Editing Refrigeration (section)

===Commercial use===
{{See also|Cold chain|Refrigerator}}
[[File:Early refrigerator car design circa 1870.jpg|thumb|An 1870 refrigerator car design. Hatches in the roof provided access to the tanks for the storage of harvested ice at each end.|right]]
[[File:AndrewMuhlPatent02.png|thumb|Icemaker Patent by Andrew Muhl, dated December 12, 1871.]]
In 1842, [[John Gorrie]] created a system capable of refrigerating water to produce ice. Although it was a commercial failure, it inspired scientists and inventors around the world. France's Ferdinand Carre was one of the inspired and he created an ice producing system that was simpler and smaller than that of Gorrie. During the Civil War, cities such as New Orleans could no longer get ice from New England via the coastal ice trade. Carre's refrigeration system became the solution to New Orleans' ice problems and, by 1865, the city had three of Carre's machines.<ref>{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=Oscar Edward|title=Refrigeration in America; a history of a new technology and its impact|year=1953|publisher=Published for the University of Cincinnati by Princeton University Press|location=Princeton|isbn=978-0-8046-1621-8|pages=25}}</ref> In 1867, in San Antonio, Texas, a French immigrant named Andrew Muhl built an ice-making machine to help service the expanding beef industry before moving it to Waco in 1871. In 1873, the patent for this machine was contracted by the Columbus Iron Works, a company acquired by the W.C. Bradley Co., which went on to produce the first commercial ice-makers in the US.

By the 1870s, breweries had become the largest users of harvested ice. Though the ice-harvesting industry had grown immensely by the turn of the 20th century, pollution and sewage had begun to creep into natural ice, making it a problem in the metropolitan suburbs. Eventually, breweries began to complain of tainted ice. Public concern for the purity of water, from which ice was formed, began to increase in the early 1900s with the rise of germ theory. Numerous media outlets published articles connecting diseases such as typhoid fever with natural ice consumption. This caused ice harvesting to become illegal in certain areas of the country. All of these scenarios increased the demands for modern refrigeration and manufactured ice. Ice producing machines like that of Carre's and Muhl's were looked to as means of producing ice to meet the needs of grocers, farmers, and food shippers.<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=25|edition=1st Harvard University Press pbk.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=Oscar Edward|title=Refrigeration in America; a history of a new technology and its impact|year=1953|publisher=Published for the University of Cincinnati by Princeton University Press|location=Princeton|isbn=978-0-8046-1621-8|pages=110–111}}</ref>

Refrigerated railroad cars were introduced in the US in the 1840s for short-run transport of dairy products, but these used harvested ice to maintain a cool temperature.<ref>[https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dqr01 Refrigeration], Texas State Historical Association.</ref>

[[File:SS Dunedin by Frederick Tudgay.JPG|thumb|left|[[Dunedin (ship)|''Dunedin'']], the first commercially successful refrigerated ship.]]
The new refrigerating technology first met with widespread industrial use as a means to freeze meat supplies for transport by sea in [[reefer ship]]s from the British [[Dominion]]s and other countries to the [[British Isles]]. Although not actually the first to achieve successful transportation of frozen goods overseas (the ''Strathleven'' had arrived at the London docks on 2 February 1880 with a cargo of frozen beef, mutton and butter from Sydney and Melbourne <ref>{{cite book |last1=Munro |first1=J. Forbes |title=Maritime Enterprise and Empire : Sir William MacKinnon and his Business Network,1823-1893 |date=2003 |publisher=Boydell Press |isbn=9780851159355 |page=283 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dm6tSiRizBcC&dq=may+2+1880+frozen+meat+melbourne&pg=PA283}}</ref>), the breakthrough is often attributed to [[William Soltau Davidson]], an entrepreneur who had emigrated to [[New Zealand]]. Davidson thought that Britain's rising population and meat demand could mitigate the slump in world [[wool]] markets that was heavily affecting New Zealand. After extensive research, he commissioned the [[Dunedin (ship)|''Dunedin'']] to be refitted with a compression refrigeration unit for meat shipment in 1881. On February 15, 1882, the ''Dunedin'' sailed for London with what was to be the first commercially successful refrigerated shipping voyage, and the foundation of the refrigerated [[meat industry]].<ref>{{cite book|title=A lasting Legacy – A 125 year history of New Zealand Farming since the first Frozen Meat Shipment|author=Colin Williscroft|publisher=NZ Rural Press Limited|year=2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VTrmMQAACAAJ}}</ref>

''[[The Times]]'' commented "Today we have to record such a triumph over physical difficulties, as would have been incredible, even unimaginable, a very few days ago...". The ''[[Marlborough (1876 ship)|Marlborough]]''—sister ship to the ''Dunedin'' – was immediately converted and joined the trade the following year, along with the rival [[New Zealand Shipping Company]] vessel ''Mataurua'', while the German Steamer ''Marsala'' began carrying frozen New Zealand lamb in December 1882. Within five years, 172 shipments of frozen meat were sent from New Zealand to the United Kingdom, of which only 9 had significant amounts of meat condemned. Refrigerated shipping also led to a broader meat and dairy boom in [[Australasia]] and South America. [[J & E Hall]] of [[Dartford]], England outfitted the ''SS Selembria'' with a vapor compression system to bring 30,000 carcasses of [[mutton]] from the [[Falkland Islands]] in 1886.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jehall.com/about-jeh-group/history|title=Our History &#124; Refrigeration Solutions &#124; J&E Hall|website=www.jehall.com}}</ref> In the years ahead, the industry rapidly expanded to Australia, Argentina and the United States.

By the 1890s, refrigeration played a vital role in the distribution of food. The meat-packing industry relied heavily on natural ice in the 1880s and continued to rely on manufactured ice as those technologies became available.<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=142|edition=1st Harvard University Press pbk.}}</ref> By 1900, the meat-packing houses of Chicago had adopted ammonia-cycle commercial refrigeration. By 1914, almost every location used artificial refrigeration. The [[Meat packing industry#Meatpackers|major meat packers]], Armour, Swift, and Wilson, had purchased the most expensive units which they installed on train cars and in branch houses and storage facilities in the more remote distribution areas.

By the middle of the 20th century, refrigeration units were designed for installation on trucks or lorries. Refrigerated vehicles are used to transport perishable goods, such as frozen foods, fruit and vegetables, and temperature-sensitive chemicals. Most modern refrigerators keep the temperature between –40 and –20&nbsp;°C, and have a maximum payload of around 24,000&nbsp;kg gross weight (in Europe).

Although commercial refrigeration quickly progressed, it had limitations that prevented it from moving into the household. First, most refrigerators were far too large. Some of the commercial units being used in 1910 weighed between five and two hundred tons. Second, commercial refrigerators were expensive to produce, purchase, and maintain. Lastly, these refrigerators were unsafe. It was not uncommon for commercial refrigerators to catch fire, explode, or leak toxic gases. Refrigeration did not become a household technology until these three challenges were overcome.<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=38|edition=1st Harvard University Press pbk.}}</ref>