bellows used to quicken the evaporation; they lowered the temperature of the thermometer bulb down to {{convert|7|°F|°C|abbr=on|order=flip}}, while the ambient temperature was {{convert|65|°F|°C|abbr=on|order=flip}}. They noted that soon after they passed the freezing point of water {{convert|0|°C|°F|abbr=on}}, a thin film of ice formed on the surface of the thermometer's bulb and that the ice mass was about a {{convert|1/4|in|mm|order=flip}} thick when they stopped the experiment upon reaching {{convert|7|°F|°C|abbr=on|order=flip}}. Franklin wrote, "From this experiment, one may see the possibility of freezing a man to death on a warm summer's day".<ref>[http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/letter1.htm Cooling by Evaporation (Letter to John Lining)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110128075748/http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/letter1.htm |date=2011-01-28}}. Benjamin Franklin, London, June 17, 1758</ref> In 1805, American inventor [[Oliver Evans]] described a closed [[vapor-compression refrigeration]] cycle for the production of ice by ether under vacuum.

In 1820, the English scientist [[Michael Faraday]] liquefied [[ammonia]] and other gases by using high pressures and low temperatures, and in 1834, an American expatriate to Great Britain, [[Jacob Perkins]], built the first working vapor-compression refrigeration system in the world. It was a closed-cycle that could operate continuously, as he described in his patent:
:I am enabled to use volatile fluids for the purpose of producing the cooling or freezing of fluids, and yet at the same time constantly condensing such volatile fluids, and bringing them again into operation without waste.

His prototype system worked although it did not succeed commercially.<ref name=burstall>{{cite book |last= Burstall |first= Aubrey F. |year= 1965 |title= A History of Mechanical Engineering |publisher=The MIT Press |isbn= 978-0-262-52001-0}}</ref>

In 1842, a similar attempt was made by American physician, [[John Gorrie]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=00008080&homeurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO1%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526d%3DPALL%2526p%3D1%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsrchnum.htm%2526r%3D1%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526s1%3D0008080.PN.%2526OS%3DPN%2F0008080%2526RS%3DPN%2F0008080&PageNum=&Rtype=&SectionNum=&idkey=NONE&Input=View+first+page|title=Patent Images}}</ref> who built a working prototype, but it was a commercial failure. Like many of the medical experts during this time, Gorrie thought too much exposure to tropical heat led to mental and physical degeneration, as well as the spread of diseases such as malaria.<ref>{{cite book|last=Freidberg|first=Susanne|title=Fresh: a perishable history|year=2010|publisher=Belknap|location=Cambridge, MA|isbn=978-0-674-05722-7|pages=23|edition=1st Harvard University Press pbk.}}</ref> He conceived the idea of using his refrigeration system to cool the air for comfort in homes and hospitals to prevent disease. American engineer [[Alexander Twining]] took out a British patent in 1850 for a vapour compression system that used ether.

The first practical vapour-compression refrigeration system was built by [[James Harrison (engineer)|James Harrison]], a British journalist who had emigrated to [[Australia]]. His 1856 patent was for a vapour-compression system using ether, alcohol, or ammonia. He built a mechanical ice-making machine in 1851 on the banks of the Barwon River at Rocky Point in [[Geelong]], [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], and his first commercial ice-making machine followed in 1854. Harrison also introduced commercial vapour-compression refrigeration to breweries and meat-packing houses, and by 1861, a dozen of his systems were in operation. He later entered the debate of how to compete against the American advantage of unrefrigerated [[beef]] sales to the [[United Kingdom]]. In 1873 he prepared the sailing ship ''Norfolk'' for an experimental beef shipment to the United Kingdom, which used a cold room system instead of a refrigeration system. The venture was a failure as the ice was consumed faster than expected.

[[File:AppareilCarré.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ferdinand Carré]]'s ice-making device]]
The first [[absorption refrigeration|gas absorption]] refrigeration system using gaseous ammonia dissolved in water (referred to as "aqua ammonia") was developed by [[Ferdinand Carré]] of France in 1859 and patented in 1860. [[Carl von Linde]], an engineer specializing in [[steam locomotive]]s and professor of engineering at the [[Technische Universität München|Technological University of Munich]] in Germany, began researching refrigeration in the 1860s and 1870s in response to demand from brewers for a technology that would allow year-round, large-scale production of [[lager]]; he patented an improved method of liquefying gases in 1876.<ref>{{cite episode |title= Eat, Drink, and Be Merry |series= Connections |series-link=Connections (British documentary)|credits= [[James Burke (science historian)|James Burke]] |network=BBC |date=1979 |number= 8|minutes=41–49 |language=en}}</ref> His new process made possible using gases such as [[ammonia]], [[sulfur dioxide]] (SO<sub>2</sub>) and [[methyl chloride]] (CH<sub>3</sub>Cl) as refrigerants and they were widely used for that purpose until the late 1920s.

[[Thaddeus Lowe]], an American balloonist, held several patents on ice-making machines. His "Compression Ice Machine" would revolutionize the cold-storage industry. In 1869, he and other investors purchased an old steamship onto which they loaded one of Lowe's refrigeration units and began shipping fresh fruit from New York to the Gulf Coast area, and fresh meat from Galveston, Texas back to New York, but because of Lowe's lack of knowledge about shipping, the business was a costly failure.